“I’m more scared by ADHD medication than ADHD itself.”
Hi it’s Dr. James Wiley with Focus-MD. ADHD is much scarier than stimulant medication. Parents need to be aware that untreated ADHD has its side effects too. The most important of these of course is poor performance in school, but there are many others. Untreated ADHD makes it twice as likely that a child will be retained in a grade or fail a grade, and it also has significant impact in terms of the child’s development of executive function.
In addition to these school based problems kids with ADHD are more likely to have accidents. Teens that are driving with ADHD are three times more likely to have an accident and five times more likely to get a moving violation, such as reckless driving, speeding or failure to yield at a stop sign or a red light. In addition to safety concerns, ADHD has a positive association with drug abuse and self medication which can lead to addiction. We worried for so long that stimulants would lead to addiction and substance abuse but we found exactly the opposite is true. Treatment with medication for ADHD decreases the risk of addiction.
James Wiley is the founder of Focus-MD. Focus-MD is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and related problem patients. They provide objective testing, medical treatment as well as behavior modification strategies to help or patients transform from frustration to focus. To find a Focus-MD clinic visit http://staging.focusmd.fortyapp.com/
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