Overdiagnosis of ADHD in Children

Imagine a child sitting quietly for a long period of time, speaking only when spoken to and completely well behaved all around.  Imagine a child who actually likes vegetables and stays away from foods high in sugar; one that only plays and yells when outside and always uses his/her inside voice when in the house. Imagine a child who loves going to school and doesn’t argue about anything. Not a very excited childhood; not a very realistic one either. The truth is that as we all know, children are a handful. “Wait until your child is two, terrible twos are out of control.” We have all acknowledged that kids are loud and literally bouncing off the walls. It is no surprise that kids have so much energy and are always on the go. It is not uncommon for a child to want to play and yell instead of sitting quietly for a long period of time. It is not uncommon for a child to be easily distracted. They are kids, they want to play and yell and be able to do what they want. They should be allowed to express themselves in ways that make sense to them. It is not uncommon for children to get excited and speak out of turn. It is not uncommon for children to have trouble following or understanding directions.  It is however common that these characteristics of a growing healthy child are mistaken for a disorder named Attention deficit Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD.  The diagnosis of ADHD in children has increased dramatically over the last few decades. The overdiagnosis of ADHD in children is dangerous and needs to be addressed. It has become an easy way out in many cases. While I do believe that there are children that truly suffer from this disorder I also believe doctors are guilty of resorting to ADHD too quickly. 

    ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder for kids in the United States, with at least 4.5 million diagnoses among children under age 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This disorder can continue through childhood into adulthood. Symptoms of this disorder include difficulty paying attention or staying focused, controlling behavior and over-activity (hyperactivity).  ADHD can’t be physically diagnosed that is to say that is not diagnosed with a urine test, a brain scan, or a physical check-up. Therefore, a proper diagnosis can be challenging.  According to the CDC approximately 11% of children 4-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011 and that number is still on the rise. 



The idea that ADHD has become an epidemic worries Dr. George Simon Ph.D. and expresses those thoughts in his article titled, ADHD: Epidemic of Incidence or Epidemic of Coincidence.  He claims that the ADHD is a profitable industry for the pharmaceutical business. He also points out that charges were made by the FDA against pharmaceutical companies for false advertising and marketing. While they do make a large profit from ADHD patients, they are not totally the blame for the idea that society has created. A pill fixes it all. With pills, children that have been diagnosed with ADHD, will be able to function properly and succeed. Dr. George Simon stated “It’s the rare occasion that any child experiencing difficulties receives the kind of comprehensive evaluation we once used to perform quite routinely before conferring an ADHD diagnosis upon a child. Pressure from third-party payers has had a lot to do with that.” He has confirmed that doctors have gotten lazy and do not utilize a thorough examination.

    We are so dependent on medications, but the question of their effectiveness on the diagnosed children is debatable. In 30 years there has been a twentyfold increase in the consumption of drugs for attention-deficit disorder. L. Alan Sroufe,  a professor emeritus of psychology at Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, published an article about Ritalin, in the New York Times. The article titled Ritalin Gone Wrong, includes Dr. Sroufe’s concern about how heavily we rely on these types of medications and expresses a sense of doubt on the effect of them. According to Dr. Sroufe, attention Deficit drugs, when given to a child over a long period of time does not improve their school achievement nor their behaviors. Ritalin ironically has the side effect of stunting growth.According to an article titled, The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder published in the New York Times, “Many doctors have portrayed the medications as benign — “safer than aspirin,” some say — even though they can have significant side effects and are regulated in the same class as morphine and oxycodone because of their potential for abuse and addiction.” As you can tell these are medications that are very intense for children, especially if they have been misdiagnosed.The picture below puts into perspective the children that are currently using ADHD medication prescribed to them. The medication these children are being exposed to have the potential to become addicting.

