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Re: ADD linked to Sleep Problems
 
UpstateNYer Views: 2,428
Published: 19 y
 
This is a reply to # 51,361

Re: ADD linked to Sleep Problems


Invariably statements like I made stimulate people to want to talk about their own family experiences, which is a great thing. Anecdotal stories (what we each have about our families) are interesting, and sometimes if a researcher hears enough of them, it stimulates research. Then sometimes they get the results they think they will, and sometimes they don't. Individual brain development can be very individualized. Physical development too. I read about a family in our area who fed their kids nothing but junk food--really nothing, these kids had never, ever tasted a piece of fresh fruit or a veggie--and all family members subsisted largely on chips, candy and soda (which they freely and proudly admitted). Some were overweight, some weren't; all were active and basically healthy. Go figure!

The trouble I have is that sometimes parents come to me asking how to help their very attention-disabled child (and it's a tragic thing, these kids have such a hard time learning and making and keeping relationships sometimes, it affects everything). When I ask about TV/computer habits, they often relate 6-8 hours a day of combined CRT exposure, not even including whatever is going on while sleeping. If I even suggest that this might be an issue (as the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests), usually they'll haul out their list of other kids, or other people's kids, who don't have a problem with it. But does that mean it isn't affecting THIS kid? No. And in fact, it doesn't mean anything. Anecdotes are just anecdotes. There will always be lifelong smokers and drinkers who live to 100, and people who eat nothing but red meat who are healthy and successful.

I don't push anyway. It's their kid, they asked what I thought, I made some suggestions. I always think drugs should be a last resort and would move into a log cabin before I'd put my kid on drugs, but sometimes that isn't practical. The thing with ADHD, either type, I think is to do SOMETHING. And if that something is drugs, I think it's a shame if that's the only thing, because like Depression meds, we don't really know what it does to the child's physiology long term, and there's no reason to believe that problems down the road won't cancel out the positive effects. BUt if that's all you can do, it might be best, because at least then the kid can learn and have friends, and they're often happier.
 

 
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