From: | shadowrn@*********.com (Hahns Shin) |
---|---|
Subject: | Ritalin and ADHD (was Re: Antidepressants and yoouuuuuu.....) |
Date: | Tue May 1 13:25:01 2001 |
> Cylert can be taken once per day, making it a little easier to
handle all
> around.
The dosing is quite sensitive to each individual patient, and doctors
have a bad tendancy to a) overprescribe Ritalin to children who are
way too young for it, b) not follow on the dosing and titrate it as
appropriate, and c) have a working relationship with a child's parents
and teachers to accurately diagnose a child's REAL problems (this is a
WHOLE can of worms that I won't go into... basically it equates to
"Doctors have no time", which is true in some ways, but it never
should compromise a child's health care). Children and the elderly are
among the least compliant with medications as well (I don't blame them
either. With kids, it takes a long habit-forming chain to get them to
learn to take the pills, and the elderly often have a dozen meds which
they have to remember to take at certain times of the day. It's a
juggling act, to be sure).
As far as Cylert, I've seen patients that responded great to Ritalin,
but when switched to Cylert, found it to be intolerable or
ineffective. Vice versa is also true. Meds have to be tailored to the
patient's needs, and a doctor has to be observant (I often think about
Dr. Nick's flashback in the Simpsons "Hey baby! I can prescribe
anything you want!").
> As for an advantage in the Matrix, it depends on how much of ADHD is
> chemically affecting other than the brain. If it keeps certain
chemicals
> flowing, anyone with ADHD will have a hard time jacking in for any
length
> of time. ADD Inattentive Type, on the other hand, would work quite
well.
Which brings up another point: ADHD (ADD somehow has fallen into
disuse in the literature) is a moniker that encompasses a whole range
of symptoms, from "zoning out" to "hyperactivity" to "short
attention
span". It is difficult to diagnose without a full psych workup, and
even then, a child may know to turn on the "act normal" switch in a
doctor's/shrink's office and then turn on the "act hyper" switch in
school. I've seen this plenty of times, and shake my head (kids are SO
much smarter than adults). The inattentive portion of ADHD tends to
manifest in girls, while the hyperactivity portion tends to manifest
in guys, but you get it both ways.
My real beef is the parents who come up to doctors demanding Ritalin
because they "perceive" hyperactivity, when in reality, they just want
drugs to shut the kids up. And then there are the doctors who just
write the prescription, never bothering to do a follow-up or a
psych/neuro exam on the kid. True, a lot of kids have improved school
work when on Ritalin, but it's an amphetamine. ANYONE would have
improved school work hopped up on amphetamine.
> It's one of the reasons I'm online 16 of 24 hours in a day. =)
And the other reasons? :-)
<snippity>
> Not necessarily. There's been studies that have hinted at a possible
> connection between ADD and high-form Autism, mostly due to some
similarity
> of symptoms and effects. Most people with ADD have serious issues
> concentrating all day long, unless it's something they're interested
in.
Except that Autism is a FAR worse psych/neuro disorder. ADHD kids can
actually interact with their peers (though their disorder sometimes
gets in the way). Autistic kids are isolated in their own little
world, with little or no empathy or social connections with others.
You hear about the "idiot savant" music/art/math geniuses, but you
never hear about the greater portion of the cases of kids that just
sit in the corner and rock themselves into a stupor. They are among
the loneliest people in the world. Autism is another blanket
statement, too, which covers a whole spectrum of syndromes, and mild
cases can be controlled. In middle school, I knew a kid who was
diagnosed with Autism, and he was an excellent chess player. Though he
was quiet, he would crack jokes with the rest of the guys. He excelled
in Math and Science, but the Liberal Arts simply did not interest him.
Hahns Shin, MS I
Budding cybersurgeon