    The question that may arise at this point in time, is how and why is ADHD being overdiagnosed.  We are guilty of wanting the easy route and the simpler way of doing things. It is common in many cases ADHD was brought to attention through adults other than the parents; such as babysitters and teachers. There has been much controversy about teachers “diagnosing” ADHD in children using their “protocol.” However, not all angles are being looked at. Even though teachers observe their students for an average of 8 hours a day, they are not equipped to make that decision. Sadly in many cases, as soon as the disorder is brought up parents are convinced that that is the issue. “For a teacher to suggest that a child has ADHD is "inappropriate and dangerous," says Dr. Elizabeth Roberts, child psychiatrist in Murrieta, California.Dr. Roberts explains that outsiders should not be assuming that ADHD is the problem. There are many situations in which the child is distracted or acting out due to an internal problem. For example, a teacher may observe a child daydreaming during class and be quick to assume the child is suffering from ADHD, when the actual problem could be that he is being bullied and is trying to figure out where to hide at recess. Dr. Roberts shares her experiences and says that it is not unlikely for her to meet solely with the parents of the suspected diagnosed child and come to find out about tragedies in the family or other underlying issues that an outsider would be oblivious to. There are many reasons why a child could be showing signs of ADHD with ADHD, the actual disorder, not being one of them.

    An article published by Michigan State University, addresses the possibility that nearly one million children could potentially be misdiagnosed, because they are the younger kids in the class. Children in kindergarten are about 4-5 years old. 

The children that are 4 act like they are 4, believe it or not there is a big difference between a 4 and a 5 year old. Of course the 4 year old isn’t going to behave like the 5 year old, but that does not mean that ADHD is the reason. A teacher would find it harder to deal with a 4 year old and so it becomes a bit easier when they are being controlled under ADHD meds. The child could not be focusing because of problems at home or seems to be “daydreaming” but is actually thinking about where to hide from the bullies at recess. Another possibility is that these children that don't seem interested in school or in class could possibly be more intellectually advanced and therefore they are on the next level.Could this indicate an even larger problem? It is not surprise that the school systems in the United States are flawed in various ways. A teacher is given about 25-30 students. Of those students 2-3 "difficult" ones are problematic and is something that the teachers can not afford. It is easy for them to suggest that the children have ADHD, essentially drugging them up making them easier to deal with. However, it goes beyond that. A study published by the Child Mind Institute revealed that there may be another contributing factor to the rise of ADHD; federal funding. Schools, especially poorer schools rely heavily on federal funding. Something called, consequential accountability statutes would penalize schools if their student failed, with the exception of the students with ADHD because their scores were not thrown into the mix. Therefore, promising the passing test scores of the class as a whole. Now to put this into perspective and in a way that makes sense, "North Carolina, one of the first states to implement consequential accountability statutes, stands at a ADHD diagnosis rate of over 16 percent; California, one of the last states to implement these policies, ranks at only 6.2 percent. The difference is staggering.”

 Bob Hopper claims that ADHD is not over-diagnosed but actually under-diagnosed due to a “silent or inattentive” type of ADHD which commonly goes undetected. Bob Hopper, who has been a licensed clinical psychologist in boulder since 1981, argues that diagnosing ADHD is not a simple observational test. Both an intelligence test and a Continuous Performance Test, which is a standardized, normed, computerized assessment of attention specifically designed to help diagnose ADHD. A child that is sleep deprived reacts differently that an adult who is sleep deprived. When a child is sleep deprived, they show symptoms of ADHD such as hyperactivity and unfocused which can cause them to score the same as a patient with ADHD on the intelligence and continuous performance test. There are also many other conditions that often mimic ADHD however, they are constantly overlooked. A child may be suffering from hearing and vision problems and therefore does not stay still or pay attention to he teacher at the front of the class. The child could be suffering from high lead levels which has been proven to cause attention deficits and poor school performance. Another possible factor is as common as lack of B vitamin. Vitamin B6 is a necessary vitamin that is used in the making of neurotransmitters that affect behavior. The few of the many conditions that I listed above are not cured with Adderall or Ritalin, which are the two common medication given to children with ADHD. Sensory Integration dysfunction is the inefficient neurological processing of information received through the senses, causing problems with learning, development, and behavior. It is common for these children to crave fast movements such as twirling or running etc. Treating these children requires large open space or playground type gym and a determined occupational therapist that works with the children individually to help children appropriately respond and integrate to sensory input. 
   The question here is whether doctors have become more attentive and knowledgeable of ADHD or is it just because it explains situations easily. However, simply because children are showing signs of ADHD does not mean they have it. It is normal for children to have difficulties with learning and social interaction from time to time. According to Dr. David Salsberg is a Clinical Neuropsychologist in NYC, Clinical Instructor in The Department of Pediatrics at NYU Langone Medical Center, and Director of Pediatric Assessment, "If your child is actually struggling with anxiety or depression and has been misdiagnosed with ADHD, ADHD medication may intensify your child’s focus on anxiety or sadness."

