ADD ADHD Medication and the Danger of Ritalin for Children
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There are a lot of reports being circulated today about the dangers of giving our children Ritalin. Ritalin is one of the stimulant medications given to children to help treat, ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Other commonly used drugs include, Concerta, Adderall, Dexedrine, and Strattera. In the year 2005, Canada banned the use of Adderall XR because of its link to death in 20 patients. In 2005, the FDA sited 16 deaths from Concerta.
A number of parent groups have popped up calling for a ban on giving children drugs for ADHD. These cries are echoed by various natural treatment manufactures, who just so happen to have their own treatment for ADHD to sell to you. Reports of death from these medications long with all the other noise makes many parents uneasy, and quite understandably so. No one wants to put their child at risk. ADHD, though quite annoying, is not a life threatening condition.
Perhaps we should not be treating our ADHD children? Before we jump to any conclusions, we should look at some of the evidence.
Some ADHD Medication Statistics
186 children died from taking Ritalin between the years 1990 and 2000. This sounds like an extremely high number, but we should put these numbers in perspective.
There were 900,000 children on Ritalin in 1990. Now there are about 5 million. Therefore if you calculate the risk of death from taking Ritalin you will that for every 48,000 children who took Ritalin, no more that one child died from it. Probably the number is a lot less.
That is not to say that the other 47,999 children will not have side effects or other problems. It is just that death won't be one of them.
Granted, this is not an exact calculation. To determine the exact risk you would need to know how many children took Ritalin between 1990 and 2000. There is no data on this. The main point is that whatever the actual risk of death with Ritalin really is, the number is very very small.
In contrast, acetaminophen causes 42% of all cases of acute liver failure and accounts for 450 deaths annually. Every year there are 7600 deaths attributed to aspirin and similar drugs. The risk of a fatal reaction from penicillin is 1 in 50,000, three times the risk of death from Ritalin.
This is not to play down the danger of taking Ritalin. Even one preventable death is too much. However, one aspect you should remember when you hear about the dangers of taking Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, and similar medications is the other medications you use regularly may be much more dangerous.
Risk of Not Treating ADHD
But that is only one aspect of the problem. We need to consider the risk of not using Ritalin or other stimulant medications when treating ADHD.
In a 1999 study, 212 children were followed to determine how ADHD medication treatment affects the risk of future drug abuse. The results were quite astounding.
Children with ADHD who received medication for their condition had about the same rate of illicit drug use as their normal peers. However, ADHD children who did not receive medication had triple the rate of drug and alcohol abuse by the time they reached high school.
What is the risk of not treating ADHD? The three leading causes of death in young people are homicides, accidents, and suicide. Alcohol and drug abuse are common factors in all three. We also should not forget the academic, social, and behavioral problems that go along with untreated ADHD. These may not be fatal, but they can destroy your child's life. In addition, ADHD is associated with other conditions. The current recommendation for treating Oppositional Defiant Disorder when it appears with ADHD is to treat the ADHD with a stimulant in conjunction with trying to address the ODD problem.
No one advocates giving Ritalin, Concerta, or Adderall to a child who does not need the medication. It is probably true that these medications are given to children who do not have ADHD. However, if your child does have ADHD and Ritalin or some other medication is helping, then it is clear that the benefits of taking medication far outweigh the risk of death from the drug.
No one wants their child to take Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall or Strattera. However, if your child has ADHD, you should not be concerned that your child will be the one child out of 1.5 million who dies from the drug. You should be far more concerned about the danger of not treating your child's ADHD.
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I've found Ritalin to be very helpful in helping me to cope with adult ADD.
I think the greater problem with kids is not prescribing, but diagnosing ... a lot of kids seem to get diagnosed without thorough testing and evaluation.
hi, i'am a mom of 2, and as of this very moment im really confused. i've read a lot about the danger of ritalin, and the help it could give to the patients suffering from ADHD, ADD, my son is 6 yrs old, and has shown signs of ADHD. i really need help, im confused and anxious about drugging our son with ritalin, i know it could help us but im also scared that it could also lead my son to death ... please help me. thank you!
