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Health for the Young

Too many children are given mind altering drugs - As a child psychiatrist, I continue to see "quick fix" solutions. Often, parents do not want to change their lifestyle which includes, diet, sleep hygiene, limiting TV, video games, and have a basic structured environment. I hear from parents, "Just give me a pill so that I don't have to deal with his behaviors any more. I don't want to get any more phone calls from his school." I also hear, "I am NOT going to change his diet. I let him eat what he wants just so he eats something." (Kids often present with every symptom imaginable, when it can be frequently fixed with a little protein in the morning to keep his blood sugar stable). I have repeatedly denied prescriptive medications to children as they don't need anything more than a good breakfast, or more in their environment, or parents need a little fine tuning on their parenting techniques, but these parents will take the child to another clinician, usually not a child psychiatrist, just to get medication. 

In addition, one of the biggest problems I face is that the pharmaceutical industry is so unethical in their marketing techniques, that they market psychotropics to FP's, GP's, pediatricians, ARNP's. They only care that someone writes a prescription for their drug. (Remember that 40% of all medications are psychotropics, and that 80% of all psychotropics are prescribed by non psychiatrists). I believe this is the underpinning to so many adverse reactions to SSRI's and the rest of the psychotropics. Pediatricians (and other non specialists in mental health) in Washington are making fortunes by telling patients they are specialists. One pediatrician has blatantly told other physicians (& his patients in his practice) at meetings he is a child psychiatrist, when we all know his training is limited to pediatrics, and NOT pediatric psychiatry. Many of these charlatans have "bogus" tests for which they charge thousands of dollars, and the kid WILL walk out with a prescription after completing these "tests". 

The professional agencies to which we pay dues, have also informed me that they are not interested in policing these questionable practices, but have adopted a laissez faire attitude. 

Insurance companies have repeatedly told me they are not interested in having a child see a subspecialist for a good evaluation. All the insurance companies are interested in is that the person can write prescriptions. They are indemnified by the prescribers malpractice, so they don't care about quality of treatment, or if the child has any bad reactions to medication. 

At the bottom of all of this, are the lawyers who are ready to sue doctors for millions as Washington has no cap on tort judgments. We can live without lawyers, we cannot live without doctors. The lawyers have made malpractice so high, and the insurance industry have made reimbursement so low (Washington is one of the lowest for reimbursement, the 39th out of 50), that it is difficult to attract highly qualified mental health professionals. Lawyers have also designed the law that allows 13 year olds to decide on their medical or mental health treatment. Then we CPS, which sends workers out to school to pass out their cards, and encourage kids to turn their parents in if the the parents even suggests discipline. So parents have no authority over their children.

If psychotropic medications were limited to psychiatrists, (many of us are orthomolecular psychiatrists), I believe we wouldn't have so many of the medication problems we face today. But remember, the government likes when people are on drugs. They are more easily controlled. 
Patric J Darby MD (posted with permission of Dr. Darby)

Nutrition & Hyperactivity - Research from classic medical texts and nutritional research confirms the role of thyroid dys-function in behaviors now classified as ADD and ADHD.   Both hypothyroid and hyperthyroid function is involved, and ADHD can be related to improper calcitonin function, which would indicate the need for more vitamin D and real vitamin A.  Remember vitamin A and D are fat dependent, as is calcitonin.  A more in depth article will be posted shortly.

Study Proves Effectiveness - A study done by four doctors has shown that Mighty Mins helps children with behavior disorders. The participants were 27 children aged 3 to 10 years who had attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and/or conduct disorder, and/or oppositional defiant disorder. Thirteen of the children had been diagnosed or labeled as ADHD. The children were evaluated before and after taking Mighty Mins with seven neuro-biological factors selected from the Pediatric Behavior Scale which are recognized as predictors of violent, addictive, and suicidal behavior. These included temper bursts, inattentiveness, learning problems, impulsiveness, compulsiveness, moodiness, and social inappropriateness.

The supplementation of the Mighty Mins yielded significant improvement in all seven factors. While the length of time between the pre and post tests was up to 12 months, many children experienced dramatic improvement in their behavior within only one to three weeks.

Mighty Mins contains many special ingredients which are NOT commonly found in children’s multiples. The minerals are in highly absorbable citrate forms for maximum benefit. The B vitamins are in the highly absorbable, highly bioactive phosphate forms.  The Vitamins A, C, and E are also in more absorbable forms than found in other multiples. This product comes in the form of great tasting wafers that all children love to take.

Effective Mitigation for Measles - Should you belong to the wise group of people choosing not to vaccinate your child, here is a remedy that was used successfully many years ago by doctors to forestall any problems caused by this dis-ease.  Scientific study reported in the BMJ in 1987 suggests that measles damages epithelial tissues in the body; this is forestalled with the oral administration of Vitamin A at 200,000 IU at the onset of symptoms.  Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for proper function of epithelial tissue.  Another study reported in Science in 1992 showed that children who received the measles vaccine later develop other dis-eases over the years because of allergic sensitization caused by the vaccine.  Do you notice the increase in allergy, asthma, diabetes, and other illnesses in younger and younger children as time passes? 

