Whilst I don’t for a second advocate giving coffee to a child, I applaud Christie Haskel for trying to find an alternative to the drugs doctors prescribe. As I was watching the abc report on this mother I felt like the reporter was trying to manipulate me into thinking that this woman acted irresponsibly and recklessly by treating her child without consulting a doctor.
But I didn’t fall for the manipulation. Good on her for resisting Ritalin. She has every right to find an alternative to a drug many parents are weary of. Below are some issues I had with the reporting of this story.
1. The story quotes that “experts say there is no proof it works.”
Well actually I am of the opinion that if it works for some people, as it has worked for this mother it “can” work. No more proof required.
2. The piece lists the “potentially dangerous side-effects of caffeine.”
What about the potential side-effects of Ritalin?
- Abdominal pain
- Akathisia
- Alopecia
- Angina
- Appetite loss
- Anxiety
- Blood pressure and pulse changes (both up and down)
- Cardiac arrhythmia
- Diaphoresis (sweating)
- Dizziness
- Dyskinesia
- Dysphoria or Euphoria
- Formication
- Headaches
- Hypersensitivity (including skin rash, urticaria, fever, arthralgia, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme, necrotizing vasculitis, and thrombocytopenic purpura)
- Lethargy
- Libido increased or decreased
- Nausea
- Palpitations
- Pupil dilation[45]
- Psychosis
- Short-term weight loss
- Somnolence
- Stunted growth
- Tachycardia
- Xerostomia (dry mouth aka cotton mouth)
3. A Psychiatrist is presented warning parents not to become deluded into thinking coffee can cure ADHD:
A meta analysis of the literature concluded that methylphenidate quickly and effectively reduces the signs and symptoms of ADHD in children under the age of 18 in the short term but found that this conclusion may be biased due to the high number of low quality clinical trials in the literature. There have been no placebo controlled trials investigating the long term effectiveness of methylphenidate beyond 4 weeks thus the long term effectiveness of methylphenidate has not been scientifically demonstrated. Serious concerns of publication bias regarding the use of methylphenidate for ADHD has also been noted. A diagnosis of ADHD must be confirmed and the benefits and risks and proper use of stimulants as well as alternative treatments should be discussed with the parent before stimulants are prescribed.
4. The question is asked how does the mother know that by solving this one problem she isn’t creating several new ones:
I ask the same question about traditianal ADHD medication:
It was documented in 2000, by Zito “that at least 1.5% of children between the ages of two and four are medicated with stimulants, anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs, despite the paucity of controlled scientific trials confirming safety and long-term effects with preschool children.”
It is ludicrous to attack a mother for trying to find alternatives to a drug that comes with known side-effects, has stark similarities to cocaine and amphetamines and hasn’t convincingly proven the case against dependency or long-term side-effects.
Coffee isn’t something you’d want to be giving a child but neither is Ritalin. I know which one I would rather give my child.
Tags: ADHD, Caffeine, Christie Haskel, Coffee, Dr. David Rosenberg, Education, Health, life, Medication, Medicine, Methylphenidate, Parenting, Ritalin, Side-effects
Topical Teaching 
September 9, 2011 at 12:22 am |
These days every possible model of human thinking is compartmentalized and identified as in need of correction by drug manipulations. Drug companies create imaginary symptoms and manufacture a plethora of “medicines” to allegedly help. It also gives employment and increased income for child therapists. There are alternatives to medicine for ADHD. Meth in any form eats brain tissue. The nutritional protocols of orthomolecular medicine et. al. correct chemical irregularities causing dysfunction in the brain which are the root of many disorders and neuroses including learning and thinking abilities and can thus be managed nutritionally to a measurable degree. Inadequate sleep, family trauma, low income, violent neighborhoods are environmental impacts that derail thinking and learning too. Many gifted children have this and others get F’s because they see no relevance and therefore are dismissive of learning things but it is a matter of attitude not dysfunction . We try to find something of interest upon which they will focus and enjoy and seeding focus breeds focus and improved attention spans without drugs. Our kids are too drugged up with antibiotics for this and that and too early an age which reduces the effectiveness of these medicines but that of course is a different issue.
September 10, 2011 at 11:33 pm |
You’re right Carl. Soon there won’t be a human emotion that doesn’t have a drug equivalent.
September 9, 2011 at 7:32 am |
I loved this post because it gave me the opportunity to enjoy a good, cynical guffaw. I grew up in an Italian-American family and we all drank coffee from the time we could hold a cup. I love the fear exhibited by people whose wallets would be most affected if caffeine ended up being a suitable remedy for ADHD–psychiatrists, pharmaceutical companies, etc. So, let’s condemn the mother who is only trying to select an option with the fewest side-effects. Let’s get the public heated up to riot levels with lots of misinformation. Jeez. Thanks for sharing this, Michael. As you say, if it works for this kid, no more proof required.
