How would you respond to teachers, family members or friends who expect you to be able to “manage” your child? Does your busy child simply have ants in his pants or does he have ADHD? Or more importantly, when do you seek medical intervention?

It is common knowledge in some circles that if you need your child to be calm on an aeroplane, a small dose of a certain painkiller will have your little tyke in a sweet sleep in no time! No more arguing, no more hassle, no more yelling… But, are we as parents sometimes too quick to medicate our kids simply to make life easier? In some cases ADHD medication is used in the same way. Some kids are misdiagnosed as having an attention disorder and put on psychotropic medications which affect brain chemicals related to mood and behaviour.

So, when is it necessary to medicate? There is a fine line between ordinary bad behaviour and pathology, which intensifies the controversy surrounding this topic. Behavioural problems that might appear to be serious mental disorders are frequently related to improper diet, emotional upset or an exposure to certain toxins. These underlying issues should be resolved before suppressing symptoms with potentially dangerous medications.

Millions of kids are taking mind-altering medications before they are even old enough to attend school. Remember, there is no blood test or genetic marker for mental illness. Doctors rely on their own assessment of a child’s behaviour – and the parent’s reporting of it – to make the call. Therefore, make sure to get a diagnosis from a physician or mental health professional with expertise in ADHD and get a second opinion if you have any doubts. Even if your child meets the criteria for ADHD, he or she might not need a drug. It could be wise to look into behavioural therapy as well as natural alternatives before resorting to the big guns!

That being said, many kids benefit from medication and are better able to succeed in school, in a social setting and with their families when they are prescribed appropriate medicine. As a parent you would not deny your child insulin if he or she suffered from diabetes, so it makes sense that parents would want to work with doctors to find appropriate medications for children suffering from an attention disorder.

Here are some of the pros and cons for parents who see a child struggling with ADHD, but who worry about tampering with brain chemistry:

Pros:

• Medications are well-tolerated, enter and exit the body quickly, and are not addictive in the doses prescribed for ADHD.
• These stimulants can be effective even if taken only occasionally.
• May reduce some of the longer-term problems associated with untreated ADHD, such as depression and substance abuse.

Cons:

• Side effects range from mild (and common) – such as irritability, sleep disruption, drowsiness and loss of appetite to serious (but rare) – such as heart and liver problems and exacerbation of mental health issues.
• Clinicians disagree on whether people build up a resistance for stimulants.
• No drug has proved effective for executive function problems.
• Effects are short-term, in that although symptoms can be relieved, nothing can cure ADHD.

Having a child take medication should not be seen as a simple fix. Balancing the effectiveness of the drugs together with the side-effects, should constantly be monitored by parents as well as by trained health-care professionals.

Source: www.treatmentsolutions.com, www.consumerreporting.org, www.psychologytoday.com, www.buckeyeranch.org, www.consumerreports.org, articles.mercola.com, www.parenting.com, www.health24.com, health.heraldtribune.com