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ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

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Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#21

Post by DannyBee »

pvnick wrote: post #16
DannyBee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adderral does not have an intense narcotic effect for me. You can also nowadays take straterra, which is a non-stimulant. Honestly, if your ADHD is so low level that you can function well without drugs, more power to you. There are plenty of ADHD people who literally cannot, and to imply they could just take career paths involving "creative thinking" is, IMHO, somewhat wishful thinking.

While I'm happy to hear that some have found a way to control their "affliction," I've never tried Straterra and have no plans to start. As I alluded to in my original post, my ideological objections to drugging our "broken" children are more than simply pragmatic. And, even though I'm a mid-twenties male in college, I hardly ever go to class as I still can't manage to sit still long enough to listen to a 50 minute l…

"As I alluded to in my original post, my ideological objections to drugging our "broken" children are more than simply pragmatic. "

Do you have similar objections to drugging alzheimers patients?

I'm trying to understand where you draw the line.

Given that actually diagnosed ADHD people have brain chemistry differences that various drugs are meant to control, i have trouble seeing a difference between the two cases.

If you want to pretend you aren't neurologically different than others, great. Maybe you aren't! Plenty are.

If you believe ADHD is a biological advantage that shouldn't be chemistry'd out, again great. Convince enough people, and eventually evolution will win.

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#22

Post by X-Istence »

Each time a study comes out and people will link it to me (I've already had this linked to me three times) claiming that my ADHD medicine doesn't do anything and that it is worthless ... for me it isn't. Without my meds I wouldn't be able to concentrate, I wouldn't be able to get work done. At one point it got so bad at work that I was afraid I was going to get fired since I couldn't focus on any single task at hand at all.

Starting on Aderall has changed my life. I am able to concentrate on work, I get more done, I feel calmer, it is almost as if a fog has been lifted and I can clearly see what I am working on. It has been a complete shift, like the difference between day and night.

When I don't take my meds (doctor recommended breaks) I go back to being the old me, I become disorganised, I am constantly distracted and thinking about other things. I lose focus and space out. I don't like that person, because I feel like I don't accomplish anything :-(.

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#24

Post by pvnick »

DannyBee wrote: post #21
pvnick wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm happy to hear that some have found a way to control their "affliction," I've never tried Straterra and have no plans to start. As I alluded to in my original post, my ideological objections to drugging our "broken" children are more than simply pragmatic. And, even though I'm a mid-twenties male in college, I hardly ever go to class as I still can't manage to sit still long enough to listen to a 50 minute l…

"As I alluded to in my original post, my ideological objections to drugging our "broken" children are more than simply pragmatic. " Do you have similar objections to drugging alzheimers patients? I'm trying to understand where you draw the line. Given that actually diagnosed ADHD people have brain chemistry differences that various drugs are meant to control, i have trouble seeing a difference between the two cases.…

I don't remember ever being afflicted with Alzheimer's, so I can't speak to that case.

But what is evident is that ADHD affliction is a broad, very continuous spectrum and not a black/white "disease" in the traditional sense. It's largely based on subjective factors. The hypochondriac parent will very easily convince a doctor to prescribe ADHD medication for his/her child. This reality, in addition to my own personal experience, leads me to believe that "ADHD" is less a disorder and more just a feature, like having brown eyes or fair skin.

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#25

Post by bayesianhorse »

ADHD is both over-treated as well as under-treated. Some children might not need medication, but others suffer from the effects of untreated ADHD.

It often looks as if the side effects of Ritalin are overstated, and the negative effects of untreated ADHD are understated. ADHD has been linked to Depression and poor social life.

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#26

Post by [deleted] »

pvnick wrote: post #16
DannyBee wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adderral does not have an intense narcotic effect for me. You can also nowadays take straterra, which is a non-stimulant. Honestly, if your ADHD is so low level that you can function well without drugs, more power to you. There are plenty of ADHD people who literally cannot, and to imply they could just take career paths involving "creative thinking" is, IMHO, somewhat wishful thinking.

While I'm happy to hear that some have found a way to control their "affliction," I've never tried Straterra and have no plans to start. As I alluded to in my original post, my ideological objections to drugging our "broken" children are more than simply pragmatic. And, even though I'm a mid-twenties male in college, I hardly ever go to class as I still can't manage to sit still long enough to listen to a 50 minute l…

[deleted]

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#27

Post by bayesianhorse »

Wingman4l7 wrote: post #3
lsiebert wrote: post #2

Focus and memory isn't enough, is the takeaway from this article. You have to teach people good study habits, habits they won't necessarily have if they have ADHD/ADD. That focus is great, but only if properly targeted towards the tasks that need to be accomplished and the material that needs to be learned.

