ADHD doesnt exist

I'm going to subscribe to genetic disposition to display adhd as a root, and follow it up with, it can be made worse or better by the nuturance or lack thereof, that the child receives.

putting food in front of a child in front of a tv in a home where parental interaction consists of Only that,
(ad the reaction to events caused by poor parenting)
is a great breeding ground for a future D.

Nature vs Nuture.
This is the payoff we will continue to enjoy as our tech world debt world consumes more and more of mommy and daddy, and each generation of mommy and daddy gets expotentially emotionally removed.

I've got some D's floating around in the circle of family I married into.
The potential to develop well was all but thrown away by "the parents".

The wife floats off into D town quite a bit, and when it gets too bad, I just nudge her back with a gentle verbally spoken "Hey D".
Until we actually figured out what was happening in that lovely grey matter behind that thin layer of skull cap,
things could get pretty "flying circus" in some of her conversations.

Between all the crap loaded into the "needed' vaccines kids get, and the way the family is in western society tech debt society, and the finishing touches that hollywood smears on it,
is it any wonder?

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
Meh, Sky's just in the mood to get a rise out of everybody, methinks.

Too bad that's not news.

I had both a true ADD child - - and a plain old hyper active grandchild who's school tried to force drugs on.

You know - - real experience.

reply to post by HappilyEverAfter

The wife floats off into D town quite a bit, and when it gets too bad, I just nudge her back with a gentle verbally spoken "Hey D". Until we actually figured out what was happening in that lovely grey matter behind that thin layer of skull cap, things could get pretty "flying circus" in some of her conversations.

I love that

said with true affection - thank you for making me smile today

:-)

Take away the silly Ritalin and rest of the nonsense medicine for "ADHD" "ADD" And get out and do something, use your hands, legs, create something Think about solutions or whatever, cause you people out there!
with ADD / ADHD are SPECIAL! yes its true you have a gift, that the top people dont like.. they want to dumb you down ,,,,, and they are doin a god damn god job.

reply to post by Spiramirabilis


Well it's true!
"D" can cause some serious troubles in relationships, and if youre not aware of the cause you can very easily get the persons intent wrong.
I'm sure every one and every situation is different but I noticed a direct connection to elevated stressful moments and also boredom.
She used to call it multitasking but that kind of went away when she actually figured out that nothing was really getting done or being "tasked" or accomplished except confusing circles of wish lists and suggestions and she ended up tired with a headache and frustrated nothing was done.
I started writing down for her everything she would say she was going to do with her day and after about a half a dozen lists that needed 80 hours and not 6 or even 8, along with the partial ideas, she started writing her own and they became manageable and real and alot more got done and she felt successful and thus happier.
Some of the conversations are still "eehh" entertaining and sometimes overwhelming but it's better than anything on television,
and yes her youngest one has it as well.
Believe it or not, reducing alot of it to paper, mapping out the day, really helped.
(glad I gave you a giggle)

it is diagnosed improperly a lot of the time. it is basically used as a means to control kids who are a little more of a handful than others. but to say it doesn't exist is retarded i know it exists for a fact.

Coming from someone who had ADHD really bad as a kid and still have the ADD part as an adult, it's more than just not listening to the teacher or wanting to play. It is the involuntary "tuning out" from whatever you are doing to focus on something completely irrelevant, then forgetting what you were doing in the first place. Even now, I could be having a conversation with someone in which the topic is something I am very interested in and then suddenly, I am thinking about something I read on the internet two weeks ago that has nothing to do with the conversation. I'm thinking about two weeks ago so deeply that I can no longer hear what the person I was talking to is saying even though they are right next to me. I then have to say something like "Uh sorry, what did you say?" This is completely involuntary and quite frustrating at times.

As a child, it makes following directions or completing simple tasks difficult because sometimes you simply forget what the directions were because your brain is going bonkers. It's like system overload to the point of your mind having to "reset" itself to clear it out. It is the shortest of short attention spans where intense interest switches from one thing to the next in the blink of an eye and getting bored with something you were intensely interested in five seconds ago is way too easy. This still happens to me as an adult though not as frequently and it's a little easier to manage.

However, I think ADD does have some benefits and I do agree that kids are over-medicated not only with ADHD, but in general, but to say it simply doesn't exist is an incorrect assessment.

reply to post by HappilyEverAfter


for everything you just said - a thousand stars

for most people this is a matter of opinion - it's not about real life experience

sadly, many people will go untreated because they're afraid of the stigma associated with this

and who doesn't hate stigma? :-)

people tend to want to label it an illness - pro or con

it's not illness - it's a difference in the way individuals function - that's all

[edit on 8/21/2010 by Spiramirabilis]

It may exist, but no where near the numbers reported and might as well be said to not exist at all.