  ADHD is over-diagnosed which is causing children to be given medication that have dangerous effects on them. There are cases in which there are underlying issues to the child acting out or simply the child needs more attention from his/her parents. In Today’s world, everyone is on the go, parents are constantly working, the children are left at daycare until the parents pick them up. There are different reasons for children to have problem focusing and extra energy. However, the significant increase in ADHD diagnostics causes worry in individuals as well as professionals.

They Say Post on overdiagnosis of ADD and ADHD in american children

When it comes to the topic of ADD and ADHD diagnosis to children, most of u would readily agree that it has increased in popularity when it comes to explaining the hyperactive energy and behavior of an American child. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of it being the correct diagnosis or just an easy "explanation." Whereas some are convinced that ADD and ADHD is being over-diagnosed to American children, others maintain that over diagnosis is not the case and every child diagnosed with ADD or ADHD has received the correct answer. In his article titled,  The misnamed ADHD is not over-diagnosed, Bob Hopper implies that there are many myths about ADHD in particular that need to be corrected therefore saying that it is not over diagnosed. As a psychologist specializing in attention issues, Bob argues that the disease is not being diagnosed, however there are misconceptions about ADHD that don't help to clarify that. According to Dr. Hopper there is a "quiet" type of ADHD that is frequently undetected. There are a series of tests that are given to help diagnose ADHD so, it is not a simple observational diagnosis. These tests include Intelligence tests and Continuous Performance Test. Where many people are quick to say that the child was simply diagnosed too quickly, Bob Hopper defends physicians by saying that "In Boulder County, my experience is that physicians are careful and conservative in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition, with consistent monitoring when medication is used." Bob Hopper decides to gravitate to the faulty system that schools have, making it difficult to keep even an undiagnosed patient attentive and engaged. More choices need to be established in classes and curriculum making it possible for ADHD patients, with great help from medications, to be able to succeed.

Frame your comments

I really liked Joe Posnanski's article on his opinion over baseball, Willie Mays to be more exact, and power enhancing drugs. I feel that there is a common thread belief that power enhancing drugs are only a problem in todays sports world. His response to Pete Hamill's essay is strong and makes valid points. Amphetamines back then, were todays majorly used steroids. Baseball was never an innocent game, and power enhancers were never not in the picture. While Joe Posnanski argues that power enhancing drugs have always been in the legend of baseball, Pete Hamill implies that this is only a problem in todays world. Pete Hamill is implying that baseball in the "back then" time was clean and innocent. While they may seem at odds about the innocence of baseball, I think that Joe makes it a great argument. Baseball is simply not a sport that is new to power enhancing drugs, America's favorite pastime was not fueled solely by joy and the "love of the game." Whether or not you'd agree with that is your choice, but I don't feel like the effect of amphetamines back then truly compares with the power of steroids today.

Adolescents and Social Media

Adolescents and Social Media

There is no denying that social networking has had such a tremendous impact on today’s world. This generation is practically defined by social media along with other technological advances of course. Social networking has become a routine part of our lives.While most people would agree that social networking has opened doors to the expansion of communication and self expression, it is also capable of causing negative effects on people especially the typical developing young adult in both a psychological and development aspect.

    Adolescence is the stage of life that the character of oneself is really evaluated created in a sense. Social media has caused our youth to become more narcissistic than previous generations. With social media sites constantly asking about what exactly we are doing at what exact moment, adolescents get more and more involved..with themselves. Uploading pictures becomes a popularity contest because the ultimate goal is not even to express the picture being uploaded, but how many people “liked” it or commented on it. Some people would argue that social media allows for adolescents to express themselves and share thoughts, and while I partially do agree, I feel that that aspect is only positively fulfilled when done correctly. However, with outcomes such as cyberbullying, there is sufficient proof that adolescents are not, in fact, using social networking in a positive way. Cyberbullying is a type of bullying that occurs online and commonly on social media sites. Cyberbullying is more difficult to deal with because the adolescent is not able to run away or escape because it is possible for this harassment to be 24/7. Cyberbullying would most likely not exist if it were not for social networking. Adolescents are so vulnerable and fall victim to cyber bullying because of all the personal information shared through social media. “Teenagers can’t emotionally process these painful experiences in the same way they do their face-to-face equivalents. There aren’t the same opportunities to work it out online.” This is a valid point made by Hollie Sobel PhD, a family institute clinician who specializes in treating adolescent clients and their families, in the article titled, Cyber Bullying More Difficult for Teenagers to Process Psychologically Than In-Person Bullying.

