So, heard the latest? I am not making this up.

Adderall May Have Unhinged Lindsay Lohan (8/20/2010 12:30 AM PDT by TMZ Staff)
Lindsay Lohan's Adderall dependence -- the result of a medical misdiagnosis -- may have been the reason she went off the rails.

[T]he docs at the UCLA rehab facility believe Lindsay was misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ... and then prescribed Adderall to treat the phantom affliction.

Dr. Joe Haraszti -- a prominent L.A. addiction specialist [states that] people who take Adderall when they don't need it can experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine.

Dr. Haraszti tells us ... people who unnecessarily take Adderall can display manic symptoms ... "and often do things like 'driving around until all hours of the morning ... smoking heavily ... tweeting ... and texting all night long." The doc adds, "They can become very impulsive."

"The doc also notes that people in that situation "might then complain of insomnia and then take Ambien or other sleep aids to help fall asleep ... it's a vicious cycle."

Dr. Marc Kern -- another addiction expert -- tells us alcohol abuse is also very common among patients who take Adderall.

Dr. Kern tells us, 'The Adderall counteracts the sedative side effects of alcohol use … making these people often drink more than someone who does not take the drug."

That is, pretty much, word for word, the article about Ms. Lohan, ADHD and Adderall. Now, let’s play a game. How many things are terribly wrong about the information contained in this article?

Here are my top three:

1. How is someone like Lindsay Lohan “misdiagnosed?” One would assume that she has access to the best medical practitioners around, right? So, are her doctors so inept that they could not diagnose a “disorder” that affects anywhere from 8% to 15% (or more, depending upon your information source) of the population?

Or, is it more likely, that the “disorder” is so vaguely defined, subjectively diagnosed, and misunderstood, both in its manifestation and causes, that it too difficult to diagnose correctly?
In either event, if Ms. Lohan is truly misdiagnosed, either through her doctors’ lack of skill or the inherent vagueness of this “disorder,” how do we know that our kids are not also being misdiagnosed?

2. “[P]eople who take Adderall when they don't need it can experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine.”

Ah, this one’s a bit trickier. Yes, people who take Adderall “can experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine.” No issue there. That’s because Adderall, Ritalin, and the like ARE IN THE SAME CHEMICAL FAMILY AS COCAINE AND METHAMPHETAMINE!! (in fact, Ritalin’s real name is “methyiphenidate”). And, like cocaine, they are all Schedule II controlled substances! (see http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html).

Thus, “like cocaine, Ritalin is a powerful stimulant that increases alertness and productivity. Ritalin and cocaine also look and act the same. Both have a similar chemical structure.” http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/issues/ritalin.html

So, what’s terribly wrong with this statement? First, Adderall affects EVERYONE the same way, whether you have ADHD or not! That’s why you can’t use the drug’s so-called effectiveness as a diagnostic tool. So, when you give your “ADHD” kid Adderall, he/she may “experience similar effects as people who use cocaine or methamphetamine,” including as
“Dr. Haraszti tells us … manic symptoms ... and impulsiv[ity]."

And lets not forget what Dr. Kern has to say: “alcohol abuse is also very common among patients who take Adderall.”

3. Just a headcount – how many of you parents out there were told either that (a) ADHD was very difficult to properly diagnose; or (b) that drugs like Ritalin and Adderall are class II controlled substances, just like cocaine, with a similar chemical structure as cocaine, that can cause “manic symptoms, impulsivity, and/or alcohol abuse”?

I’ll bet you were told, like me, these drugs were perfectly safe, with few if any side-effects. And, if your son/daughter had diabetes, you’d give him/her insulin, wouldn’t you?

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Hi All!

Yes, it’s been a while. And, any rumors that you might have heard suggesting that I haven’t blogged because I was embarrassed that I didn’t finish the Boston Marathon are completely untrue. And, I know I said I would blog a bit more consistently (sorry! Just lost track of time), and I am absolutely sure you are all dying to know how I did in the Boston Marathon, so, here’s the scoop.

(Hopefully, you recognize the tongue in cheek tone of the previous sentence. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard no rumors about me, and that you really don’t care about the Marathon. That’s just me.

Funny, I had a long talk with Tina about Facebook. She wanted me to set up an account (and a Twitter account, too!) for Spark, but I just don’t get it. What is the purpose of Facebook? Does Facebook actually serve society?

Tina pointed out that if you’re offering useful information, or networking to find resources, then the answer is “yes.”

But, don’t most people just give their “status,” post pictures of their vacation/party/pets, “poke people,” write on someone’s wall, or whatever else it is you do on Facebook?

Really, isn't Facebook just about publishing yourself?