It is also the feminisation (sp?) of boys. Sorry folks, boys are different from girls! You want a boy to be a girl, put him in a dress, sorry still a boy. Drug him, now that's a different story.

My IQ is only in the 99th percentile. I would have been given massive doses Ritalin when I was a kid had it been invented then. Because I never paid attention or join in the games they played. I still live in my own world and ignore most other people. But I'm just fine ... ohh look at the bunny!



[edit on 8/21/2010 by wookiee]

I relate to where Skyfloating is coming from. I don't necessarily agree entirely, primarily because I'm wary of all-encompassing statements, such as "ADHD doesn't exist."

I think the propensity toward measuring such a condition is vastly overrated, however I also believe that it occurs.

At age seven, I was diagnosed as having ADHD. They called it something else then -- I don't really recall the exact term -- and Ritilin -- Methylphenidate -- was prescribed. I was forced to take it, and take it I did. My Dad, from the start, had decided that I simply didn't have enough outlets for my energies, and declared that we'd both add another hour to our nightly activities.

At that time, Dad and I were building Jack fences across a steep hill, and down in the valley below. We drug the rails with two horses, and set the jacks and rail by hand with spikes drived into the rails.

Dad declared that we'd work from the time he got home to 7:00 p.m., have dinner and then work another hour or so.

I tried so damned hard to sit still in class. It drove me crazy(er) and I was reported on several occassions to the principal. I felt like what the teacher was saying was OBvious, and that it was mundane and boring and worthless. I had "crazy legs". I Can't Stop My Leg - Robert Klein

So, the extra work made me more tired, and I went to bed with less resistance, but it didn't solve the "problem", apparently. I was given Ritialin and my Dad stopped me from having to take it after two weeks of taking it because he said I'd turned into a spud (that was the Idahoan term for zombie )

I don't recall how it all resolved. My memory is of being out of school for two weeks, and that time rubbed up against deer hunt, in which we were allowed to be out of school for a week. Right after that, I went back to school, and I don't recall so much in the way of school problems. Dad continued to drive us both after school to build jackfences. We laid nearly six miles of the damn things that year.

I would not attempt to pose my situation as being comparative toward others diagnosed with ADHD, because I really don't know how it compares, or even is such a thing is worthy of pondering. I know this though......... My father intuitively did the right thing, and the situation ironed itself out.

I think that it's possible that kids (and adults!) today perhaps don't have the physical outlets available to exORcise their energies. Physicians prescribe drugs for every imaginable condition. To me, it's a shotgun approach, sometimes -- a treating of probabilities.

I believe at the very least, that some diagnosed with ADHD could be treated with non-med therapy. I know that it worked for me.

Of course........................ I still have "crazy legs". So it goes.

I don't know if ADHD/ADD exist, or not. I used to think it was absolute BS. On the other hand, my brother is diagnosed, with one of the two. He is very talented musically, and very creative. He spent a lot of time writing screenplays and music for several instruments for several albums. He has accomplished alot. In terms of school, not so much.

After having many conversations with him, sometimes, in times of good health, sometimes in times of bad health. What I've come to understand, is that occasionally, he says, he appears to go on auto-pilot, and that he doesn't really pay attention to what he's actually doing, although he knows where such auto-pilot route will end up. He doesn't take meds anymore, because they aren't good, for him, or anyone. They are highly addictive, and cause many other mental illnesses.

I think there is something to the diagnosis, but I don't think it has anything to do with attention defeceit. They focus on things that "non" diagnosed don't. Parenting plays a role, I'd say, but perhaps, it also has to do with the many decades of bad environmental conditions we have been creating for ourselves, or the artificial food products.

I think Skyfloating is essentially correct, in the sense that, mental illnesses, are cases in which people who don't have such diagnosis, cannot comprehend, so they label them a threat, via the mental diagnosis.

Originally posted by Vicodin
Take away the silly Ritalin and rest of the nonsense medicine for "ADHD" "ADD" And get out and do something, use your hands, legs, create something Think about solutions or whatever, cause you people out there!
with ADD / ADHD are SPECIAL! yes its true you have a gift, that the top people dont like.. they want to dumb you down ,,,,, and they are doin a god damn god job.

I have to say that many people with adhd/add are extremely creative people, and some have learned to use their adhd/add to their creative benefit.

I channel mine into writing.

I have about a hundred thousand unfinished stories in my mind/started and forgotten.

I have thousands of song lyrics I have started....then abandoned.

It is as if the BURST or (muse) just comes ALL at once then leaves.

I have made a goal of writing every day, and completing all the short stories I begin this year.

I have been posting them on the short story forum, just to prove to myself I CAN follow something from start to end, and be Successful.

Failure is often times a sad reality for undiagnosed add/adhd people, and they are not failures at all. They just do not know how to cope with the add/adhd.

