coyote's corner

I thought I would pass this on .....
----- Original Message -----
From: "HSI - Jenny Thompson" <hsia@...>
Subject: Behavior Mod Squad


> Behavior Mod Squad
>
> Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
>
> October 2, 2003
>
> **************************************************************
>
> Dear Reader,
>
> The phrase "Not enough children are getting drugs," should
> not be used by radio reporters while I'm driving a car. It
> could be hazardous to other drivers.
>
> Last week I was listening to Morning Edition on National
> Public Radio (NPR) while driving to work. And when I heard
> the beginning of a report on the use of medication to treat
> attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), I should
> have pulled over to the shoulder of the road and turned off
> the car so that I could talk back (shout back!) to the radio
> without endangering my fellow motorists.
>
> I'm happy to say that I got to work without plowing my car
> into anyone else. That's the good news. The bad news: Even
> though hundreds of thousands of children are being given
> pharmaceuticals to treat ADHD, there are "experts" out there
> who are convinced that our kids are under-medicated.
>
> Now aren't you glad you weren't driving a car when you read
> that last sentence?
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Dreaming up diseases
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The NPR report was part of a series on mental illness in
> children. But does ADHD really qualify as a mental illness?
> In the most extreme cases, possibly. But I wholeheartedly
> agree with a Brandeis University medical sociologist named
> Peter Conrad who told NPR that the American medical
> establishment has come to regard normal human differences as
> medical problems - such as judging a child to have a disease
> because he doesn't pay as close attention as the kid in the
> next desk.
>
> And you know what we do with a disease in this country: We
> medicate it.
>
> In direct counterpoint to Mr. Conrad's clear thinking, the
> NPR piece also featured Columbia University psychiatrist
> Peter Jensen who believes that only half the kids with ADHD
> are being properly medicated. So if Mr. Jensen had his way,
> the number of U.S. kids taking an ADHD medication would
> roughly equal the entire population of Ireland. That's well
> over 3 million.
>
> Mr. Jensen is particularly pleased with a National Institutes
> of Mental Health (NIMH) study that compared the effectiveness
> of behavior modification to medication in treating ADHD. The
> behavior modification proved to be useful, but medication was
> found to be more effective. Case closed, says Mr. Jensen.
> Time to medicate those 1.5+ million stragglers.
>
> But psychologist William Pelham says, not so fast. Both
> Pelham and Jensen participated in the NIMH study, and Mr.
> Pelham points out that other studies (ones that didn't simply
> compare a behavior modification group to a medication group)
> have found that more than half of ADHD subjects may be
> successfully treated with behavior modification alone.
>
> No doubt, the concept of trying behavior modification before
> resorting to drugs is going to be a hard sell to the medical
> establishment. But there's still a critical element missing
> from both of these treatment options.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Oh behave!
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The behavior modification techniques described in the NPR
> report don't include diet modification. And that's a huge
> omission.
>
> In the e-Alert "How to Dismantle an '89 Ford" (6/3/02), HSI
> Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., told us how he had successfully
> treated hyperactive children with a two-step process: 1) by
> discovering and removing food allergies, and 2) by enhancing
> nutrition. The drawback to this process is that it's more
> difficult to strictly modify a child's diet than it is to
> have a prescription filled. And dietary changes take time. A
> pill is a quick fix. But that quick fix comes with possible
> side effects as well as long-range problems.
>
> In the June 2002 e-Alert, Dr. Spreen wrote: "It's amazing how
> many hyperactive children are chemically sensitive. The trick
> is finding out what the sensitivity is. Food allergies are
> chemical sensitivities, and they must be ruled out first.
> This starts by cutting out the historic offenders - milk (or
> other dairy), wheat, corn, soy, peanut, and adding to the
> list anything (ANYTHING) that the child craves (or just
> insists on eating everyday).
>
> "Bear in mind also that sugar is a chemical. It's purified
> and concentrated to a point w-a-a-a-y beyond what our bodies
> were genetically designed to comfortably handle, and blood
> sugar swings resulting from its use can absolutely have an
> impact on behavior. Improvement can be absolutely amazing,
> and then maddening to discover that so much control was
> available from within the refrigerator."
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Add nutrients
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Once a child's diet is purged of aggravating factors, there
> are important nutrients that can help calm hyperactivity. Dr.
> Spreen recommends vitamin C in high doses (a "great
> detoxifier") as well as alpha lipoic acid; used in
> conjunction with a good basic multi-vitamin/mineral regimen.
>
> Dr. Spreen adds, "Most ADHD kids have deficient diets, and
> essential fatty acids (important for proper nerve formation
> and conduction) are often undersupplied. Fish oil
> supplements, along with extra vitamin E to assist in its
> metabolism, can be very helpful. Sometimes, magnesium (in
> doses not high enough to loosen stools) can be a big calmer
> in the mineral department, and certain amino acid-type