    Social media sites can potentially cause depression in adolescents. It is no secret that adolescents tend to be more vulnerable mentally. It only makes sense, they are still trying to find themselves and create a persona. With that said, it is not uncommon for young adults to experience a form of depression that is associated with social media use. It was established by the American Academy of Pediatrics that “facebook depression”  is one of the risk factors that young teens face with over exposure to social media.  Not only can facebook depression cause anxiety, but also propensity to engage in risky activities such as substance abuse, self destruction acts or behaviors and unsafe sex. A study of adolescent girls found that the more the adolescent girls used text messaging and social media sites to discuss their problems the more depressive symptoms they presented.

    Dr. Jim Taylor, adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco, describes his findings about internet addiction and adolescents in his article The Bad, the Ugly and the Good of Children’s use of Social Media. He mentions that some experts would argue that internet addicts use technology to self medicate and relieve their symptoms. Those symptoms would include depression and anxiety. This ties into adolescents being too attached to material things or have superficial values.

Adolescence is a time of rapid and intense emotional and physical changes. Body image is definitely something that many people but especially female adolescents have trouble with. It’s hard growing up in a society that idolizes a certain body image and unfortunately social media only magnifies it. Regarding females, social media tends to make girls want to post pretty pictures of themselves (selfies) and only do it for the attention they get. It has nothing to do with who they are as a person and that is the problem. They are getting the wrong idea. It’s not all about physical features. This alone makes girls become judgemental towards each other and that is simply not good. In other words, this is causing objectification, which is a psychology term that refers to a tendency to treat an individual not as a person with emotions and thoughts, but as a physical being or “object.”  Most of time this is portrayed as viewing the women as a sexual object. “The problem with objectification of women occurs when they start to think of themselves as nothing more than sex objects. Their self-esteem becomes dependent on how sexy they look, not how smart, nice, friendly, or inwardly attractive they are.” Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D explains how this ties into men inevitably having less respect for women in her article published in Psychology Today.

    Social media can become so pressing on adolescents’ image and can become overwhelming especially if cyber bullying is occurring. In the worst cases, some adolescents have taken their own lives to escape all the pressure. It is not uncommon for an adolescent to be pushed to the edge. It’s a terrible thing to wake up to a phone call and be told that a loved one has committed suicide for the sole reason of cyber bullying. My long time friend couldn’t take the harassment any longer and on February 21 took her own life. She was a quiet girl that didn’t cause problems but social media made it possible for other adolescents to steal pictures of her without her permission and make a Facebook under false pretenses; a Facebook that kids would write mean things about her and make fun of her. She felt trapped because no matter where she went social media was around 24/7 and she couldn’t hide from it. Which brings me to my next point. Has social media caused adolescents to become less empathetic?

We have all seen them. “Funny” pictures of obese women with a “catchy” slogan and people with “funny” faces. I think we tend to forget that these are actual people and maybe these pictures were not authorized by them. Yet, these pictures that are clearly making fun of people have thousands and thousands of likes and shares. Why is that? Why is it that posts about news, education, inspiring stories don’t have as many likes as pictures meant to embarrass someone? It is frankly, a general assumption to make that adolescents are becoming less empathetic due to social media but psychiatrist Dr. Gary Small expresses the same concern in Are texting, multitasking Teens losing Empathy Skills?. I couldn’t agree with him more when he states “The digital world has rewired teen brains and made them less able to recognize and share feelings of happiness, sadness or anger.” Dr. Gary Small is a UCLA professor of psychiatry and aging, but he has also studied adolescent brains. This article mentions a study from 2010 regarding the amount of time teenagers spend  with technology.  The study found that typical eight to 18-year-olds devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes to using entertainment media across a typical day, or more than 53 hours a week. Thanks to multitasking, they are actually packing a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes’ worth of media content into those seven and a half hours.

