G’day and welcome to my site! I’m Dr John D’Arcy.
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There is so much information; it’s hard to find facts which are based on strong evidence so they can be incorporated into your life style and health plan. It’s so vital to develop that health plan so you can understand how your body works and what can go wrong.
Let me be your broker in that search for healthy facts and allow me to join you on your journey to health and well being.
Dr John D’Arcy
ADHD ... It exists; a reality and we need to do more to manage it
Controversy about Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder already exists but has become more intense because a Western Australian parliamentarian, Martin Whitely says ADHD is over diagnosed and over treated and in Sydney, a continent away, renowned psychiatrist, Phil Hazel says he is ‘simply wrong’.
Martin Whitely was a school teacher before entering the parliament and says that too many kids in school are on stimulant medication and argues they are “drugged to make them compliant”. He is proud of his government’s decision to make it harder to prescribe stimulant medication and has boasted that the rate of prescription has reduced in Western Australia by 6000 a year.
He fails to say if those not on medications have what they need to improve from their condition.
Sydney based, Professor Hazel has a special interest in ADHD and has been treating young people with it for many decades. He emphasises that proper management including improved education; the teaching of behavioural and social strategies will most often, but not always include the use of stimulant medication.
He says that the stimulant medications help young people to focus so that they can benefit from these new strategies. Professor Hazel says that stimulant medication has been used for over 50 years and when prescribed and monitored by paediatricians and psychiatrists, it’s safe and effective.
He comments that the medication is not the ‘catch all’ in the treatment of the condition but an intensive educational and behavioural system must go along with it.
When you consider that a Federal Government estimate puts 350,000 Australian with ADHD and that 400,000 scripts for stimulant medication are written for 60,000 people, there will be times when that complex plan of management goes wrong.
This is where Martin Whitely’s criticisms may be valid. If one aspect of the care falls down and falls down badly it can have serious consequences.
I have been in general practice for over 30 years and have cared for young people with ADHD and with their parents. If we get back to Whitely’s main criticism, that the pills are used but the rest of the plan is forgotten, it’s important to understand this.
The prescription for stimulant medication is not made by time poor GP’s acting impulsively on pressure from troubled parents but by a paediatrician or a child psychiatrist. These specialists write the prescription for stimulant medication after accurately making the diagnosis by considering information from parents, teachers, counsellors and social workers. Now I must admit, even when stimulant medication has been prescribed to improve focus, the “reach out and teach’ part of the equation doesn’t always fulfil its part of the equation. It’s so important that this consistent and repetitive action is reinforced and encouraged.
Now it’s true, medicines can be overused or the wrong medication selected for the wrong patient and this is demonstrated in our story by Brandon. He has multiple mental disorders and his ADHD was simply one of them. His story is sad because it wasn’t until he was admitted to hospital and all drugs, including powerful antipsychotic medications were stopped, and he received weeks of “good talk therapy” that he improved.
Every doctor knows that no matter which medication is taken all drugs can have adverse side effects and this must be considered in every case.
Life, compared to Brandon, has been very different for Jalessa who has ADHD alone. Her mother had experienced the condition with her older brother and was quick to ask for help when Jalessa started slipping down the educational slope. She’s has been on stimulant medication since she was 8 and has greatly benefitted from it and from the educational and behavioural package she received. A decade down the track, as she prepares for her final exams at school she can confidently say, ‘I feel normal and I feel happy!’.
It so important you don’t despair if your child or teenager is diagnosed with ADHD. It might seem unusual to say but according to some experts, there are real benefits which come from looking ‘outside the box’ as so many people with ADHD do.
Mark Brandtman who is an educational counsellor, including for young people with ADHD says that in many cases ADHD is not an educational impairment “but a gift!”
He says encouraging young people and teaching them to repeat helpful habits to prioritise the important issues of their day, makes such a difference. It creates new ‘brain maps’ and is part of the science of Neuro-plasticity. Our brain is ‘plastic’ in that the nerve pathways can change and that plasticity is very high in young people but lasts in each of us, till the end of life.
“When I am talking to kids anxious and having trouble fitting in with the daily routines of school, I may offer advice such as this. Perhaps they are having trouble doing their homework for example, I say, “When you get home from school at the end of the day take your school books, exercise book and pens out of your school bag and put them on the study table. Write a list of what you have to do to complete your home work!
They say and ‘is that all I have to do till I see you again in three months?’ It can be this simple! Reassurance, establishing and repeating these common place routines helps them to prioritise their days.”
If you suspect your child or teenager has ADHD, read all about it. Stick to the established authorities like internet information from the Children’s Hospitals in your main cities.
Remember, the management of ADHD is an ongoing affair. A close relationship with your GP, specialist and educational consultant is so important.
To read more about ADHD visit :
http://www.chw.edu.au and type in ADHD to the box on the left of the main screen
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au and type in ADHD.
http://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/factsheets.cfm and type in ADHD