> supplements like GABA and L-tryptophan can be amazingly
> effective. However, get educated by starting at the
> beginning and don't quit until you have the answer."
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Option one
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The NPR report quotes a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist named
> Daniel Safer who notes that over many years of treating
> children with ADHD he's seen the attitude of parents change.
> Where parents were once cautious about medicating their
> children, many are now quite willing to request a
> prescription for Ritalin. Several factors have contributed to
> this change in attitude. In 1991, for instance, the U.S.
> Office of Education officially identified ADHD as a condition
> qualifying a child for special education. And there's no
> doubt that the direct advertising of prescription drugs has
> made our culture much more comfortable with the idea of
> solving problems with pharmaceuticals.
>
> And now there's a new drug that's making the decision to
> medicate just that much easier. Strattera is a non-stimulant
> ADHD medication introduced by Eli Lilly less than a year ago.
> And it's selling like gangbusters. One million prescriptions
> for Strattera were written between November 2002 and June
> 2003. The fact that Lilly can back up a new product with a
> formidable international marketing effort has a lot to do
> with these huge sales. But an ADHD drug that doesn't mimic
> amphetamines (as Ritalin does) is probably very attractive to
> parents.
>
> But is it safer? That's hard to answer. Like Ritalin, the
> long-range effects of Strattera are still a question mark.
> And Strattera's most common side effects (mood swings,
> dizziness, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and
> tiredness) read like the symptoms of a disease. Does that
> sound like the best way to help kids get focused?
>
> Dr. Spreen sums up the ADHD situation with this
> comment: "Never assume that drugs are the only answer."
>
> And I would add to that: As effective as it may be in
> treating ADHD, behavior modification isn't complete without
> modification of the diet as well.
>
> **************************************************************
> HAD ENOUGH
>
> Are you sick of eating turkey burgers and sprouts... sick of
> forcing gallons of water down your throat... sick of
> exercising until you can hardly breathe?
>
> Before you give up everything just because "everyone" says
> it's healthy... Find out why vegetarians actually die
> younger, why there is no benefit to drinking gallons of
> water, why you should keep your cholesterol level above 200,
> and many more myth-busting facts that will lead you on the
> road to real health.
>
> Stop depriving yourself and find out how you can enjoy the
> food you love while improving your health at the same time!
>
> https://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RHB/W6RHDA01
> (if you can't open here use the HTML links listed below)
>
> **************************************************************
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>
> **************************************************************
>
> .. and another thing
>
> You don't really need another reason to increase your vitamin
> C intake, but here's one anyway.
>
> Researchers at the University of Manchester and the Institute
> of Public Health at Cambridge University examined data from
> an 8-year population survey of almost 25,000 subjects to
> analyze the association between rheumatoid arthritis and
> vitamin C intake through fruit and vegetable consumption.
>
> Only 73 subjects developed rheumatoid arthritis, and their
> diets had one common denominator: low intake of fresh fruits
> and vegetables. Exactly how these foods protect the body from
> this debilitating, inflammatory disease will require further
> research.
>
> Without question, a daily orange, apple, carrot, and banana
> will do most of us quite a bit of good. And munching them may
> just let us cross rheumatoid arthritis off our list of things
> to worry about.
>
> To Your Good Health,
>
> Jenny Thompson
> Health Sciences Institute
>
> **************************************************************
> PUT AN END TO YOUR SLEEPING TROUBLES?
>
> Everyone has occasional trouble sleeping - and sleep problems
> generally increase as we age. But even occasional sleep
> problems can damage your health and make you old before your
> time. Here's some good news, though. New research shows that
> it's possible to:
>
> * Easily enter a state of deep, restful sleep whenever you
> want.
> * Regain the natural ability to sleep soundly.
> * Regain the ability to produce vital life enhancing
> substances at the same (or even higher) levels as you did
> when you were much younger.
>
> To find out how you can retrain your brain and start sleeping
> like a baby, visit:
>
> http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/SOLU/W610DA09/home.cfm
> (if you can't open here use the HTML links listed below)
>
> **************************************************************
>
> Sources:
> "Analysis: Increasing Diagnosis and Drug Treatment of
> Children with ADHD Ignites Controversy Among Professionals"
> Snigdha Prakash, Morning Edition, National Public Radio,
> 9/25/03, npr.org
> "Side Effects - Children and Adolescents" strattera.com
> "Low Vitamin C Linked to Greater Arthritis Risk" Karen
> Birchard, The Medical Post, V. 39, Issue 24, 6/17/03,
> medicalpost.com
>
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In a message dated 10/2/03 7:14:47 AM, jana@... writes:

<< I thought I would pass this on ..... >>

It was interesting, but hey----they didn't suggest just NOT expecting the
kids to sit in desks and pay attention, only recommended changing their diets so
that would be easier to do. <bwg>

We're so far from mainstream...

Sandra