ADHD in canberra?

Inappropriate said :

As an adult sufferer, who was diagnosed as an adult, I’m sorry to say there’s not much support in the ACT for it.

And for the deniers: I was not a violent, out of control kid raised on junkfood. I was given love and discipline, did well in school and went to a highschool for the gifted. I have a uni degree, a job and a GF. I do not fit the stereotype, but I do suffer from ADD – the non hyper kind. I don’t pretend to have it, so I can score the meds, in fact I cannot take the meds because they have wheat in them and I’m a celiac.

I’d love for the deniers to spend a week in my mind.

I also was not a violent, or out of control kid raised on junkfood (ill refer my mum to the site if necessary to vouch for that :P), did well in school, and I attended a private school where I was in accelerated learning programs for gifted children. These days I have a Certificate IV, a job, and I choose to be single. I didn’t fit the stereotype as a kid and I should never have been given ADHD medication. I did however have trouble staying focused on mundane learning as many gifted children do when taught below their level, and because of this and a school with the worst bullying program in the history of education, I was diagnosed with ADHD and forced to take Riralin by my parents for a number of years. The psychiatrist who diagnosed me told me himself at the time that he had ADHD but didn’t need to take medication for it as he was an adult, which at the time made no sense to me and served more to infuriate than anything else. You hear many great things when diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, things like the condition itself makes it impossible for you to see yourself why your behaviour is not good, so therefore you just have to take these drugs and ignore the strange mood swings and violent feelings it causes as the adults know best.

I’d love for all those who preach the ADHD/ADD myth to spend a week in my mind as 10-15yr old taking Ritalin and how completely fucked up it makes you feel mentally and physically.

See a good psychiatrist and/or a good counsellor, im not denying those diagnosed with ADHD/ADD don’t necessarily not have mental health issues, but I will deny the legitimacy of ADHD/ADD itself, the science simply doesn’t add up on it, and it hasn’t ever since about 2005 when numerous short and longer term studies into the “illness” have raised more and more questions that show that it is mostly poppycock.

I know when my children were young if they drank soft drink or ate ice-blocks they were awful,fighting with one another, I figured this out myself and removed rubbish from their diet, there was a huge change, and this has carried on in their adult life, I myself also eat as natural as possible, my sister has celiac, I’m lactose intolorent, cannot eat much bread, or pasta.

astrojax said :

Where was ADHD in the 50s, 60s and 70s?

same place autism was in the decades, centuries, before a diagnosis, needhelp… it would have been treated as being a ratbag kid and they would have been beaten within an inch (or closer) of their young lives for rampant ‘misbehaviour’.

True, but there were far less preservatives in food back then. There are far more brats in the world these days thanks to preservatives. The kids and people of today are guinea pigs. In years to come, many preservatives will be banned as they make new discoveries about side-effects etc; it’s already starting to happen.

Where was ADHD in the 50s, 60s and 70s?

same place autism was in the decades, centuries, before a diagnosis, needhelp… it would have been treated as being a ratbag kid and they would have been beaten within an inch (or closer) of their young lives for rampant ‘misbehaviour’.

Thanks for sharing Inappropriate. I’m not a denier. I was only referring to the research that states that preservatives have a lot to do with ADHD. I’m sure there are other causes too.

From what I’ve just read, Adult ADD can be very difficult to cope with.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_adult_symptoms.htm

As an adult sufferer, who was diagnosed as an adult, I’m sorry to say there’s not much support in the ACT for it.

And for the deniers: I was not a violent, out of control kid raised on junkfood. I was given love and discipline, did well in school and went to a highschool for the gifted. I have a uni degree, a job and a GF. I do not fit the stereotype, but I do suffer from ADD – the non hyper kind. I don’t pretend to have it, so I can score the meds, in fact I cannot take the meds because they have wheat in them and I’m a celiac.

I’d love for the deniers to spend a week in my mind.

Loads of info and medical studies on the web about Preservatives linked with ADHD.

Makes sense. Where was ADHD in the 50s, 60s and 70s?

All the crap preservatives they put in food these days has a lot to do with it.

Feed your kids fresh, wholesome food, and cut down on the junk, and you’ll see some significant changes in their behaviour.

I-filed said :

There was a doco on ABC about 8 years ago – about an “unmanagable, violent” kid in the western suburbs of Melbourne diagnosed with ADHD. Uninterested, neglectful mother, cr*p food, unlimited soft drinks, total indulgence.
In the course of the documentary, a social worker paid him some attention, took him outdoors and gave him good food.
Total turnaround. The kid was sane, calm, and close to delightful.
Unfortunately, the “intervention” only lasted eight weeks.

