This news release really caught my attention. Here's a synopis:
The children in a German study of almost 2900 children and teenager founds that across the board, 5.2 percent of eczema patients had ADHD while only 3.4 percent of eczema-free youngsters did. A research letter will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Young people with atopic eczema were found to be 54 percent more likely to have an ADHD diagnosis than those without it. About 20 percent of children in Western nations are found to have atopic eczema by age 6.
"Atopic eczema is highly prevalent in children and it is known to gravely affect the quality of life," Schmitt and Romanos wrote in an email. "Therefore the assumption that it might be related to or influence the presence of psychiatric problems is not far-fetched."
Before the finding can be official, the link needs to be confirmed by more research. There also exists that eczema-related itching or sleep disturbances may exacerbate ADHD symptoms in some children. It's also possible that atopic eczema and ADHD could share an underlying cause.
Special diets have been proposed for treating ADHD, but the role of diet and food sensitivity in the condition has been highly controversial. Some research has linked ADHD to allergic conditions such as hay fever. Jan Buitelaar, M.D., Ph.D., of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in The Netherlands has coauthored a 2008 paper suggesting that ADHD may be an allergic condition in some patients.
"There is data that allergic mechanisms could alter brain neurotransmission and brain functioning," Buitelaar said. He also pointed out that children could develop "disruptive and restless behavior" as a result of the itchiness and pain caused by the skin condition.
Treatment for ADHD should be a combination of medication for ADHD and environmental changes that promote positive behavioral changes.
Two out of five studies (unnamed in the original article) have found some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may benefit ADHD patients.
Very interesting. Can't wait for some follow up studies.
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19 February 2009
12 February 2009
My Mind on Drugs - an ADHD essay by Dr. Jay S. Winston
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The excerpt below is from the blog article, "My Mind on Drugs," by guest author Dr. Jay. At the end of this article you will find his biography and a link to his own blog, "Yoga for Cynics." Some of you might know him as DrJay1966 on Blog Catalog.
"Am I saying they should be denied the medication that’s improved their lives? No, I’m not. I am, however, suggesting that such cases are a small subsection of the rapidly exploding total, and that, in many cases, the problem might be the educational system, not the kids.
"Allow me to provide a bit of autobiography. They tried to get me on Ritalin twice when I was growing up, as a way of dealing with my apparent inability to pay attention in math class (or for that matter, any class that failed to grab my interest, i.e. almost all of them). I refused and, fortunately, my parents didn’t push the matter. Was my poor attention span a problem? Yes. In fact, my grades were lousy throughout grade school, and I probably would've been held back more than once except that the teachers seemed to agree that I could’ve passed if I’d tried, and that forcing me to repeat would only make things worse for everybody involved.
"In the later years of high school, I did a bit better and, having taken a year off and written a personal essay describing my trials and tribulations and heroic overcoming of the same, I made it to college. It wasn’t until graduate school, though, that I really began to excel. I won’t say that I floated through two Master’s degrees and a PhD without a care, but I didn’t seem to have any more trouble than anybody else.
"Lectures rarely held my attention and, as always, I had to have music playing to study but, as courses were all discussion based, and the vast majority of work was self-directed, that wasn’t much of a problem. All in all, it was a whole hell of a lot easier than grade school.
"Do I sound like a learning-disabled person? Or might it be that I was struggling with an educational system which itself has a severe disability in terms of understanding that some minds work differently than others and allowing those minds room to flower? Alas, from what I hear, things have only gotten worse since I left high school, and any hope for change has been positively knee-capped by “No Child Left Behind.” Can there be any doubt that, as reliance on standardized testing continues to grow, the attention deficit epidemic and resulting drugging of America's youth will as well?"
Dr. Winston describes himself as "the kind of doctor who, in case of emergency, can explain Faulkner while you die."
Dr. Winston's blog: YOGA FOR CYNICS - "...thoughts on yoga, cynicism, things to do while drinking coffee, the great outdoors, writing, the great indoors, art, the not-so-great outdoors and indoors, drugs, music, politics, and biking, or not."
The excerpt below is from the blog article, "My Mind on Drugs," by guest author Dr. Jay. At the end of this article you will find his biography and a link to his own blog, "Yoga for Cynics." Some of you might know him as DrJay1966 on Blog Catalog.
