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Thumb of Michigan | Our problem with Ritalin is that it seems to be the first tool chosen to try. Thats the easy (lazy) way out. It should be the last choice- at least thats the way my wife and I felt. And still do, far as that goes. Second problem with Ritalin is as a two part problem as I mentioned- first is that we don't look to our teachers for medical advice. None in our school system have any training to suggest that they do in fact have any medical back ground. I'm happy to let teachers teach and leave the drug prescribing to someone else who's qualified to do so. The second problem- which I personally think is the bigger problem- is that its an easy sell at some Doctors offices to get Ritalin. Ritalin is a great tool, and sometimes its the only tool. In that case, sure- go for it. Prescribing or recommending a drug - any drug- when there may be more effective treatments with less side effects borders on irresponsible to me.
Now, I may be coming across as anti-medical profession. And there's nothing further from the truth. I am a lot more careful to ask questions as I get older. Part of that comes from having a couple of MD's who tried to mask a lot of issues I had with my back with drugs when I was a younger lad.. They fixed nothing. It was my fault, though: I trusted them to do the right thing. I'm sure they thought they were doing the right thing. Wish now I'd have never met them. I was able to cause myself a lot more permanent damage because the problem was masked. I'm really glad I started going to a chiropractor (against my wifes wishes initially) and also found a great DO I still go to.
As I mentioned in my other post- and I'm not at all saying its a one size fits all deal- is that simply reading a food label may be very effective. Or not, but theres not a lot of risk I can see to trying that first. My step son has no issues with sugar of any kind that we could tell. Which is one of the first foods to get blamed. Doesn't mean some other kids aren't hyper sensitive to sugar. We never bought into all the organic food hype, but we did try some things with organic foods with my step son. In his case, there was no differences we could see. It always came back to artificial colors and flavors in his case- still does today far as that goes and he's soon to be 30 yrs old. | |
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6 year old with listening/paying attention issues...
