Is ADHD A Disease? – 5 Facts You Must Know.

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Is ADHD a disease, many people ask.  They want to know because they have not been able to get to the bottom of what this ADHD thing really is and they are ignorant about a lot of facts, partially fuelled by the media and the pharmaceutical lobbies.

1st Fact. Well, it is not a disease and you cannot catch it as it is not contagious! Seriously, though, it is just a mental disorder in which the brain transmitters are not firing properly. That, in reality means that signals are not getting through and the result is lack of focus when studying or driving, difficulty in concentration and a certain hyperactivity in many cases.

2nd Fact. Can you inherit ADHD?  Most experts now tell us that it is about 76% inheritable and that is a very high figure. That is why many parents discover that they have this condition when they get their kids tested,. The reason is that very many cases of ADHD are undiagnosed.  When we compare the 76% figure with other inheritable traits we find that depression is about 50% while  autism is about 90%.

3rd Fact. Medications for ADHD may help and they are very often effective. We just need to be aware of a few facts. One is that side effects may cause about 30% of children to give them up altogether and to look at alternative ways to treat ADHD.  Also, that the meds tend to be less and less effective over time so that should also be borne in mind. 

Abuse of meds by college students and others (they can study all night) has led to a dramatic increase in the number of admissions to the emergency rooms. Just think – these visits have doubled in a five year period (2005 -2010) and they are mostly students aged 18 and over.  While use of these meds is mostly safe for ADHD patients, their illegal use is anything but and is illegal and dangerous as these figures show.  These figures are from the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).

4th Fact.  There are alternative ways treat ADHD and these can cover anything from herbal medicine to homeopathy. The latter is highly regarded and extremely popular because there are no side effects at all and there are no health risks either.

5th Fact.  Most children with ADHD will respond to medication but it has to be accompanied by basic parenting skills, behavior therapy when necessary and also putting a structure and routine into place at home.

So, is ADHD a disease is a totally useless question. But many people are in total ignorance and one of the greatest challenges is to inform the public and educate them about what are the best ways of treating what is just a mental disorder. 

The Risks Of Meds That Treat ADHD

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Although we do not yet know if Nehemiah Griego (Albuquerque shootings) was actually suffering from some sort of mental illness or whether he was on any psychiatric drugs, people are asking why the USA is so obsessed with movies, guns and video games rather than on how to deal with mental disorders when they are present.

We only know that he used to wear a lot of military outfits and that he was home schooled. It is a mystery how he was able to assemble an arsenal in his home. We also know that he was not allowed to watch video games. Can there be a connection with all these things? It is obviously too soon to make any suppositions.

One fact does emerge and that is the increasing concern about meds that treat ADHD and other mental disorders such as depression and autism.  We know that most anti depressants and ADHD meds tend to increase the levels of suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and homicidal ideation.   

Most of the drugs such as Paxil, Zoloft, Ritalin and also Luvox are known to increase violent actions by as much as 10% more than other drugs.  We also know that 95% of school shootings over the last ten years or so were carried out by teens who were on prescription medication such as Paxil, Zoloft and Ritalin.

Is there a connection with the Griego tragedy and that of Adam Lanza at Newtown? Too soon to say but one startling fact emerges. It is  the obsession with weapons. I have just learned that Nancy Lanza (Adam Lanza’s mother) was killed at Newtown with her own weapons. You see she was a survivalist and kept a lot of guns so that she would have maximum protection.  We know that the Griego family lived in an isolated spot and certainly they too may have had weapons in the home for protection.

But the Lanza case is more alarming because of the following reasons :-

1. Nancy Lanza never locked her guns up although she knew that her son was getting more and more antisocial and had behavioral problems.
2. she visited a shooting range often and Adam is also known to have been there.
3. as a teacher, she must have been aware of the dangers
4. she had taken him to a psychiatrist because she was alarmed at his isolation.
5. he would spend hours and hours on video games
6. when they went out, he would have screaming fits presumably as a sort of withdrawal syndrome from being taken away from the games.

We may never know the truth. But what we do know is that many of the medications for mental disorders and especially the meds that treat ADHD do cause side effects and some of the rare ones include violence, suicidal thoughts, homicide ideation and mania.

This should push us more and more towards a much safer holistic type of treatment where behavioral therapy (or more simply, parenting skills)  together with ADHD  homeopathic remedies are at the very centre of a any treatment plan. 

Why Correct ADHD Testing Is Essential

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An expert in the USA has recently estimated that ADHD testing is not being done so accurately. He has reckoned that as many as one on five children are misdiagnosed and that the ADHD label is slapped on them for life with all the negative consequences that will bring.

These children (estimated at a shocking 9 million alone in the USA) will be incorrectly treated and will also have to bear the brunt of a stigma for the rest of their lives. So, these 9 million children are treated for a condition that they do not have all because of inaccurate ADHD tests.

It is no secret that ADHD is now over diagnosed and as we have seen from the above misdiagnosed. This is a pretty scary scenario especially when we realize that the usual treatment option with mind altering drugs can have serious consequences.

Other things to reflect on are the fact that any psychiatric drugs (such as Zoloft and Paxil for depression and also Ritalin for ADHD) may have played a role in recent college and school shootings.  Most of the kids involved in those shootings were on some sort of psychiatric drug and we know that some of the side effects are hallucinations and suicidal thoughts.

Another aspect to consider is that the number of ADHD students actually going to college is very low as they have to cope with many obstacles so it is vital that a correct diagnosis be made early on and proper treatment be given for whatever disorder that they may have.

Those ADHD students at college will be around 5% which is much lower than the national average which is 28%.

Another worrying aspect is that  many childhood conditions such as hearing, eyesight defects, food allergies, sleep apnea, thyroid conditions and  learning disabilities show remarkably similar symptoms to ADHD and these are not being correctly diagnosed either.

Pharmacological treatment of ADHD and other childhood conditions can only be part of the answer and all the major medical authorities in the UDA have come out strongly in favour of behavior therapy which means proper parenting skills and organizing an ADHD friendly home as the only really effective way of treating this mental condition.

This is another reason why a full and proper attention disorder test should be given to all children when there is a problem at school or at home. 

Trouble With ADHD

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Far too often, there is  too much reliance on ADHD meds and there is little knowledge about what they are doing to a young child's developing brain. This is just one ADHD issue and there are many others too. For example, we do not know much about the side effects of these drugs in the short term and even less in the long term. We have no idea whether or how they will affect a child's learning.

We know that there are about 30% of children who really do have problems in coming to terms with these side effects. Very often, meds and dosages are tweaked and that can solve the problem, at least temporarily. But the fact that many children are actually suffering from sleep challenges and appetite problems cannot be ignored.

This is the  main trouble with ADHD. There is also the problem that the other aspects of the condition are not looked at properly. These can include behavior modification  or simply effective parenting skills and also dietary considerations although the latter are sometimes exaggerated. But there is no doubt that  proper nutrition can help the developing brain cells to grow in a healthy and stable fashion.

Finally we know that there are other types of medication and the major player in the field here are ADHD natural remedies which carry no health risks at all. Just watch the video below to find out what the real issues are and what your doctor is perhaps forgetting to tell you about ADHD meds. That is the main trouble with ADHD!