ADHD and Chiropractic: Part 2
A couple of weeks ago I really got into the very contentious and controversial issue of ADHD. Many people have strong opinions on this subject – and I can’t blame them. It deals with our children. So let’s continue…….
The late Dr. Robert Mendelson, M.D., one of the most respected pediatricians in North America, and a self-proclaimed medical “heretic” felt that it could be our perception that may be at fault. “Is it the child who is hyperactive,” he asked, “or is it that the average earthling is no longer excited about life?” Interesting thought. And some authorities, Dr. Peter Breggin being one of them, feel that ADHD should be renamed to “DADD—Dad Attention Deficit Disorder.” The feeling is that a lack of parental attention and lack of discipline could be the cause. Hmmmmm….
To treat this strange, new “affliction,” children are most often placed on the drug Ritalin, categorized as a Class II narcotic. To bring this into perspective, Class I drugs are those substances that even a licensed physician can’t prescribe, eg: Heroin, LSD, etc. Class II are those substances that are also addictive but may have some limited medical value, eg: Ritalin, Cocaine, etc. Class III and IV are substances that have the potential for abuse, such as Valium, etc. I also need to add that there are other drugs such as Adderall that are used for ADHD and are placed in the same classification.
As parents, you may not realize that Ritalin is highly addictive and that is why it is placed under the same classification as cocaine. Ritalin is a psychotropic drug; it alters behavior and a child’s perception of the world. The purpose of this drug is to force the child to obey (It also has another, more sinister purpose, which will become all too clear as you read on). I feel it robs children of their individuality and I wonder if we are not turning our children into robots!
In his book, Talking Back to Ritalin, Dr. Peter Breggin notes that there is evidence Ritalin can cause permanent damage to a child’s brain and its function. “Pediatricians, parents, and teachers are
not aware of these hazards, because the ill effects of this drug have been ignored and suppressed, in order to encourage the sale of this drug.” Nice.
There have been very few conclusive research studies done on the long-term effects of Ritalin, however, Johnson and Stewart found that:
83% of children had trouble with frequent lying.
60% of children were still overactive and rebellious.
59% had contact with police.
52% were destructive.
34% threatened to kill their parents. (This is definitely a no-no!)
15% contemplated suicide.
Definitely not popular side effects!
Let’s look at some of the physiological effects of Ritalin: It causes,
1. Decreased blood flow to the brain, an effect recently also shown to be caused by cocaine. It is associated with impaired thinking ability and memory loss.
2. Disruption of growth hormone, leading to suppression of growth
3. Possible shrinkage (atrophy) or other permanent physical abnormalities in the brain.
4. Decreased ability to learn (which is one of the reasons for the drug in the first place).
Are there any side-effects? Plenty.
There are cases where a child has suddenly collapsed from a heart attack caused by long-term Ritalin use. This was the finding of the medical examiner who investigated the sudden death of a young Michigan boy. Ritalin, over time, causes changes in the small blood vessels that supply the heart muscles with blood and oxygen.
As you may have guessed, the conclusions of the medical examiner who arrived at these findings were hotly debated. Experts feel that Ritalin is very “safe” and that there is no need for concern because such cases are rare and statistically insignificant. They are indeed. However, it is very significant to the families who lost their children! Don’t you just love politics?
“Ritalin and other stimulants are currently prescribed to millions of children in the hope of improving their supposed hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity,” Dr. Breggin warns. He presents evidence that these drugs “work” by producing robotic or zombie-like behavior in children. This enforced docility and obedience can produce a few weeks of subdued behavior but has no positive effect on academic achievement and no positive long-term effects at all. Contrary to claims by drug advocates, giving Ritalin to a child does not help prevent future problems such as school failure or delinquency, he emphasizes.
Ritalin’s lack of effectiveness has been proven by hundreds of studies, but has not been revealed to doctors, teachers or parents. “Parents and teachers and even doctors have been badly misled by drug company marketing practices,” says Breggin. “Drug companies have targeted children as the new market.
How did this begin? It all began with Dr. Stephen Breuning who did the initial research on Ritalin. He was found to have “knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly engaged in misleading and deceptive practices in reporting research.” According to the National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH), Breuning did not conduct his research as described in his grant application; neither did he obtain the results he claimed in his reports.
He was also the first researcher to be convicted of research fraud, was sentenced to sixty days in prison, ordered to reimburse $11,352 to the University of Pittsburgh, where he worked, and placed on five years of probation. The U.S District Judge who sentenced Breuning said that he “will pay dearly for the rest of his life.” I am more concerned with the millions of our children’s lives his “research” has touched.
