ADHD
The first response to a child’s inability to focus on projects or homework is too often medicine. If there were a reliable non-pharmaceutical solution to teach your child how to focus, would you try it?
Today, everyone has a smartphone in their pocket. You’re probably reading this article on it. And while having the world at your fingertips is convenient, our constant-connectedness comes at an expense. For many of us, it’s getting more difficult to concentrate in our overly-distracted world. A University of Texas study…
Good afternoon. Hopefully, your week is off to a good start. Most recently, babies exposed to marijuana in utero have a higher chance of being autistic. Also, the FDA continues to update its guidelines on hand sanitizer testing and issue recalls. Marijuana Linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder Not smoking marijuana…
When children are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, stimulant medications like Ritalin or Adderall are usually the first line of treatment. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines Monday upholding that central role of medications accompanied by behavioral therapy in ADHD treatment.
A new study suggests a higher risk of association between perinatal and prenatal acetaminophen exposure and childhood neurodevelopmental risk.
Abilify and Abilify MyCite are prescribed for bi-polar, depression, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia and more. For some it’s a life saver, but for others Abilify’s side effects can include diabetes, suicidal thoughts, sexual dysfunction and more. Read this 2-part series on the pros and cons of Abilify.
Where does ADHD come from? For some people it seems to be linked to their grandmother’s exposure to the drug DES.
The truth about attention-deficit meds and insomnia People with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) have a harder time falling asleep — in part, says Dr. Russell Ramsay, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program, because our minds won’t stop working. “There’s a delayed sleep phase onset,” he explains,…
An estimated 5-10% of American children have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. To date, treatments have been limited to cognitive behavioral therapy alone or in concert with drugs like Adderall and Ritalin. Last week the FDA approved the Monarch external Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation System, or eTNS for short, the first…
A commonly prescribed class of drugs used to treat ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) may slightly increase the risk of developing psychosis in teens and young adults. The stimulant medications in question, amphetamines, go by the brand names Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts) and Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine). Researchers examined health insurance claims on…
Many people with epilepsy also have ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). A new study has found that taking ADHD medications such as stimulants does not increase the risk for seizure – it may do the opposite. Swedish researchers examined data from more than 21,000 people with a history of seizures, 6,774…
Ritalin, Vyvanse, Adderall are often used for ADHD management. Are they safe? Are there alternatives?
Taking a commonly used antiepileptic drug while pregnant may increase the risk of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring. Danish researchers conducted an observational study of 913,000 children. The study looked at prenatal exposure to Depakote/Depakene (valproate), as well as other antiepileptic drugs. A total of 580 children were determined…
Children who are prescribed a popular ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) stimulant may be at risk of experiencing hallucinations or other types of psychotic events, according to a meta-analysis. Danish researchers examined 10 randomized controlled trials and 17 nonrandomized studies that included more than 77,000 participants looking at treatment of ADHD…
People with ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) that have taken stimulant medications for a long time also have a higher likelihood of being on an opioid for the long term. Researchers looked at a sample of more than 66,000 Medicaid enrollees diagnosed with ADHD. About one-third of those adults – 21,723…
Think the only way to deal with a child who has ADHD is with a stimulant? Think again. More parenting skills and other resources can help your child out more than you might think. What causes hyperactivity and ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder)? A combination of temperament, environment and parenting. The…
Attention deficit/hyperactivity drug (ADHD) medication use for women in their late 20s and early 30s jumped 700% between 2013 and 2015, which has raised concerns because there is little information about the drug’s safety before and during pregnancy. Overall, the number of women ages 15-44 who filled a prescription for an…
Women who use the popular over-the-counter analgesic Tylenol (acetaminophen) long-term during pregnancy may be putting their child at an increased risk of developing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Researchers in Norway looked at the births of about 113,000 children whose mothers took acetaminophen during pregnancy. Mothers who took the drug for…
A 6-question test purports to diagnose ADHD in adults. Can such a simple test screen for ADHD when many of its symptoms are associated with other ailments? I had a terrible time writing this blog today. While I was working, I was texting my sister, making a dentist appointment and…