"My Mind on Drugs"
by
Dr. Jay S. Winston
"In an earlier post I went on a bit of a rant about the tendency to prescribe drugs like Ritalin and Adderall to what would appear to be the growing legion of kids affected by ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). In the past, I’ve been called on this kind of remark, and told about people who were unable to read a page or sit down for half an hour before they were put on these drugs, and now they can.
"Am I saying they should be denied the medication that’s improved their lives? No, I’m not. I am, however, suggesting that such cases are a small subsection of the rapidly exploding total, and that, in many cases, the problem might be the educational system, not the kids.
"Allow me to provide a bit of autobiography. They tried to get me on Ritalin twice when I was growing up, as a way of dealing with my apparent inability to pay attention in math class (or for that matter, any class that failed to grab my interest, i.e. almost all of them). I refused and, fortunately, my parents didn’t push the matter. Was my poor attention span a problem? Yes. In fact, my grades were lousy throughout grade school, and I probably would've been held back more than once except that the teachers seemed to agree that I could’ve passed if I’d tried, and that forcing me to repeat would only make things worse for everybody involved.
"In the later years of high school, I did a bit better and, having taken a year off and written a personal essay describing my trials and tribulations and heroic overcoming of the same, I made it to college. It wasn’t until graduate school, though, that I really began to excel. I won’t say that I floated through two Master’s degrees and a PhD without a care, but I didn’t seem to have any more trouble than anybody else.
"Lectures rarely held my attention and, as always, I had to have music playing to study but, as courses were all discussion based, and the vast majority of work was self-directed, that wasn’t much of a problem. All in all, it was a whole hell of a lot easier than grade school.
"Do I sound like a learning-disabled person? Or might it be that I was struggling with an educational system which itself has a severe disability in terms of understanding that some minds work differently than others and allowing those minds room to flower? Alas, from what I hear, things have only gotten worse since I left high school, and any hope for change has been positively knee-capped by “No Child Left Behind.” Can there be any doubt that, as reliance on standardized testing continues to grow, the attention deficit epidemic and resulting drugging of America's youth will as well?"
Dr. Winston describes himself as "the kind of doctor who, in case of emergency, can explain Faulkner while you die."
Dr. Winston's blog: YOGA FOR CYNICS - "...thoughts on yoga, cynicism, things to do while drinking coffee, the great outdoors, writing, the great indoors, art, the not-so-great outdoors and indoors, drugs, music, politics, and biking, or not."
Visit Dr. Jay a.k.a. Drjay1966 on Blog Catalog.
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05 February 2009
ADHD Myths and Other Nonsense
H
Here is a list of myths, lies and untruths about ADHD:
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There is no such thing as ADD or ADHD. It is a fabricated plot by the drug companies to get our money.
ADHD is a term invented to describe children whose incompetent parents don't want to admit they are raising brats.
There is no such thing as a mental disorder. Psychiatry and psychology are pseudo sciences based on lies.
It is the teacher's fault for presenting information in a boring fashion. The teacher doesn't want to admit this and instead suggests that the child might have ADHD.
Children who are able to concentrate on things that they enjoy and are passionate about cannot possibly have ADHD.
ADHD medication is mind-control that turns children into zombies and drug addicts.
Medication is the only treatment options that works. There is nothing else you can do besides using drugs.
The only nation in the world that uses medication for ADHD is the USA.
.
Here is a list of myths, lies and untruths about ADHD:
.
There is no such thing as ADD or ADHD. It is a fabricated plot by the drug companies to get our money.
ADHD is a term invented to describe children whose incompetent parents don't want to admit they are raising brats.
There is no such thing as a mental disorder. Psychiatry and psychology are pseudo sciences based on lies.
It is the teacher's fault for presenting information in a boring fashion. The teacher doesn't want to admit this and instead suggests that the child might have ADHD.
Children who are able to concentrate on things that they enjoy and are passionate about cannot possibly have ADHD.
ADHD medication is mind-control that turns children into zombies and drug addicts.
Medication is the only treatment options that works. There is nothing else you can do besides using drugs.
The only nation in the world that uses medication for ADHD is the USA.
.
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