by Dr. Mary Ann Block
Author, No More ADHD:Ten Steps to Help Your Child’s Attention and Behavior without Drugs
September 15, 2009
Because of my medical training, my goal as a physician is to look for and treat the underlying conditions causing the patient’s problem, rather than just covering up those symptoms with drugs. I have seen and treated thousands of children from all over the United States, who had previously been labeled ADHD and treated with amphetamine drugs. By taking a thorough history and giving these children a complete physical exam as well as doing lab tests and allergy testing, I have consistently found that these children do not have ADHD, but instead have allergies, dietary problems, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid problems and learning difficulties that are causing their symptoms. All of these medical and educational problems can be treated, allowing the child to be successful in school and life, without being drugged.
The Annals of Allergy, reported in 1993, that children with allergies perform less successfully in school, across the board, than children who do not have allergies.
A study in the Journal of Pediatrics, 1995, reported that children who ate sugar had an increase in adrenaline levels that caused difficulty concentrating, irritability and anxiety. A double blind, crossover study published in Biological Psychiatry, 1979, found that Vitamin B6 was more effective than Ritalin in a group of hyperactive children. Another study found that children with magnesium deficiencies were characterized by excessive fidgeting and learning difficulties. There are many more studies indicating an association between nutritional deficiencies and attention and behavior problems.
There is no valid test for ADHD. The diagnosis called ADHD is completely subjective. While some compare ADHD to diabetes, there really is no comparison. Diabetes is an insulin deficiency that can be objectively measured. Insulin is a hormone manufactured by the body and needed for life. ADHD cannot be objectively measured and amphetamines are not made by the body or needed for life.
The drugs used on children diagnosed ADHD come with a host of potential side effects. According to the manufacturers of the drugs, the following side effects can and do occur: insomnia, anorexia, nervousness, seizures, headaches, heart palpitations, cardiac arrhythmia, psychosis, angina, abdominal pain, hepatic coma, anemia, depressed mood, hair loss, weight loss, tachycardia (too fast a heartbeat), increased blood pressure, cardiomyopathy (weakening or change in heart muscle), dizziness and tremor to name a few. The U.S. FDA has warned ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta can cause heart attack, stroke and sudden death. These drugs are classified as schedule II controlled substances with high abuse potential. According to reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the drug Ritalin has been found to be very similar to and more potent than cocaine. Ritalin and cocaine are so similar that they are used interchangeably in scientific research. There are no long-term studies on the safety and effectiveness of these amphetamine drugs, though millions of children are treated with them for years at a time.
When I was in school and when my children were in school, there was no need to drug millions of children. While there are children who have attention and behavior problems and these problems may have increased due to poor diets, an increase in soda and candy in our schools, an increase in allergies due to changes in our environment and an increase in learning problems does not mean these children have a psychiatric disorder called ADHD. It means they have medical and educational problems that can be fixed.
Most of the children I have seen who have been prescribed these drugs have never even had a physical exam. No doctor listened to their hearts even though many of the side effects are heart related. Since there is no valid test for ADHD, most doctors get the information for the diagnosis from the child’s teacher in the form of a checklist. If the teacher wants the child to be taking these drugs, all she or he has to do is fill out the checklist indicating the child has many problems in the classroom. One child was diagnosed as ADHD and prescribed Ritalin. I treated him instead. Once his allergies and learning problems were corrected he went on to become a National Merit Finalist and accepted to an Ivy League University.
Every child deserves that opportunity. Many of the parents of these children have told me that the teachers and principals have pressured them to put the children on these drugs, threatening to report them to Child Protective Services (CPS) if they do not comply. CPS actually removed a child from his home after the school reported the mother for not giving the child his drugs. The ironic thing was, she had given him the drug, but the drug made his symptoms worse, not better. I cannot imagine any reason to give a child an amphetamine to cover up symptoms when the problem can be fixed and no drug is required. Let’s give our children the medical and educational evaluations they need to diagnose the real problems. Let’s treat those real problems and give our children the future they deserve, without drugs.
Dr. Mary Ann Block is founder and Medical Director of the Block Center in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Dr. Block specializes in the drug-free treatment of health problems and learning disabilities and is an outspoken critic of the dangers of psychiatric drugging of children. She travels the world speaking to public and professional audiences about safer and more effective non-drug treatments for children with attention and behavior problems. Her books include No More ADHD: Ten Steps to Help Your Child’s Attention and Behavior without Drugs and No More Ritalin: Treating ADHD Without Drugs.
For more information visit Dr. Block’s website:
http://www.blockcenter.com/web_content/ADD_ADHD/ADHD.html
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Tags: Adderall, ADHD, ADHD Drugs, alternatives for ADHD, attention deficit disorder, child drugging, Concerta, Dr. Mary Ann Block, mental disorders, psychiatric drugs, Ritalin, stimulants, The Block Center
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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I totally agree with Dr. Block. Psychiatric drugs are the devil’s handiwork designed to enslave as many people as possible. My wife was on the brink of suicide and had her plan all laid out due to these types of drugs. When a neighbor, a science teacher and principal, shared with us that nutrition could potentially be at the root of the problem we thought she must be a little off, but after three contacts we decided that she may be off but the nutrition helped her so what did we have to lose?
