ADD ADHD and the Danger of Ritalin
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There are a lot of reports being circulated today about the dangers of giving our children Ritalin. Ritalin is one of the stimulant medications given to children to help treat, ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Other commonly used drugs include, Concerta, Adderall, Dexedrine, and Strattera. In the year 2005, Canada banned the use of Adderall XR because of its link to death in 20 patients. In 2005, the FDA sited 16 deaths from Concerta.
A number of parent groups have popped up calling for a ban on giving children drugs for ADHD. These cries are echoed by various natural treatment manufactures, who just so happen to have their own treatment for ADHD to sell to you. Reports of death from these medications long with all the other noise makes many parents uneasy, and quite understandably so. No one wants to put their child at risk. ADHD, though quite annoying, is not a life threatening condition.
Perhaps we should not be treating our ADHD children? Before we jump to any conclusions, we should look at some of the evidence.
Some ADHD Medication Statistics
186 children died from taking Ritalin between the years 1990 and 2000. This sounds like an extremely high number, but we should put these numbers in perspective.
There were 900,000 children on Ritalin in 1990. Now there are about 5 million. Therefore if you calculate the risk of death from taking Ritalin you will that for every 48,000 children who took Ritalin, no more that one child died from it. Probably the number is a lot less.
That is not to say that the other 47,999 children will not have side effects or other problems. It is just that death won't be one of them.
Granted, this is not an exact calculation. To determine the exact risk you would need to know how many children took Ritalin between 1990 and 2000. There is no data on this. The main point is that whatever the actual risk of death with Ritalin really is, the number is very very small.
In contrast, acetaminophen causes 42% of all cases of acute liver failure and accounts for 450 deaths annually. Every year there are 7600 deaths attributed to aspirin and similar drugs. The risk of a fatal reaction from penicillin is 1 in 50,000, three times the risk of death from Ritalin.
This is not to play down the danger of taking Ritalin. Even one preventable death is too much. However, one aspect you should remember when you hear about the dangers of taking Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, and similar medications is the other medications you use regularly may be much more dangerous.
Risk of Not Treating ADHD
But that is only one aspect of the problem. We need to consider the risk of not using Ritalin or other stimulant medications when treating ADHD.
In a 1999 study, 212 children were followed to determine how ADHD medication treatment affects the risk of future drug abuse. The results were quite astounding.
Children with ADHD who received medication for their condition had about the same rate of illicit drug use as their normal peers. However, ADHD children who did not receive medication had triple the rate of drug and alcohol abuse by the time they reached high school.
What is the risk of not treating ADHD? The three leading causes of death in young people are homicides, accidents, and suicide. Alcohol and drug abuse are common factors in all three. We also should not forget the academic, social, and behavioral problems that go along with untreated ADHD. These may not be fatal, but they can destroy your child's life. In addition, ADHD is associated with other conditions. The current recommendation for treating Oppositional Defiant Disorder when it appears with ADHD is to treat the ADHD with a stimulant in conjunction with trying to address the ODD problem.
No one advocates giving Ritalin, Concerta, or Adderall to a child who does not need the medication. It is probably true that these medications are given to children who do not have ADHD. However, if your child does have ADHD and Ritalin or some other medication is helping, then it is clear that the benefits of taking medication far outweigh the risk of death from the drug.
No one wants their child to take Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall or Strattera. However, if your child has ADHD, you should not be concerned that your child will be the one child out of 1.5 million who dies from the drug. You should be far more concerned about the danger of not treating your child's ADHD.
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Comments
I've found Ritalin to be very helpful in helping me to cope with adult ADD.
I think the greater problem with kids is not prescribing, but diagnosing ... a lot of kids seem to get diagnosed without thorough testing and evaluation.
hi, i'am a mom of 2, and as of this very moment im really confused. i've read a lot about the danger of ritalin, and the help it could give to the patients suffering from ADHD, ADD, my son is 6 yrs old, and has shown signs of ADHD. i really need help, im confused and anxious about drugging our son with ritalin, i know it could help us but im also scared that it could also lead my son to death ... please help me. thank you!
Shockingly a new study shows that there could potentially be a 600% increase in sudden death in children on these drugs. Yet you are not hearing a thing about it in the mainstream.
Meanwhile the FDA (did I mention it is their OWN study) is trying to downplay the significance of the findings calling their own study possibly flawed. Possibly? These are our CHILDREN we are are talking about here. Possibly is just not good enough.
Good quick Youtube on the subject (less than 2 minutes):
I have tried all of the above drugs on my child, and Ritalin is the safest and has been around the longest of any of these drugs. As you pointed out, there are more deaths from acetominaphen and other pain relief drugs out there than from 10 years of Ritalin usage. Do you feel that you are "drugging" yourself if you use acetominaphen????
The real problem here for parents, is the guilt factor. If you choose meds for your child and something bad happens, you are the one who will take the blame for it. This is not so with a personal choice. There is no one to blame if you make a choice for yourself, it's on you. Don't let fear keep you from using approved drugs for true diagnosed ADD and ADHD. Your life and the childs really can be better with the meds than without. Or, heck, find a natural way to deal with it, but do something.
My son's mother has put him on Ritalin recently. He does NOT need Ritalin. I don't think I have ever read, or even heard about someone over the age of 40 with ADHD. I say that to say this, the biggest problem with drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta is they are used without hesitation to treat a disorder that is not a disorder but lack of discipline and structure. How many families today have two parents that work and drop their kids off at daycare. There is no american family anymore and that is the problem with these kids. Not some made up fairy tale disorder that gives parents an excuse to dope up their kids so they are unable to function normally.
In my own personal experience, my son acts like a normal, healthy, high energy kid when he is with me. Of course a young child isn't going to be able to pay attention to something for a long period of time. They are kids!! When I pick my son up on weekends, Friday night is terrible. My son is like a walking zombie all night and through the first part of the next day. After that he is a happy child with tons of energy and spirit. I refuse to give him a drug that changes who he is in such a drastic way. Not to mention, one of the main warnings on the label basically says this is highly addictive! We are creating a generation of drugged up addicts, and they don't even have a choice!!
If someone were to come up to you and say, "Here take this and you won't have the drive to wipe your own rearend." Would you take it? That seems to be the basic effect of this drug on my child. The absolute tragedy of the situation is schools push, push, PUSH this on parents because they want easily pacified, obedient children.
I am 22 years old. My generation as a whole is an embarassment. Don't get me wrong, not everyone conforms to the norm, but the vast majority of people born since 1980 have some serious issues with responsibility. When was it that ADHD became mainstream?? Anyone else see a coincidence. When it becomes "easier" to give a child a pill to calm them down rather than spending time playing with them and wearing them out,what road do most americans take? The easiest solution is not always the best. I apologize for ranting like this. I was only going to say I don't recommend it to anyone.
Party Girl says:
18 months ago
Another great article, thanks for sharing