September 10, 2011 at 11:31 pm |
Thanks Margaret. It just bothers me that pharmaceutical companies have so much sway over all these different interest groups.
September 9, 2011 at 7:44 am |
The mother of one of my students refused to accept a diagnosis of ADHD for her son. The doctors recommended Ritalin, but she decided to try alternatives like the omega 3 oils, cutting out additives, letting him run around etc. He was easily distracted, but not any more so than other children I have taught. However, if the work was at his level and if his poor concentration was taken into consideration when planning, there were no problems.
The mother had to really fight her corner for her son, and she was faced with a lot of antagonism from the school. But she persevered and dealt with any behaviiour issues at school sometimes on a daily basis. She had to, to prevent teachers misunderstanding her son and she had to coach the teachers on how to handle him.
Sometimes I think that ADHD is just a label for children who are just misunderstood and parents/teachers/professionals cant handle them.
September 10, 2011 at 11:26 pm |
I agree completely leaderinlearning. Thanks for the comment!
September 21, 2011 at 4:32 am |
I do not have kids yet but I would never consider giving this to any kid under any condition. Even if the parent locks it up so the child does not take more then the prescribed dose which is about 5mg twice a day. I only recently was put on this. Ritalin is so highly addictive. I have the symptoms of ADD or ADHD that fit perfectly in a book to the worst extreme and I’m not a drug addict(or maybe I now qualify as a drug addict with my abuse of Ritalin since I truly couldn’t control it- I was told by my parents who were told by my teachers that I had the same stuff going on as early as kindergarten to 8th grade and they told my parents I would probably never graduate high school due to the severity of my symptoms but not once mentioned ADD or being medicated or any treatment of any kind and I am so thankful for that). As a matter of fact, they may not have done anything except tell my parents to help me organize myself better at home before going to school or something I imagine. I know I was tutored until 9th grade but that was due to a disability that caused me to read at a later age plus not well at all. I just did poorly in my first attempt in medical school and it was related to not going to class, not focusing if in class, not able to focus long enough when studying, etc. I obviously had the brains for it though because even with all of this, I did fine in all but one and it was so close, just a point, that if the professor was not such an ass and cared more and was more reasonable especially after paying 50K to go there, he had the discretion to pass me. And no, he was not aware that I never attended his class because the class was 140 so he didn’t notice and even said something like I know you were in class because you came up to me a few times to ask questions. So did ADD take part in this, in many ways, but if any one of these I had corrected, this never would have happened in the first place, being treated properly though, not the instant release addictive Ritalin. I think the instant release Ritalin would be good for just certain events like taking an exam or cramming for the exam the night before, not everyday. I have done research regarding this and they say exactly that, if you take it, don’t take it everyday or multiple times a day because it won’t help you at all in the long term. But to go back, obviously I coped with it fine in high school(which I think was due to being younger and now very motivated and also enthusiastic) and my hard undergrad(but it was less intensive(9-5 days 5 days a week in boring science classes in undergrad, no, a full load may consist of 12 to 15 hours well spread out per week versus over 40 in medical, vet, dental, etc school) even though a Chemistry degree. Focusing and disorganization wasn’t an issue in undergrad because there was a lot more time to do things and relax and have a life, that’s all. Ritalin would have been a complete waste and not of helped there. I am at my 2nd attempt now in medical school and if properly treated with the right stimulant, I may go from borderline to one of the top students. So before coming, my psychiatrist experimented with me and didn’t do any diagnostics nor treating me as an individual, she, like probably 99% of them, treated me the same as everyone else who says they have ADD without even considering the medication she gives me for severe anxiety. First try was adderal and I thought it was amazing and if it always worked like that and no tolerance or addiction, I would breeze through school. It did not have the horrible side effects as the Ritalin. Headache if you abuse it but nothing else, insomnia of coarse if you take it all night. Went to Ritalin to try and it was about the same the first time, both just regular instant release tablets with dosages I think she came up with randomly, nothing to do with me. It’s about 1/5 or even less the price though as adderal so if something makes you think it’s the same, of coarse you will go to Ritalin and this is why I feel the majority of people treated for this take Ritalin, for financial reasons because it’s one of the worst ones for addiction and side effects as far as I know. I chose Ritalin due to how cheap it was and the first day I took and abused it, it made me feel amazing and also made me concentrate so much I started my book to eventually publish after finishing school. Even though the first couple generics