Ritalin Kills and ADHD is bogus!

The drug Ritalin has come under fire in the U.S. for a potential link to heart problems and deaths in children.

Health Canada issued a warning two years ago about rare heart-related risks for all attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs telling those with risk factors to avoid them.

Ritalin is commonly prescribed to children diagnosed with hyperactivity disorders and Tuesday the American Heart Association says before children get the drug they should get a thorough heart work-up including an electro-cardiogram.

In past nine years, as many as 30 child deaths have been linked to Ritalin and 2.5 million American kids take it.




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Subject: ADHD Study is Misleading, Charges Watchdog Group


Stimulant Side Effects, Not "ADHD", May Be to Blame for Slow Brain Development

LOS ANGELES: A Nov 16 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on delayed brain development in children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is misleading, claims a psychiatric watchdog group. Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), examining a series of brain images of more than 400 children (half of them “ADHD”), concluded that some regions of the brain of children with ADHD matured several years later than normal. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says the researchers underplayed the fact that 66% of the ADHD subjects studied had been on powerful stimulants (as reported in the study), warned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to cause suppression of growth—which could logically include brain development. With stimulant “treatment” the only physical variable, and ADHD never validated as a real disease, it is likely that the stimulant drugs, not ADHD, are to blame for ! the slow brain maturation reported by study authors Philip Shaw, et al.

Earlier researchers have also ignored the probable connection between the drugs and problems with brain size and growth. At a 1998 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on ADHD, 14 MRI studies of people treated for ADHD were reviewed. The presenters reported on-average 10% brain atrophy (shrinkage) in ADHD subjects—however, pediatric neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman pointed out that the vast majority of the ADHD subjects had been treated long-term with stimulants—the only physical difference from the control group—suggesting that it was the drugs, not the so-called disorder, that was causing the brain atrophy. In the end, the NIH Panel concluded: “…there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.”

In fact, researchers have repeatedly failed to prove any physical abnormality that can validate the existence of ADHD. In 2003, Jonathan Leo, Professor of Anatomy at the Western University of Health Sciences and Professor David Cohen of the School of Social Work at Florida International University, reviewed 33 brain-imaging studies of ADHD-diagnosed subjects. They confirmed that every study concerned medicated children, a major variable because stimulant drugs “cause very persistent changes in the brain.” They also reviewed a widely touted 2002 NIMH study that included unmedicated subjects and claimed that unmedicated ADHD children had significantly smaller brains. However, the comparison group was two years older and taller, so naturally the smaller children had smaller brains.

In 2000, a study published in The Lancet claimed ADHD was linked to an over-production of dopamine. This was passed off as “fact”, even though the study involved only six adult subjects diagnosed with ADHD—all of whom were most likely to have been on long-term drug treatment, particularly stimulants. Critical details as to precisely what drugs they had been on or for how long were not provided, but the authors stated that one month before the brain scanning commenced, the subjects were taken off any drug that may affect the dopamine system. Stimulant drugs administered for ADHD affect the dopamine system. Based on this alone, the scanning differences found between the ADHD subjects and the normal subjects were likely to have been caused by drug treatment.

Despite all the research done in an attempt to prove otherwise, there remain no physical tests that can validate the existence of ADHD. Even the American Psychiatric Association admits in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition IV, that there are “...no laboratory tests that have been established as diagnostic” for ADHD. Instead, the diagnosis is entirely subjective—based on a checklist of “symptoms” that sound a lot like normal childhood behavior: “Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair,” “Difficulty engaging in activities quietly” and “Acts as if driven by a motor.” Even with this lack of scientific basis for the so-called disorder, vested interests such as CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), which received more than $1 million in pharmaceutical funding in 2004-2005 alone, aggressively promote ADHD and the drugs used to “treat” it. Now, as many as 10% of children are a! lleged to have ADHD—many of whom are prescribed cocaine-like stimulants.

In addition to suppressed growth, the FDA warns that the drugs can cause psychosis, aggression, heart att


1. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/posts/39645?h=fbenap&m=eJyrVkotS80rUbJSUHLMy8svzUtOzQXyi%2FXDMhMVXHMTM3P0nXMyk7OLlWoB%0AS0YPOg%3D%3D%0A.

CA and Acting "Yes"!

Now in 2009, I realize so many reasons for neither! lol.

I reviewed this:

Reasons for "no" Chicago, "yes" CA v2.


