ABSTRACT: Since 1995 there has been an alarming upsurge of medicating children for any kind of emotional or behavioral problem with powerful psychotropic drugs which may not be necessary. CONTENT: I must confess, I've never been an advocate of taking medications to begin with, and I would rather go a more natural healing and nutritional path to help any illness. Thankfully, I'm a relatively healthy person, and therefore there has been no need for me to take medications to begin with. It's unfortunate however, that in our society, that those in the medical community are often all too eager to cram medications at us, for any aliment or health problem, be it medical or emotional/behavorial. We ourselves are often just as guilty in wanting to take a medication for just about anything, when in many cases, a simple, yet radical change in diet could be not only beneficial but the answer for many of our health problems.
Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in the recent upsurge, from the years beginning around 1995 to the present, of the medical community giving out medications to children. The kind of medications I'm talking about are those that are in the category of potent mind-altering, psychotropic drugs, such as Ritalin and Adderall which are the most prescribed for children suspected of having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder); or, for those children who may be demonstrating any signs of depression or autistic tendencies, the group of SSRI (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) medications, such as Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft are the most commonly prescribed. Often, children who are suspected of either autism or depression problems, may also be prescribed the same ADHD medications as well.
I'm not saying that there aren't verified cases of children who may indeed be suffering from any of the emotional or behavioral problems such as ADHD, depression or autism, but is the medical and pharmaceutical communities all too eager to jump the gun and prescribe what may be needless medications for even the slightest demonstration of emotional problems a child may have, and perhaps only making the situation worse?
In a very informative, and sometimes disturbing documentary video which can be viewed on Mercola.com and which was created by the health nutritionist expert, Gary Null, Mr Null points out how children are needlessly being prescribed strong psychotropic medications, with often very detrimental and harmful results. According to him, he relates in this video, that between six to seven million children are given prescription medications as part of their morning routine right along with their breakfast and vitamins, especially Ritalin, which is classified as an amphetamine. Is it any wonder then why children continue to have behavior problems that may actually worsen by the taking of such medications, and these children remain agitated, nervous, fidgety and classified as hyperactive? Is it any wonder why these medications which are supposed to be helping children with emotional or behavioral problems, are not only creating children who are more agitated and possibly violent, but also often more suicidal than children that don't take these medications?
Yes, maybe just maybe, these medications can help children that actually do have a one-hundred percent verified diagnosis of such conditions of emotional and behavioral problems, but to give such medications for any "symptom" that could suggest ADHD, depression or autism, is like giving a child or teenager a loaded gun...quite literally.
In the opening of the Gary Null video, "The Drugging of Our Children", one case that is shown of Corey Baadsgaard, who describes how one morning, he woke up, not feeling particularly well, and decided to sleep late and not attend school until his third period class. However, the next thing he remembers is waking up in a juvenile detention center, not having remembered anything from that first initial time he woke up to until waking up in that detention center. When he was asked by the staff of the center, if he knew why he was there, Corey confessed that he hadn't a clue. They proceeded to tell him that he had taken a gun to that third period class and was threatening his fellow students with that loaded gun. Why did this seemingly "all-American" honor student do this? It is then disclosed that he was hallucinating on the commonly prescribed SSRI medication Paxil, which is an anti-depressant medication given to people with depression, obsessive-compusive disorders and anxiety disorders.
In another segment of the video, it shows of yet another student, Eric Harris, who had been taken an anti-depressant for a full year, which caused him to have bizarre and violent fantasies. He too, went to his school with a loaded gun, holding students hostage and threatening to kill everyone there.
Yes, it can be argued and true that children nowadays have a lot more stress in growing up than children say twenty or more years ago. Also, while children may have had behavioral problems in the past, the terms ADHD or autism weren't even known then. Yet, nowadays any seeming emotional problem a child may demonstrate is almost automatically diagnosed as some kind of emotional problem and therefore the child or teenager must be medicated. But is this really true? The video seems to suggest that if parents, teachers or physicians notice that a child demonstrates the slightest case of being agitated, fidgety, or disruptive in class, the child is therefore assumed almost automatically as being ADHD. Or, in quite the opposite behavior pattern, if a child or teenager demonstrates symptoms of being withdrawn, quiet, or lost in his or her own world, then the child may be then labeled as autistic. All I can say is, if I were a child growing up now, no doubt I would have been classified as autistic, as I was extremely shy and withdrawn in my younger years, but of course, I wasn't, I was just simply very shy.