I don’t personally think I’m all that interesting. But, the last time I blogged, I did mention that I was training for the Marathon, so, to anyone who read the last blog and is the least bit curious . . . )

I finished the Boston Marathon, ran a negative split (which means I ran the second, harder half of the race (the part with “Heartbreak Hill”) faster than the first part, and managed to qualify for the 2011 Boston Marathon. So, I guess I did good.

Two weeks later, I ran the Long Island Marathon. Probably not the smartest thing I ever did. And, it was ridiculously hot and windy, to boot -- two things that make distance running a really bad experience. The race was great until mile 21 when both my legs completely cramped up, but, remembering what I tell the kids at the center – “the race ain’t over till it’s over” -- I struggled on for five more miles. Somehow, despite slowing down dramatically over those last miles, I managed to run my best time ever, again qualifying for Boston, and took third place for my division (I even got a little award to prove it!). So, I guess I did good.

And, if I can help it, I’m never running another marathon again.

Now, on to more interesting things.

“Study: 1 in 5 US teenagers has slight hearing loss”, August 17, 2010 by The Associated Press / CARLA K. JOHNSON (AP Medical Writer). This article, reported in Newsday, cites to a study that found “[a] stunning one in five teens has lost a little bit of hearing, and the problem has increased substantially in recent years.”

What could be causing this? Well, isn’t it obvious?

“Some experts are urging teenagers to turn down the volume on their digital music players, suggesting loud music through earbuds may be to blame — although hard evidence is lacking. They warn that slight hearing loss can cause problems in school and set the stage for hearing aids in later life.”

Specifically, the researchers found the most of the hearing loss was "slight," defined as inability to hear at 16 to 24 decibels. As the article put it, “[a] teenager with slight hearing loss might not be able to hear . . . his mother whispering ‘good night.’"

And, clearly, there would be an impact on attention and learning. As noted, “[t]hose with slight hearing loss ‘will hear all of the vowel sounds clearly, but might miss some of the consonant sounds’ such as t, k and s.” It’s kind of hard to learn and pay attention when you can’t hear the teacher correctly. "Although speech will be detectable, it might not be fully intelligible." See Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

There’s no question that hearing issues, like any other sensory issue, can cause problems. (That is why we incorporate an auditory training program at Spark (see www.thelisteningprogram.com).

None of this should come as a surprise. What is shocking to me is that the “experts” can only “suggest” that digital devices and earbuds “may” be to blame because “hard evidence is lacking.”

This, in spite of a spike in hearing loss, and a 2010 Australian study that linked use of personal listening devices with a 70 percent increased risk of hearing loss in children!

Are you kidding me?? If the study concluded that playing music too loudly directly into our ear canals caused minor hearing loss, would digital music player manufactures go ballistic because they might lose some sales, or heaven forbid, be sued?

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Not to beat a dead horse, but, let’s talk about meds for a minute.

Came across an article that states that commonly used, acid-reducing drugs, have some not so good side-effects, including increased risk of bone fractures and interference with digestive flora. Specifically, “[t]he widely used family of acid-reducing drugs … includ[ing] Prilosec, Nexium and Protonix increases the risk of bone fractures by about 25 percent and can more than double the risk of contracting the troublesome bacterium Clostridium difficile.” Acid-reducing drugs increase risk of bone fractures, Newsday (May 10, 2010). Perhaps even more disturbing is that these drugs “have also been shown to increase the risk of pneumonia.”

(Of course, there is a ridiculous disclaimer in the article. For some reason, the article doesn’t place the blame directly on the drugs, but instead, the blame goes to what the drugs do. “The increased risk is not thought to be caused by the drugs themselves, but by the sharply reduced levels of acid in the stomach and intestinal tract, which make the organs a more hospitable environment for infectious agents like C. difficile and which can impair the uptake of the calcium required for strong bones.”

That’s like saying the bullet doesn’t hurt you: it’s the hole in your body left by the bullet that allows the blood to escape…)

Anyway, here’s the point of my bringing this all up. Whenever you mess around with the body, and try to fix one particular issue with any type of powerful medication, inevitably, you mess up other areas. Everything is connected, and time and again, we miss the side-effects of medications with respect to the amazing systems and overall functioning of our bodies and all the intricate, and complicated, connections between such systems and functions. Hence, the push for more holistic, natural approaches.

Now, think about this in the context of the unbelievably potent, psychotropic drugs used on our children in connection with the treatment of such disorders as ADHD. Remember, these drugs are used even though no one is completely sure what causes such disorders, and no one is completed sure how such drugs actually work!

We’re dealing with a developing, human brain here, and the drugs are supposed to be affecting very specific chemicals in our brains. If we can’t get heartburn and our stomachs right....

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