Pop quiz: Is the proportion of American children suffering from the disease known as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder . . .

a) Less than 5%, as we believed before the early 1990s?

b) More than 11%, and rising, as suggested by CDC statistics?

c) Zero?

The correct answer is (c), says neurologist Richard Saul in his forthcoming book, “ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder” (HarperWave), which is sure to cause controversy when it comes out in February.

After a long career treating patients complaining of such problems as short attention spans and an inability to focus, Saul is convinced that ADHD is a collection of symptoms, not a disease, and shouldn’t be listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

Treating ADHD as a disease is a huge mistake, according to Saul. Continue reading →

The number of people in America who died from taking prescription pain killers quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, a new report from the Trust for America’s Health says.

These fatalities now outnumber deaths from heroin and cocaine combined, that same report found. More than 12 million people said they abused prescription drugs in 2010. The only other drug people abuse more is marijuana, the White House noted in a 2011 report. Continue reading →

Doctors sounded a warning Tuesday over a rise in ADHD diagnoses, saying some children may be needlessly taking powerful drugs intended to correct a poorly understood disorder.

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the researchers noted treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had risen massively in recent years, even though its causes are unclear and drugs can have adverse effects.

ADHD is a disorder blamed for severe and frequent bouts of inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity. Children and young adolescents are those who are most diagnosed with it.

But some experts fear the term ADHD may “medicalise” problems related to a child’s personality or maturity level, the effects of poor parenting or other home problems. Continue reading →

Incomplete Science Can Be Bad For Our Health. Further study of antidepressants is needed now

Many modern scientific accomplishments are truly amazing and have changed our lives dramatically. From NASA landing men on the moon, to wireless radios and home computers combining to become the world-wide internet, the power of the human brain to create is a virtual miracle.

Marie Curie’s discovery of radiation in the early 1900s had effects so far-reaching we’re still just scratching the surface. She was brilliant and is the only person to win Nobel prizes in two different sciences, chemistry and physics. Sadly, Curie died from cancer caused by the radioactive materials she worked with. She saw no danger and carried test tubes full of radioactive materials in her pocket and stored them in her desk drawer marveling at how they glowed in the dark. As smart as Curie was, it’s now obvious further study was needed. Continue reading →

Aluminum Lake food coloring, used to heavily coat liquid medicines for children, contains dangerous amounts of aluminum and harmful synthetic petrochemicals. These “petrochemicals” are carcinogens containing petroleum, antifreeze and ammonia, which cause a long list of adverse reactions. Aluminum poisoning can lead to short and long term central nervous system (CNS) damage, such as memory impairments, autism, epilepsy, mental retardation, and dementia.

Research shows that just 4ppm of aluminum can cause the blood to coagulate. This is what causes Alzheimer’s Disease and has been documented to inhibit learning. Aluminum consumption can also be associated with the development of bone disorders, including stress fractures. Continue reading →

Anyone that comes to visit America may notice that most of us walk around like a bunch of zombies. Well, the truth is that this is because about half of us are completely doped up on prescription drugs. In America, we don’t just take pills if we are sick. In this day and age, the pharmaceutical companies have come up with a pill for just about everything. If we are feeling a little sad, we are told to just pop a pill. If we are feeling a little bit of pain, we are told to just pop a pill. If our children like to run around and play, we are told that giving them the right pills will settle them down. Every single year, prescription drug use in America increases, and there are dozens of different pharmaceutical companies that are making billions of dollars off of our “legal” addiction to drugs. The funny thing is that many of these “legal” drugs are only just the slightest bit different from many of the “illegal” drugs that are being sold out on the streets. But because they have “government approval”, the big pharmaceutical companies can relentlessly peddle them to the American public. Many of these drugs are very damaging to our health, many of them are very damaging to our ability to think and many of them are extremely addictive. Continue reading →

Medicines to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are in such short supply that hundreds of patients complain daily to the Food and Drug Administration that they are unable to find a pharmacy with enough pills to fill their prescriptions.