Shockingly a new study shows that there could potentially be a 600% increase in sudden death in children on these drugs. Yet you are not hearing a thing about it in the mainstream.
Meanwhile the FDA (did I mention it is their OWN study) is trying to downplay the significance of the findings calling their own study possibly flawed. Possibly? These are our CHILDREN we are are talking about here. Possibly is just not good enough.
Good quick Youtube on the subject (less than 2 minutes):
I have tried all of the above drugs on my child, and Ritalin is the safest and has been around the longest of any of these drugs. As you pointed out, there are more deaths from acetominaphen and other pain relief drugs out there than from 10 years of Ritalin usage. Do you feel that you are "drugging" yourself if you use acetominaphen????
The real problem here for parents, is the guilt factor. If you choose meds for your child and something bad happens, you are the one who will take the blame for it. This is not so with a personal choice. There is no one to blame if you make a choice for yourself, it's on you. Don't let fear keep you from using approved drugs for true diagnosed ADD and ADHD. Your life and the childs really can be better with the meds than without. Or, heck, find a natural way to deal with it, but do something.
My son's mother has put him on Ritalin recently. He does NOT need Ritalin. I don't think I have ever read, or even heard about someone over the age of 40 with ADHD. I say that to say this, the biggest problem with drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta is they are used without hesitation to treat a disorder that is not a disorder but lack of discipline and structure. How many families today have two parents that work and drop their kids off at daycare. There is no american family anymore and that is the problem with these kids. Not some made up fairy tale disorder that gives parents an excuse to dope up their kids so they are unable to function normally.
In my own personal experience, my son acts like a normal, healthy, high energy kid when he is with me. Of course a young child isn't going to be able to pay attention to something for a long period of time. They are kids!! When I pick my son up on weekends, Friday night is terrible. My son is like a walking zombie all night and through the first part of the next day. After that he is a happy child with tons of energy and spirit. I refuse to give him a drug that changes who he is in such a drastic way. Not to mention, one of the main warnings on the label basically says this is highly addictive! We are creating a generation of drugged up addicts, and they don't even have a choice!!
If someone were to come up to you and say, "Here take this and you won't have the drive to wipe your own rearend." Would you take it? That seems to be the basic effect of this drug on my child. The absolute tragedy of the situation is schools push, push, PUSH this on parents because they want easily pacified, obedient children.
I am 22 years old. My generation as a whole is an embarassment. Don't get me wrong, not everyone conforms to the norm, but the vast majority of people born since 1980 have some serious issues with responsibility. When was it that ADHD became mainstream?? Anyone else see a coincidence. When it becomes "easier" to give a child a pill to calm them down rather than spending time playing with them and wearing them out,what road do most americans take? The easiest solution is not always the best. I apologize for ranting like this. I was only going to say I don't recommend it to anyone.
it is horrible to use it mack s me sick
"Therefore if you calculate the risk of death from taking Ritalin you will that for every 48,000 children who took Ritalin, no more that one child died from it."
One???? One is still not zero! Even one lost child is enough!!!!!!
Ana-
One is not zero. But what people forget to consider is that what happens to kids who do not get treated. Drug abuse is triple that of children who get treated. There is also the damage to self esteem, the school and social problems, not to mention the much higher rate of car accidents and accidents in general.
All told, the risk of not treating a child who would benefit from the medication is far greater than the risk of the medication itself.
The problem is that kids are not properly diagnosed so that very often there is another treatment that would benefit the child more.
This is for Calvin, I hope that you log back on. I am 45 years old and have adhd. Sorry, there are a lot of adults that suffer, and when it is not treatedit leads to terrible anxiety, depression and OCD behavior. Life is MUCH MUCH better with the medicine. I can sit through a movie, listen completely to a conversation, sit fairly still during a long engagement (dinner, theater etc...) Please.. Better to treat as a child and learn the coping behaviors, makes for a better life later.
