Some New ADHD Statistics
My friend posted an MSN article a few days ago about some new statistics regarding ADHD. And they’re not that surprising. The title is Pesticides in Kids Linked to ADHD. The title says it all. But is it that surprising? Maybe some of the numbers will surprise you.
“Kids with higher-than-average levels of one pesticide marker were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD as children who showed no traces of the poison…. The most alarming finding was a near-doubling in odds of ADHD diagnoses among kids with higher-than-average levels of the most common of the six metabolites detected. Kids with high levels of dimethyl thiophosphate were 93 percent more likely to have the disorder than children with with undetectable levels of the marker.”
Yeah, those are some big numbers. But there are SO many other factors that go into ADHD. Take Emma, for example. She has at least 2 other factors that contributed to her diagnosis. First, kids with SOD have a tendency toward an ADHD diagnosis. Secondly, it can be hereditary and her Dad had/has ADHD (truth is, he is able to control the tendencies). So it was almost a given Emma might have it. Hence my persistence in getting the right evaluations.
Which leads me to my next question. I wonder how the diagnosed kids in the article got diagnosed. It’s no secret that ADHD is widely over-diagnosed. I have had people tell me, “well every kid these days has ADHD.” Which is precisely why I went through the measures I did to get her diagnosed correctly with a trusted pediatric neuro-psychologist (who is wonderful, if you need someone from PCH). But practically any doctor can diagnose ADHD these days. And they can all write out that prescription for Ritalin, too.
So what do we do about this? Well, the article suggests buying organic as much as possible and washing all produce. I think the last one is a no-brainer. I do try to buy organic when it’s cost-effective. That stuff can be expensive! I DO wash my produce every time with Fit Spray. I find mine at Fry’s. Whole Foods also has a spray…actually a few to choose from. I believe Fit is made from citrus. So is the Whole Foods spray, and their’s is organic, too. Oh, and I will try to stay away from frozen produce. Which actually will be easier said than done. Eek! At this point, what more can you do when it comes to produce?
I realize this is quite a hot topic and I am not trying to step on toes. But I would love to start a dialog about this and see what you all think of the ADHD topic and this article in particular.
I started a discussion in my Blog Frog community over here…come on over and join in, won’t you?
It makes me crazy thinking about all the things that are potentially harmful to us and to our children. What are your thoughts on it?
Now, this is just my opinion, and I don’t want to step on toes, but I see this similar to autism link to vaccines. We put too many vaccines in our kids at once. I believe that theory. We put too many chemicals in our soil, in the water…I see the link. However, like I said in the blog, I think there are other links as well. Emma was almost “destined” to get the dx of ADHD because of heredity and her other diagnoses.