ADHD & ADD, are they over diognosed?

I think ADHD and ADD is VERY over diognosed! Same with bipolar! I think kids are naturally hyper active, and you must watch all the sugars they eat! After a few years they will wind down and be normal... Also i agree with turning off the electronics and making them do out door activities! Take them to the park make them sign up for sports at school ect. im not saying ban electronics totaly but limit them

well those diseases are not treatable really..it cannot be totally healed by medicines..medicines can only help those children to have longer span of attention

Well, I have heard the rumors of Doctors over diagnosing children with ADD or ADHD, but I don't agree. My daughter was diagnosed ADD last year and within the first month of taking her med. her grades shot up. It was a complete turn around for her. On the days I forget to give her, her pill, it shows. Her work comes home incomplete if she attempts to do it at all. She is a model student in behavior and each year the upper grade teachers fight to have her. So I can say for a fact my child was not diagnosed wrong. I think there are just too many critics about a condition many just don’t understand. ADD/ADHD is not a condition with straight across the board symptoms. Each child can have certain degree of it. There is no blood test to show it’s there. The Doctor makes his diagnoses mostly off what the parent tells him. If it’s a school aged child, then it’s the parent and teacher who tells the Doctor what symptoms they are seeing. When one looks at this, how can we blame the Doctors? If little Johnny is having problems keeping attention and setting still, enough that the parent is bringing him to the doctor, what does one expect to the diagnose to be? To medicate is always the parents choice as well. We actually picked what med my daughter would take.

You couldn't be more correct in your summary! Let me add(sic) there is no such thing as ADHD or ADD. Those terms were invented so as to give parents something to grasp onto and for the pharmaceutical companies to make money. I will not go so far as to say it's bad parenting but it starts in the home. It has a lot to do with the dynamics of the family. How do the parents get along. How do siblings get along. How do parents interact with their children. How do they reward them for good behavior. How do they discipline them for bad behavior. With each behavior, are parents consistent. Diet has much to do with how a child behaves. Feed a child mostly processed foods and you're looking for trouble. By that I mean, can foods, frozen foods, boxed foods, fast foods, etc. If you dine out, eat a restaurant that serves well balanced meals, otherwise cooked or cold meals at home. A child's daily routine is a big factor on the level of behavior you'll receive. If, as you stated, a child is sedentary none of the natural energy a child has will be released. A child has to have physical activity and plenty of it, to grow properly and to discover what feeling tired is. Please keep your child off any behavioral medications. There is nothing wrong with him that more attention, excersize and discipline wouldn't cure.

I like to think that ADD and ADHD are overly diagnosed. I think its odd with the surge of new technology comes all these problems. You never heard of anything like this before. Children, I'm not saying yours, but are usually but in front of a computer or video game to keep themselves occupied. They then are sent to school with no rapid movements, just a slow talking teacher, to occupy their time. Please tell me, who isin't going to get antsy and bored? I think myself though, I tend to have ADD because I can hardly sit still and have constant random thinking cycles. It's a little weird

My son was diagnosed with inattentive ADD about a year ago. He was only 7 and we didn't feel comfortable putting him on meds. I took a month or so to do some research and decided to go see a homeopathic doctor. He recommended some drastic dietary changes. His plan was a little too extreme and unrealistic for a child, but we decided to alter it to where we thought it was more realistic. We cut way back on high fructose and regular corn syrup. We eliminated things like Splenda, aspertame and food dyes as much as possible. Within a few weeks time, we noticed he was doing better. His moodiness was gone, he wasn't having temper issues. He was still somewhat inattentive at school, but had made improvement. Over the summer we slacked off and didn't follow the diet too much. We noticed behavioral changes and got back on it before school started. He is in second grade now and we have yet to get a phone call from the teacher with any problems. She says he is a great kid and is doing fantastic. We think it's partially the diet and partially that he has matured. As for over-diagnosis---I do believe that many kids are diagnosed who don't have it. I don't think mine was incorrectly diagnosed. But I don't believe meds would have been a good alternative for him. I think parents should limit the amount of time their children watch TV or play video games. That would help. Our son doesn't watch any TV on weekdays/nights. Just the weekends. And even then we are pretty strict--maybe an hour in the morning and/or afternoon. He has a Gameboy, but isn't allowed to keep it in his room. If he wants to play it, he has to read first. If he reads for 15 minutes, he can play Gameboy for 15 minutes. It's worked out great so far. He hasn't yet asked for the bigger gaming systems, but my answer will have to be no when he does. I think those games promote laziness, which also contributes to the growing population of overweight children. Turn off the games and the TV and you'd be amazed at what your child can do!

i think that in a lot of cases yes it is over diagnised but those who actually have the condition medication does work well .my daughter was aged two when she was diagnosed and i tried everything until the age of six when medication was prescribed as a means for her to obtain an education and within days of starting treatement there was a remarkable difference for once we had a " normal " child we have four other children so we new the difference and it worked well until she refused to take it when she started high school " it wasn`t the done thing " and she has since reverted back to a nasty mean child who fails all exams and causes hastles where ever she goes . so i believe there is a great need for a proper way of diagnosing these children and a better was of medicating wether it be through a slow release patch or what ever but something better needs to be done .

If the medications do not have a positive effect on a child that is supposed to be ADD and ADHD then more than likely that is not the problem. How did your son get diagnosed. Did they monitor his blood levels? I agree that part of the problem is lack of physical activitiy, and fresh air and sunshine. Another contributing aspect can be lack of sleep, and/or sleep apnea. The human mind is very mysterious.

i agree with nyou. I am not trying to say ADHD is not real, im sure it is. However, i do think it is fasionable to diagnose in this way. For some children it seems as though they grow out of the behaivour in time, also if they are allowed to play outside this gets rid of a lot of the excess energy without tablets, a good way is to tire kids out i find, but how many parents are about to spend this amount of time on their children?

consult a different doctor. And meditation is much better than medication

Praise to THe LORD, nothings impossible if you lays to His Hand

I also agree that that this problem is way over diagnosed..Im not saying that there is not a need to be treated im sure there are alot of adults and children who are seriously suffering from it,but when your child just has a case of being overactive especially in school they don't want to deal with that so they label your child with that..When my kids were young they were overactive the school suggested that I put them on retilin.I have seen what those kids look like when they were given that medication. I refuse to have my kids walking around like zombies, broken spirits like my father used to say..If you notice now everything is a syndrome or disease,that's just to sell pills..If your tired take a pill,if your depress take a pill, if your kid is bored,talks too much,or likes to fool around give him a pill.You as a parent should know your kids best of all, do not let other tell you what's best for them, especially if you know there is nothing wrong with them.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome can be diagnosed easily.

I don't know if just turning off the electronics would be enough, but I definitely think that ADD and ADHD are way over-diagnosed nowadays. Some of what they are diagnosing is just slightly overenthusiastic kid's behavior, I really think. I'm sorry that your son was put on all of those pills and that they started to affect his heart :/ I'm really glad that it turns out that he didn't need the pills after all and has been able to make a full recovery from his problems. That is absolutely wonderful to hear! ^_^ ^_^

Maybe I am not qualified to answer this but I'll take a shot at it and say yes. My son is now 18 but when he was younger it seemed like every second kid was diagnosed with this. I think it was an easy way out and a great way for parents and doctors to explain why kids are unruly. Just my two cents.

well no idea about that... sorry blushing