Alright, I have to vent again

I'm sure most of you saw my post about my cousin and how she got a recent diagnosis of ADD. Basically, the kid doesn't write down homework assignments and doesn't turn in homework. This seems to be the brunt of the problem from everything I've heard. She also takes something like four dance classes a week, and they don't seem to take that privilege away from her when she's flaking on school duties.

Anywho, they have now decided to put her on medication. I don't know why this gets to me, but it does. Why on earth wouldn't they have exhausted every available avenue before putting the child on serious meds? It's not like this is Dimetapp here.

What is wrong with this society? I don't like paying the bills each month and have to force myself to sit down and do it. The fact that I don't eagerly do it must mean I have ADD or Oppositional Defiant Disorder, right?

OK, stepping off my soap box now. I need a drink. (<-- joke)

Well, you clearly have a drinking problem. Here, have some meds. :drkbddy

LOL! I actually never drink. I was just being dramatic.

PS...I realize ADD can be a legit problem in some, but for her, less socializing and more discipline would probably solve it. I had a horrid attention span in school but still managed to jot down my assignments and turn them in. It makes me feel bad for her when I hear she's crying because she has to take this stuff. She's at the total mercy of her parents.

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Portiabella
Well, you clearly have a drinking problem. Here, have some meds. :drkbddy

Not a problem, a solution....

I do not even imagine to begin to try to comprehend what parents are thinking these days when they do shit like that. Then they get freaked out when teens smoke pot, drop acid or whatever? They've been shoving pills down their throats so long, they can't possibly comprehend sobriety. It's not about love, it's about what's easiest.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

Exactly, Feh. I've suffered from debilitating anxiety for years and had to eventually go on medication for it. Just from my own experiences, I would do every single thing I could to keep my child off psych medications. It took awhile to get the dosage right and some of the side effects were downright frightening.

Now if my kid tried to cut off a cat's ears, there might be a necessity for some Thorazine...

They give her everything, so most think they're good parents, but I have to disagree.

Here's what I don't get...these parents refuse to vaccinate their kids due to the poisons and all manner of imaginary bad things in the vaccines, and yet they'll fill their kids to the gills with medication for conditions that don't exist. When taken improperly or unnecesarily, medications can be poisons too, so why is it happy pills are good, but life-saving vaccines are bad? Hmm.

Sounds like your cousin just needs some boundaries and discipline. Does she choose to go to dance classes, or do her parents make her go? Regardless, I think the dance classes need to get dropped...if she chooses to go, then she should be able to 'earn' them back by doing her assignments. If Mommy and Daddy are making her go since they feel she is a professional ballerina in the making, she could just feel overwhelmed (I have no clue how old she is, so I don't know if fatigue could be a factor).

And like you said, cherryice, psych meds take a bit of adjusting to get the dosage correct. What happens when your cousin is much worse due to an improper dosage of medicine...will her parents keep taking her back to the doctor to get it adjusted properly, or will they label her with another form of autism and try to put her on more meds to counteract the side effects of the ADD meds?

Sounds like the parents are too lazy to actually parent and are just hoping to medicate the issue away, or medicate the girl into special needs classes where there is no homework or expectations.

Yes, Cambion. Psych meds shouldn't be doled out in a cavalier manner. I also failed to mention that at one point they thought she was depressed and were considering giving her an anti-depressant. I told my aunt to try everything before resorting to that and from what I heard, she never wound up having to go on them. So I get the feeling that my aunt and uncle like to consider medication before trying other more time-intensive methods.

And oddly enough, some of these medications can work in reverse and dull the brain. I have no idea if stimulants do this, but anti-anxiety and some depression meds can. Many times I found myself in a haze when the dosage wasn't right.

She's 11, BTW. She seems to enjoy the dance lessons, which is why taking them away for awhile would probably be a good thing.

But hey, what do I know. And I have no right to say anything to them. Just makes me angry to instill these values in a kid that young. Got a problem? Here's a magic pill!

How about- she goes and cuts a switch from the yard.....

ok, i'm dating myself here. well, she can always get her MRS degree!

Yea, meds are rarely the answer. What ever happened to a good old fashioned beating to modify the kid's behavior? Funny, it used to work years ago (for the most part), now instead of making the effort, parents just run to the doctor for the magic pill.

Now you see that's exactly the trouble today. It's not a 'disorder' that this kid prefers dancing to homework. Dancing is fun. Homework is not. Pharmaceutical companies all know that a mother's brains are pushed out along with the afterbirth and, with a complicit doctor who has been treated to all sorts of expensive corporate jollies and treats along the way, they're right there offering their goods as if it's some kind of solution. Solution to what? Normality??

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"The death of creativity is a pram in the hallway"
- Cyril Connolly