    Social media definitely has its pro’s and con’s and while I am not arguing that it is all bad, I am arguing that social media is not fit for an adolescent for various reasons. They are too vulnerable and I believe they should be developed before enveloping themselves in that world. I think boundaries need to be set so that we can prevent cyberbullying and sexting. Social media is very powerful and can cause negative effects to adolescents; especially with body image and psychological details. I understand that social media can not be prevented and that it is something that has shaped our generation, but I do believe that boundaries need to be set to ensure the safety and well being of young adults.

Entertaining Objections

MTV, the television channel claims to be an advocate for teen sexual health when airing shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. However, I feel that shows like these  glamorize teen pregnancy above anything else. Melissa Hansen, director of communications and public education for the Parents Television Council talks about how these shows focuses on the social lives and relationship status of these moms instead of the ugly truth. In her article titled MTV's Teen Mom Glamorizes getting pregnant, she sheds light on the fact that the show is being used solely as entertainment and drama. Yet some readers may challenge my view by saying that shows like these are effective and the pregnancy rate has gone down since airing these shows. In the show Teen Mom there are a total of 4 mothers being followed through the seasons. Out of those four mothers, two have had yet another child, one has had an abortion and the other is constantly making magazine headlines with pregnancy scares. How is this effective? We are literally watching these girls make the same mistake and are proud of them for it. Yes, we are proud that is why the show continues to air.

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Thinking outside Idiot Box

When it comes to the arguement about TV making you smarter. Dana Stevens argues that it in fact does not have any effect on the intellectual level to a significant point. Dana is surely right about Television having no intellectual advantage because she emphasizes that television series don't make people think about real life or about thier personal life; it makes them think solely about the next episode. These television shows that are supposedly portraying real life, contain stereotypes and racial profiling. Dana's arguement on TV not making us smarter is extrememly useful because it shed light to the faults that Steven Johnson's arguement. The commercials were not accounted for in Stevens arguements. Dana points out that the representation of certain characters has led to controversy regarding racial profiling. I agree with Dana Stevens when she concludes that watching television could not possibly have the intellectual gain that Steven Johnson explains in his article. The "smart" thing to do is choosing which television shows you are watching and limit yourself.

Are they Really the Answer?

 

It would not be a far-fetched comment to say that this generation of people is very fond of instant gratification. We like to know and do things fast and we don’t like to waste time. We have engraved in our minds that faster is better. It is all about simplifying our lives; making it easier and more fitting to our busy schedules. While that may have positive outcomes, like the advancement of technology, it is not necessarily a positive idea when it comes to pharmaceuticals especially pain and medications. There is no denying that when it comes to pharmaceuticals, our nation is top notch. However, our dependence on medication has increased. People in today’s world are overly dependent on pain and sleep medications with a significant contributing factor being that doctors prescribe medication as a quick fix to everything, which is not always the case. When it comes to the topic of medicine, most of us will readily agree that the advancement of the medical field has made this country stronger and has led to endless opportunities and discoveries. Where this argument usually ends, however is on the question of prescription drugs being overused and overprescribed. Whereas some are convinced, prescribed meds are always used for the better; others maintain that we tend to overuse medications, which can lead to dangerous outcomes along with the doctors not hesitating to prescribe them to patients.

               In the article titled Let’s End the Prescription Death Epidemic, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and CNN's chief medical correspondent, talks about the dangers of overused medication and how it needs to be stopped. In this article Dr. Gupta writes, “No doubt, many are for perfectly legitimate reasons and are not misused or abused. Yet culturally, we have become increasingly intolerant of even minor amounts of pain and increasingly comfortable with taking heavy-duty medications.” In other words Dr. Gupta is saying that we aren’t really aware of the danger we are putting our body in because we want to get rid of the minor pain we are having that very moment. He clearly believes that there are definite legitimate reasons for such medications, but not all situations where pain medications are prescribed are classified as legitimate. According to Dr. Gupta, our pain tolerance has become surprisingly low and what doesn’t help is that doctors prescribe a pain pill for just about anything. Dr. Gupta emphasizes that idea when he states, “Truth is, it is easier for a doctor to write a prescription than to explore other effective options to combat pain. And it is easier for patients to take those prescription pills than to search for alternatives themselves. Both those things must absolutely change.”  I agree that doctors are too quick to prescribe pain medications because my experience of a particular doctor visit confirms it.