So much of this talk is just awful. My 13 yr old son died while taking concerta. The medicine caused his heart to stop. I found him dead on his bed. He was on 54 mg once a day. These drugs are terible.
I think its dangerous to give children such powerful drugs for conditions that have no obvious cause. We still don't know what causes ADD or ADHD. What if its food related?
Its also interesting how prescriptions for Ritalin went up 600% in five years.
The case that most children that are not treated with medication turn to self-medicating is an important issue to consider. However, I would venture to guess that those children that did not receive medications to treat their ADD also did not receive behavioral or dietary treatments either. There are several treatments to ADD/ADHD which include dietary changes, behavior/social/OT therapy and medications. I believe medications should be a "last resort treatment" rather than a "first-resort treatment."
I would be interested to see the parameters in which they determined which children were without all treatments as opposed to simply medication treatment and how that ultimately determined their adolescent/adult illicit drug usage.
my son is 9yrs old,he has been on ritalin for 3 weeks now and it has made such a big positive improvement with him,he will now sit still for more than 3 minutes and hes actually concentrating,before the ritalin he was abusive both physical and emotional,the most sleep he had was 3-4 hours a night.his school work was suffering because he couldnt concentrate long enough he repeated this year at school.It had nothing to do with disapline,we had taken him to places to learn how to deal with his anger,sleep and behavioural problems but nothing did help,we did the no sugar diet the no additives,no preservatives,tried organic,no dairy and didnt see any change what so ever.socially it was starting to affect him he didnt have alot of freinds,after seeing a peaditrician for more than a year i decided to give him a trial of ritalin and yes hes a better child he does sleep now, hes not tired the next day, hes coping so much better at school and on a daily basis he hasnt been aggressive he hasnt hurt himself or anyone else.He did say to me im happier mum and i feel good,
I'm a sophamore in high school who has ADHD. So does my dad and younger sister. I was diagnosed in second grade and have been on a few different medications. in third grade i started taking adderall and have been taking it ever since. It has helped me so much. My reading and math improved and when i got into middle school i was able to start taking honors and high ability classes. They still arent easy but i enjoy taking them. I owe a huge debt to this pill and am extremely glad that i am able to take it.
This article, I only can see commercial of medicine. How can it so sure about "should not worry you is that you child will be the one child in 45,000 who has a fatal reaction to the medication. You should be far more worried about the risk of not treating your child." I don't believe, the person actually have to treat his/her children to this medication, the person think same way as it said.
My 22 yr old son had taken Ritalin for 10 yrs before he became addicted. He was a college student doing very well before this highly addictive drug ruined his ability to wake up, go to sleep, and be happy. My son began abusing his Ritalin around 1998. He died in Nove 2009. We tried to get Sean help and he hated this curse he felt God had put on him. Sean loved God and tried to get help. He went to a rehab in Houston Memorial PaRC, but died 7 days after rehab. Ritalin or any of the drugs that damage the brain and alter your personality in a sad way. Read about the new study by Dr Kim Yong of the NIDA in New York and how he thinks Ritalin may be more addictive than Cocaine. Also see Dr Nora Volkow who is using brain imaging and has determined the section of the brain that is the yes no center becomes damaged and the addict can't make the right decision if he/she wanted too. Be careful and don't give you kids addictive drugs read the warnings. Don't count on the doctors to care.
22% of children with symptoms of ADHD have lead poisoning. If a child is exhibiting neurological challenges a heavy metal test should be done and detox if necessary.
Deborah-
What is the source of this statistic?
Akanemd, I just saw your question to my comment. the statistics are actually 21% not not 22% of lead toxicity being the cause of US children having ADHD. The source is
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.ac/10.1289/ehp.9478
Hi Deborah-
The article was not at this URL.
ADHD is rooted in anxiety. That is where the problem starts. If not rooted in sound and safe adult relationships that provide for them (on all levels emotional, psychological, behavioural and socail) children get anxious then move to further along the spectrum, if there are no changes in their life, to alarm. The drug and alcohol abuse found later in life is that child's best attempt to match the frazzled nerves associated with the anxiety. I know more certainly that alcohol helps to "numb them out", just like the prescribed drugs do.
