Medication and children

[Facekicker]

Inspired by Magisme and his jaunt to Europe with a bunch of doped up schoolkids...

What kind of medication did you have to take on a regular basis when you were a kid, say up to 16 years old? I'm not talking about stuff for colds and flu but rather medication that you had to take on a daily or weekly basis.

I had an inhaler due to asthma. That's about it. I suppose I also took hayfever tablets (antihistimine) when that flared up.

Don't think I ever even had so much as a painkiller growing up. In fact I can't even remember the last time I had a painkiller or medication of any kind. Don't even bother with the inhaler these days. Only rarely do I take hayfever medication.

How about you? Have you noticed kids these days seem to be drugged to the gills? What do you think of this?

[AxlisOld]

Took Ritalin for a week or two, then my parents realized I wasn't interested in school because I was a kid and school sucks. Not because I had a disorder.

[wkuk04]

Inhaler.

[Dazey]

None because my parents decided to be parents.

[arnold layne]

I was put on Paxil at the age of 17. Shit fucked me up.

[Facekicker]

I was put on Paxil at the age of 17. Shit fucked me up.

Why were you put on it? What is it?

[arnold layne]

I was put on Paxil at the age of 17. Shit fucked me up.

Why were you put on it? What is it?

Paroxetine (also known by the trade name Paxil among others) is an antidepressant drug of the SSRI type. Paroxetine is used to treat major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and vasomotor symptoms (e.g. hot flashes and night sweats) associated with menopause[5][6] in adult outpatients.

I think their intentions were good though. My condition was extreme. Like I couldn't physically talk to someone without sweating, shaking, stammering, and dry-heaving. It was bad. I was bullied a lot and my depression worsened.

The meds worked. I became a social butterfly, but my cock stopped working and I gained sixty pounds in a month.

Withdrawal was so hellish that I started smoking pot, and then the natural snowballing progression of drug use started. My self-loathing returned and my life kind of went down the shitter emotionally for years.

I'm on a different antidepressant now and I recreationally take Adderall, which I confess is the best antidepressant I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing despite the fact it is prescribed for other reasons.

Drugs are an evil necessity. I don't think I would be any better if I didn't have my experience with Paxil. Like they say, in order to see the light you have to see a lot of darkness first. My experiences with pharmaceutical drugs and recreational drugs definitely changed my perspectives and goals. I'm sure I would have dabbled in stuff even without Paxil, and there is no doubt that it left a big impression on my life.

Most psychologists don't prescribe Paxil anymore. There are other pharmaceuticals on the market. After a lot of internal battling, I decided to start Prozac and I think it helps, but unfortunately not enough. The undesirable side effects don't occur though, and I can't tell you how happy I am because of that.

Edited March 2, 2015 by arnold layne

[Facekicker]

I don't understand how anyone could think a pill is the answer to a 17 year old with issues like that.

Did nobody try to understand why you came to be like that in the first place? I mean, it just doesn't appear to me to be the kind of thing that just happens overnight you know?

[arnold layne]

I don't understand how anyone could think a pill is the answer to a 17 year old with issues like that.

Did nobody try to understand why you came to be like that in the first place? I mean, it just doesn't appear to me to be the kind of thing that just happens overnight you know?

Well as I've grown older I realized my parents are not perfect individuals. They mean well, but they don't really understand the person I am. I think it is quite apparent that they have attempted to mold me as a perfect person in their eyes and are unable to accept the flaws and talents that I was born with.

I do think my parents influenced this decision, but we must remember that doctors are highly influential as well. The answer to everything in the USA is to pop a pill and it will all be okay. That is just how our society works.

Paxil was intense though. Kind of lobotomized me. Reading One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest was an extremely powerful experience. It truly is fascinating how powerful drugs can be to human development. It's beyond words. It's unspeakably powerful stuff.

[Facekicker]

I think it is so fucked up that so many schoolkids are doped to the gills these days between addarall, ritalin and anti-depressives.

I'm 32 and there wasn't a single kid in my schooldays on meds like that. Not one. ADD and all that shit didn't even exist.

Can someone please explain to me why there now exists such a need?

[arnold layne]

I think it is so fucked up that so many schoolkids are doped to the gills these days between addarall, ritalin and anti-depressives.

I'm 32 and there wasn't a single kid in my schooldays on meds like that. Not one. ADD and all that shit didn't even exist.

Can someone please explain to me why there now exists such a need?

Follow the money.

I will be the first to admit over diagnosing is an all too familiar issue however I do believe there is a genuine need for them too.

I know this is a stretch as well but remember that human progression is a continuous process. Perhaps we are witnessing human development and evolution not easily understood. Perhaps we humans are changing more mentally as opposed to physically.

[AxlisOld]

I think it is so fucked up that so many schoolkids are doped to the gills these days between addarall, ritalin and anti-depressives.

I'm 32 and there wasn't a single kid in my schooldays on meds like that. Not one. ADD and all that shit didn't even exist.

Can someone please explain to me why there now exists such a need?

It's a quicker and easier fix than parenting and being actively engaged.

[MB.]

