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So Young and So Many Pills, why liberals drug their brats.



 
 
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Old December 28th 10, 09:48 PM posted to alt.politics.obama,alt.california,alt.gossip.celebrities,alt.society.liberalism,misc.kids.health
Leroy N. Soetoro
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Default So Young and So Many Pills, why liberals drug their brats.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...46073896475588
..html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Gage Martindale, who is 8 years old, has been taking a blood-pressure
drug since he was a toddler. "I want to be healthy, and I don't want
things in my heart to go wrong," he says.

And, of course, his mom is always there to check Gage's blood pressure
regularly with a home monitor, and to make sure the second-grader
doesn't skip a dose of his once-a-day enalapril.

These days, the medicine cabinet is truly a family affair. More than a
quarter of U.S. kids and teens are taking a medication on a chronic
basis, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest U.S.
pharmacy-benefit manager with around 65 million members. Nearly 7% are
on two or more such drugs, based on the company's database figures for
2009.

Doctors and parents warn that prescribing medications to children can be
problematic. There is limited research available about many drugs'
effects in kids. And health-care providers and families need to be
vigilant to assess the medicines' impact, both intended and not.
Although the effects of some medications, like cholesterol-lowering
statins, have been extensively researched in adults, the consequences of
using such drugs for the bulk of a patient's lifespan are little
understood.

Many medications kids take on a regular basis are well known, including
treatments for asthma and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But children and teens are also taking a wide variety of other
medications once considered only to be for adults, from statins to
diabetes pills and sleep drugs, according to figures provided to The
Wall Street Journal by IMS Health, a research firm. Prescriptions for
antihypertensives in people age 19 and younger could hit 5.5 million
this year if the trend though September continues, according to IMS.
That would be up 17% from 2007, the earliest year available.

Researchers attribute the wide usage in part to doctors and parents
becoming more aware of drugs as an option for kids. Unhealthy diets and
lack of exercise among children, which lead to too much weight gain and
obesity, also fuel the use of some treatments, such as those for
hypertension. And some conditions are likely caught and treated earlier
as screening and diagnosis efforts improve.

Gage, who isn't overweight, has been on hypertension drugs since he had
surgery to fix a heart defect as a toddler, says his mother, Stefanie
Martindale, a Conway, Ark., marketing-company manager.

Most medications that could be prescribed to children on a chronic basis
haven't been tested specifically in kids, says Danny Benjamin, a Duke
University pediatrics professor. And older drugs rarely get examined,
since pharmaceutical firms have little incentive to test medicines once
they are no longer under patent protection.

Still, a growing number of studies have been done under a Food and Drug
Administration program that rewards drug companies for testing
medications in children. In more than a third of these studies, there
have been surprising side effects, or results that suggested a smaller
or larger dose was needed than had been expected, Dr. Benjamin says.
Those findings underscore that children's reactions to medicines can be
very different than those of adults. Long-term effects of drugs in kids
are almost never known, since pediatric studies, like those in adults,
tend to be relatively short.

"We know we're making errors in dosing and safety," says Dr. Benjamin,
who is leading a new National Institutes of Health initiative to study
drugs in children. He suggests that parents should do as much research
as they can to understand the evidence for the medicine, confirm the
diagnosis, and identify side effects. Among the places to check: drug
labels and other resources on the FDA's website, published research at
www.pubmed.gov, and clinical guidelines from groups like the American
Academy of Pediatrics.

When a child psychiatrist diagnosed their then 8-year-old daughter with
bipolar disorder four years ago, Ken and Joy Lewis, of Chapel Hill,
N.C., sought a second opinion from another child psychiatrist.

They also worked with a psychologist. Dr. Lewis, who leads a company
that does early-stage drug studies, reads all the available research on
each medication suggested for the girl, now 12, who has taken
antipsychotics and other psychiatric medications including Risperdal and
Haldol.

"If your child has a chronic problem, then you have to invest the time
as a parent," he says.

Parents and doctors also say nondrug alternatives should be explored
where possible. Tom Wells, a professor of pediatrics at the University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who sees patients at Arkansas
Children's Hospital in Little Rock, frequently pushes diet and exercise
changes before drugs for hypertensive kids. "Obesity is really the
biggest cause I see for high blood pressure in adolescents," he says.
But only about 10% of families adhere to his diet and exercise
recommendations, he says.

Beverly Pizzano, a psychologist who lives in Palm Harbor, Fla., spent
years struggling with behavioral therapies for her son Steven, 10, who
showed symptoms of ADHD at a young age. She worked with a counselor on a
system of rewards for good behavior, and even had a research team watch
him and suggest interventions. But she turned to medications after he
struggled in kindergarten. "We tried everything before I would get to
that," she says.

After a drug is prescribed, children must be closely monitored, doctors
say. They may not recognize or communicate a possible side effect, or
whether their symptoms are improving. They also don't always follow
prescription instructions.

Robert Lemanske, a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
says patients at his pediatric asthma clinic are checked regularly for
side effects such as slowed rates of growth. He quizzes parents and
young patients on details like where they keep their inhalers to make
sure they're taking their prescribed medicine.

Nichole Ramsey, a preschool teacher whose 9-year-old son Antwone is a
patient at the clinic, watches her son's basketball practices so she can
head off any wheezing or other symptoms. She also makes sure she's
around when he gets his regular Advair dose. If Antwone stays at a
friend's house overnight, she asks the parents to watch that he takes
steps like rinsing out his mouth to avoid a fungal infection that can be
a side effect of the inhaled drug.

"You're still the best monitor of what's going on with them," she says
of a parent's role.

Ms. Ramsey is particularly concerned about Advair, which has been tied
to rare instances of asthma-related death, but says it works better than
a previous drug he was using. Before he started the medications, Antwone
was hospitalized several times for asthma attacks.

As children's bodies change and grow, they often need different drugs or
doses, says Greg Kearns, chairman of medical research at Children's
Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Jennifer Flory, a homemaker in Baldwin City, Kan., says that after her
daughter Cassandra, now 16, started taking a higher dose of the asthma
drug Singulair a few years ago, she became more moody and sad. Ms. Flory
didn't connect the change to the drug, but when she eventually mentioned
it to a nurse practitioner at the girl's asthma clinic, the nurse
suggested stopping Singulair, which currently has a precaution in its
label about possible psychiatric side effects. Cassandra, who continued
taking Advair, became far more cheerful and didn't have any increase in
asthma symptoms, Ms. Flory says.

A spokesman for Merck & Co., which makes Singulair, said in a statement
that the company is "confident in the efficacy and safety of Singulair,"
which is "an important treatment option for appropriate patients."



--
Obama's black racist USAG appointee.

Eric Holder, racist black United States Attorney General drops voter
intimidation charges against the Black Panthers, "You are about to be
ruled by the black man, cracker!"

Eric Holder, prejudiced black United States Attorney General settles the
hate crime debate, "Whites Not Protected by Hate Crime Laws."

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact, to
former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New
York's million dollar tax evasion. On December 3, 2010, Congress voted
to censure Rangel for 11 ethics violations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
fought removal of Charles B. Rangel from the House Ways and Means
Committee.

Felony President. 18 USC, Sec. 600. Promise of employment or other
benefit for political activity

Obama violated the law by trying to buy Joe Sestak off with a political
appointment in exchange for not pursuing an election bid to replace
Arlen Specter. Obama violated the law by trying to buy former Colorado
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff off last fall to see if he'd be interested
in an administration job -- instead of running against Sen. Michael
Bennet.

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