Studies Show ADHD Drugs Not Effective in Long-Run

I recently did a video about ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and just two days later breaking news hit the media. I mean this thing is international. It is everywhere. There are headlines in every newspaper, magazine; I mean it is all over the Internet. So, I wanted to do a follow-up video on ADHD and tell you the news. If it has anything to do with you or anyone you know, you'll want to hear this.

I want to start off with reading through the headlines that are all over the newspapers. They’re from everywhere. Just let me read down the list.

Is Your Child's Brain Starving? This is a survival handbook for: • Parents and teachers working with children with ADD/ADHD, behavioural or learning difficulties • Anyone who suffers from hidden food intolerances or allergies • Those struggling with digestive disorders It presents practical information for: • Adults and children who want to improve their concentration, attention and mental alertness • Targeted nutrition to support optimal brain function • Identifying and resolving adverse food reactions.

“Peer calls for ADHD care review.”

“Attention Deficit drugs question.”

“Report: ADHD drugs may stunt growth, long-term effectiveness unknown.”

“Ritalin of no longer-term benefit, study finds.”

“Drugs for ADHD not the answer.”

“Controversy over effectiveness of ADHD treatment.”

“ADHD medication may stunt growth.”

“ADHD drugs have no long-term effects.”

“ADHD drugs not a solution for long-run treatment.”

“The truth about treatment for ADHD.”

“ADHD drugs under fire.”

“ADHD drugs stunt kid’s growth.”

“Doping the young: The ADHD dilemma.”

“Long-term use of Ritalin ineffective and my stunt children’s growth.”

What this news is all about is, is a study that was funded by NIH (The National Institute of Health) and it was a study that looked at 600 children since the early 1990s and it was a long-term study. The first year of data showed that ADHD drugs were effective, so this data spurs, causes, a big spike in prescription drugs for ADHD. But the study didn’t stop after one year. These 600 children that have been studied, have been on these drugs for 3 plus years now. And guess what the data shows now?

I gotta read this to you from this article, “Drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have no long-term effectiveness and could stunt your child’s growth and scientists have conceded that test results that prompted the parental craze to dough out [dispense] these drug to their kids have been exaggerated. The multi-modal study of children with ADHD study concluded that while drugs such as Ritalin work in the short term, there is no demonstrative improvement in children’s behavior after three years of medication.”

This next quote is from a professor from the University of Buffalo, Professor William Pelham. He said that, “I think that we have exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study. We thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes and this didn’t happen to be the case.” And this is really good. He points out why this article is so important, “The children had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth. They weren’t growing as much as other children, both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight.”

The second is that there were no beneficial effects. None.

This ADHD news is making big waves in the international community. For example, in Great Britain and Australia. In Great Britain there is a lady, her name is Baroness Greenfield and she has gone before Parliament and has requested an inquiry into the number of increases into ADHD diagnoses. This was what she said, “As well as assessing ADHD drugs themselves, we also need to find out urgently why there has been such a remarkable increase in the number of children being diagnosed with ADHD in the last 20 years.”

And this is a great question she asked, “Could the changes in our ways of living be contributing to this increase?” And she goes on to say, “The time is ripe for an inquiry for exploring the actual causes of ADHD, that goes beyond merely evaluating the pros and cons of Ritalin. Such an inquiry could consider the diverse factors ranging from diet to screen-based activity and how they may be changing the way both children and adults interact socially. Children living a fast paced, highly interactive, response mode type of experience and maybe as a result when they go to school, they find it harder to sit still.”

And then the National Institute of Clinical Excellence is Great Britain said that after all this media attention and all these news comes out that they’re going to revise their treatment for ADHD and they’re going to incorporate parental counseling, training for parents, as well as behavioral interventions.

The big news here is that ADHD drugs used long-term are not effective. But really, what do you expect? These mind altering drugs, taken long-term, eventually your body builds up a resistance and tolerance to them. So they’re not going to be effective in the long-term. It looks like medication for ADHD is not a good solution in the long-run.

If you’re a parent or a child and you know someone who is taking ADHD drugs, I’m not telling you to stop your medication. But you might want to pull this information off the Internet, go to your doctor and discuss, some therapies and alternative things that will work for you. I do have to warn you: When people go off caffeine, they can have significant withdrawal symptoms. But we’re not talking about caffeine here. We’re talking about Schedule 2 Narcotics, highly addictive substances. [ADHD drugs such as Ritalin]

So, if you’re gonna go off these drugs, make sure you’re under medication supervision because these withdrawal symptoms can be very, very substantial.

