The death of a beloved child means that the future is a thing of the past.-- Peter De Vries (1910-1993), from The Blood of the Lamb (1961)
So... not only are ADHD drugs ineffective, they can also kill your child. When even the FDA says so, you know it's serious. And yet the doctors and authorities who undoubtedly have many fingers in the pie urge you to keep your child drugged up in spite of the horrendous risks. Hypocritical much?
Perhaps you might want to move to Canada, where the government has enough morals to keep Big Pharma from pushing potentially fatal drugs to children. Alternately, why not go for safer and more effective alternatives instead of drugging him for life, or worse, taking his life?
Study Shows Possible Link Between Deaths and ADHD Drugs
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post
June 16, 2009
Children taking stimulant drugs such as Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are several times as likely to suffer sudden, unexplained death as children who are not taking such drugs, according to a study published yesterday that was funded by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
While the numbers involved in the study were very small and researchers stopped short of suggesting a cause and effect, the study is the first to rigorously demonstrate a rare but worrisome connection between ADHD drugs and sudden death among children. In doing so, the research adds to the evolving puzzle parents and doctors face in deciding whether to treat children with medication.
Doctors have speculated about such a connection in the past because stimulants increase heart rate and have other cardiovascular effects.
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FDA urges caution in weighing risks of ADHD drugs
By Matthew Perrone
The Associated Press
June 15, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Federal health regulators are urging parents to keep their children on attention deficit drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, despite new evidence from a government-backed study that the stimulants can increase the risk of sudden death.
Published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study suggests a link between use of the stimulant drugs and sudden death in children and adolescents. The drugs, used to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, already carry warnings about risks of heart attack and stroke in children with underlying heart conditions.
Healthy children taking the medications were six to seven times more likely to die suddenly for unexplained reasons than those not taking the drugs, according to the study from the National Institute of Mental Health.
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Cardiac Screening Recommended for Kids Taking Stimulants for ADHD
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
April 21, 2008
Children with underlying heart disease who take stimulants for ADHD appear to face an increased risk for sudden cardiac arrest, the American Heart Association (AHA) noted. This risk association is particularly troublesome for young ADHD patients, because heart disease often goes undiagnosed in children and may be present without noticeable symptoms.
The AHA also pointed to a number of studies that suggest that between 33 percent and 42 percent of pediatric heart patients also have ADHD.
FDA data collected for the period 1999 through 2004 revealed that 19 children following an ADHD prescription regimen had died suddenly, while 26 experienced heart complications such as stroke, heart attack, and/or heart palpitations.
Vetter noted that, in 2005, the Canadian equivalent of the FDA -- Health Canada -- decided to place a ban on Adderall, an amphetamine-based ADHD medication designed for kids over the age of 3. The Canadian decision was actually based on a review of FDA records concerning 12 reported deaths among American children taking ADHD drugs.
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See also:
• ADHD drugs - Long-term benefits: None, Long-term risks: Plenty
• Does your child really have ADHD?
• Biomedical Treatment for ADHD
• Causes and Treatments for ADHD