Re: ADD/Ritalin

Jim Deroba has it mostly right when he talks about ADD and Ritalin.
There is a class of children for which Ritalin does not produce the
expected effects. This could be because the child is not ADD in the first
place or it could be that Ritalin simply doesn't work and another drug such
as Dexedrine should be used. My son fits into the latter category.
Ritalin had absolutely no effect on his ability to stay on task or in
abating his spontaneous inappropriate behaviour but Dexedrine worked great.

In either case, any good physician managing ADD children will periodicly
withdraw the medication to make sure there is a genuine effect and include
frequent evaluations by the child's teachers. My son's doctor usually has
the teachers evaluate him in Oct/Nov. Sometime in Feb/Mar he takes him off
the medication for two weeks and has them evaluate him again without letting
them know he was taken off the medication. He is then placed back on the
medication and re-evaluated about 6 weeks later. This procedure lets him
know that the medication is working and helps him to adjust the dosage. If
a doctor treating a supposed ADD child is not using evaluations with and
without medication and just medicating, then he or she is not doing their
job correctly and could very well be misdiagnosing or using the wrong
treatment.

YiS,
Mike

--
CDR M. Dobson                      | NetNews Admin info.usuhs.mil
Radiation Medicine Department      | dobson@info.usuhs.mil
Armed Forces Radiobiology          |
Research Institute                 | I don't have enough rank to speak for DoD

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