Psychotic Symptoms in Children on Stimulants. What are the Implications for the Clinician?

Stimulant medications have been previously reported as the cause of adverse psychiatric symptoms in children, including mania and psychosis. 1 New work by MacKenzie et al. in this month’s Pediatrics ( 10.1542/peds.2015-2486) provides new insight into a subpopulation apparently at very high risk for this concerning side effect. Children diagnosed with ADHD and treated with stimulants, whose parent or parents have major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, have a significantly greater risk of psychotic symptoms than their peers.

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A Nation of Kids on Speed

Walk into any American high school and nearly one in five boys in the hallways will have a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 11% of all American children ages 4 to 17—over six million—have ADHD, a 16% increase since 2007. When you consider that in Britain roughly 3% of children have been similarly diagnosed, the figure is even more startling. Now comes worse news: In the U.S., being told that you have ADHD—and thus receiving some variety of amphetamine to treat it—has become more likely.

A Nation of Kids on Speed

ADHD and Stimulants: Brain Boost or Drug Abuse?

The narrative of personal improvement is as American as baseball—almost as American as a fondness for illegal and prescription drugs. From steroids and human growth hormones on the baseball diamond to amphetamines in college libraries and quadrangles, performance enhancing drugs combine a desire for productivity and success with drug abuse in a way that is uniquely American. And the statistics confirm their growing demand: the journal Addiction reports that on certain college campuses, especially competitive Northeastern colleges, up to 25 percent of students admitted to having misused ADHD medication in the past year. Yet despite their prevalence, these drugs, and the disorder they treat, are highly misunderstood.

ADHD and Stimulants: Brain Boost or Drug Abuse?

ADHD medication may be making some children psychotic

ADHD medication may be making some children psychotic

CHILDREN as young as five have attempted suicide or are severely depressed while on the controversial drugs to treat ADHD.

9 Drug-Free Approaches to Managing ADHD

For decades, Ritalin and similar stimulants have reigned over other treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD or ADD. The meds are seemingly tried and true, with numerous studies backing their effectiveness. However, the latest results from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD, the largest investigation of the benefits of medication against behavioral therapy, found that stimulants' effects wane over time. In addition, the study found that more than 60 percent of the children on stimulants stopped taking the medication within eight years. What's more, the medications used in the study might have stunted participants' growth, researchers concluded.

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The medicated child

"Statistics Confirm Rise in Childhood ADHD and Medication Use

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The Underground Facts About ADHD Diagnosis - Some Shocking Facts Revealed

by Robert William Locke

You must admit that the drugs industry has done a fantastic brainwashing job on the whole nation if we think of the over prescription of ADHD drugs. These drugs are a mix of amphetamines, or anti depressives or even blood pressure drugs and their safety and effectiveness have long been contested. But when we think about ADHD diagnosis and why this is not out in the open as it should be, we begin to be assailed by doubts. When we think of the massive numbers involved in this condition, disease or disorder or whatever we like to call it, we must begin to ask ourselves some pretty serious questions about the whole process of how to diagnose ADHD.

The first shocking fact is that twenty five years ago the number of ADHD cases was about half a million. Just a quarter of a century on, we are now are facing numbers which are nearer to double figures such as 8 million cases. No wonder the drug companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Is it not strange that in all that time, nobody knows how to diagnose ADHD?

So, as we ponder the wisdom of giving our children a mix of amphetamines which may lead to other serious health conditions and may not even be effective in treating ADHD, there is another shocking fact that we should be aware of. This is that fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has stated that no particular diagnostic tool should be used in ADHD diagnosis. Doctors and pediatricians are now agreed on how to diagnose ADHD and that is through questionnaires based on behavioral symptoms which affects how a child develops and grows in different settings such as home and school. It is unfortunately so subjective that many parents begin to doubt an ADHD diagnosis.

The third shocking fact is that nobody has come up with an accurate objective diagnostic tool for a condition which affects a sizable proportion of the population. If you think there might be a conspiracy theory on how to diagnose ADHD or NOT to diagnose it, then please feel free!

