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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
http://wcco.com/health/health_story_251110740.html Sep 8, 2003 10:05 am US/Central NEW YORK (CBS) For many parents, back-to-school preparations don't mean just stocking up on pencil boxes; it also means buying prescription drugs for a hyperactive child. Dr. Melvin Oatis, a pediatrician and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the NYU Child Study Center, visits The Early Show on Monday to offer a refresher course on detection and treatment of ADHD. He says parents and teachers should look for disruptive or daydreaming behavior "in at least two settings, settings being: at home, with their peer group and in school." Once it is established that your child is suffering from impairment, he suggests talking to a pediatrician to find out specifically where the impairment is, before asking for a prescription for Ritallin. "Once you have the diagnosis, you can decide on a medication," he says. There are lots of opinions about whether kids are over medicated or under medicated, he notes. "There are more kids not on Ritalin or some other ADHD drug that need it, than there are kids on it who don't need it," he says. Ritalin, he explains, is the most researched medication for treating ADHD. It has been studied since the 1950s. And it comes in doses that last up to 12 hours, "so kids don't have to take it two and three times a day, just once," he says. The downside to taking Ritalin a "decreased appetite, headaches, stomach aches, difficulty with sleep. There are ways to minimize the effects, sometimes these are transient and go away with treatment," Dr. Oatis says. |
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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
Funny subject line. My child cannot even
have a single tablet of OTC *ibuprofen* in his backpack, as would be most sensible so that he could treat one of his migraines BEFORE it gets too bad to treat, without the threat of suspension or expulsion from school. (Not clear which, from the rules I've read.) I'd never put an ADHD medication in the backpack, since this could be too much of a temptation for a kid to sell it to other kids who want to abuse it, but I really do wish he could carry a single ibuprofen tablet. As it is, we had to get not only a form filled out by his doctor requesting the nurse to administer ibuprofen, we also had to get the pharmacy to sell us OTC ibuprofen with a prescription label with my child's name on it attached. Bizarre rules. Good thing he didn't get a migraine the days we were scrambling to get all this to the school. Oddly, he got fewer migraines the first couple of weeks of school, while taking ADHD meds, than he did in the several weeks before school started. I'd have expected ADHD meds to increase, not decrease, the number of headaches he gets. Probably no connection at all. Paula |
#3
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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
Paula wrote:
Funny subject line. My child cannot even have a single tablet of OTC *ibuprofen* in his backpack, as would be most sensible so that he could treat one of his migraines BEFORE it gets too bad to treat, without the threat of suspension or expulsion from school. (Not clear which, from the rules I've read.) My daughter also gets migraines. At her school, you can get a doctor's slip and give the school the medication to administer if needed, even if it is over the counter. You might want to check out this option. |
#4
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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
"Paula" wrote in message om... Funny subject line. My child cannot even have a single tablet of OTC *ibuprofen* in his backpack, as would be most sensible so that he could treat one of his migraines BEFORE it gets too bad to treat, without the threat of suspension or expulsion from school. (Not clear which, from the rules I've read.) nodding The same goes for cough drops at my son's school. I bring in a box at the beginning of the year, for him to take "as needed". Buny |
#5
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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
"Paula" wrote in message om... Funny subject line. My child cannot even have a single tablet of OTC *ibuprofen* in his backpack, as would be most sensible so that he could treat one of his migraines BEFORE it gets too bad to treat, without the threat of suspension or expulsion from school. (Not clear which, from the rules I've read.) I'd never put an ADHD medication in the backpack, since this could be too much of a temptation for a kid to sell it to other kids who want to abuse it, but I really do wish he could carry a single ibuprofen tablet. As it is, we had to get not only a form filled out by his doctor requesting the nurse to administer ibuprofen, we also had to get the pharmacy to sell us OTC ibuprofen with a prescription label with my child's name on it attached. Bizarre rules. Good thing he didn't get a migraine the days we were scrambling to get all this to the school. Oddly, he got fewer migraines the first couple of weeks of school, while taking ADHD meds, than he did in the several weeks before school started. I'd have expected ADHD meds to increase, not decrease, the number of headaches he gets. Probably no connection at all. Au contraire! There IS a link! He is probably enjoying school, has less stress, and is not worrying about what his teacher will be saying to him when he does not get his work done. |
#6
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Ritalin In Your Child's Backpack?
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