My First Night on ADHD Drugs and my first Police encounter

This is a short story of the first time i took ADHD drugs. It was 1987 and i was prescribed both Cylert a now banned drug world wide and ritalin. This was because i was classified as very hyper and ecitiable. Much more then my br0ther 18 months younger then i. He was only diagnosed ADD told to take ritalin. So it was the evening and i had taken a does in the morning and at lunch at school. I was the first student in Chester Middle school diagnosed at ADHD and with perscription drugs. This diagnosement was new to the school and so they did not know what to do. The school decided since i now had a medical condition it must be classified as Learning Disabled(LD). So the overreacted. I was removed from my english class, which already was a low performer X level class, with a new inexperienced teacher who had NO CONTROL of the class. It turns out i do better when a teacher is experienced and challenges me in class. So the school overreacted, they pulled me from main stream class english and sent me to LD english. This may have been due to my testing scores which showed in the 7th grade my English level was mid 3rd grade. and yes i admit i never read much at home. I was encourage to go play outside and not bother the adults. Thus i never read much until i was in my 20's isolated on a tropical island without electricity, but i will get into the USPC another time. So in my new class i was given vocabulary, word like cat and dog, 3 and 4 letter words, which Didn't work, it was retarded class and not for me. Lucky they put me back into another mainstream class. Well the big fun happened after i got home from school, I felt different, like i guess i was on drugs. Its hard to say, i was told i was better and thought it was the case. So in the evening it was time to go to bed and i did. I must have gone to bed late, but i cannot remember, what did happen was i laid in Bed AWAKE, not a little sleep urge at all, I layed for 3-4 hours and it was the middle of the night, I could not take not being able to sleep. So i got up. I walked around the house and everything was silent, and sleeping. So i decided to go outside, It must have been going on 3am by this time. I thought what to do, i can't sleep and i am not tired. Well maybe if i ride my bike the excursion will make me tired and then i can sleep. I loved my bike, i rode to school often, It was close and so was a 7/11 convenience store. So i decided i would ride to 7/11 and buy some Gum for school, as a young entrepreneur i would buy gum before school and sell pieces at school which help fund my candy fund and extra allowance. ALSO probably why i was so FUCKING hyper at school, too much SUGAR and no exercise. So i rode on to my favorite 7/11 next to the Chester library where my mom volunteered. It was amazing to see the bright lights on it the middle of the night. I saw only one police car in the parking lot and the cop was inside buying some coffee. So i took my gum to the counter and attempted to pay. Then the police man took me to the side and said why am i out at night. I told him i could not sleep and it was very close to my home. Well that was not good enough for him and he had to take me home, It was illegal for me to be out at night without parents. It is breaking the curfew laws. This was all new to me so the police man proceeded to take me and my bike into his squad car and take us home, Nothing like awaking my parents, who already have had enough disturbances from my by the police, they were not happy, but luckily it was not at me, they were very pissed at the police man who had disturbed them in there slumber, when i had the most simplest valid reason to be out. Well that was the end. I guess the event made me sleepy enough to get an hour of sleep or two as i wake up about 5:30am or before to prepare for school, First bell rang at 6:50 am. Now i would never do this again, I think based on diet and exercise i could have had a much more benifitial childhood. I did go on to complete high school, college and get my masters degree. Not thanks to the schools or drug compainies.

ADHD: Treatment from the national sleep foundation!

The most common treatment for ADHD is medication, with stimulant medications prescribed most often. These do not cure ADHD but they can help control the symptoms. There is controversy surrounding drug treatments for ADHD, partly because of concerns regarding long-term safety but also because they may have side effects such as weight loss, effects on the heart, and liver damage. Another side effect of stimulant drugs is insomnia, which can actually worsen ADHD symptoms. Scheduling drug administration to optimize their benefit, such as during school hours or homework time, but limiting their effect on nutrition and sleep, is a challenge for parents of ADHD patients taking stimulant medications. Many patients and parents choose to complement or if possible avoid drug treatment in favor of behavioral therapies, psychotherapy, and social skills training. In addition to drug and behavioral remedies, improving sleep can lead to improved daytime behavior in children. For example, in one research study of children with sleep-disordered breathing, surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids also improved ADHD symptoms, possibly because of improvements in sleep quality following the surgery. Regular physical activity and healthy sleep can also improve ADHD symptoms. Try these tips for improving your child's sleep .

ADHD and Sleep Continued...

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the prevalence of ADHD is 4-5%. The report also found that ADHD occurs much more often in boys than girls, but the prevalence among adult men and women is about equal. The cause of ADHD is not known but experts suspect that it may be related to anatomic abnormalities in the brain, maternal smoking, exposure to toxins, and/or genetic factors. ADHD is linked with emotional problems, higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, and poor performance at school and work. Similarly, sleep problems are associated with mood disorders and intellectual impairment. Treating sleep problems in children and adults with ADHD may improve symptoms and quality of life. For information about treating ADHD and sleep problems associated with it, see " treatment" and " coping."

