Thursday 16 May 2013

Are ADHD Meds Really Effective In The Long Term?




The debate rages on about whether the effects of Ritalin in the long-term are really going to help children with ADHD. The latest study (Dr. Gene-Jack Wang, of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y published on PLOS ONE ) shows that the short term boosting of dopamine which is great for concentrating and focusing may well be compromised in the long term. This also means that the effectiveness of such treatment in the end may just not be that great.

The bottom line is that while the drug Ritalin may increase the dopamine transporter, it also means that patients will experience more severe attention deficiencies when they actually stop taking their meds. That forces the doctors to prescribe even greater doses of medicine. It is a vicious circle.

This is just one of the things that I have mentioned in my forthcoming book, Facts About ADHD Children which will be available FREE ON JUNE 1, 2 and 3




Most experts are now agreed that the best long term treatment is behavior therapy or just putting effective parenting skills into place. The road is a much longer one and requires constancy and patience. But the results in the long term far outweigh the frustrations and hard work.

The subtitle of  Facts About ADHD Children is Tips For ADHD Parenting and there are very practical suggestions about how to set up an ADHD friendly home which can really help your ADHD child to acquire the essential life skills he or she will need to manage ADHD.

There is no cure for ADHD. But there are many effective ways of managing this disorder or difference as I prefer to call it.