               I am a Certified Nursing Assistant at a nursing home. Unfortunately, this job involves a lot of physical work and proper body mechanics. I had the unlucky event of hurting my back while lifting a patient who had fallen on the floor. The back pain was getting in the way of my daily activities along with my job. I visited a doctor to figure out how to fix the continuous pain. Within 5 minutes of my appointment, the doctor had already prescribed me a pain pill. He asked no specific questions and to this day I’m not even sure he would have asked how it happened had I not told him. He had prescribed me a very strong pain pill called Vicodin, which I was hesitant to take because I had googled the side effects which included, among others, spasm of the ureter, which can lead to difficulty in urinating. I decided to do some research and found myself at a chiropractor’s office. I have visited the chiropractor about 3 times and my back pain has decreased dramatically. The chiropractor assured me that it was simply a mal-alignment issue regarding my sciatic nerve and that I should be pain free in just a handful of visits. I did not need that Vicodin and I am sure that a few chiropractor visits is far better off than constant refills of Vicodin and its side effects. The doctor never mentioned any alternative I could take besides the Vicodin; he simply prescribed it and walked out. What I am trying to say is that at times or in various cases, medication is not needed. Sure the opioid would have diminished my pain almost instantly, but the root of the problem would have remained unsolved.

Zachary F. Meisal, M.D. and Jeanmarie Perrone, M.D. talk about the fault doctors have in the rise of fatalities caused by prescription painkillers, in their article titled, Are Doctors to blame for Prescription Drug Abuse. Meisel is an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and medical editor of the LDI Health Economist, both at the University of Pennsylvania. Perrone is an associate professor of emergency medicine and the director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at the Perelman School of Medicine. According to Meisel and Perrone, “Beyond the increase in prescriptions, doctors are more likely than ever to diagnose patients with chronic-pain syndrome.”  They complicate matter further when they write, “But we doctors also need to start scaling back on prescribing opioids for acute pain, since some acute pain turns into chronic pain.” In other words they are suggesting that instead of prescribing opioids right away, doctors should start patients with a high dose of ibuprofen or Tylenol. Though I concede that Tylenol or ibuprofen should be prescribed to patients instead of the opioids, I still insist that there are alternatives that can be tried in other areas besides medicine. Meisel and Perrone stated the acute pain can become chronic pain and when referring to my back pain that was not a risk I was willing to take. Meisel and Perrone stated, “As doctors, we must stop fearing patient-satisfaction surveys and talk honestly to our patients about pain. It may take an extra few minutes, but it will save lives.” I assume there are many people with similar situations and maybe given the options would do better without medication. I by no means am saying the medication is not needed, I am however saying that maybe we are abusing prescription medications and confusing our symptoms.

 In the article titled, Pill Nation: Are we tooreliant on prescription meds? , Linda Caroll NBC News Contributor, talks about the reliance of people when it comes to certain medication. She starts off the article with examples on what different situations make people take pills. She makes it very clear that she believes we are overusing them for situations that are no necessarily adequate. Americans want a quick fix. There is literally a pill for everything from having trouble sleeping to having trouble focusing. The pill or medication is sought as instant gratification. While there are clearly situations in which pain pills are used by patients that truly need them, many cases are not the same story. Addiction to medications is a serious and common issue that Linda Caroll talks about in this article. According to this article, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates that there are 2.1 million Americans addicted to prescription medications. The general idea that Linda Caroll portrays is that we expect a quick fix and that mentality has caused us to be more reliant of medication as opposed to other alternatives because those other alternatives, such as behavioral therapy, take time. Other alternatives should be provided to patients that are not suffering from serious issues. There are options beyond medications.