The other shocking fact is that there is a high percentage (maybe as much as 50%) of children with an ADHD diagnosis may also have a comorbid disorder such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, ODD, conduct disorder, or anxiety and depression.

Most experts now agree that parents must not expect too much from ADHD medication. They are urged to try alternative ADHD therapy and indeed, behavior modification is now favored as the best possible alternative which can work well with some form of medication. A homeopathic remedy for ADHD is ideal as there are no side effects and no health risks either.

Robert Locke is a Health enthusiast who specializes in Children's Health. He has written extensively on ADHD. Discover what natural ADHD medications
treatment is available.
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Parenting 101: Possible dangers of children taking ADHD meds

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety warning recently about a possible association between the use of stimulant medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, and sudden cardiac death in healthy children.

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Ask Dan: Find a competent professional to diagnose ADD

My son has been anxious and easily distracted since he was 5 years old. He has had difficulty paying attention to his schoolwork.

More >> Ask Dan: Find a competent professional to diagnose ADD

Study Published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Demonstrated Once-Daily Vyvanse(R) (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) CII Provided Sig

Study Published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Demonstrated Once-Daily Vyvanse(R) (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) CII Provided Significant Improvement of ADHD Symptoms for Children at 13 Hours After Administration

Vyvanse is the first oral ADHD stimulant with published data that demonstrated significant ADHD symptom improvement from 1.5 hours up to 13 hours after administration in children, from morning through homework and family time

And another medication is about to be released.

ADHD Medication Can Cause Addiction and Death

This article is for the hundreds of thousands of parents whose children are currently taking prescription medications for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and for those who have kids now struggling with addiction to amphetamines or stimulants.

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Big Pharma Bribes Doctors to Hook Your Kids on Drugs

Americans must start to question the legitimacy of the exploitative pharmaceutical-industrial complex and the predatory people atop them.

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Long term effects of ADHD meds

The totality of the available data on the short term effects of ADHD stimulant is relatively consistent: these medications are safe and result in significant improvement in symptoms, especially for children with severe forms of the disorder. However, little previous research on the long term effects of these medications has been used by critics of psychiatric medications to argue against the use of these drugs. Fortunately, as children who participated in the initial ADHD medication clinical trials (and similar studies) become young adults, a series of studies are finally providing much needed data on the long term safety and effects of stimulant use.

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ADHD Drugs Proven Absolutely Useless for Children - Plus, They Stunt Growth

Stimulant drugs such as Ritalin provide no long-term benefit in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to the latest findings of the ongoing Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

More >> ADHD Drugs Proven Absolutely Useless for Children - Plus, They Stunt Growth

HIV, Narcolepsy, And Ritilin

Recently I took a sleep study for my fatigue and was diagnosed as having Narcolepsy. Because of that diagnosis, I have just started to take Ritilin (10mg, 2x's a day) to fight my falling asleep. The 10mg is the smallest dosage available and will need to be increased after 30 days.

HIV, Narcolepsy, And Ritilin

First Ritalin, then cocaine - CCHR

Thousands of South African children who may have been wrongly diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and are using a popular Schedule 7 medication could grow up to be cocaine junkies.

First Ritalin, then cocaine - CCHR

A beefy market calls for non-stimulant ADHD treatments

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common and highly heritable neurodevelopmental psychiatric disease. It is also an indication for commercially successful drugs. The major ADHD drugs posted 2008 sales of US$ 3.9 bln. The current generation of ADHD treatments are mostly CNS stimulants. Although the major classes such as amphetamine/lisdexamfetamine, methylphenidate and dexmethylphenidate have lost patent protection for the substance, the use of extended release or topical drug delivery formulations have maintained a rich source of revenues for major players J&J, Shire, Eli Lilly and Novartis. As many parents are concerned about the use of CNS stimulants for treatment of their kids due to their addictive properties, research is focused on new non-stimulant drug targets. Most of them are in clinical phase I and II evaluation and include reuptake inhibitors, glutaminerigic substances, histamine antagonists and nicotinic receptor agonists

A beefy market calls for non-stimulant ADHD treatments