I work twice as hard as my non add coworkers, yet sometimes all they see is me going from place to place with my head cut off and assume I do not know what I am doing or I am lazy (do you know how hard it is trying to keep an adhd mind organized without medication?). I always have a note in my hand, even if it is for two items. I am prone to forgetting (and getting distracted) that easily. (and no it isnt old age, I have been this way since I was a kid).

It is not an excuse, I am not lazy I am not dumb.

I do just fine with my coping techniques no matter how weird I look doing my thing.

I think this has been an educational thread. Thanks to all who shared personal stories.

reply to post by argentus

I would not attempt to pose my situation as being comparative toward others diagnosed with ADHD, because I really don't know how it compares, or even is such a thing is worthy of pondering.

I think that's very balanced - fair

one of the problems I have with this subject is that even medical professionals seem to want to lump everything together in one category - when it's probably more a situation of a thousand shades of grey being created by many different circumstances

so it is most likely over-diagnosed and over-treated

but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist - which means some people might benefit from treatment

I don't (necessarily) think medication is the way to go - it's more a case of learning how to do things the way you need to be able to do them

there are ways to work around yourself :-)

I must disagree wth you there mister moderator. ADHD and ADD are real mental disorders. I suffer from ADHD and ODD. I have to live with the effects it has on my work, family, and a whole list of other things. It is very ignorant to say that something just doesnt exist when you clearly have not done enough research on this issue to have a reasonable basis for your conclusion. I will say that yes it is overdiagnosed and also some cases have been caused from sugar(watch king of the hill lol episodes name is Peggy's Turtle Song) It bothers me to have fought for so long to have it seen as a mental disorder and in some cases a disability, for someone whom comes out based on little to no evidence about his theory and bashes what so many have fought, tested, and researched for. You sir need to do your research about this issue and come back after you fully understand this topic and then discuss it. Otherwise go post about something you have knowledge about or be a good litle moderator and spend your time patrolling the forums.

Thank you for listening.

reply to post by argentus


I too have the crazy legs! I nearly always have a leg a bouncing.

I googled it one night and was so surprised to see others with the compulsive leg bouncing thing.

It is actually a safe and good form of release of those inner energies us add'ers possess in abundance.

So it may be annoying but if your kid leg bounces, let them be!! It is a soothing good thing.

reply to post by argentus

I tried so damned hard to sit still in class. It drove me crazy(er) and I was reported on several occassions to the principal. I felt like what the teacher was saying was OBvious, and that it was mundane and boring and worthless. I had "crazy legs"

This is pretty accurate. I'd get so bored that I couldn't stand it anymore and would start pencil tapping, disrupting the class or whatever to amuse myself. It seems that most kids/adults with ADD are very intelligent particularly with creativity and problem solving as my IQ is in the top four percent in those areas. Either you are hyper-stimulated or you're bored.

I think that public schools don't know how to handle kids who are smarter than the rest and so, enter ritilin to dumb them down to make them more on par with the other kids and make the curriculum bearable. It's like you are bringing the kid down to the level of the school instead of bringing the level of the school up to the kid. Ritilin gave me problems sleeping and that side effect stays with me to this day.

hot baked tater
"It is as if the BURST or (muse) just comes ALL at once then leaves."

Spot on there.

[edit on 21-8-2010 by Kratos1220]

reply to post by hotbakedtater

I have to say that many people with adhd/add are extremely creative people, and some have learned to use their adhd/add to their creative benefit.

true that :-)

the way I see it - it's not a disorder. It really is a difference in the way people function

it's labeled a problem only because the condition doesn't always allow the individual to perform the way they're expected to perform

that's all

it ends up being about conformity in a way

but the truth is - if you can't conform or perform as expected you're going to come up short somewhere, sometime

the majority decides what normal is



[edit on 8/21/2010 by Spiramirabilis]

reply to post by Spiramirabilis


the majority decides what normal is.



True Indeed.

you can see that easily, most of us are to scared to form our own opinions...

When I was a kid, if you were obnoxious, disrupted the classroom, showed no respect to elders, it wasn't called ADHD, it was called being a spoiled brat.

Kids these days have it so easy, they can literally kick their teacher in the balls and if the teacher even looks at them wrong mommy and daddy sue the school. If mommy and daddy try to discipline the kid, the kid gets emancipated and becomes a groupie on the Lady Gaga tour.

I'm sure there are genuine ADHD cases, but most of the kids that I have seen are in my opinion using it as a crutch for just being s snotty spoiled brat, and/or their parents didn't do a proper job raising them and it's easier to blame a "disease" for their kids being the way they are.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by whaaa
Let them stay in the Fog and not learn when they could be helped.

If they improve, thats fine. But if "improvement" means they shut up and sit down and let themselves be indoctrinated, thats no improvement.

Gawd, I wish there were more teachers like you! "Is there any medication for that?" It's unbelievable how many children are on medication. I think patience and caring go along way.