Industry Hopes to Censor Ads on Hazards of Infant Formula

"Federal officials have softened a national advertising campaign to promote breastfeeding after complaints from two companies that make infant formula, according to several doctors and nurses who are helping the government with the effort. After the two companies [Mead Johnson and Abbott] and the top officials of the American Academy of Pediatrics complained to federal health officials, the government decided to eliminate spots discussing the risk of leukemia and diabetes in babies not breastfed, said Amy Spangler, the chairwoman of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, a group that promotes breastfeeding. According to the Ad Council newsletter, those ads said that babies not breastfed had a 30 percent increased risk of developing leukemia and up to a 40 percent increased risk of developing diabetes. ... Marsha Walker, who sits on the leadership team of the United States Breastfeeding Committee with Ms. Spangler, said that the information on leukemia and diabetes should be left in the ads. ... 'This is being shot down by an industry that has no business interfering. Ultimately it hurts the health of our babies and our moms.' "   SOURCE: New York Times, December 4, 2003

from the Montel William's program - The show exposed such things as:

• Seven out of the last 12 school shooters that we know of were under the influence of psychiatric drugs known to cause violent and suicidal behavior.

• Over 1.5 million kids are currently on antidepressants, and over 6 million children are on cocaine like stimulant drugs – despite the fact that there is no scientific proof of ADHD or any of the so-called child mental disorders.

• Parents are losing their right to choose.  Schools can threaten parents with Child Protective Services and parents can actually be charged with medical or educational neglect if they refuse to drug their kids.

• After being coerced or threatened, parents have had their children die from the very drugs forced upon them by school personnel.

• In the last two years, 4 states have had to pass laws to prevent schools coercing parents into drugging their children.

• In 2003, 15 more states introduced similar laws.

• While 50 billion of dollars a year are spent on the War on Drugs, and kids are told that drugs are not a solution to life’s problems,  kids are literally lining up in schools to get their daily dose of kiddy cocaine.

Children's Remedies     Mighty Mins

Vitamin Supplementation Could Help 2 Billion Kids - This was a recent headline in USA Today, 3/24/2004. The article states the critical importance of proper nutrients for children to reach their full physical and intellectual potential. Cutberto Garza, director of the Food and Nutrition program of the U. N. University stated “When a child needs iron or vitamin A or iodine, she needs it now. And if she doesn’t get it, then you’re going to pay for the rest of her life. But, if you meet that need, the positive outcomes are absolutely glorious.”

The medical establishment has also completely reversed its policy of the last 20 years and is now encouraging all adults to take at least one multivitamin a day. This reverse in policy is made in light of the fact that insufficient nutrient intake increases risk factors for the development of chronic disease.

Comment: Isn't It interesting that in light of the above facts, codex is attempting to restrict access to many common nutritional supplements? http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/

ADHD and TV     Cavities and Fluoride     Health Risk in Baby Food

Are some children genetically tuned to be overweight, or is lifestyle to blame for childhood obesity?

Check-ups of 1,003 Michigan 6th graders in a school-based health program showed children who are obese were more likely to consume school lunch instead of a packed lunch from home and spend two hours a day watching TV or playing a video game.

The results were compiled by the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center and suggests unhealthy habits are feeding the childhood obesity trend.

"For the extremely overweight child, genetic screening may be a consideration," says study senior author Kim A. Eagle, M.D., a cardiologist and a director of the U-M Cardiovascular Center. "For the rest, increasing physical activity, reducing recreational screen time and improving the nutritional value of school lunches offers great promise to begin a reversal of current childhood obesity trends."

President Obama recently signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to create healthier school menus for the 31 million children in the United States who eat lunch through school programs.

The act is designed to improve nutrition by reducing salt, fat and sugar in school meals and reduce childhood obesity which has tripled in the U.S. in the past 30 years.

The prevalence of obesity among U.S. children ages 6 to 11 has increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008.

Children involved in the study participate in Project Healthy Schools, school-based program supported by communities and the U-M Health System to teach middle school students about healthy lifestyles, in hopes of reducing their future risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Project Healthy Schools is available at 13 Michigan middle schools and is one of the few school-based programs to show sustained benefits in reducing cholesterol and high blood pressure among participants.

The U-M study was published in the American Heart Journal.

U-M researchers found that 58 percent of obese children had watched two hours of TV in the previous day, compared to 41 percent of non-obese children. Forty-five percent of obese students always ate school lunch, but only 34 percent of non-obese students ate school lunch.

Significantly fewer obese kids exercised regularly, took physical education classes, or were a member of a sports team.

Because the eating and exercise patterns of obese children were so different than their normal weight peers, researchers concluded that lifestyle was more closely linked with childhood obesity, than genetics.

New evidence has emerged showing a leptin deficiency, a genetic mutation in the hormone that controls hunger, may cause a person to overeat.

"If diets and physical activity were similar in obese and non-obese students this would argue for a stronger genetic basis for obesity in children," says study first author Taylor Eagle.

In the U-M study, 15 percent of the middle school students were obese, but nearly all, whether overweight or not, reported unhealthy habits.

More than 30 percent had consumed regular soda the previous day, and less than half remembered eating two portions of fruits and vegetables within the past 24 hours. Only one-third of students said they exercised for 30 minutes for five days in the previous week.

"It's clear that opportunities to improve health abound for the majority of our students, not just the 15 percent who are already obese," says study co-author Elizabeth Jackson, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Cardiovascular Center.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2011) — http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131092149.htm