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that are treated with stimulant drugs into adulthood not only face the risk of stunted growth, but also receive no benefit in terms of reducing the severity of symptoms. Results came from the Multimodal Treatment Study, a long-term follow-up study that included 515 patients with…
An increasing number of children are visiting their doctor for treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and along with it, the number of prescriptions for drugs, particularly stimulants, used to treat the condition. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2013, an average of…
Behavioral interventions are better than stimulant medication in helping children with ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) with completing homework. Researchers enrolled 75 children with ADHD who took part in an 8-week summer school session. The children ranged in age from 5 to 12 years old. The students were given either a…
Nootropics is an umbrella term that can refer to anything from a prescription drug, supplement or other substance that enhances cognition function, particularly memory. They are often referred to as “brain drugs” and are most often used by students, as well as business professionals and athletes. Of these many drugs…
Finding the right type and dose of ADHD meds for each child is trial and error. Luckily, some techniques can help lessen the side effects. While there is a relatively scant amount of research examining the benefits or the risks of stimulant medication -– the most common type of drug…
Taking stimulant medications to treat ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) beginning in childhood for an extended period of time does not increase a young person’s risk of developing a substance abuse problem later in life, according to a new study. While this new information will likely be a relief to many…
The number of children diagnosed with ADHD has skyrocketed over the last 30 years. But do more kids have ADHD, or are other factors in play? The number of children diagnosed with ADHD has skyrocketed since the early 2000s, and with it, so have prescriptions for powerful stimulant medications —…
Using a combination of methods is the key to managing ADHD without medications. I have spent many years using an integrative approach to treat children with ADHD, usually using medication only when non-pharmaceutical interventions are not successful. This begs the question: Why not just use medications, since they have been…
Children who take a common drug to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder may be at an increased risk for developing an irregular heartbeat. The drug, methylphenidate, is the active ingredient in Concerta, Daytrana and Ritalin. Children who took methylphenidate had a 61% increased risk of arrhythmias within the first 2 months of…
Are we overmedicating our youngest children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes we are. That startling answer comes from a brand new analysis of statistics that the public health agency conducted. The bottom line: Despite guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics…
With new studies piling up warning of risks of stimulants on kids, are the risks of ADHD meds worth the benefits? I’ve never hidden my concern about giving stimulant medicines to children, teens and even adults with ADHD. When my child was diagnosed ADHD, we took a long, considered view…
Young users of ADHD drugs who have a parent with a history of mental illness have a greater risk of psychotic side effects, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Nearly 2/3 of the 141 study subjects prescribed stimulant medications had a psychotic side effect. These side effects…
For some kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulant medications used to control symptoms may keep them from getting the sleep they need, a research review from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln confirms. About 3.5 million children who are diagnosed with ADHD are commonly-prescribed stimulant medications like Ritalin and Adderall. The analysis…
For Kevin, a bright, sociable 8th-grader with ADHD, the first week of school was rough. After stopping Adderall over the summer, he restarted it, knowing it helped him stay focused at school. But for the first few days he had trouble falling asleep — a common result when resuming stimulants….
Before we say goodbye to 2014, we’d like to ring in the new year with 5 important stories in case you missed them. These articles go to the heart of our mission to change the conversation about side effects. [metaslider id=5816] In the past year, we looked at long- and…
1. ‘We don’t perform trials over the course of 10 years to see what our [drug] decisions now mean for later.’ — 1 Drug or 2? – Parents See Risk But Also Hope, New York Times, November 15, 2014 Why not? And if we haven’t until now, what is the…
What’s the harm in using ADHD drugs to get a little help studying? If you actually don’t have ADHD, these stimulants can lead to nausea, headaches, high blood pressure, arrhythmia and other side effects, as I learned by reading Teresa Bergen’s great article ‘Smart Drugs’ on Campus: Too Easy to…
“Some morning exercise before beginning school can calm symptoms in kids with ADHD, researchers suggest, and offer an alternative to drug treatments. In a study, young children displaying signs of ADHD were increasingly attentive and showed less moody behavior after participating in regular, half-hour aerobic activity sessions before school, the…
How adults with Attention-Deficit Disorder can create a structure that supports them instead of tripping them up Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse don’t need to be a lifetime sentence. Many people find they can taper off and end their dependence on drugs once they’ve created a structure that helps them concentrate….