Not to mention that all the drugs in the world can't make a kid care about completing the scutwork some schools dish out.

Sitting still at least some of the time and not attacking fellow students and teachers more than they deserve is certainly a good start...

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#29

Post by benjamincburns »

obituary_latte wrote: post #18
benjamincburns wrote: post #9

So we're going to look at grades as an indicator of success here? Grades, which have been shown time and time again to have very weak, if any correlation with success? I've dealt with ADHD my entire life. As a kid people could see I was smart, but "if only he could apply himself!" One of the most pivotal decisions I ever made was to seek counseling, and ultimately medication, when I was flunking out of college. My gr…

Honest question: could your success be at all attributed to placebo? IOW, is there any question at all as to whether or not you could have made a conscious decision to "buckle down" and have met the same result? I fear for myself that when facing similar hardship that acquiescing to meds could just be "dealing with the situation" and not properly processing what the actual hardship is, why it exists, and how else it…

> Honest question: could your success be at all attributed to placebo? IOW, is there any question at all as to whether or not you could have made a conscious decision to "buckle down" and have met the same result?

I'm 27 now. I began taking ADHD medication when I was 21. With the exception of methamphetamine (yes, it's actually an old, crude ADHD treatment) I believe I've taken every FDA-approved ADHD drug there is - both stimulant and non-stimulant. Even the patch. It was a hard road to figure out what is effective for me with minimal side effects, but there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that medication contributes heavily to my success.

The sensation is difficult to describe, but when I'm not medicated I'm often completely unaware that my focus has shifted. No amount of mental exertion (aka "buckling down") changes that for me.

I'm a very passionate software engineer. I wake up in the morning and before I've put clothes on I'm reading about something to do with software. Chances are the last thing I look at before I fall asleep also has something to do with software. This has been constant since I was 12 years old -- long before I was medicated. In college, before I was medicated, there was absolutely no way I'd be able to make it through a lecture and retain all of the information -- even while taking notes. I'd pause to think about something the professor said, and a few tangents later I'd be drawing unicorn fish or something in the margins. I still have the notebooks. I've gone back and looked -- the difference between before and after I was medicated was stark [1].

Whether or not medication is the right choice is a very individual decision. Hell, even your doctor doesn't really know. If you have the ability to "buckle down" when needed and you don't feel like your life is ready to crumble because you're just barely getting by - you're probably fine. There's a ton these drugs can do to mess up your life [2] and the narcotic effects can be plenty distracting on their own if your doctor is too liberal with your dosage.

1: Something worth noting is that an outside observer might view this as having my creativity squelched. "Oh look at all the drawings, and now just boring mechanical notes? This person's soul has been snuffed out by the evil chemicals!" The truth is just the opposite - I was finally able to direct my creative energy where I wanted, and the feeling was utterly profound.

2: Appetite suppression, insomnia, depression, addiction, heart palpitations, aggressiveness, diminished sexual desire, and horrible irritability are all common side effects. They might not all meet the FDA definition of "common," but they're plenty common enough.

Re: ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades, Studies Find

#30

Post by linohh »

X-Istence wrote: post #22

Each time a study comes out and people will link it to me (I've already had this linked to me three times) claiming that my ADHD medicine doesn't do anything and that it is worthless ... for me it isn't. Without my meds I wouldn't be able to concentrate, I wouldn't be able to get work done. At one point it got so bad at work that I was afraid I was going to get fired since I couldn't focus on any single task at hand…

What many people don't understand is the stress people with ADD are exposed to. Especially when they're smart.

Imagine having a porsche in your driveway, but for reasons you can only use the first gear. No matter how hard you push the pedal to the metal, you won't be as fast as you want the car to go. Plus if you keep going full throttle in the first gear eventually you'll break something.

Sounds depressing, doesn't it? And that's exactly what happens. People eventually get depressed. It won't go away by itself. When they go to the doctor, it's basically a game of chance. If the doctor is competent, he'll do the proper tests. Unfortunately most aren't. There are a lot of syndromes, illnesses, conditions that match the symptoms.

If the ADD patient is lucky, the correct diagnosis is made. If unlucky, he may be treated for borderline, depressions, etc. Antidepressants may worsen the condition, because they may increase motivation without increasing ability.

A well diagnosed and medicated ADD patient however will lose depression in almost no time.

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