Ritalin Doping

[Rotsne]

I number of articles in Denmark newspapers is currently about Ritalin Doping.

Concerned parents have apparently used Ritalin to boost the grades of their children and that is new.

I found a msn article about the problem (link)

A fully accepted and "legal" doping is the use of heart medicine (Beta blockers) in exam situations. My local doctor offered it to me to use on my daughter last year when I talked about her being shy and nervous in exam situation. I declined but I have learned that 4 in her class used it.

I don't know how I feel about it. I believe that medication is something you take when you are ill, but on the other side leaving my daughter out of the race could cut her off from fulfilling some of her ambitions if she suddenly got some.

What are your saying on it? Did I hurt my daughter when I didn't accept the doctors offer for doping?

 

[tiredmommy]

Rotsne,

There's a big difference between doping (which is using a drug to create an unfair advantage) and medicating according to a child's needs. I don't consider it doping that I need to give my daughter two puffs of a steroid inhaler when her asthma is kicked up, but it would be doping if a healthy (non-asthmatic) track athlete did the same before a race.

Medications should be used to heal or alleviate symptoms. FWIW, the parents here (at this site) agonize about giving their children medications, I can't think of one member that would use a stimulant simply to improve a test score.

 

[Rotsne]

I ride a bicycle for fun and fitness. Sometime among others in a club. I have asthma when I push my self to the limit. It has been tested in a hospital and like many others riders I could get a perscription against it.

But I have declined because it is not my career we are talking about. I could choose another sport if I found it to be fun. However I know that more than 60% of the riders who do it for competition are diagnozed with the same illness.

If my daughter was totally unable to function in daily life I would consider medication, but we are talking exams and with her present plans for the future all she needs is what you in your grade system call a C, so I don't push her academically in any way.

But I guess that the mind of a parent would always second-guess if we have done our work good enough.

 

[Lothlorien]

Rotsne,
Many of our children, here on this site, are on medications, my daughter included. I don't consider that I'm doping her, for treating a disorder that causes her to rage and hurt herself or others in the process.

 

[flutterbee]

in my opinion, you would have hurt your daughter by 'doping' her.

All medications have side effects. Some can be severe and long-term. Medications should only be taken - by anyone - when the benefit outweighs the risk. In other words, when medications are needed in order to function, when ill, or as a preventative/treatment against disease and/or chronic illness. Getting straight A's and being the best on the team does not fall into the above categories.

I think any parent that 'dopes' their child as talked about in the msn article, and as your doctor recommended, should be charged with child abuse. I'm sickened that parents would do this. There is no excuse.

When you have a child such as ours, with developmental, emotional or neuropsychiatric disorders, your definition of success radically changes for that child. We agonize over every decision we make. None of us here take it lightly. I'm offended that this would even be suggested.

 

[Steely]

Perhaps you could re-clarify your question without the word "doping".
Are you trying to ask about medicating?
Medicating your child to have less anxiety in a stressful situation so that they do not have a melt down is not "doping".
"Doping" is what Lance Armstrong was accused of in The Tour de France, i.e., taking an illegal substance to perform more than the average person is capable of.
Big difference.
So what is the exact question here?

 

[klmno]

I think TM summed it up well. It's possible to go too far to the other extreme as well- if a parent refuses to allow medical treatment and medications for a child who cannot function or survive or thrive without it, that parent is incompetent, too, in my opinion.

 

[ThreeShadows]

Hello, Rostne! At age 18, children in France have to pass a major exam called the "bachot". My stepmother's sister was taking some kind of fish -based medication to "help her memorize". In the 1950s, my father was at Yale (in the US) and many students were taking benzadrine to stay awake during their cramming for exams. There are profound cultural differences between the USA and other countries. I would truly appreciate your explaining WHY you seem to know so much about our culture, especially Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and wilderness programs. You mention that IT is your prime profession, what is the other one? I am all for understanding the various resources we employ on this wonderful planet. I feel that you have an agenda which is being kept from us. This makes me sad because we all need to help each other in our time of pain and turmoil.

If you are honestly searching for a way to help your children, I will support you (I lived abroad for many years and I am not an "ugly American) but something just doesn't feel genuine in your posts.

I'm sorry but that is my gut response. If I am wrong, I apologize in advance.

Heldig nytår hen til jer og jeres slægt!

 

[BusynMember]

I think it is inappropriate to try to make parents feel badly when their kids need to take medication or go to RTCs or Wilderness Programs. You posted that Wilderness Programs kill children and are abusive. Now it's medication. I don't get a good feeling here either. What disorders do your children have that brings you to our site? Why not talk about YOUR children (not other ones) and we'll talk about ours and we will all try to support one another without judging? We all do our best for our kids and are a very friendly bunch who try hard to give helpful advice. in my opinion, I realize English is your second language and maybe you meant it in a different way, but "doping" sounds very hostile.

 

[Fran]

I don't know anyone who medicates their child for test scores.
My child barely got through school with medications helping him to function minimally.
Test scores no longer have much value to me since my sweet difficult child doesn't march to that particular drummer. All the ritalin or beta blockers in the world would not have helped him.

I would think this article is aimed at parents with different issues than the majority of this membership.

 

[tiredmommy]

Rotsne has posted about this as it pertains to his child:

"I don't know how I feel about it. I believe that medication is something you take when you are ill, but on the other side leaving my daughter out of the race could cut her off from fulfilling some of her ambitions if she suddenly got some."

It sounds like your daughter may suffer from some test-taking anxiety. Whether it is a diagnosable condition that requires medication because it sufficiently impairs your child's day-to-day life is something only you, your daughter and the appropriate health care provider can determine together.

With that said, I'm going ahead and locking this thread as the tone is going downhill fast.