More Kids Are Getting Anti-Psychotic Drugs

More Kids Are Getting Anti-Psychotic Drugs

AP / LINDSEY TANNER | March 18 2006

CHICAGO - Soaring numbers of American children are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs â?? in many cases, for attention deficit disorder or other behavioral problems for which these medications have not been proven to work, a study found.

The annual number of children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, the study said. That is an increase from 8.6 out of every 1,000 children in the mid-1990s to nearly 40 out of 1,000.

But more than half of the prescriptions were for attention deficit and other non-psychotic conditions, the researchers said.

The findings are worrisome "because it looks like these medications are being used for large numbers of children in a setting where we don't know if they work," said lead author Dr. William Cooper, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

The increasing use of anti-psychotics since the mid-1990s corresponds with the introduction of costly and heavily marketed medications such as Zyprexa and Risperdal. The packaging information for both says their safety and effectiveness in children have not been established.
Anti-psychotics are intended for use against schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses.

However, attention deficit disorder is sometimes accompanied by temper outbursts and other disruptive behavior. As a result, some doctors prescribe anti-psychotics to these children to calm them down â?? a strategy some doctors and parents say works.

The drugs, which typically cost several dollars per pill, are considered safer than older anti-psychotics â?? at least in adults â?? but they still can have serious side effects, including weight gain, elevated cholesterol and diabetes.

Anecdotal evidence suggests similar side effects occur in children, but large-scale studies of youngsters are needed, Cooper said.

The researchers analyzed data on youngsters age 13 on average who were involved in annual national health surveys. The surveys involved prescriptions given during 119,752 doctor visits. The researchers used that data to come up with national estimates.

Cooper said some of the increases might reflect repeat prescriptions given to the same child, but he said that is unlikely and noted that his findings echo results from smaller studies.

The study appears in the March-April edition of the journal Ambulatory Pediatrics.

Heavy marketing by drug companies probably contributed to the increase in the use of anti-psychotic drugs among children, said Dr. Daniel Safer, a psychiatrist affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, who called the potential side effects a concern.

Safer said a few of his child patients with behavior problems are on the drugs after they were prescribed by other doctors. Safer said he has let these children continue on the drugs, but at low doses, and he also does periodic tests for high cholesterol or warning signs of diabetes.

Dr. David Fassler, a University of Vermont psychiatry professor, said more research is needed before anti-psychotics should be considered standard treatment for attention deficit disorders in children.

"Given the frequency with which these medications are being used, there's no question that we need additional studies on both safety and efficacy in pediatric populations," Fassler said.

LOL...Ya know, this could just be a product of my generation! I'm 43 and when I was a teen/kid, if kids were a bit "hyper" they would be considered "high spirited" and the mothers had the little yellow helpers in the bathroom cabinet. Since these downers went very well with booze we'd always have a hell of a party with very little cash spent.
Now it's OUR kids with the dreaded ADD, not high spirited no more, and we got the kids on Ritilin. My one buddy has the whole family on Ritilin and he's always got a grinder and straw handy!
In the ol' days we used our mom's downers, now we grind up our kids meds. LOL:dance:

Much of the problem lies in the current diet of most Americans. The stuff we're eating, folks, is not meant for us. Do you remember when spreading peanut butter on a piece of white bread, without ripping the bread to pieces, was an act of almost surgical precision? How come, you may ask, that doesn't happen anymore? The answer is GLUTEN - the almost undigestable glue-like protein that is put in almost everything. There are about 3 million people with Celiac disease (gluten intolerance), like myself, that cannot have it at all, and another 90 million people (U.S.) that are gluten-sensitive - which can be even more dangerous because these people do not have the early-warning signs of Celiac.

Many of the children (with or without a Celiac diagnosis) with ADD, autism, and other â??incurableâ?� problems need to go on a diet that is gluten-free, and casein (in milk) free as well. FFor those with a diagnosis of Celiac, this means avoidance of all products containing wheat, barley, rye, and other gluren-containing grains (and their derivatives). For others simply cutting down the offending foods, with proper supplementation and special enzymes, has helped.
http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p...12106489894.5e

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Diet: Gluten-Free; Casein-Free (GFCF)
The use of a Gluten-Free; Casein-Free (GFCF) diet for developmental and mood disorders is based on the theory that certain foods may affect the developing brains of some children. This is not because of allergies to these foods, but because many of these children are unable to properly break down certain proteins. The foods that may cause the most problems are gluten (the protein in wheat, rye and barley) and casein (milk protein.)
Several studies have found peptides (breakdown products of proteins) with opiate activity in the urine of a high percentage of autistic children. One theory is that these opiates (morphine-like compounds which affect brain function) may be caused by an inability to properly digest foods containing gluten and casein (gluten breaks down in the stomach to produce a peptide known as gluteomorphins; and casein produces a peptide known as casomorphine). Some researchers theorize that a small proportion of these peptides could be crossing into the brain and interfering with transmission in such a away that normal activity is altered or disrupted. If this â??opioid excessâ?� hypothesis is correct, a diet which reduces foods containing gluten and casein may be helpful.

Gluten (found in grains like wheat, barley and rye) sensitivity can range from mild, causing indigestion and intestinal gas, to severe, as in Celiac Disease, an autoimmune condition in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged in response to ingestion of the protein gliadin. Studies have found that 10-25% of the population can be classified as gluten-sensitive.

People with lactose / casein intolerance lack the ability to produce an enzyme called lactase which is needed to digest the protein casein properly. Avoiding dairy products may be helpful for individuals who are lactose intolerant.


http://remedyfind.com/rem.asp?ID=21266




http://www.paleodiet.com/autism/

Outcome-based comparison of Ritalin versus food-supplement treated children with AD/HD.

Harding KL, Judah RD, Gant C.

McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA.

Twenty children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) were treated with either Ritalin (10 children) or dietary supplements (10 children), and outcomes were compared using the Intermediate Visual and Auditory/Continuous Performance Test (IVA/CPT) and the WINKS two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures and with Tukey multiple comparisons. Subjects in both groups showed significant gains (p less than 0.01) on the IVA/CPT's Full Scale Response Control Quotient and Full Scale Attention Control Quotient (p less than 0.001). Improvements in the four sub-quotients of the IVA/CPT were also found to be significant and essentially identical in both groups: Auditory Response Control Quotient (p less than 0.001), Visual Response Control Quotient (p less than 0.05), Auditory Attention Quotient (p less than 0.001), and Visual Attention Quotient (p less than 0.001). Numerous studies suggest that biochemical heterogeneous etiologies for AD/HD cluster around at least eight risk factors: food and additive allergies, heavy metal toxicity and other environmental toxins, low-protein/high-carbohydrate diets, mineral imbalances, essential fatty acid and phospholipid deficiencies, amino acid deficiencies, thyroid disorders, and B-vitamin deficiencies. The dietary supplements used were a mix of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, amino acids, essential fatty acids, phospholipids, and probiotics that attempted to address the AD/HD biochemical risk factors. These findings support the effectiveness of food supplement treatment in improving attention and self-control in children with AD/HD and suggest food supplement treatment of AD/HD may be of equal efficacy to Ritalin treatment.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
http://remedyfind.com/rem.asp?ID=10418

http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p...12106489894.5e

Don't forget to take your vitamin kiddies!

Yeah I do think that it's crap prescribing children this it's pathiatic and I believe it could be about there diet or they are just a natural happy kid.My mate had his kid diaginose with it and he decided not to let him have the drugs because it really wasn't necessary.

I am also concerned with how easily some docs hand over meds for kids.

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=10636