worked fine, the other one did not, at first, was great and again, I thought it was the trick to helping me succeed. However, all of these stimulants are so highly addictive. My experience is even after it makes me feel absolutely horrible with the worst side effects of anything I have ever taken(abdominal pain, severe anxiety, fever, blisters(this happened once), cloudiness after the initial spike of feeling good and being able to focus on everything, I still crave it and end up abusing it. I on average would take a 30 day prescription in 2-3 days maximum which is nothing to be proud of. And usually after doing this and it’s gone, maybe 2 days later, everything is back to normal and I don’t crave it or anything and feel fine. And one thing that comes to mind is I am sure it made my heart beat to fast but I never saw this evidence but this one is the scariest. I have never done this before. I hate it. Obviously unless someone handed it to me and I’m a grown adult in my late 20’s so what would someone think if I asked them to do that? People look at people who are addicted to prescription or illicit drugs as being the lemons of society so you can’t discuss it with other people either. I for the most part experimented with it for a few months before school started to see the dose and the right drug to help me and the cravings never stopped. I made excuses that I wasn’t in school so it didn’t matter. Now I’m in school, first prescription, I do the same thing. I thought I could restrain myself now that it matters. This is not like other drugs. It’s one of the most addictive prescription drugs in the world and it’s also toxic. People could end up dying from it because it’s a stimulant and one of the side effects that could kill you is a heart attack even if you or a child doesn’t take more then prescribed. If I had been prescribed this as a kid, I don’t know what I’d be like today. I just may have become a junkie and could be dead. I am pretty sure to say that I would never have been able to even come close to having the title Dr. before my name which I will have in 4 years.
I did get something called Concerta prescribed today which is released in 3 intervals so the half life is about 2 times longer and it’s all very slow release except the initial dose. However, I can not swallow pills, at all, and I told him that, and these are big. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to give stimulants a chance as they have the ability to help big time and I think Concerta is unlikely to be addictive due to how tough the capsule is and it’s impossible to chew, it’s slow release making you not get high, I don’t think, it lasts longer, and being slow release means you are less likely to get tolerant as quickly as the instant release. By the way, I did chew the best I could because there’s just no way could I swallow it whole. But because of the design of the capsule in 3 layers, I think I am still getting some slow release but not the way it should work but it’s not causing me to crave it and take more so it’s working so far because that addiction thing is not happening again. The instant release Ritalin is probably by far the most addictive as it gets you feeling up or high in 30 minutes for at least an hour. That’s what causes the cravings for me. It helps you pull all nighters when you have to study for your final exams in your classes. It can be an amazing drug if used correctly but I have a feeling most people, but would never admit to it, would get addicted in some way to all of these class of stimulants. It’s like Meth I think, but I can’t confirm because I will truthfully say I have never touched Meth. As I said before, I don’t just go searching for drugs to get high. This treatment for ADD is truly an unfortunate accident and I am very ashamed of it and I am not sure if I could actually talk to any of my friends, professors, doctors or anyone about what I have done. I can do it anonymously like here, but nothing more. I take that back, I have been helping some true drug addicts with some of their problems, not related to the drugs to get them functional again. They are the only ones who know the full truth. I did however let them hold the last prescription of Ritalin for me before leaving a couple of weeks ago so I took as prescribed and realized as prescribed, it didn’t help me at all, not strong enough, except the side effects. The side effects were strong but the benefits of the drug I never felt at 20 to 30 mg even at one dose, even after clearing it from my system for a week after I abused it. I felt the husband was sincere and strong enough at that point to hold it and not touch it as he claimed. He is a drug addict, but the couple was doing quite well in getting over it, one reason is not having any money in poverty. And of coarse, guess what, he took some even though he felt horrible each time, even at 20 mg it made him feel the same as me, especially with a very severe stomach ache much worse than anything you will ever experience from other things. So lesson learned is that if you do find someone you can discuss this with, and hope they can control it, addicts are always addicts but my opinion is if you have a problem like this, you can’t ever discuss it with someone you think has never had a problem such as this because they will judge you but also may become less of a friend or disappear. I feel like less of a person for even feeling this way and feeling like now I am possibly a drug addict(not sure as it has only happened with this for a short period and by accident) so it affects your mental health regarding yourself too.
