ADHD Drugs and Hallucinations

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An FDA study of 50 independent clinical trials has found a link between ADHD medications and hallucinations in children. About 2 percent of the children tested suffered from hallucinations, most of which were thoughts of creepy crawlies on the body. It appears that children under 10 years of age were more susceptible to this than were the older children. The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics.

This is why every psychiatrist and parent should carefully monitor a child when starting a new medication that affects the brain. Hopefully your child will be in the lucky 98 percent like my daughter was. If your child suffers any negative side affects, then it's time to contact the doctor right away and try something else.
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Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps and ADHD

As a toddler, little Michael Phelps was constantly talking, asking questions, and needing attention from other people. His preschool teachers complained that he was noisy during quiet time, wouldn't sit during circle time and bothered the other children.

During elementary school, Michael's teachers described him as "immature" and said he couldn't sit still, be quiet when required to, or stay focused on his classwork. Although he did well with physically active subjects like PE and science experiments, he did not like to read. His report card had D's, C's and B's.

Both of Phelps' sisters were swimmers. His mother decided to get him swimming, too, as an outlet for all that excess energy.

When Phelps was in 5th grade, his doctor (and fellow parent at Michael's sisters' swim meets) suggested he might have ADHD. He himself had witnessed Micheal running around at the meets "like a crazy person." Assessment forms were sent to the teachers and the results were no big surprise..."cant sit still, keep quiet or focus."

At age 9, Micheal started taking Ritalin which helped a little bit. His grades improved slightly but he continued to do minimal work, never going above and beyond.

By age 10 Michael was doing great in swimming. He ranked nationally for his age group in competitions. Swim meets offered Michael a way to focus on something he loved. ADHD children are very good at focusing on something they have a passion for. He started setting records.

After about 2 years of being on ADHD medication, Michael asked his mom if he could stop taking it because no one else took it and going to the school nurse for mid-days medication made him feel different than the other children. He promised his mother he could handle school without the medication.

Phelps graduated from Towson High School in Maryland and studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

For a listing of other famous people with ADHD, click on http://adhdandmore.blogspot.com/2009/01/famous-people-with-adhd.html#links

Ty Pennington and ADHD

By the time Ty Pennington hit elementary school, he was picking up desks and showing off to make the other children laugh, jumping off the roof at home and running into the street, unaware of cars. His teachers thought he was disruptive. His mother worried for his safety.

Pennington's mother, Yvonne, was studying to become a clinical psychologist and during some research for a psych class she came across studies on children who found focusing very challenging. She decided it was time to take her son to the doctor.

The doctor told Yvonne that her son had "minimal brain dysfuncion." She did not like this label and did not tell her son these words but she did do extensive research on minimal brain dysfunction. She learned about using a token system which rewards children for focusing and staying on task.

Ty was rewarded with drink coasters for a pre-set amount of time to stay focused. Once he saved up enough coasters/tokens he could trade them in for extra time doing something he enjoyed like building with his Erector Set, extra play time or TV time. Ty's teacher adopted this token system, too.

Slowly Ty's ability to stay on task improved but he still did the absolute minimum to get by.

Yvonne noticed that her son developed a strong passion for building. Gotta love that Erector Set! He even talked friends into helping him build a 3-story tree house in exchange for some of his comic books.

In high school Ty earned B's and C's but the lack of structure in college was unbearable. After his first year, Ty dropped out of Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

In the 1980's a new term emerged from the medical community - ADHD. Pennington's doctor prescribed stimulants which helped his ability to focus enough to retry college.

Ty graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta with honors.

Afterward graduation, Ty got odd jobs in construction, graphic design, modeling and acting. Then he landed a construction gig on the Learning Channel show, "Trading Spaces." Three years later he was offered the lead spot in a new show called "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

And the rest will be history!

For a list of other famous people with ADHD click on http://adhdandmore.blogspot.com/2009/01/famous-people-with-adhd.html#links