John Travolta's son, autism and Scientology

[OneLostGrl]

I'm going to reply to this because I think you are directing this to me regarding my "drug induced haze" comment.

If you go back and read my post, you'll notice that I was specifically talking about children and ADHD and the ever-increasing amount of prescriptions written for children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD each year. This is a well-documented, often discussed problem that has been shown to be a cause of concern. There have been thousands of cases where a child is prescribed daily, long-term Ritalin/Adderrall dosing after simply being seen by their primary care physician for a mere 15-20 minute visit.

Are there kids who truly do need medication? Yes-without a doubt.
Are there kids who truly DON'T need medication, but have been hastily prescribed it large, long-term doses? Absolutely.

Autism and ADHD are profoundly different diagnoses, and I would never suggest that children with autism shouldn't be medicated or that they are medicated too much. Never. I'm not that dumb or shortsighted.

Bipolar and other mental health issues are also completely different from ADHD, and again I would never suggest that people with those issues shouldn't benefit from medication. You said you were so sick of hearing about drug induced hazes from people who have no idea....but again, I wasn't talking about bipolar or autism---those words weren't even mentioned in my post. I do, however, have an idea about irresponsible prescribing and ADHD diagnosing--which is what I was commenting on.

I used your words, "drug induced haze", you are correct, but I honestly wasn't directing my post toward you! I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.

I was directing my comments toward Scientology. I was venting my outrage at their stance on Psychiatric medication. Medication given for ADHD, Bipolar, and Autism are all Psychiatric medications- that's the only reason I even brought up medications for Bipolar. ADHD is indeed classified as a mental illness. Many of the medications used for Bipolar are also used for people with Autism and for people with ADHD and vise versa.

Please don't get me wrong, I agree with you that ADHD is way over diagnosed but I also think many other mental illnesses are over diagnosed and many people are over medicated... but so many are UNdiagnosed and/or UNDER medicated as well.

The whole thing is such a touchy subject but I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer in my earlier post- I wasn't trying to get nasty with you. :blowkiss:

 

[Amraann]

Wow, no kidding- that surprises me! What kind of dosage do they have him on?

I used to take it for the Bipolar and it would knock me out- I mean OUT- for like 12-18 hours at a time. My body didn't even wake me to tell me to go pee and I'd wet the bed!! I was on between 100 and 200 mgs a night depending on the degree of my mania's.

He takes 200 mgs nightly of the seroquel and 20mgs of Abilify.

 

[OneLostGrl]

He takes 200 mgs nightly of the seroquel and 20mgs of Abilify.

Daaaammnn, girl! You'd think the kid would sleep for a week, LOL! What's it do, have the opposite effect on him or none at all?!

I suppose I'm asking these questions in the wrong thread, I should be asking in the Autism thread huh?

 

[eleven]

I used your words, "drug induced haze", you are correct, but I honestly wasn't directing my post toward you! I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.

I was directing my comments toward Scientology. I was venting my outrage at their stance on Psychiatric medication. Medication given for ADHD, Bipolar, and Autism are all Psychiatric medications- that's the only reason I even brought up medications for Bipolar. ADHD is indeed classified as a mental illness. Many of the medications used for Bipolar are also used for people with Autism and for people with ADHD and vise versa.

Please don't get me wrong, I agree with you that ADHD is way over diagnosed but I also think many other mental illnesses are over diagnosed and many people are over medicated... but so many are UNdiagnosed and/or UNDER medicated as well.

The whole thing is such a touchy subject but I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer in my earlier post- I wasn't trying to get nasty with you. :blowkiss:

No, I'm sorry--I obviously jumped the gun. Sometimes I get on the defensive with no real good reason to, and this is obviously one of those times. :truce: :blowkiss: Thanks for your nice post.