1 Books – All of my Validate Your Life writing was done in CA. CA is the place for me, and I made some of the most meaningul life connections ever out there. I could not have done all of the awesome writing I've done without having a CA connection.
2 Energy – I've realized you MUST be incredibly firm and resolute about your time, otherwise, people cause you to drift back into things you don't like. I feel energized with LA energy; I feel depleted by chicago energy. I will never set foot in a chicago (hopefully, and most likely, any bar ever again).
3 Exercise – This one's easy. Biking 3-5 times/ week 20 miles at a time, then surfing for 2-3 hours.. Yeah, simple. I get exercise in CA. I do not get exercise in chicago and stay crumpled up, petrified in my little apartment bubble.
4 Career – The LA lifestyle has all the resources I need – film, ocean, mountains, entertainment, computers – that I want to connect with. Apple and Hollywood are in CA. CA is the place for me; chicago lacks all of those valuable and life career connections.
5 Environmental Connections --- Not unlike the lushious rural environment of Michigan, I actually have an interst in connecting with the ocean and landscaep of CA; the same is not true of chicago.
6 People – This is enormous. LA is full of GOOD relationships. Every problem you've ever had revolves around and stems from bad relationships. You put yourself around good relationships and good people and you experience success. In the past year in chicago, I've experienced probably more problems in 11 months than I've experience in 13-14 years of my life. Environment problems, technical, electrical problems, acceptance problems, social problems, psychologicaly problems, computer problems, girl problems -- all those problems stem from bad relationships in chicago. LA brings good relationship -- when I'm there, I don't have problems, I have fun experiences, healthy intercourse, out-door UV health and sunlight, nature interaction, computer situations that always function correctly, outdoor environments that are attractive and pleasurable, exciting social and accepting cultural space -- I get solutions in LA from those good relationship with good people. Does this mean chicago is all bad relationships and la all good relationships? No, I'm not that naive to think things are so polarized. However, their exist much more good relationships that I created in LA, than in chicago. I have the evidence to prove it -- tons of problems, overflowing problems, and tons of solutions in LA; it's empirally and ideally illustrated that LA creates more solutions with more good relationships. I can still find good relationships in chicago, but (for me, not necessarily for anyone else) in LA abundance, ease, and energy of good relationships and solutions goes unmatched and unrivaled by far. If I were to pick a place where I'm the least closed off, most open, most willing to email, connect with people via phone, and most especially in person, it's in LA. I like the people, the ideas, the very open culture out there. When I'm not around those like minds, I close myself off from the world. While I find connecting with the lifestyles of people in CA preferable to solitude, connecting with solitude feels more rewarding than connecting with people who I consider to have non-advanced destructive beliefs. In short, I vow to only live with two extremes in my life – total solitude, or connecting myself with people and energies I revere and actually like (chicago has neither of those: it does not have the solitude, nor the like minds).
7 8 Voice – I discover all kinds of intrapersonal awareness in CA that I cannot find elsewhere.
9 Living area – I lay crumpled up in a pathetic ball in Chicago, flustered by the neighbor's sounds and voices. It's not just unpleasant; chicago is remarkably unhealthy. In CA, I feel energized and can't help but be connected.

And realized how true even moreso ALL of those reasons for chicago no, CA YES ARE! All of my envisionments of success and happiness and solutions have totally emerged in ca! Moreso, my entire life has changed! What I do with my time has transformed. I'm convinced ALL of my writing -- the process of cognitively getting to know my brains' ins and outs -- and all my work and job career attempts of the past and even all my schooling all revolved around getting HERE, right here!! The travel and school made me see providied scope of what's out there (what's NOT out there) enabling me to respect acting corps even more and the writing created tremendous solid growth and certainty and "collecting of my experiences" a detailed eloquent and articulate inventory of my experiences. Everything can be challenging out here, but it's NEVER struggle. So many words like "problem, struggle, pain, annoying, etc." are completely nonexistent in my vocabulary out here! I only have words like "paradise, awesome, joy, heaven, nature, clean, hollywood, calabasas" now! Perfect, awesome!

But my days just seem so much more productive without having to "try" to be productive. In acting, we learned that a physical action on stage, among other things (like have it's test in the other person, be physically capable of being done, etc.) must "not be an errand". But out here, a simple "errand" feels like a great action! haha! (of course, true acting actions must not be "errands" in the typical sense of an activity that involves only oneself as a task). It's such an amazing feeling that whenever you go out and get some groceries or run some random little errand, you look forward to that mini-trip to being a journey because you want to get to know the place (LA, calabasas, hollywood, etc) better! You have no idea what it feels like moving from a place where I had ZERO interest in getting to know the environment (colorado and illionois) where everything is a task-burden to loving the mystery and excitement of getting to know and explore a place I love (california). It's made life really magical and alive and I feel more alert and focused than ever living here and taking acting classes!

Man, I DEFINITELY felt like I was part of something HUGE with BC 1 acting corps. someting big, fun, engaging, transformative, and awesome. Thanks again, you guys!