Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
For this weeks blog I would like to respond to question two about ADHD.
I will reflect back about four years ago when I first met my husband
and my daughter had just turned three. Well my husband had a nephew that
was diagnosed with ADHD because he was hyper active jumping off the
couches and was hard to calm him down. My three year old was definitely a
little hyper but not that she hard to control. My husband did comment
saying that she should be seen by a doctor I was surprised by his
comment but didn't think nothing of it. I always have been against
giving a child drugs to calm them down, to me I always have said of
course children are hyper active, their kids.
Well he was a little persistent on me taking her to see a doctor so I
did, to my surprise they did diagnose her with ADHD I was shocked that
they prescribed a drug called Ritalin. I was very unsure about giving her this drug so I never did give my child Ritalin. Luckily I went to see another doctor and they told me that she was fine she had no signs of ADHD.
Watching her now she is perfectly fine she is no longer as hyper as she used to be. When she was hyper she was only three and now she is seven and she grew out of that stage.
Now that I see that there is not enough research done by the FDA as
it explained in the video from the Front Line to be giving these young
children those drugs. I was really shocked and glad that I wasn't so
naive to give my child anything that perhaps instead of helping her
could have probably killed her. It's also scary because so many children
are diagnosed with this problem and parents say the drugs are helping them, so this leaves a question in my mind is it good for children or not.
That is a really tough decision to make, so thank you for opening up. I don't necessarily think there should be an age limit, but I do think there needs to be a minimum amount of time spent studying the long term effects. That way we can have somewhat of an idea of what these drugs may or may not do to our children. We also need to recognize that kids are not just small adults, they are children. Although they may mimic us, they are supposed to have energy and enjoy playing, they are KIDS. Sometimes I think society forgets that.
ReplyDeletei was really happy when i read that you waited to get a second opinion before you really even considered giving your daughter medication. All children at a young age, especially 3 and 4 year olds are going to be hyper, they have a TON of energy! Unless a child is potentially harming themselves, others, or they are unexcusably difficult to control, then i think it i would get a couple doctor's opinions.
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