None because my parents decided to be parents.

Right. Pretty stupid statement and can be very hurtful to the ones who actually need medicine. Not every case is the same and some kids actually do need medication for whatever reason, like ADHD or depression. I get so tired of these blunt statements of people. It's very annoying. Maybe in the US kids are too easily drugged up, but not in most European countries. There must be a very good reason will they prescribe any medicine for a kid in my country. They really have to be researched well by multiple doctors. But whatever...glad your parents were parents though, good for you.

I took and still take Trileptal also known as Oxcarbazepine which is a medicine against epilepsy. Well, cause I have epilepsy and by taking these pretty strong medication, I do not have big seizures anymore. Which were pretty dangerous.

Oh and I am not annoyed for myself btw. I understand that's not the kind of medication you are talking about.

And facekicker, at least now they can help the kids who have lots of trouble in school, at home and with themselves. I know people who wished those medication existed back then. Their life would have been a lot easier. The way of Life of today can be very hard for the people who can't keep up for whatever reason. I lost as a teen a very close friend, cause he jumped in front of a train, wished he had some very strong drugs prescribed to him in those days, maybe he would still be here .

Edited March 2, 2015 by MB.

[Facekicker]

I think it is so fucked up that so many schoolkids are doped to the gills these days between addarall, ritalin and anti-depressives.

I'm 32 and there wasn't a single kid in my schooldays on meds like that. Not one. ADD and all that shit didn't even exist.

Can someone please explain to me why there now exists such a need?

It's a quicker and easier fix than parenting and being actively engaged.

There's a definite truth to this.

When I was in school the problem kids came from two kinds of homes 99% of the time.

1: The spoilt rich kid whose parents were at work all day and had a nanny looking after them. In Ireland at the time these was an exception. Working mothers were few and far between, the vast majority stayed at home to look after their kids.

2: Kids from broken homes raised by single mothers.

The common denominator in both cases was a lack of attention and discipline.

As I said previously, ADD and drugging kids was unheard of. Those troublesome kids were considered bold and teachers imposed the discipline/attention that was lacking at home. In most cases it worked.

Then came the Celtic Tiger economic boom. Being a housewife was suddenly seen as archaic and old-fashioned. Women were encouraged to go to work and put their kids in creches or hire a nanny.

The result was a rise in kids with "disorders". Of course liberal politicians conveniently ignored this and celebrated the empowerment of women.

They also pushed for a huge increase in social welfare to single mothers. Guess what? The numbers of single mothers exploded as they were guaranteed social housing and a shitload of money for sitting on their arse and popping out kids to three different fathers, if they even knew the fathers.

The result - more kids with no father figures and good for nothing mothers who only saw them as a cheque from the government.

The solution - drug the kids. Diagnose "disorders". The liberal left continued to applaud themselves for providing such good social welfare to single mothers. The fucked up kids didn't even register on their radar.

And all of the above contributed massively to the eventual economic crash that has fucked this country for generations to come.

I'd love someone to do a study on the link between ADD, Liberal Social Policies and Economic collapse. If only to see the do-gooders turn purple with indignant rage.

[gunsguy]

None. Was not so common to have something to medicate, we were just kids

[Lithium]

Back in my day we didn't medicate no kids. If retarded Cousin Billy got too crazy, we just locked him in his cage for the rest of the day.

[wkuk04]

I was prescribed Penicillin as a child by my doctor and it sent me nuts.

[Jakey Styley]

I think there's a sort of weird generational pride thing going on in this thread.

It sounds very correct to denounce the increased medication of kids in the last 15 years, and feels satisfying to do so, like, "back in my day we didn't need meds, so why should they?" and all that, but there is really not conclusive evidence stating that the net effect of the increased medication of kids recently is negative. Like most things, this isn't black and white, and for every kid that is wrongly prescribed adderall or xanax or prozac or whatever, there's at least one kid whose life is so much better as a result of these drugs' existence. And I don't say that just thinking of kids who can now study better with Adderall, I'm thinking more about kids who would be downright miserable and suicidal without their antidepressants.

I think it's very cocky and disrespectful the way you guys discuss this topic. There's truth in it but you really can't just lump all medicated-child cases together and call it bad parenting.

[bran]

Inspired by Magisme and his jaunt to Europe with a bunch of doped up schoolkids...

What kind of medication did you have to take on a regular basis when you were a kid, say up to 16 years old? I'm not talking about stuff for colds and flu but rather medication that you had to take on a daily or weekly basis.

I had an inhaler due to asthma. That's about it. I suppose I also took hayfever tablets (antihistimine) when that flared up.

Don't think I ever even had so much as a painkiller growing up. In fact I can't even remember the last time I had a painkiller or medication of any kind. Don't even bother with the inhaler these days. Only rarely do I take hayfever medication.

How about you? Have you noticed kids these days seem to be drugged to the gills? What do you think of this?

100% agree with you. kids are just doped beyond belief and some of the meds push the kids over the edge. to me its a huge problem in the US.

[Graeme]

Never had anything apart from Oxytetracycline for spots when I was 16-18.