“More than 10,000 American toddlers 2 and 3 years old are being medicated for ADHD outside established pediatric guidelines.” (NYT) “Valid diagnosis of ADHD in a toddler is not supported by evidence,” according to Susanna Visser, DrPH, MS of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. What happened…
The number of Americans taking medications for ADHD jumped 36 percent from 2008 to 2012 and who do you think comprised the group with the largest spike? Middle-school boys? College kids? Nope, surprisingly, it was young women between the ages of 26 and 34, who experienced a whopping 86% increase…
Can sleep deprivation cause ADHD? I never linked the two, but Vatsal G. Thakkar did in a New York Times opinion piece. Thakkar is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine in New York and an ADHD sufferer. Or is he? Thakkar was misdiagnosed with ADHD. He…
A new study about the negative effect ADHD has in a life over the course of decades is getting a lot of press. Pediatrics Journal released it online on March 4, 2013. You may have seen articles on it in Forbes.com, PsychCentral.com, UPI.com, The Chicago Tribune and other places all with headlines…
A new study on ADHD medication from Johns Hopkins was reported in The Atlantic magazine, “Study: ADHD Symptoms Persist Despite Medication in 9 Out of 10 Kids.” It found that 160 out of 180 kids on ADHD medicine still exhibited ADHD symptoms 6 years later. The parents, when interviewed, claimed the…
This study was reported in The Medical Journal of Australia,1/22/13. It looked at both height and pubertal attainment (love the scientific term!) for boys between the ages of 7 to 15.99. As has been suspected in the past (the conclusion claims this is the first study to confirm) stimulant medicines used…
Alcobra Ltd (Tel Aviv) has filed with the SEC to raise money in the stock market to test Metadoxine SR (slow release) for use with ADHD sufferers. The money will allow Alcobra to run a Phase II/III trial in preparation for requesting FDA approval for use in ADHD. They intend…
This research was published in the January 2013 journal Pediatrics and sponsored by CHADD. It followed 551 teens with ADHD from ages 14-16 until they turned 37 years old. They found that the ADHD adults had twice as many health problems, more than twice as likely to have mental health issues,…
33 years after ADHD diagnosis, adults were behind their peers and struggling with aspects of ADHD. An article from Time Mag reported on a study about the long-term effect that ADHD has on the social and economic life of a person. This is a discouraging read. The study included 135…
Ritalin Gone Wrong(New York Times, January 28, 2012) is an OpEd piece in which Dr. Sroufe contends that attention-deficit drugs only increase concentration short term. He discusses the history of medical theory on ADHD from the 1960s to today. He notes that the very real possibility that ADHD is affected by experiences…
While certainly no one factor determines future drug abuse, many parents worry that using Ritalin or other ADHD drugs might lead to later drug abuse. An article carried in the online journal, Neuropsychopharmacology (catchy title), reported on a study attempting to answer this question. The authors of the study were…
In this Q&A from CNN Health(published Jan 10, 2010) Dr. Raison gives a lengthy, thoughtful answer to the question: “What is the long-term effect of Adderall on a child starting it at age 8?” The question goes on more specifically to the appetite suppressant issues with stimulants. Dr. Raisin partially…
NYU Child Mind Institute Professor sees no red flags in studies on long term use of ADHD meds. In this video, Dr. Rachel Klein notes that it’s difficult to isolate the effects of ADHD medicines long-term in the body. However, multiple studies have followed children into adolescence without an issue being…