I have already shared with you an alternative to back pain in my personal story regarding the chiropractor. There are many ways to deal with pain that don’t involve pain prescribed medications.  The answer is not always written on a piece of paper followed by a scribbled signature. Sometimes, an effort of finding alternatives is up to the patient. The answer could possible lie in holistic medicine or even something as simple as exercise. I am by no means saying that every symptom can be cured without medicine because that is not true. There are most definitely situations in which a lot of medicine is required and completely vital to someone’s health. However, many situations just require a creative outlook. Doctors prescribe medication as part of their job but sometimes that is not the answer or the quick fix.

In his article titled American Epidemic of over-prescribing, Cory Franklin former director of medical intensive care at Cook County Hospital in Chicago for over 20 years and an editorial board contributor to the Chicago Tribune op-ed page, talks about the rise of prescription medications from the 1970s. He explains that on average, a U.S doctor prescribes 12 prescriptions per year per American. He goes on trying to explain the reasons for this significant increase in numbers. One of his top reasons is the declining health of Americans today.” The average American tends to be older, have high cholesterol and have more joint problems such as arthritis, than the adults in the 70s.” Cory Franklin is aware of the benefits of medications, however he believes patients should be assessed more in detail. In many situations, a patient should be reassessed after beginning the medication to determine whether the medication is a right choice for the patient.  A point that Cory Franklin makes is that patients should have full knowledge on medications. “It seems that doctors are just putting these medications of the patients’ regime and most of the time; the patient is not fully informed of the medication itself.” I agree with his opinion completely. I feel that doctors are not following up enough with their patients and at times not clarifying what medication they are going to be taking and what the side effects are going to look like. My mother suffered from headaches and so she went to the doctor who prescribed her a medication. After a month of taking it, she found out she had liver problems. Those liver problems were due to the medication being taken for her headaches. She was never informed of that side effect and had she been informed, she would have denied due to pre-existing liver problems.

  Doctors continue to prescribe medication on the fast track and the worst part is that those patients could overdose and kill themselves. Susan Okie, a medical journalist and a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, shares her findings about the increasing deaths due to opioids in the article, A Flood of Opioids, a Rising Tide of Deaths.  In it, she shares information about overprescribed opioids and the dangers it causes to the patient. Her article states, “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths from unintentional drug overdoses in the United States have been rising steeply since the early 1990s (see bar graph) and are the second-leading cause of accidental death, with 27,658 such deaths recorded in 2007.

The article continues to talk about the statistics of deaths of overdoses and some of the contributing factors. “Reducing deaths from opioid overdoses is challenging because such deaths stem from multiple factors, including providers' inappropriate prescribing or inadequate counseling and monitoring, patients' misuse or abuse of drugs, sharing of pain pills with relatives or friends, “doctor shopping” to obtain multiple prescriptions, and diversion of opioids leading to illicit sales and abuse.”

In some cases, patients visit the doctor complaining of symptoms of a disease, but are really drug addicts. Psychiatric evaluations are most likely a good way to figure out whether or not  patient truly needs the prescribed medication. In a study done with fibromyalgia patients, it was revealed that 6 person of the group (which is equivalent to 12-13 people) were actually people seeking the drugs prescribed to fibromyalgia. They did show symptoms of the disease but the drugs were misused. The article titled, Opioid Use, Misuse, and Abuse in Patients Labeled as Fibromyalgia, explains the experiment and forms the conclusion that opiate drugs are not in fact the best option for fibromyalgia patients. It also talks about the negative effect of opioids. This article shows that even some serious diseases can’t just be cured with a pain pill and sometimes a deeper understanding of the patient is needed.

While, I agree that there are patients that survive because of medications and are able to live because of them, I don’t think that that is the answer to every single person who visits the doctor. Often, people go into the doctor’s office complaining of things like not being able to sleep or being tired all the time or even depression. These symptoms are not necessarily life threatening and there may be other ways to fix them. Medications can cause one symptoms to disappear but give light to another.  We need to start loosening up with the idea that medication fixes everything, work on our pain tolerance and be fully aware of medication we are taking and putting into our bodies.  I believe that opioids are overprescribed and the American people tend to take advantage of them whether it be knowingly or not. Our dependence on medication has hit an extreme and we need to fix the epidemic by figuring out other alternatives as well as becoming more educated with the subject. Doctor’s need to do their part and help with the education process and not always resort to prescriptions.