My point is, as for kids, probably teachers would say many have ADD or ADHD when they are just actually being a normal kid. Being hyper is normal and not concentrating can be normal. It’s hard to be motivated regarding doing well in school. You are too young to know the importance of it. I can’t imagine that it would calm anyone down, including a child. It’s a stimulant. Focus, yes, but it can still make them hyper. If they seem calm, it’s usually when they have been on it for more than a week and it no longer does a whole lot so it’s almost like a placebo. Sugar and caffeine though consistently make most kids really hyper. Caffeine is not much different than Ritalin. It just has it so the brain wakes up and becomes hyperactive all over where Ritalin will make one focus more on something particular if they chose to do so and that could be on playing video games, talking to friends or anything else. In school, it could help, but usually not for long. Personally, I hate this drug. It’s deceiving and like all drugs that are addictive, they stop working even when taken as prescribed usually in a short period. It’s very bad to become dependent on any drug that affects your brain chemistry. Doctors are way too fast to prescribe things like Ritalin. And for me, they didn’t even do a test to see if I had ADD. And I heard that’s the norm. They also don’t know their stuff and treat everyone the same, so you’re an experiment as are your kids. Kids are more likely to die from it too, on the prescribed dose, although it’s probably rare. I mention this because I have read quite a few stories about kids and sudden death but again, it’s got to be very rare like dying in a plane crash. Still, if it’s your kid, when you learn more you learn that your child died for absolutely nothing, just lack of knowledge by our doctors not really thinking and treating it like a piece of candy or something.
And to finish on caffeine, it is one of the most abused drugs in the world because it’s over the counter and highly accepted and people think it’s benign. It’s not. It can mess people up big time. For me, it makes me sick every time I try to take it, and we are talking small amounts in soda like Mountain Dew. It has similar side effects to the prescription stimulants and most people depend on it to wake up. I have never seen a kid on it before but I imagine they would become extremely hyperactive. As for doctors claiming that if you really have ADD or ADHD that Ritalin will calm you down and you could never get addicted to it, that isn’t true either. If it is, then it is true in people who get a real test for ADD that I imagine would be very high tech, not just talking to someone. Be careful. I personally know since I have problems with it and with as much effort as possible have been unsuccessful in controlling myself and the side effects, I won’t take it. I am trying the concerta slow release for a week and if I abuse it, will never use it again either. Too bad there aren’t less addictive drugs to help this that work as well as Ritalin and adderal when they work at their max. I’d use with caution. Just remember many, like me, crave and continue to keep taking it after we feel crappy and not sure why, maybe unrealistic hope it will make you feel better? I don’t know. The brain isn’t reasonable in this matter at all. I never even drink alcohol, smoke or have ever experimented with any illegal drug, no desire. I won’t even touch caffeine. I have severe anxiety too, so any of the stuff I just mentioned makes it 100 times worse. That alone is a reason not to take any substance that is prescription or over the counter that people abuse. And one very important thing to add that is extremely important is that I am prescribed chlonazepam for anxiety which ideally should just be taken as needed, not everyday, because this drug that takes away anxiety can cause anxiety as the others in it’s class when you’ve had it for awhile and your brain is dependent on it. It’s nothing one craves and it isn’t something that makes you high, all it does is take away panic attacks or continuous feelings of anxiety that won’t go away. Ritalin when I have abused it has in the past made me abuse the chlonazepam as it’s the only way to rid the panic attack and the worst anxiety ever caused by Ritalin. Maybe having to take 6 times as much. Not sure if it’s dangerous but it causes you to runt out very quickly and now you have to explain to your doctor and it’s not usually the truth. So the problems continue with other things too!
I grew up knowing about Ritalin and classmates taking it and was under the impression it was benign and I feel many think that today, especially when it comes to medicating kids. It’s not benign as it changes their brain chemistry for life and although I know nothing about what lasting effects it may have on the child as an adult as far as everything else, if I were to hypothesize, I would guess they would be more likely to have mental health issues as they got older and have many negative life experiences but I’m not a researcher on this area so I could be wrong. All I know is I was never medicated for anything as a kid and I was emotionally happy and did great in all areas besides the ADD symptoms in elementary school and not doing well academically then. And at this point, that doesn’t matter. It starts to matter in high school and up as far as how well you do in school. Only reason for any of my problems now has a lot to do with the stress of professional school I think and getting older and long periods, like 1 or 2 years of not being in school full time or at work full time.
I apologize this is so long and maybe slightly off topic but I hope it helps. I am not doing anything for school strictly because I feel awful after taking the Ritalin, like having the stomach flu or something but at least it’s the concerta that you can’t chew the same as other forms and so the capsules that I chewed did something to make sure it was not all released at once and also prevent cravings. If you must take a stimulant, consider something like what I have just been given. Good luck everyone!
November 2, 2011 at 9:00 am |
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