ADHD and Sleep

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a term used to describe hyperactivity, inattentiveness, and/or impulsivity. It is a common condition that begins in childhood and may persist into adulthood. Children with ADHD typically have trouble sitting still, staying focused, and/or controlling their behavior and emotions, which can lead to lower social skills, isolation, dependence, and poor performance in school. For this reason, children with ADHD often require special attention from parents, teachers, school systems and healthcare and mental health professionals in order to succeed. ADHD is linked with a variety of sleep problems. For example, one recent study found that children with ADHD had higher rates of daytime sleepiness than children without ADHD. Another study found that 50% of children with ADHD had signs of sleep disordered breathing, compared to only 22% of children without ADHD. Research also suggests that restless legs syndrome and periodic leg movement syndrome are also common in children with ADHD. In general, sleep deprivation is a problem among children in America. According to NSF's 2004 Sleep in America poll, more than two-thirds of children experience one or more sleep problems at least a few nights a week. For children with ADHD, poor sleep (too little sleep or symptoms of sleep disorders) may profoundly impact ADHD symptoms. In fact, one study found that treating sleep problems may be enough to eliminate attention and hyperactivity issues for some children. Children and adults behave differently as a result of sleepiness. Adults usually become sluggish when tired while children tend to overcompensate and speed up. For this reason, sleep deprivation is sometimes confused with ADHD in children. Children may also be moody, emotionally explosive, and/or aggressive as a result of sleepiness. In a study involving 2,463 children aged 6-15, children with sleep problems were more likely to be inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive, and display oppositional behaviors. Sleep problems are also common in adults with ADHD. In one study , researchers compared adults with narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, and AHDH and found a high percentage of symptom overlap, suggesting the possibility of ADHD misdiagnosis among adults.

Danish researchers, called for long-term safety studies examining adverse reactions to ADHD drugs, in 2011.

In 2011, Danish researchers, after reviewing short-term studies examining adverse reactions to ADHD drugs, also called for long-term safety studies. They pointed out that drug manufacturers funded almost all of the studies, and a majority of the authors received contributions from the pharmaceutical companies producing the medications. “The pharmaceutical company’s job is to sell their product,” Newmark said. “It is very important for us as doctors to base our practice not on what the companies say but on objective evidence,” he said. “It’s easier and cheaper for the pharmaceutical companies to do short-term studies and say, ‘Look, the medicine works.’”

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about ADHD stimulants

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December issued a warning that ADHD stimulants such as Ritalin and Concerta may in rare cases cause prolonged and painful erections, some lasting so long they might require surgery. In 2005, after short-term studies showed an increased risk of suicidal thinking in children and adolescents, the FDA ordered a black-box warning on atomoxetine, known as Strattera. Kids diagnosed with ADHD tend to have trouble paying attention and may have poor impulse control. Doctors frequently prescribe medications to increase focus and reduce impulsivity. Some children improve without prescription drugs with sleep and dietary changes, behavioral therapy or extra help at school. Newmark said he often sees children whose parents complain about ADHD medication side effects not reported in studies. “One of the side effects they don’t talk about that I see all the time is that these kids have personality changes,” he said. “Parents say, ‘The medicine is working, but he’s just lost his spark,’ or, ‘She’s just lost her joy.’” Hundreds of clinical studies have reported that most of the side effects of drugs used to treat ADHD are mild and temporary, the authors of the current study write. In their review, the proportion of patients that stopped taking ADHD medication, which ranged from 8 percent to 25 percent, was the only adverse event measured in all six studies. Most study participants who stopped taking the medication because of side effects stopped in the first year. Because the studies investigated different side effects, the authors could not compare studies or treatment outcomes. They call the reporting of side effects “unsatisfactory” and write, “more should be done to improve the evaluation of drug safety.”

Long Term ADD / ADHD Drug Studies Research

Scant research has been done on the long-term safety of drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new analysis shows, though millions of American children have been taking them for decades. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 11 percent of American children between the ages of four and 17 - or 6.4 million - had been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011. About half were taking drugs to treat the disorder. “We have too few long-term studies on the effects of these medicines,” Dr. Sanford Newmark told Reuters Health. “There’s a big, big gap in our understanding of what the effects of these medicines might be. It’s worrisome.” A pediatrician from the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Newmark was not involved in the current study. Researchers from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy, found a dearth of long-term studies on side effects of stimulants such as Ritalin, which some kids take into adulthood. An extensive search revealed just six studies, all funded by pharmaceutical companies, that followed a total of 3,000 children treated with ADHD medications in clinical trials and examined related side effects for at least 12 weeks. “ADHD drugs seem to be safe and well tolerated according to the available data, but more studies are needed,” lead author Dr. Antonio Clavenna told Reuters Health in an email. Decreased appetite, insomnia, headaches and stomach pain were the most common side effects reported in the studies, the authors write in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Patients also experienced tics and mood swings. But the studies reported only common side effects and may have missed unusual ones, like suicidal thinking and long-lasting erections, that have concerned U.S. regulators, the authors write. “In this regard, the safety profile of medications is not fully understood, and monitoring is needed,” Clavenna said. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/05/05/long-term-safety-adhd-medicine-still-question-study-says/