I spent a number of years teaching kids removed from main stream education, i.e. kicked out of school because they wereconsidered unmanageable. I’d say well over half the kids I worked with were diagnosed ADHD and used prescribed meds.

The program I worked on supplied breakfast and lunch daily, had clear boundaries for behaviour and put the resonsibility back on to the kids to regulate the groups behaviour (obviously with adult intervention where necessary). Most of the kids reacted positively to the increased discipline, healthy food (we even banned Coke and energy drinks during class hours)and set boundaries. IMHO and not being a child psychiatrist, I’d say of the 90 or so kids I dealt with, only two I would say, ever had a serious disorder akin to ADHD that needed medication.

The ‘cure’ is people should be licensed for parenthood and the rules should exclude bogans.

An excellent post Mordd, thanks. I think it’s what most of us have suspected for quite some time.

There was a doco on ABC about 8 years ago – about an “unmanagable, violent” kid in the western suburbs of Melbourne diagnosed with ADHD. Uninterested, neglectful mother, cr*p food, unlimited soft drinks, total indulgence.
In the course of the documentary, a social worker paid him some attention, took him outdoors and gave him good food.
Total turnaround. The kid was sane, calm, and close to delightful.
Unfortunately, the “intervention” only lasted eight weeks.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster said :

The cure for so-called “ADHD” is to stop feeding the kids junk food, Coca Cola, energy drinks, lollies and other rubbish. If the kid goes onto a traditional meat and veg diet (not vegetarian or vegan rubbish) the affliction will clear up within a week or so. This has been proven consistently.

look like we have an expert. nothing like some armchair medical advice to set a worried parent right. either that or a wacky scientologist.

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, force-fed prescription amphetamines until the violent side effects were too much to take anymore and stopped at 15. Since then I have done a lot of research into the subject matter, and although Oyster may be a bit passionate in the way he expressed himself, I agree with him pretty much 100%.

The best you can say is that about 95% of all those diagnosed with ADD or ADHD are a mis-diagnosis, or at worst you can say the “illness” is complete and utter bullshit. The fact that a 10 year study led by a department in the UN that reported in 2007 came to the first conclusion was the most comprehensive study ever done into the illness, led by the worlds foremost experts in the relevant fields, and even it walked a fine line in calling it outright quakery, which it effectively is.

No-one will ever convince me after personal experience and first hand experience seeing what it does to kids, that giving prescription amphetamines to children is a good idea for any reason. We are causing long term psychological damage in our children through the habit of giving kids drugs so they won’t act like kids.

Touch base with these people, they’re excellent and will be able to provide you with all the information/assistance you need.

The ADACAS office is at:
Suite 207, Block C, Canberra Technology Park,
Phillip Avenue, Watson
Our phone number is (02) 6242 5060.
Our fax number is (02) 6242 5063.
Our TTY (telephone typewriter) number is (02) 6242 5065.
Our postal address is PO Box 144, Dickson ACT 2602.
Our email address is adacas@adacas.org.au

I am a ADHD denier….

Better to keep away from rubbish, eat as natural as possible.

Nice weather for fishing! But you’ve got to use the right bait!

Get a grip oyster, you’ll find many adult sufferers of ADHD HAVE psychiatrists and are required to see them to get their prescriptions.

You should probably have actually read the OP as it made no mention of childhood diagnosis or treatment, nor even of medication.

Get off your soapbox and either make a valid suggestion or get out.

there’s a DR in the act who appears to diagnose everyone he sees with ADHD. just be careful who u go to.

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/myth_add_adhd.htm

so it has been proven consistently, oyster? evidence?

and vegetables are rubbish? sheesh, better get me in some more chocolate, chicken and chips then, that’ll health me up…

The ACT Legislative Assembly? Seems to attract people who seem to suffer from attention deficits judging by their need to seek it constantly.

The best course of action is to look up psychiatrists in the Yellow Pages because you need one. There is no such thing as ADHD – the fake “illness” was invented by the American drug companies in order to push Ritalin (kiddy cocaine) onto gullible parents. The sooner this poison is taken off the PBS the better – slack and incompetent parents will no longer rely on drugs to do the job of disciplining (and zonking out) their kids and society will return to normal. The use of Ritalin is directly responsible for juvenile delinquency, gang activity and graffiti which has afflicted society in recent times. The cure for so-called “ADHD” is to stop feeding the kids junk food, Coca Cola, energy drinks, lollies and other rubbish. If the kid goes onto a traditional meat and veg diet (not vegetarian or vegan rubbish) the affliction will clear up within a week or so. This has been proven consistently.

A google search revealed this:

http://www.addact.org.au/

Not sure if they are still operating though.

Good luck.

http://www.addact.org.au/

Shout is a good starting point for all support groups