Ritalin

[Guest guest]

The one thing I remember reading about Ritalin that

struck me as really significant is that it has

opposite effects in ADHD and autistic kids. Where an

ADHD kid or adult would be calmed by Ritalin, it'll

send an autie through the stratosphere.

Apparently a lot of people (like my husband) were

diagnosed with ADHD instead of Asperger's or autism in

order to avoid stigmatizing them or pissing off the

parents. When my husband was in kindergarden, his

school psychiatrist strongly recommended ritalin and

basically intimidated my mother in law. She started

it on a Friday, survived one weekend and asked to have

him taken off of it. The psychiatrist would have

refused, but his wife just happened to teach Mike's

kindergarden class and threatened denial of marital

services if he spent one more day on the ritalin.

Funnily enough, the thing that did help him was (drum

roll, please) the Feingold diet. So while my

husband's grandfather takes ritalin and blesses the

pharmaceutical company for giving him back his life,

it wouldn't be right for my husband and probably not

for my son.

--Sharlene

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