Troubled Teens Resources

As parents well know, there are two camps on opposite sides of the best way to help a teen diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder - those who advocate for treatment via medication and those who reject medication totally.

A good friend said she and her husband fought more over their diagnosed teen’s treatment than anything else in their marriage. He was a medication advocate but Carla came from a family of drug addicts and greatly feared that introducing “pills as solution” might set their son up for teen age drug abuse down the road.

After a great deal of research they reached a compromise. Always the health nut, Carla would go the natural route during the course of the summer, combining nutrition with materials she had gathered that teach teens at risk how to work with ADHD, maximizing it’s benefits and managing it’s deficits. The results showed appreciable improvement and after a few rough patches their son is doing extremely well.

Her son wasn’t pleased with many of her dietary choices, but it turns out that her instincts were right. One ingredient that she nagged me start using in my own diet was fish oil, and I’m afraid I’ll have to email her the article excerpted below, even though I’m definitely going to hear, “I told you so.”

“Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can benefit from daily fish oil supplements, research [..]

“This is an important study as it indicates when adequate levels of fish oil are added to the diet, significant behavioral changes can occur,” says study author Dr Barry Sears.

He adds that the growing epidemic of ADHD may be down to children’s diets being deficient in omega-3 fatty acids.”

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Attention Deficit Disorder when treated with medication has a definite downside that is not fully or adequately discussed by advocates of Ritalin and other various amphetamines. It can start a troubled teen down the road to addiction. Be it Ritalin or any other mood altering drug, when administered without any attempt to address the behavioral problems sans drugs you are instructing an adolescent that the answer to all of his problems will lie in a pill.

And for teens who experience some kind “high” from their medication, the next step is to see if doubling up on the dose makes them even higher.

“At least one boy admitted to police that he snorted prescription medication in a bathroom at Lake Denoon Middle School on April 3. Four kids had their hands on the bag of attention deficit drugs, according to Muskego police.
[..]
Many drugs now abused by teens are found in the family medicine cabinet.”

Unfortunately,a teens education can be derailed when being treated for ADHD.

“One former addict is not surprised that middle school kids abused attention deficit pills. Jordan Neary, 23, said he started on the same destructive path in his early teens.

“I ended up in the ICU at the age of 16,” he told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. “I overdosed right in my high school.

Doctors prescribed Adderall and Ritalin for Neary’s attention deficit disorder, but medical use turned to dangerous abuse.”

The middle school teens now face expulsion and the young man quoted above struggled with his addiction for years before being able to achieve sobriety.

He’s been sober for four years and now counsels incoming addicts at Teen Challenge of Wisconsin, a Christian-based drug rehab program. He said he sees a lot of his own struggle in the people he treats.

“So many of them make statements of how, as a young boy, they started snorting and taking larger amounts of their Ritalin,” he said. “It made them more comfortable with taking a pill.”
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Parents will want to investigate all alternatives to medication and consult with more than one authority before deciding how to work with their teen’s ADD.

Teen age drug abuse has been linked with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and some studies exist supporting the connection. By the same token, if your teen has been diagnosed with ADHD, it doesn’t automatically condemn him to inevitable drug use. In fact, some of the arguments against the use of medication contend that automatically treating a teen with drugs sets them up to view pills as a solution.

A diagnosis of ADHD can cause a parent a great deal of concern if they haven’t done their research. Research will reveal a great many alternatives to medication. Getting a second opinion is also advised. It has become too easy to label the merely restless child as ADD.

“ADHD is a real medical diagnosis, but not every child who is fidgety or can’t focus has it. There is a tendency to think in these terms when a child seems restless, and that is not always fair to the child. An immature system, behavioral or emotional issues, crises at home, diet, vision problems or learning issues could also be the culprit, and it takes time to rule out these other possible sources of the child’s inattentive behavior.”

Nor should a parent feel pressured into immediately medicating their teen. Here are some suggested issues to review before a parent makes a decison.

• Have other causes for my child’s behavior, such as learning issues, been ruled out?
• Does my child have trouble with being easily distracted in all settings, not just school?
• Has ADHD been thoroughly explained to me by my provider?
• Have the possible side effects of medication been explained to me?
• How long should my child be on medication before I see a result? (The good news is that it usually takes only a few days to see a positive result.)
• Do I feel comfortable with my child’s teacher and pediatrician’s level of understanding and knowledge about my child?

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