What Gary Null the nutritionist has often expressed, in any one of his near one-hundred books on nutrition and diet he has written, concerning the many problems any one of us can have, whether it'd be health or emotional wise is all due to a poor diet. This is and can especially be even more apparent for children and could be the actual cause of a child's demonstrating any number of behavioral problems. Not only has Mr. Null expressed his views about improper nutrition for a myriad of health or emotional problems, but other nutritionists as well, such as Andrew Weil have also expressed the issue of proper nutrition and diet for all around better physical and mental health issues. One of the prime and main culprit's that can trigger behavioral problems especially in children is the consumption of too many processed foods, especially any foods made from processed,white, bleached flour, and most certainly and particularly, too much sugar.
While we can all benefit from a more healthy diet no matter what our age is, children, especially in their formative years particularly need a more nutritious and well-balanced diet. Nowadays most parents both work, and paying attention to their children's dietary needs may suffer due mainly to lack of time. How much easier is it for a parent to give a child that bowl of that sugar-laden cereal, pack a quick lunch of maybe peanut butter and jelly with a sugary snack, and then have pizza, or a take-out dinner from a fast food restaurant? Instead of providing more healthy juices to drink, how many parents are guilty of giving their children soda; or instead of giving a child a healthier choice of giving them some fruit will give their child that cupcake, donut, or any other sweet treat, so in effect overdosing their child with more and more sugar which is known to create hyperactivity in children. While of course, some may argue that sugar has nothing to do with hyperactivity, we must remember we as a whole are consuming more sugar than we used to.
Now lets take a look at some of the specifics of these medications themselves. While Ritalin and Adderall are by no means the only medications prescribed for ADHD and on many occasion Autism, they are the most common. The others are Concerta, Cylert, Wellbutrin and Tenex. All are stimulant type drugs much in the same way amphetamines are, and all work on a child's or teenager's central nervous system. They are supposedly enable the child/teenager patient to have the ability to focus better and have a better attention span than those children who may have ADHD and do not take the medications. However, on the website created by Dr. Weathers (http://adhdhelp.org) he, as well as many in the medical profession have considered these medications as "Kiddie Cocaine." Also, all these medications, especially Ritalin can have serious side effects, such as toxic psychosis, psychotic episodes, drug dependence, and yes, can create hallucinations and delusions. (1)
Another common way the medical profession resorts to treating behavioral problems in children is to prescribe anti-depressants such as the most commonly prescribed Prozac. However, it is a well known fact, that anti-depressants can often trigger suicidal thinking not just in adults, but especially in children and are usually not given to children under a certain age, yet, Prozac has somehow been given the green light and go ahead to be given to young children and adolescents.(2)
I'm not saying that there are certified and verified cases of children with emotional problems such as ADHD or autism, but are we as a society all to eager and ready to "medicate" our children for any seemingly slight behavioral problem? Are we making our children worse by readily giving out such medications? Can this possibly be the reason, why we are hearing of more and more cases of children or teenagers going suddenly violent or psychotic, bringing loaded guns to school, and holding their fellow peers and teachers hostage, and in worse case scenarios, killing some of them?
What I find rather ironically amusing about all this, is that we often tell our children the dangers of taking drugs, such as Cocaine, Heroin, and Marijuana, just because they are illegal. But are we doing our children a service by giving them prescribed medications such as those for children who may or may not actually have ADHD or autism just because they show any kind of emotional or behavioral problem? Are we drugging our children? Nutritionist Gary Null and many in the medical profession seem to think so, and maybe after watching his lengthy video, you may come to this conclusion as well.
Main source of information, including the Gary Null documentary video:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/09/20/
the-tragic-consequences-of-drugging-our-children.aspx
Other Sources Used For This Article:
http://www.mercola.com/2002/apr/13/depression_drugs.htm
http://autism.about.com/od/treatmentoptions/f/drugsfaq.htm
Information Sources About Medications:
http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/drug_guide/Ritalin (1)
http://www.adhdhelp.org/ritalin.htm
http://www.drugs.com/adderall.html
http://add.about.com/cs/medications/f/stimulant4.htm
http://www.adhdhelp.org/concerta.htm
http://www.drugs.com/paxil.html
http://www.prozac.com/common_pages/safety_information.jsp(2)
Information On Gary Null and his books
http://www.garynull.com/
Some Facts About Too Much Sugar
http://www.mendosa.com/overload.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment