: So Ritalin is only bad if you are not supposed to take it. or maybe when your
: body rejects it mb?
Forrest - you did make me smile, but there is a real possibility that this guy is just a jerk who gets his rocks off ticking people off in open forums (or fora?) like this one. Ignore him and he'll probably go away - if he doesn't, his IP can be banned.
Ritalin - OK, some advice from a person with a medical background - there is no doubt that people with true ADD benefit significantly from Ritalin and should be taking it. There is also no doubt that ADD has become a diagnosis of convenience and Ritalin is way overprescribed. It's a lot easier to reach for the pen than to actually deal with the real causes of "inappropriate behavior" in kids. I have no doubt that if I were a kid today, I would be on Ritalin, but although I was and am a fidgety person, I do not have ADD - the problem in school was boredom from teachers who couldn't teach me as fast as I wanted to learn. Once I got to the point where I could take accelerated classes and study things I wanted to study, my "behavior problem" went away.
If any of you are taking Ritalin and think that it is actually making things worse for you, stop taking it if you can. If your parents will listen to you, try to talk sense to them. Most parents really do want what's best for their kids, but they trust the doctor and they are sometimes too busy themselves to deal with the underlying problems that make their kids a "handful". Give your parents an alternative - lay out a strategy for getting off the drug and experimenting with alternatives. Do a Google search and provide them with a list of websites to back you up. And tell them that playing Marathon is good for you - it provides a critical release ;^)
And now, back to our regularly scheduled forum.
