ADHD - non medical treatments / protocols

[dreamylady]

I am really interested in nutrition and impact of food sensitivities after seeing the effect on my young brother of certain foods as a child. I think the behaviour these sensitivities resulted in (extreme temper tantrums, lack of concentration) and our reaction to those behaviours had a significant impact on his emotional development. As a result have always been extremely aware of our DDs diet and the effect of sugar in particular but also of milk, and in my case of milk and wheat.

I was reading this
article on ritalin and in particular a response from GavBelcher (11.51 am) and wondered what poeple thought about this. If you have a child with ADHD have you been given full advice and guidance to go through changes in diet, allowances for significant increase in physical exercise, etc before being presented with Ritalin as a 'last resort'.

I am not judging and not a journo! I just worry that it could be too tempting for schools / doctors to recommend the quick and easy option so that children with ADHD fit in, and wondered what the reality was.

I do not think any parent would allow medication without first exploring all the non medical interventions.

The reality is that ritalin has a very respectable track record. I'm comparing it with eg the shedloads of meds that my eldest is on for Epilepsy - if any of them was as reliably effective with so few side-effects, I'd be delighted.

That doesn't mean it always works, or that other alternatives might not work also. It means that there are masses and masses of studies showing that it works reliably and safely and the reason the NHS dishes it out is that it is the cheapest and easiest way for the NHS to solve the problem. Whether that's the school's problem or the kid's problem is a good question & I'd agree parents need to keep that in mind - but personally not being diagnosed and treated as a child has blighted my life. Really. If I could go back and do it all over with Ritalin I would do so like a shot. And would be in a very different place today.

Unfortunately, I wasn't diagnosed till the age of 43 (last December), when they put me on Ritalin. Which is sufficiently unlike its hysterical media portrayal that my other half doesn't know when I have taken it - except that he finds cups of tea in the microwave less often. Yes, there are a % of people who don't get on with it, but if you or your kid have a problem with it you need - like any med - to have the common sense to get back to the doctor and get it changed.

Re: the misdiagnosis angle - I dunno about that. I think there is a fair bit of overdiagnosis of the various "invisible" conditions in the US and the UK media love to jump on the back of that and try to make out that happens here. But the economics of it here are entirely different - the NHS simply can't afford to go about diagnosing and paying for treatment where no problem exists. Certainly the adult diagnosis process seemed fairly thorough when I went through it. At the end of it, the doc said to me: "well, I'm pretty certain you have ADHD - frankly, there is nothing else which would explain the symptoms." There is a lot more to it than being arsey/difficult in class (not that I ever was) and I don't think any Journo who portrays it that way can have looked very hard at what diagnosis entails.

Since when have schools been medical experts and able to prescribe medication?

Anyhow, DS1 gets plenty of exercise. Apart form the thing where h can't even sit still to use his computer, he walks at least 2km every day on top of his usual daily activity - it's been 4km, the past couple of days, since he's been off. Believe me, he's still restless when he's physically tired; just grouchier. We're also careful with his diet. Sugar can send him either way, to be honest. Sometimes it makes him act drunk, others it gets rid of lingering irritability. It has less adverse effect on him than most artificial sweeteners do.

We're hoping for a prescription of something for him, when CAMHS get their backsides in gear. It's certainly not something we're considering lightly and certainly not for our own convenience.

Just adding in our diagnosis trail, so far.

Almost 3 years ago, when DS1 was diagnosed with autism with associated hyperactivity and attentional difficulties, we were told those things may spontaneously resolve, or if it's ADHD, they'd persist or become worse.

Well, they did seem to resolve for a while, then, a year ago, they started to get worse, as did his oppositional behaviour.

In October, last year, I spoke to his paediatrician's registrar at the time and got a referral to CAMHS, since he was having problems both at school and at home.

Finally, in February, we had a lengthy meeting with a mental health worker, who gave a thorough interview and administered a conner's scale questionnaire.

School got their version of the questionnaire, too.

DS2 was then invited back on a separate day at a different time of day for a play observation.

After some delay, he was observed at school - by a different person who hadn't spoken to us, so was seeing him fresh. The day before that, after being contacted by our paediatrician who was concerned about DS1, we had another brief meeting with the mental health worker. He told us that the professional consensus is that it looks like ADHD, but it's oppositional behaviour that's causing the bulk of problems at school.

He has now been referred on to the Psychiatrist, who will discuss what they've found out and may want to make his own observations.

And this is by an underfunded, overstretched CAMHS team without a good reputation. Nothing short of thorough.

I agree with the others, the system in the NHS is thorough and only children with ADHD that is seriously affecting their development and lives get as far as being offered medication. What is lacking is background support both to families and schools. Also there is often many years of trying alternatives/ blaming the parents/sitting on waiting lists - with resulting damage to both the child (self esteem, friendships, education, behaviour) and the family ( parental stress, marital breakdown) The collateral damage for underdiagnosis (of ADHD and ASD)is a serious issue but jounalists always regurgitate the old predudices.
my son has a complex mix of difficulties including ADHD/ASD/LD. We control his diet carefully, he is very active and needs to run off his energy. All this helps. He also needs very specialised care/ parenting/understanding around him. Frankly medication is just one of the things in place to support him.

Magso, this sort of sloppy, reactionary journalism always gets my goat. It's just pure sensationalism and I get quite pissed off that people will judge parents like us, who work hard with and for our kids, because of it.