ADHD is extremely overdx. You can have the symptomology of ADHD and yet not really have it. There are other causes that some doctors really fail to look more closely at including, sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, nutrition, aspergers..the list goes on.

Stimulant medications usually helps increase the neurotransmitter Dopamine. It has been shown that, in general, individuals who have ADHD have low levels of Dopamine. The non stimulant medication, Strattera, works on the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. The frustrating thing about the whole med issue is that we are all wired so differently. We can have the same dx but the actual cause of it may be different from one person to the next. So, a specific medication may work wonders for one person but really negatively affect another person. This is the reason why it is so vital that a person see a good psychiatrist for correct dx and medication.

I am not saying this is your brother, girlfriend, but I have seen so many kids who are negatively impacted by stimulant medication because of misdx or poor treatment of the dx. For example, you don't want to put a child or an adult on Ritalin who have difficulties with mood stability. It would probably throw that person over the edge into a manic state. A very similar response can happen to an individual who has high anxiety levels. You can have both Anxiety and ADHD dx but it's so important to treat the Anxiety first. I believe that sleep disorders are underdx. So many individuals have sleep disorders that mask as ADHD. There is actually more to a sleep disorder than just insomnia or sleep apnea.

I am wondering if your brother was misdx, had a dual dx and was wrongly medicated or if he was just overmedicated??

How is he doing now?

hes off meds now and still gets angry sometimes but as hes grown up hes definately matured a little bit
hes in football now
his grades are great and he doesnt have near as much anger as he used to towards life and himself

i dont know if i believe in this disease. i dont know what i think about it
i do know all people respond differently to medications but i also believe its teaching kids (expecially young boys) that its ok to take drugs if there is something wrong with you

I can appreciate your viewpoint as it's a common one. On the other hand, some individuals who truly have ADHD and are untreated self-medicate to control their symptoms. I am one of those individuals who self-medicated. I was undx until graduate school.

My brief story: I started drinking coffee at age 11 because it calmed me down. I started smoking cigarettes at age 12 because it also had a calming affect. Both of those are stimulants. In high school I drank a lot and occasionally used MJ. Yes, both of those are depressants but when I was on them, I was calm. I no longer smoke - thank goodness. I barely graduated from high school because of the severity of my ADHD. It took me three years to complete two years of community college because it took all of my cognitive effort just to attend to what I was reading and block out all incoming stimuli, including the slightest of sounds. I went to university and finished up the remaining two years of my undergrad., still undx although I suspected I had ADHD. Finally in graduate school, I was dx and was put on medication. I can't began to tell you what a difference it made. My grades continued to rise and my writing abilities jumped ten-fold. Prior to medication, I couldn't even write one sentence without my mind becoming all jumbled up. Your writing skills are better than mine was going into graduate school. I just got a lot of help from people. My undergraduate degree was in speech and hearing sciences, so I hardly had to write papers. My ADHD was so bad I didn't even know where to put commas. I never had the attention span to learn and things like commas are among the many little details I often missed. I seriously never read one book until I got into college. Then it took so much effort to read even a page.

I no longer truly "need" medication to function but life is much easier on it. I am much different today. I read all the time and my attention span is so much better. I still get "labeled" as the person most likely to lose her keys by other staff members at my school:).

My father and his five brothers are very severe. They have all self-medicated, which is a pretty sad story.

It is true that boys are more identified than girls. I do believe that boys are over identified and girls often are under identified. What your brother went through is sadly common. I worked in a high school as a school psychologist and a lot of the boys stated very similar things. I remember a few stating that they would rather deal with the ADHD then with the side effects of medication.

My father is extremely successful as a car salesman because he is a constant mover. He really can't sit still. It drives me crazy. He has been doing it for 30 years. There are a lot of people who are unmedicated or undx (officially) ADHD who are extremely successful. I think it's great your brother is in football.

yes football is a great way for him to be self disiplined and learn to not be so angry all the time,which he was.

i am one of those types of people that NEVER takes meds no matter what lol. ive never taken midol for cramps,tylonol or advil for headaches or anything.my body will take care of itself
i guess thats why i view everything this way
i certainly dont ever shame or argue against the fact that some people may truly need and do better on medication
however back in the 1800's there was no adhd or bipolar disease
people were people and young boys were young boys.
it seems like nowdays all the doctors want to do is label you for something and shove a pill down your throat

and sometimes i wonder if its the actual meds or the mental part of takeing a routine drug that makes these kids "seem better"

how did it mess your brother up?

adhddrugatrocity