Some local schools have refused to listen saying that they trust the school psychiatrists and what they have to offer.
In our local school district there was a “life skills program” for children – usually boys – who were unable to function in a regular classroom. These life skills were good but they didn’t address the underlying problem – nutritional deficiencies.
I challenged a local teacher to think of the children who were most lethargic after lunch and what they had to eat for lunch. Most of them had processed and prepackaged foods almost totally devoid of any nutritional value other than the synthetic nutrition that was added back in, and these were generally the children from more affluent homes. The children who usually were more awake and attentive were the ones from less affluent homes who had to bring leftovers for lunch, whose parents couldn’t afford to buy the processed foods.
Isn’t it ironic that greater affluence and faster pace of life can be a health deterrent while less affluence means doing more with less which translates to a health benefit?
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What Dr. Block says is completely true. Once I talked to a psychiatrist on the street when I was distributing flyers, and he said that they are not supposed to heal people.
The trouble is that they simply use drugs and don’t consider anything else.
Nutritional issues are being set aside as if it does not exist. Physical reasons are not considered at all. So prescribing drugs is like a one way ticket towards death.
DDrug-free treatments are the future and not more pills or more chemicals.
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Dear Supporters,
Here is the main very true realties and truths to the whole psychiatric hospitals’ sets, spaces and time to produce, the main unique real dead patients, that meant to be really the main Entreprise Of Dead Mankind Kinds that’s all. Because of the worst inhuman oppressed wildest terrible practices of the main real death-penalties’ so dopped and dozed drug-pills and injections, including to my personally experiences’ events and incidents’ life in Psychiatric Services Hospitals that the whole Moroccan Psychiatrique Doctors, Nurses and Medicines have savagely practiced against me the worst wildest extreme hellishly practices of death-penalties’ tries and practices to set me up to the worst hellishly ways to send me more than 5 times to dead-rooms to aim to grave me up to the worst illegally loss, marginalizations and the main daily practcies of the main uncommon infernal treats of the main worst savagely practices of infernal treats and reactions of the main real death-penalties’ tries against me since I only was 16 years old and up to the main lively days’ time of 1999s, I right now found myself lost in the worst inhuman wildest loss, marginalizations’ Labyrinth’s Sets since I only was 16 years old up to now and no more enough legally solutions and keys to be in time saved up and no more such very rare legal solutions to get me cured to be in time saved out of the worst wildest beast cruel criminalized loss’ neglects since I only was 16 years old up to now !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I am actually suffered the worst wildest hellishly pains and sufferings of the main real deadly loss and marginalizations in extreme Labyrinth’s Paths since I only was 16 years up to now and no more such legal humanly very true tries of the main legally keys and solutions to be in time cured up and no more so. Because of the worst inhumanly beast cruel criminalized practices of the main infernal practices of the main so dopped and so dozed drug-injections that the whole Moroccan beast cruel criminlized Moroccan Doctors, Nurses and Medicines’ Teams have savagely used to dope me up to hell that it was more than 16 over dozed drug-pills and more than 5 fully drug-injections that the whole of them have illegally used to practice against me to send me more than 5 time sto dead-rooms to eb in time gaved down to the worst ilegally hellishly ways to be. I have savagely suffered the worst painfully unbearable practices of the main infernal practiing, reacting, treatings against me to set me down to hell ends to be in time practiced against me, especially in the main local psychiatrique hospital Sidi Hussein Ben Asseur Hospital in Ouarzazate City South Of Morocco Country since 1989s up to 1996s.
As a result, I am wildly lost in the worst inhuman beast cruel neglected sets to be that since 1999s up to now; the whole Moroccan Native Human Rights Organizations and Associations nahve terribly neglected me up to the worst inhuman illegal sets to be done against me and no more such real humanly very true tries to find me out to be in time cured so. So, my whole physique and brain have savagely lost away and no more such real main so humanly reactions and treats to find me out of the worst inhuman hellishly loss, marginalizations and neglects’ sets to be in time reacted against me.
I am hellishly lost in the worst inhuman wildest terrible unbearable loss, meginlaizations, neglects’ Labyrinth’s Spaces and Time since 1989s up to now.
Please, try to do all of your best to find me out and many so true humanly humble thanks to you all in all.
Here is my Email Address for every live contacts to reply me to keep in touch, daily for more hopefully common news and solutions before my personally such kind very rare experiences’events and incidents’story life in psychiatrique services hospital in my whole city of birth Ouarzazate City South Of Morocco Country, perecisely in Sidi Hussein Ben Asseur Hospital since 1989s up to 1999s : fouadzi88@hotmail.com and keep well and in touch; likewise.
Best Wishes and Regards.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr Fouad Zennari.
I am and have been very concerned with the use of drugs to treat ADHD for so many years. I am certain that there are many, many factors contributing to the rise of “ADHD” diagnosis. I think one of the reasons for such increases in this easily handed down diagnosis is the lack of structure and discipline in the home.