I have a son who is 9 he takes concerta and in the 2 years he has been on it his behavior has improved within 1hour of taking it. So don't cause yourself unessary worry its more worrying not to treat as his development in all areas of his life are adversly affected without treatment and more likely to cause death by behaviour than drug use. ADHD is a real condition and if you really have a child with it you will understand why its important to medicate and treat.
I have a son who is 9 he takes concerta and in the 2 years he has been on it his behavior has improved within 1hour of taking it. So don't cause yourself unessary worry its more worrying not to treat as his development in all areas of his life are adversly affected without treatment and more likely to cause death by behaviour than drug use. ADHD is a real condition and if you really have a child with it you will understand why its important to medicate and treat.
My 7 year old daughter has just commenced on Ritalin. People who have no experience with ADHD don't understand the anguish and dilemma involved in the decision to medicate your child. My daughter is everything to me, and of course I want the very best for her. I have tried everything to help her, and it took a lot of convincing before I finally agreed to give the medication a try. The attitude that I am giving her drugs to make my life easier is despicable. I see her on the medication only a fraction of the time - she only takes it when she has to focus at school. She was friendless and miserable at school because she was in the other kids' faces all the time, and constantly in trouble for misbehaving. She kept telling me that she couldn't help it ... and she was right. Now she can play appropriately with the other children, and already I can see a marked improvement in her learning. She is so very happy. She told me she can now think of one thing at a time. Imagine if your whole life was like someone constantly switching channels on the the tv! For the first time ever, my beautiful girl is getting pleasure out of setting and achieving goals. Before, there was a very real danger of her running out in front of a car or doing something equally as dangerous because she just couldn't focus. She is safer now. The symptoms of ADHD are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and the medication allows the brain to balance itself. Would the naysayers honestly not medicate someone they loved most in the world if it meant giving that person the chance of a normal and happy life? For my daughter to be unlucky enough to have an adverse reaction to Ritalin would be an appalling tragedy, but for me, as a mother, not to give her the help she needs when that help is available would be inhumane.
My son has been prescribed Ritalin to calm him and school and help him concentrate as e has poor concentration, and attention span, he is 7 and in yr 3 but has the ability as a child in reception!! His doctor said it will help him concentrate and he wil improve in school, I know he's struggling a lot but the research iv done on Ritalin sounds shocking, I know my sons difficult but wouldn't want to change his behaviour with this drug, but yet I don't want him to be behind at school at all. Any advice would be great
This is not a life sentence. You are able to start him on the medication and see how he reacts. If you find that you do not like the effects you are able to stop. I am not aware of any dangers involving short term use of Ritalin.
I am 13 years old and was on Ritalin for about 2 years unroll recently. It helped me so much and u had absolutely no serious side affects. The highest my dose got was 40mg and it didn't "drug me up" it helped me feel do better in school and drastically improved my social life. I think that it is something to try... I recently stopped taking Ritalin because it stopped working and now take Adderal and I never got addicted to the Ritalin I stopped taking it without any problems at all. I also take anti-depressants and those however are addictive, but they help me so much even they are worth it. Take it from someone that under stands having mental struggles (I have ADHD, GAD, and Depression) its allways worth trying because it could mean a bright future! Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, my son has ODD not ADHD sorry if I confused u as I didn't put it in the last comment. is this medicine right for that condition? Lewis struggles to make friends is always in trouble with teachers and does silly things to kids that he thinks is cool, he is manageable but is always got an attitude and back answers, I have brought him up properly to respect but it's like he doesn't understand respect.
He is always in my face when he's bored and no matter how I discipline him he just laughs in my face, he is a difficult 7yr old but at this moment in time I am finding it hard to be close to him as it feels he always makes everyday difficult, he ha no emotion or regret or shows no remorse.
I love him so much and want to do the right thing for him but I'm not totally sure Ritalin is the answer but then I think it would make him so much more manageable.
Party Girl 3 years ago
Another great article, thanks for sharing