These [ADHD, Schedule II Narcotics] drugs have been controversial for years and earlier this year, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had a special meeting, a Committee Meeting, to discuss adverse advents and side effects of these ADHD drugs and the ways to warn those who are taking these drugs. I want to read you a part of this official FDA release:

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), today directed the manufacturers of all drug products approved for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to develop patient, medication guides to alert patients to possible cardiovascular risks of adverse psychiatric symptoms associated with the medicines and to advise them of precautions that can be taken. An FDA review of reports of serious cardiovascular adverse advents in patients taking [recommended] usual doses of ADHD products reports of a sudden death in patients underlying serious heart problems or defects. Reports of stroke and heart attack in adult with certain risk factors.”

Another FDA review of ADHD medication, “Revealed a slight increased risk for drug related psychiatric adverse advents such as hearing voices, becoming suspicious for no reason, becoming manic, even in patients who do not have previous psychiatric problems.

Patient medical guides are handouts given to patients, family and care givers, when a medicine is dispensed. The guides contain FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved patient information that could help prevent serious adverse advents. Patients being treated with ADHD products should read the information before taking the medication and talk to their doctors if they have any questions or concerns.”

Now, I went and pulled of a medication guide for Ritalin and this medication guide is going to vary from other ADHD drugs, but this is what you’re supposed to receive when you get a prescription for Ritalin at the Pharmacy. I want to read you the information in these little black boxes because these warnings, this is the information you really need to know if you’re taking these prescriptions. This is the official approved language by the FDA. It starts of by saying:

“What is the most important information I should know about Ritalin? The following has been reported with the use of Ritalin and other stimulant medicines:

#1: Heart related problems. That includes sudden death in patients who have heart problems or heart defects. Stroke and heart attack in adults and increased blood pressure and blood rates. Tell your doctor if you or your child have any heart problems, heart defects, high blood pressure or a family history of these problems. Your doctor should check your child carefully for heart problems before starting Ritalin. Your doctor should also check you or your child’s blood pressure and heart rate regularly during treatment with Ritalin.

The #2 types of problems that have been reported with the use of Ritalin [Ritalin a Schedule II drug is in the same class as cocaine] is mental psychiatric problems. And for all patients, this includes newer, worse behaviors and thought problems. New or worse bipolar illness. New or worse aggressive behavior or hostility. And then specifically in children and teenagers it says, new psychotic symptoms such as hearing voices, believing things that are not true, or suspicious or new manic symptoms.

Now, I know we didn’t about any alternative therapies and solutions for ADHD in this video but I did make a video just a few days ago called, “ADHD Treatment versus Possible Cures.” So watch that video if that’s what you’re looking for. There’s some great information in there.

This video is about showing the facts, the news is that long-term treatment using ADHD drugs is not effective. It’s not a good long-term solution for ADHD. So, there it is, there are the facts. Take care of yourself. Please rate this video and I’ll see you next time.

Thanks.

Insight

ADHD Drugs: Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Strattera…

What is a controlled (scheduled) drug?

A controlled (scheduled) drug is one whose use and distribution is tightly controlled because of its abuse potential or risk. Controlled drugs are rated in the order of their abuse risk and placed in Schedules by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The drugs with the highest abuse potential are placed in Schedule I, and those with the lowest abuse potential are in Schedule V. These schedules are commonly shown as C-I, C-II, C-III, C-IV, and C-V. Some examples of drugs in these Schedules are as follows:

• Schedule I — drugs with a high abuse risk. These drugs have NO safe, accepted medical use in the United States. Some examples are heroin, marijuana, LSD, PCP, and crack cocaine.

• Schedule II — drugs with a high abuse risk, but also have safe and accepted medical uses in the United States. These drugs can cause severe psychological or physical dependence. Schedule II drugs include certain narcotic, stimulant, and depressant drugs. Some examples are morphine, cocaine, oxycodone (Percodan®), methylphenidate (Ritalin®), and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine®).

• Schedule III, IV, or V — drugs with an abuse risk less than Schedule II. These drugs also have safe and accepted medical uses in the United States. Schedule III, IV, or V drugs include those containing smaller amounts of certain narcotic and non-narcotic drugs, anti-anxiety drugs, tranquilizers, sedatives, stimulants, and non-narcotic analgesics. Some examples are acetaminophen with codeine (Tylenol® No.3), paregoric, hydrocodone with acetaminophen (Vicodin®), diazepam (Valium®), alprazolam (Xanax®), propoxyphene (Darvon®), and pentazocine (Talwin®).

Ritalin is a Schedule II Drug, same as cocaine.