I am very concerned about the proposed bill being introduced to legislation that would allow drugging of children without parental consent and make it unlawful for parents to stop this!
Please comment with suggestions on what we can do to ban together and make certain that we do not loose control of our children’s welfare.
Psychiatry is as of today backed by the pharma industry. It is run solely for profit. The pharmaceutical industry has used the media extensively to bring about a false reality in people that these labels actually exist.
I was ‘diagnosed’ with ‘MBD’ (Minimal Brain Dysfunction) in the third grade; mainly because I wrote numbers – but NOT words – backwards, in a ‘sort of dyslexic’ way; and my Mom was advised to put me on Ritalin.
I also tested out at a 137 IQ (155+ as an Adult), and once scored in excess of the 90% on four of the five standard aptitude test categories.
Because of this my Good, Smart Mom REFUSED to put me on Pills of any kind!!!
She coined, and I now repeat, that “ADHD should be called CONTENT Deficit Disorder” – and said, as I do, that it is a DISEASE that our SCHOOLS suffer from, NOT OUR CHILDREN!!!
The Internet will save us TOO smart ones.
Ever read I Robot? I always wanted my Teachers to be like that. No offense to Mr. Schock, Butler, Caldwell, or Ms. Gaylord and Godfrey, etc..
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there exist three main enemies which are really responsible for destroying the back bone of any human and humanity and one of them is drugs and we are all responsible for this. This thought will save our life.
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I don’t think you are completely right, i miss many details in your arguments. Like: People (children and adults) with ADHD do not have a lack of Ritalin, the transfer of dopamine between synapse is not efficient with the consequence, that they don’t have a real ‘filter’ to process the information. They process all the information around them, without being able to decide which yes and which not. Then i think the fact that people labeled with ADHD do react different on this type of medicine is some proof that the structure of there brain does really work different. So taking the drugs should more be seen as a little help to get the experience how life works when you can actually filter well all the information.
I don’t think it should be right to take the drugs on lifetime, but i think taking them a while might help you learning new behaviour patterns and structures that might help you in life. Because the fact is that people with ADHD does really have much more difficulties with organization, concentration and especially impatience and impulsiveness, so they have to learn how to cope with this very consciously, while for other people these things might come natural, they don’t even ever feel this type of restlessness. And if you are one of this persons than you are very lucky! And besides then i can understand that you might think that ADHD does not really exist as a disorder in the brain, but only as a label, because you just cannot imagine thinking this way? I am just curious what made you so sure that ADHD is more labeling to categorize symptoms and why the underlying problem should be psychological/health issues rather than a problem in dopamine transfer? Or do you say that because of these problems the dopamine transfer does not work properly?
Dear Sir Or Madam,
So, since 2008s up to right now that I have daily contacted and sent you many of many messages and mails to find me out and save me out to teh main real so humanitarian ways and advices to find me out, but unfortuantely you have never done and investigated no more at all to svae me out, so that it’s too much well so amzaigiing in illegal beast cruel inconditioanl ways’ rules to hidden everything in a such perplexed insightsbefore the worst wildest beast cruel criminalized practices of torture, harassments, violations, brutalized violations in pohysiques and brains, that thousands of thousands of verily innocent universal paients in the whole Interntaionally Psychiatrique Services’ Hopsitals are savagely lost away and destroyed down to hell to be terribly tortured, harassed, violated and set to be illegally garved away to be hellishly lost way and neglected down to hell since 1960s up to right now.
Including, that there is no so sincere humanitarian human rights organizations and associations’ administrators and responsibles at all, to work out to practice everthing and every such universal universal continental human rights programs’ executions at all. Simply, because of the worst wildest terrible loss, neglects and marginalized practices’ rules that the half percent of the main verily innocent psychiatrique victimized patients, especially in the whole Morocco Cities’ Hospitals’ Country have illegally and infernally neglected and corrupted to aim to corrupt and betrayal all of them personally international humanitarian rights.
Anyway, it’s too easy to talk human rights’words and publishing many of many books, booklets, made international huge films before the worst terribly victimized illegal humans, but unfortunately; it’s too hard and too so hursh to find them out to cure, heal…………ect, tro save them all in all to be physica
……………..to be physically healed up. That, the major of them are illegally corrupted and betrayed in them all personally human rights’ sets’ rewards, inwards, favors…………………ect. That’s it and them all experiences’ life in pshychiatrique services’ hospitals’ kinds are only a such uncommon illegal beast cruel criminalized jokes and rules to do the main uncommon hellish biggest fortunes and richness’ sets, that’s it. Especially in Morocco City Country, where the whole human-being’s kinds’ victimized youth and children have never favoured and helped to be in time saved and found out, especially in Ouarzazate City South Of Morocco Country, where the major of so young Moroccan Ouarzazi Youth , Children, Traditional Families’ Kinds are savagely neglected and marginalized as well as corrupted by the whole Human Rights Irresponsible Expert Beast Cruel Moroccan Muderers’ Teams. S.O.S !!!!!! Everybody, humanly.
Don’t you see that this doctor is trying to make money to?
I don’t trust anyone who’s out to make money.