The shortages are a result of a troubled partnership between drug manufacturers and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with companies trying to maximize their profits and drug enforcement agents trying to minimize abuse by people, many of them college students, who use the medications to get high or to stay up all night. Continue reading →

Over the past 27 years ­ the complete timeframe that the data has been available ­ there have been 0 deaths as a result of vitamins and over 3 million deaths related to prescription drug use. In fact, going back 54 years there have only been 11 claims of vitamin-related death, all of which provided no substantial evidence to link vitamins to the cause of death. The news comes after a recent statistically analysis found that pharmaceutical drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the US.

In 2009, drugs exceeded the amount of traffic-related deaths, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide. Continue reading →

As a medicinal chemist I’ve had the opportunity to see a shockingly different side of Ritalin (Methylphenidate) and ADHD than the media exposes.

The Experimental Pharmacology Department of the American Cyanamid Company and the Merck Index report that Ritalin is no less toxic or safer than Amphetamine and Methamphetamine. They continue, by stating that upon administration of these drugs, motor activity decreases. Continue reading →

On March 21, 2000, 14-year-old Matthew Smith dropped dead of a heart attack while skateboarding. The ninth-grader had been on Ritalin since the first grade. Lawrence Smith, father of the youngster, has testified that he and his wife were forced by Michigan Social Services to put their child on Ritalin or else be charged for neglecting their son’s educational and emotional needs.

“His last report card was his best,” says Lawrence Smith. “But it wasn’t worth it for us. Putting him on Ritalin was the worst decision I’ve ever made.” And that’s because no long-range study had been made of the effects of Ritalin on children who take it over a number of years. Continue reading →

~Foreword~
Anybody with an ounce of common sense knows it is insane to give young children drugs like Ritalin to “modify” their behavior. Doing that creates a psychological gateway to illegal and prescription drug dependency in adult life. Why not just give them heroin and cocaine now – and get it over with?

It has always been my assertion that a lack of exercise and an excess of sugar in the diet is the cause of the so-called ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in children. I can “modify” a twitchy-kid’s behavior by having him show up for school one hour early, report to the gym and run him around the track for 2-5 miles before he showers up and heads to class. Do that with your hyperactive brats and you won’t need Ritalin.

Now comes the following report that strongly suggests Ritalin can cause long-lasting or permanent changes in the brain. Gee, what a shock. – Carl F. Worden Continue reading →

Right now, your child or grandchild might be taking a substance that could label him a drug user for the rest of his life. And chances are the people who are supposed to be protecting him – his doctors, teachers, and parents – are the ones giving it to him. I’m talking about the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) “wonder drug,” Ritalin.

It is not generally known that Ritalin is classified as a schedule II controlled substance, along with morphine, cocaine, and other narcotics and amphetamines. If you wonder why Ritalin, a drug given to millions of children, is considered dangerous enough to be classified with the schedule II narcotics, consider some of the consequences of taking this drug, which include heart attacks, growth problems, psychosis, blood disorders and even death. Continue reading →

Critics claim some doctors and entrepreneurs are exploiting the behavioral disorder and the dissatisfaction with Ritalin for their own financial gain. (Ed.)

(CNSNews.com) – Parents seeking a way to help their children overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increasingly resorted to the prescription drug, Ritalin. Continue reading →

Summer quandary for counselors

For increasing numbers of children, summer camp has become a vacation from Ritalin, much to the chagrin of their camp counsellors.

With at least 200,000 Canadian children on prescriptions for the pills and sales of the drug up 9% since last year, camp directors have devised strategies to either exclude from their camps children who are off Ritalin, or learn to cope with them. Continue reading →

Parenting Without Ritalin

The idea of Learning Disabilities, and therefore also of ADHD, has become such an established “scientific fact,” that many people may raise a skeptical eyebrow when they see or hear this title. One should never lose sight of the fact, however, that science is practiced by human beings–and human beings are prone to err. However, when we consider the destruction and devastation, that notions like “Learning Disabilities” and “Attention Deficit Disorder” have over the past few decades brought to children throughout the whole world, I think it is high time that, for the sake of our children, we start thinking again and stop acting like lemmings. (Ed.) Continue reading →