Breggin further said, “The public might be shocked to learn that the vast majority of studies for FDA approval of psychiatric drugs such as Ritalin show them to be of no value whatsoever. The drug company researchers are allowed to pick out two, often marginally or questionably successful studies, as proof that the drugs work.”
Health care advocates say that physicians are now routinely diagnosing children with ADHD. They find it easier to write a prescription for Ritalin and Prozac, than discuss diet or parenting skills with the child’s family. Why? The public has simply accepted this “quick fix” as the norm. This is called marketing. Only in North America! You may have guessed by now that there are billions of dollars at stake.
In order to promote sales of Ritalin, Ciba/Novartis has created a parent ‘support’ group called CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This group received funding from the drug manufacturer to increase public awareness of Ritalin as a treatment for ADHD, and to suppress any alternatives.
There are approximately 700 chapters of this organization across North America. CHADD conducts most meetings in schools, giving them an image of legitimacy and government sanction. It does not provide parents with information about ADHD mostly about the benefits of Ritalin. As well, it does not reveal its conflict of interest ties with Ciba/Novartis.
One of the functions of CHADD was to promote the concept that Ritalin should be available as a non-prescription drug. In other words, one could walk into a drug store and obtain it OTC. Imagine your ten-year-old buying narcotics at the corner store. As it is, however, kids “trade” and buy Ritalin from each other on a mini “black market” which seems to exist in most high schools and even the primary grades, much to the delight of Ciba/Novartis. There is something not right here.
A protest march organized recently by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, and led by Dr. Julian Whitaker MD., an alternative medicine guru, as well as Dr. Fred Baughman, a pediatric neurologist, officially announced that ADHD is a “mental disorder” propagated at the expense of school children by the drug manufacturer.
Dr. Baughman stated, “Twenty-five years of research has failed to validate ADHD...as a disease, or as anything wrong with the child. ADHD has no biologic or scientific validity whatsoever. It is a total fraud.”
Why is this happening? These drugs are being disguised and cleverly marketed to parents as something which will help make their children “better.” Parents are told that their child has a ‘chemical imbalance’ in the brain and needs these “chemical balancers” to be healthy. Dr. Fred Baughman, a noted child neurologist, is outraged at the psychiatry profession stating that they essentially work for the pharmaceutical industry to promote legal drug trafficking. He feels that the ADHD“diagnosis,” for example, is fraudulent, and only exists so that normal children can be placed on addictive psychotropic drugs for the sake of profit.
It was Hitler who once said, “if you tell a lie long enough, eventually it will be believed as truth, and the greater the lie, the more people will believe it.”
Dr. Baughman, wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Once children are labelled with ADHD they are no longer treated as normal. Once a psychotropic drug courses through their brain and body, they are, for the first time, physically, neurologically, and biologically abnormal.”
There must be a better way!
Chiropractic doctors have been successfully helping children labelled with ADHD for years. We often find that interference to the function of the nervous system, caused by a Vertebral Subluxation in the spine, is at the heart of the matter. These vertebral subluxations are often the result of a difficult birth or other trauma and interfere with normal nervous system function and signal transmission. This error then changes a child’s perception and, as a result, behavior.
Look at it this way: A Vertebral Subluxation is an irritant to the nervous system. It is similar to having a pebble in your shoe that you just can’t get rid of! And we’ve all experienced this. Chiropractic care is directed at correcting these subluxations thereby making the child’s nervous system function normally. It’s that simple. It is for this reason that it is absolutely imperative to check children for subluxations.
In other cases, this ADHD erratic behavior could be the result of parenting skills, diet, heavy metal toxicity, or simply just being a kid - let’s not forget that one. If your child has been labelled with ADHD, or is in the process of being labelled, my suggestion would be to talk with me without delay – I can help!
Here are some suggestions that you might find helpful as parents:
Have your children checked for subluxations.
Talk with your children; I find that open dialogue is a wonderful way of defusing a potentially explosive situation.
Spend time with your children.
Talk with your friends and support groups; you are not alone.
Do not allow your child to be labelled; often children and their parents tend to live up to that expectation.
Obtain as many opinions as needed; you’ll find a wide variety.
Get a hair analysis performed for toxic heavy metals as these can often cause altered behavior.
The following nutritional supplements are helpful. All of these have a calming effect on the nervous system.
Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin B3, B5,and B6, and Vitamin C.
Gamma-aminobutyric Acid (GABA)
Valerian root extract
And please have me check your children! Let’s start right here!
SOO…
If you are tired of being stuck in the traditional “health” care model and want another approach, contact us today! We can’t wait to welcome you into the Prime Chiropractic family!
And as always, if you have any questions, or would information on any health topic, it would be my pleasure to help you!
