Overdiagnosed?

United States
March 19, 2008 7:37pm CST
Do you feel that doctors overdiagnose ADHD in children? My brother-in-law is only about 10 years old right now. His mother took him to the doctor and they said he had ADHD. I have looked ADHD and read all about it, but he acts nothing like that. Nobody else in the whole family believes he actually has it either. His mother on the other hand (no relation to me, my brother-in-law has a different mom than my husband) swears up and down he has it. She gives him pills to take for it, but as soon as she gives them to him, he walks in the bathroom and flushes it down the tolit. That or throws it in the trashcan when she is not looking. He is the calmest kid I have ever met, he never gets into anything or any kind of trouble. She just gets mad that when she tells him to do stuff he wont do it, but that is a whole different story as to why he does that to her.
2 responses
cher913
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
20 Mar 08
yes, it is very over diagnosed because i believe it starts with the schools. most teachers are over worked and under paid and they do not have time to deal with each student the way they probably want to, so if a child shows the least little bit of symptoms, they are sent to a dr... my daughter who is almost 15 was thought to be adhd by her second grade teacher...the teacher liked nice little girls that behaved and sat still, well she wasnt like that, she ran from the get go and was always busy but there was no way she was adhd... what i would do in your case is get another medical opinion!
magilives
@magilives (261)
• Australia
20 Mar 08
I don't believe in ADHD. From my experience with my son the parents need to first look at the child's diet before looking for a magic pill. My son greatly improved when I cut out a lot of the sugary foods in his diet. I also noticed a difference depending on whether he had food or drink that had certain preservatives and artificial colours and flavours in it. We try to keep the children's (and our own) diet as natural as possible and have no problems with our children.