Any drug can be a poison, ANY drug. Would you refuse to give your child Tylenol if he or she had a fever? I think not... The benefits of ADHD medications are substantial for many children and their families. These studies are put out to the public to scare people. They are preliminary studies, that don't have much of a conclusion either way. What these studies fail to mention are other risk factors that may have contributed to these "sudden-deaths." I think it is silly for you to say that you would not consider these drugs if your child truly needed them. There is risk of death in almost everything you do (riding a bike, taking a car ride). I wish people would read into topics like this more before making such brash decisions.

Children drown in bathtubs, get killed while riding a bike, crossing a street, die from playing sports, etc. Certainly that is no reason to remove them from those activities. Yes, children probably have died from taking some medications as much as they have died from taking others, (or from taking no medications at all). This is no reason for anybody to deny giving their child a medication that they need. This is just hysterical nonsense. Of coursechildren with ADHD need prescribed medication for it, and they should be taking it as prescribed.

Oh, please!! There are 10 unexplained deaths among MILLIONS of children who take ad/hd meds. And this s 7.4 percent higher than unexplained deaths in kids who DIDN'T take ad/hd meds. That is exactly ONE more death in the study group as opposed to the control group (one out of MILLIONS). This is statistically INSIGNIFICANT to the point of being meaningless. And for that you are going to encourage millions of kids to forgo medication that can help them function normally when nothing else usually can. As someone who suffers from ADHD, I can tell you that I would have GLADLY taken these drugs as a child in order to function better. I do now.

Let it also be noted: a teen driver who has ADD or ADHD and is NOT being treated by these medications is far more likely to be involved in a car accident due to the inability to focus.

ive had adhd since i was a kid, but wasnt diagnosed till a few months ago. i take adderall and its great. one of my cousins took retalin, and it worked for him. if youre kid starts getting chest pains or anything like that, talk to their doctor. you should talk to a doctor about the risks and benefits about meds anyhow. they are not poison. they are not bad. its about the right med for the right kid. anything can be linked to death. alcohol is linked to death too. its not about the substance alone. its about the person's body and how they will react to it.

wishbelkin, i suppose you will never give your child any sort of medication EVER and do not immunize against any sort of disease or virus as these sort of things have greater than a 1 in a 'bazillion' chance of death.

The language the author uses is irresponsible. She is "stunned", but yet parents are not supposed to panic and take kids off the medication. Thus comments like "I won't let my kid near that poison!" It's the same nutty thinking that's led to the public's conundrum in dealing with vaccines in this country, to the great detriment of many unvaccinated children. ADHD is a serious problem, and the people who write about it should measure their words and thoughts carefully. Our brightest people will turn us into a nation of irrational idiots given enough time.

Once again the AOL headline does not fit the facts in the article. A 7.4 % difference between the comparison groups does not create a 700% percent increase in death rate. 7.4% equals 7.4% only. But the headline does grab our attention and the reflex will be to fuel the misinformed discussion regarding medications and the ADHD neurological condition.

Wish Belkin?

Then you can not possibly know what it is like to have a child with ADHD. Without the medicine my son is on, he can not attend school, he can not have friends and he is not happy. I think this article should have listed which medicines increase the risk of death instead of saying the blanket term "AdHd meds."

There are stimulants and non-stimulants.

Belkin--I bet you put your child in your vehicle and drive him/her some place. Your putting him/her in harms way and the chances of something fatal happening are much greater than one in a bazillion.

This is horrible! Yes, any medication can be harmful, HOWEVER, studies show that stimulants do the same thing for kids with "ADD" and without. They make both groups of children more focused and less hyper.
Please remember also, many of the school shooters in the 90's were or had been on Ritalin. These medications do more harm than good and we are giving our own children the "ADD" by providing too much stimuli. OF COURSE after sitting at home with video games, MP3's, TV etc. they will have a hard time not being fidgety and paying attention to only one stimuli, the teacher in class, the parent, etc. We as a society are causing the problem and are then drugging the poor kids!

I would never want to judge a parent's decision to thoughtfully use medication for the AD/HD child. But please, have an EKG done prior to accepting the meds. Our daughter was diagnosed as a toddler and took the tranditional meds on an off with very little affect. It was not until she was 22 that we found out it was not AD/HD at all. Rather she had WPW - which was an accessory electrical pathway in her heart that caused her heart to always be racing. Once the corrective surgery was performed her behaviour, judgement and demeanor changed dramatically within days/weeks. She is now very accomplished and responsible and finishing college while working at the same time and living on her own.

Parents are the only advocate a child had - don't give up on you son or daughter. They will always be your treasure even if things get a little tarnished on the way. God bless you all!

i disagree with ya on adad meds i think the meds have realy mesed up my 8 year old son hes pee peeing out blood they are trying to find out what caused it yall better hope it was not the adha meds that did it cause i will be out for some one tail for not asking for family history

As a pharmacist, I have probably seen only one or two true cases of adhd that would require medication - the million other cases seen are from teachers with over crowded classrooms or parents who don't want to deal with a child who is "busy". I myself have a boy who is exceptionally "busy" but with consistency and structure he has done just fine. He is a honor roll student. At school, I let his teachers know right off the bat that he has to stay busy. When he is finished with something - give him a project to do or another paper. I agree with those of you that have tried other measures - try cutting out all sugars and many times the child can be lactose intolerant. Try a coke cola in the am - it has the same stimulant effect as the meds. I am scared for the all of the children that are wrongly placed on these meds because of the side effects and long term effects.

Ya, your right..better not take any chances..better to let them be hated by their peers, talked about by their educators, fail out of school become alcoholics and drug addicts to self medicate and then hopefully teach their children to do the same. No sense in giving them a chance at a productive life.Good idea.

I agree im 17 and i have ADHD, im bi polar, Manic depressive and a bunch other and now that i know i could die from that the thing that is supposed to help me i will not be taking it. Also I would be very upset with my parents if they knew this and put my life in danger.

wow, so much misinformation ! first of all to STACYFOWLER 619. It is not true that ADHD children are stimulated the same as normal children. In fact if your ADHD child is standing there wanting his medicine, then odds are that he has been misdiagnosed....because ADHD kids are NOT STIMULATED !!!! it actually makes them tired.
Younger children especially, will hide them under their tongue, in their jaw, anywhere to keep from taking meds.
Perhaps you people who are so confident that you would not use medication on your child, should research the street drug addiction rate, the drop out rate, etc. For children who have no education and never learn to function and adapt socially. Medication is one tool not the whole answer. But it can be a very important tool. My son is 24, father of 2, husband, hard worker, and has been off of meds since the beginning of high school. By which time he had learned to take the edge off and gain self control, by working out at least 2 hrs a day. But getting to that point would not have been possible w/o medication. Also most parents of ADHD kids do not even apply or qualify for SSI.

Well then you must never have a child with ADHD!! Your child is miserable, and out of control ALL THE TIME!!! It's not fair to him OR to the rest of the family...concider yourself blessed...

The problem with your view is that NOT taking the medications also carries a risk for a kid with ADHD. People who have ADHD that is not diagnosed and treated with medicine when they are children are 30 times more likely to end up in prison and 40 times more likely to abuse drugs as adults. (See Halliwell and Ratey in "Driven to Distraction.") And obviously, those activities will result in more than the 10 unexplained deaths in 10 years that ADHD meds were "linked to" in this study. In the meantime, those who have ADHD experience a much higher quality of life if they take the medicine. As the study author said, you have to weigh risks and benefits.