[Lio]

I have asthma and allergies, so I have been taking medication daily for most of my life and will do so until I die. Hooray for medicine!

As for ADD etc... I have thought for a long time it was all bollocks, but apparently it's a physical anomaly in your brain, so it is a thing. As science advances, and we learn new things about the human brain every day, it is very probable that kids from earlier generations had it too. They were probably just regarded as naughty, annoying or dumb kids. Nowadays they may function better if they have the right treatment, with or without medication.

But I do think it is given too easily to some, and that is something which genuinely worries me.

I realize it's different than the ritalin etc, but a few years ago, my then 3 year old daughter, was always coughing, even if it was summer. She wasn't sick and the coughing didn't really bother her, but as I have asthma, I was worried she might develop it too and I took her to the pediatrician. The pediatrician gave her pills which I take myself, but the children's version. I was slightly worried, because I know those pills are 'for life' so to speak. But we gave them anyway. After a week, my daughter started having panic attacks night and day. It was really frightening, we had to hold her for hours to calm her down. So I looked it up and apparently, a very rare side effect was panic attacks. I read accounts on forums that people ended up taking their kids to the psychiatrist for those panic attacks, only to find out, after years, that it was caused by the medication. I immediately stopped with the pills, of course. The panic attacks went away.

I told the doctor, who was surprised, as she'd never seen that happen. She wanted to give my daughter inhalers instead. But as I have asthma myself, I knew that what my daughter had, was far less serious. I really couldn't breathe, was weezing etc. My daughter was never short of breath. So I told the doctor I wouldn't be doing that and left. From then on we made sure to use nasal cleansing every day and she never coughed again.

This just to show that doctors assume things (because I had asthma, my daughter probably had it too), and then prescribe medication when it's not necessary. I know for sure that I would have given her the inhalers if I hadn't experienced asthma myself.

[DR DOOM]

When I was in high school I took Accutane for a while thanks to acne.

It caused nosebleeds, and there's a lot of people who say it can cause severe depression...I was pretty depressed and fucked up at the time, but I don't know if the medication caused it or if that's just being a teenager.

I was already self medicating, if you know what I mean.

Other than that, nothing.

[SoulMonster]

Antihistamines every summer because of hay fever developed when I was 12.

[Len Cnut]

Nothing. In fact if i had like, cold or sore throat my Mum gave me all these fuckin' back home remedys. For example if i had a sore throat my Mum would give me like ground black peppercorn on like a massive spoon with a drop of water on it. Used to burn like a fuckin' bastard, i mean it was disgusting, it would make me gag and wretch...worked though. Try that now, as a grown up, chuck some ground peppercorn in a glass, put a drop of water in it and down it and lets us know how it goes down, she would literally have to pin me down and force that shit in my mouth Yeuck.

Didnt used to get nothing at all for a cold. A hanky, thats about it I never had nothing much as a kid anyway that required medication. A lot of like, the reason why kids healths are fucked is cuz of a lot of the bollocks that you eat. I have a theory. When you're a kid and your developing and growing you need to stick to good healthy food. beef, milk, veggies, so's you grow up strong. Then when you're older and you wanna enjoy other less healthy food a built you've kind of built a strong foundation to chuck it on. When you're a baby and you're growing up and all you fuckin' live off is fuckin' like...pop tarts and chocolate cereal and that you've gonna grow up a little weenie.

So yeah, i reckon thats part of it too, i never had no like...sugar puffs etc at home. In fact, much like...nice snack food in general. Like you couldn't eat between meals round my house cuz there weren't fuck all to eat, like a proper meal for dinner and supper and breakfast was like Cornflakes or Weetabix or toast or eggs or just shit like that. It's hard to be unhealthy when your diets like that. Used to drink lots of milk when i was little too, pints of it. But like even with cereals, my parents would never buy that fuckin' shit, like the nice ones like Coco Puffs or whatever so like...y'know, it annoys you as a baby cuz you want what all the other little kiddies are having but I can sort of see why now because I'm big strong healthy boy and like, i don't catch no illnesses easy and like, i'm not very like...sensitive in terms of my immune system, the few times i been abroad or like...i can live in pretty horrible conditions without getting sick.

I don't think that was the parentses intention or anything, i just don't think they had any reference point for a lot of that other stuff so it just weren't a part of your life. Also like, if my old man was around as a kid and you were too you better fuckin' bell up a mate or go next door because, even as a kid, like 10 or 11, if it was a Sunday and Dad was up and about he's be like 'mow the lawn' or go get you a fuckin' couple of gallons of Creosote and go 'right, sort that fence out' Point being i did stuff so like, y'know, you get a bit of exercise and like...just basic sense about you as well, how to hold a fuckin' paintbrush etc

I think it all contributes to making you healthy. If you just sit inside in front of a computer, first meal at 1pm cuz thats when you woke up, then you sit around eating fuckin' Monster Munch and drinking coke and playing on your fuckin' computer game, stands to reason you're gonna grow up as a little fat poof. A 'sedentary lifestyle' i believe they call it?

Edited March 3, 2015 by Len B'stard

[GUNNER PT]

Nothing.