Stupid GP on Jeremy Vine show says ADHD is poor parenting

[Jimjams]

Aaaggggghh stupid woman! Apparently parents all want their kids on ritalin because they can't control them as they have no parenting skills. Also they want their kids to be "labelled" as that will make them feel better about being such crap parents. And children don't need labelling.

I was incensed. And my son doesn't even have ADHD/take ritalin

I have sent a stinking email to [email protected]

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But how can they secur- that doesn't make sense. GP's don't dx autism- developmental paeds do. So in order to access support etc at school, and to access help from SS etc you need a proper diagnosis- that doesn't come from a GP. All the children I know on ritalin have had it prescribed by consultants- not GP's (don't know whether GP's can- they may be able to - I just don't know anyone who has got it that way). To get melatonin I would have to get it from a consultant.

Joe Public may think that anyone can walk off the street, hassle their GP and walk out with a dx of autism or ADHD, but it really doesn't work like that. My son had a 6 week mulit-disciplinary assessment before he was dxed with autsim- and he's not exactly a borderline case. Unfortunately- the comments from the GP made it sound like you could just go to your GP and demand a dx. And so she did us an even greater diservice. (BTW I went nowhere near my GP on my dx travels- never even spoke to him about it).

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Agree 100% that the GP's comments were most unhelpful and well out of order.

It isn't that some people are benefit cheats that annoys me TBH. The money is wasted, and that is bad, but far worse is the potential damage to the kids who are misdiagnosed, and the damage that it does to children who realy have the disorder. Then the currency of the dx is devalued.

And I suppose that there may be many more parents who attach the label to their children themselves (for whatever unfathomable reason) without going through the lengthy process of diagnosis.

Rather in the way that being sad becomes 'depression' and an active child becomes 'hyperactive'.

Agree - what a load of bo, Jimjams. Good on you for sending that e-mail.

DD has come home from school today to tell me that a year 5 child (with ADHD and taking ritalin) has punched her friend (year 6) in the face today causing her head to jolt back with the force because she wouldn't let him look in her bag. I was horrified at this, the head says it's six of one, half a doz of the other. I have no experience of ADHD at all and can't get my head round his behaviour. Surely this is not symptomatic of ADHD? Any comments?

I work in a very large school and all the kids there who are on ritalin with adhd are clearly in need of it and have all been appropriately diagnosed.
You can really tell if the child hasnt taken it and it does cause behavioural problems without it.
What a load of crap that program sounds.

BUt that's the difference isn't it. Obvioulsy those children haven't been diagnosed with ADHD or autism. I do know of a mother near me who is convinced that her child has AS. She has been trying for a dx for years (actually I think she may be the local NAS rep!) but she has been told again and again that he doesn't have AS. Hacving met him (although only briefly it has to be said) there didn't seem to be much wrong with him. But surely the point here is that depsite a LOT of pushing from his mother- he HASN'T been diagnosed. There is a world of difference between an active child and ADHD, and a world of difference between a socially awkward child and a child with AS. What someone says in the street is one thing, but a GP should know how the system works. They for example wouldn't deny that there is a difference between being sad and being clinically depressed, so they should know the difference in this case as well.

I too get bored with autism dino. And frustrated with it

Yes I would say it is symptomatic of ADHD. In the same way that ds1 pinching the shit out of ds2 because the traffic lights have stayed red vfor too long is symptomatic of autism.

Not sure what comments you want though- maybe the situation was handled badly- maybe it just couldn't be avoided.

Not sure what comments either jimjams but as I said I don't know about ADHD and didn't know if this was symptomatic. I know this child has a fairly bad reputation amongst the children (as they are in fact kids and not necessarily wellinformed) - it just seems a real shame that's all if he can't help it.

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Definitely agree that getting a dx of autism isn't easy. Even when the HV finally agreed that ds1 was 'different' on his 2nd birthday (after a lot of concerned phone-calls from me) it took another 18 months to go through all the channels to get a dx. Like Jimjams our GP had no involvement whatsoever.

Ds1 was also dx'ed with asthma. This was only after 2 bad attacks where he had to be hospitalised. He has regular reviews at the hospital's asthma clinic. I've certainly never received any extra money because of his asthma dx. We only get DLA because of his autism, which was dx'ed 6 months after his asthma.

I think the media find it hard to understand 'unseen' disabilities and conditions. That's why conditions such as asthma, autism, ME, and ADHD all seem to get lumped together in these kinds of reports.

I do agree with Jimjams' original post (having already had my say on SofiaAmes point). A GP who goes on the radio to say that ADHD doesn't exist is someone who is out for media exposure and doesn't care who she hurts in the process. Completely irresponsible.
Out of interest, Jimjams, do you remember what the GP is called?

Coppertop, I know that some people do get extra money if their child has asthma. In the 'Wifeswap' program the awful mother (who later get her boobs out for a tabloid) got extra benefit because two of her children had asthma. It is hard to understand how some people seem able to get every benefit, while others have to jump through every hoop and are ofetn wrongly denied.

I remember when my Father applied for a care allowance (he had terminal cancer) and at first he was turned down. Whereas one of my Father's collegues had a 'bad back' (which didn't stop him working when it suited him and the benefits office didn't know about it), and got every benefit under the sun. It just seems so damn unfair

It's definitely a strange system. So much of it seems to come down to luck (either good or bad). Even just from looking at the posts on mumsnet there are some really odd decisions being made about DLA.

It doesn't seem to be a level playing field, does it? And the system is so dreadfuly complicated, they seem to make it as hard as possible for people to claim. While leaving it open for abuse by those (admittedly small number) people who know how to play the system.

I remember that poor little girl on the TV documentary who had the hopeless parents (one very large woman with a bad childhood, one strange short man) who had an official diagnosis by a consultant of ADHD and was totally turned around by decent, loving, consistent parenting. It was clear in her case that it was pure bad parenting that had made her behave the way she did. I didn't hear the Jeremy Vine show, but if the GP just said that ADHD didn't exist that is clearly unfair and wrong, but I do suspect there is an overdiagnosis of it in some quarters.
I don't want to offend anyone but that little girl's plight upset me. I think autism is quite different BTW.

That little girl didn't have a dx though aloha. Her parents had tried to get a dx- and she had been assessed- but they didn't get one.