Unnecessary roughness Prescription drug side effects are bad enough when they're associated with medications adults need (few and far between as those are). But when they accompany drugs for a condition that occurs primarily in children, it's downright negligent. I'm talking about drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In September, the FDA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality announced that they will be conducting a large-scale study on these medications in response to numerous case reports of children and adults who had been taking ADHD drugs suffering from cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. This announcement is disturbing on multiple levels. First of all, rather than immediately halting sales of these drugs, which they already know are unsafe, the FDA has decided to launch a study to determine just how unsafe they really are. They say their research will take two years to complete. A lot of heart attacks and strokes can happen in two years…but that doesn't seem to bother them. But what I find particularly maddening about this research is that ADHD drugs are completely unnecessary in the first place. Which means all that additional risk doctors and drug companies are putting on children is also completely unnecessary. In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Wright has found that every single child he has worked with who has been diagnosed with ADHD has significant food allergies (sometimes even to healthy foods, although dairy products tend to be some of the primary culprits). He has also found that all ADHD children he has worked with are sensitive to some of the molecules naturally present in their own bodies, particularly neurotransmitters and hormones. Both of these factors involve thorough screening and subsequent desensitization to the offending substances. So you do need the help of a physician skilled in nutritional and natural medicine to eliminate the problem. But what you don't need are ADHD drugs -- or the risks associated with them. To locate a physician in your area who can help you with allergy and neurotransmitter sensitivity screening and treatment for these problems, contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine (800-532-3688,www.acam.org) or the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (316-684-5500, www.aaem.com). Source:
"Study examines heart risks linked to ADHD drugs," HealthDay News (www.healthday.com), 9/17/07 | 
