Do you have children? If so, do they take any medications for an illness or disorder? What is your opinion on drugs?

So far I have met people in several categories:

• There are the ones that do not believe in drugs of any kind. They don’t know what it is like to have a child taking medications or who needs them. One mother actually told me once that if even the school tried to force her to put her children on meds she would home school them. She didn’t know what that entailed but she knew that her kids would never get drugs. She had heard about the “terrible” things that they could do to children like destroy their minds and make them nonfunctional.

• There are the ones that have given their children drugs and didn’t like the results. One little girl had taken Ritalin for 2 and a half years and her mom hated the results so much that she took her off them. She said that her children would never be put on drugs again.

• Other parents give their children medicine wholeheartedly. The doctors and schools have told them this would be the best thing for their kids and after a lot of experimentation the parents agree.

• Another group is the one where the parents don’t like giving their children this stuff. However, they see how their kids are without drugs so they give them with a lot of misgivings.

We fall into the latter camp. My son Max has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, Bipolar Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, and sensory issues. We have seen how he functions without medication. He is explosive. He rages. He is violent. He is miserable.

When he is taking his medication he is happy. He plays with other children. He can do his homework easily. He loves life. His mind is “destroyed” when he isn’t taking his meds.

I am not happy that he has to take them. I have always believed in looking for natural alternatives first before taking medicine of any kind. If I have an illness that is treatable with antibiotics and there is nothing else available I take them. I would much rather Max was happy and loving life without them but that is just not happening.

He is working with therapists and psychiatrists and special education teachers to help control his moods. We give him as much healthy food as he will eat. We are helping him learn how to play with other children.

Last night I was talking to a woman who gave me a glimmer of hope. She says her son had the same diagnoses as Max. She had him on all of the drugs; he was also taking Ritalin. She said he told her that he wanted to be taken off of them because his mind felt like mush. He couldn’t function and he couldn’t remember what was happening from one day to the next.

She said when he hit puberty everything changed. His symptoms started to disappear. Wildness turned into quiet. His exuberance became introspective. She decided to wean him off of all of his medicines. When she was done she found that he was functioning as well as any other child. She said she never told the school that he wasn’t taking the drugs anymore and they never noticed a difference.

This sounds all well and good but after she told me this she got a phone call. Her son had just shown up after having been missing for several months. It turns out this happens a lot. I don’t yet know what other problems he is having.

So what is your opinion on all of this? Would you give or do you give your child medicines for disorders? Why or why not?

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