Even if your kids or grandkids are too old for the bedtime routines of the past, I’m sure you still remember reading stories and singing songs… checking under the bed for monsters… and finding just the right fuzzy friend to tuck under the covers!
Ah, the good old days. Well, things sure have changed.
Now, bedtime may mean taking a dose of methylphenidate with your warm milk.
If that nighttime ritual sounds unfamiliar to you, it’s an ADHD pill just OK’d by the FDA that’s known by the brand name Jornay PM and unbelievably approved for kids as young as 6 years old to pop as they snuggle in for the night.
What in the world was the FDA thinking? The last thing we need is another highly addictive drug to hit the market… especially for tots. Like other ADHD drugs, Jornay PM is listed as a “schedule II controlled substance” because of its “high potential for abuse” and dependence.
It’s quite obvious that our kids are in just as much danger from the corner pharmacy as the corner drug pusher.
So, before a child you love somehow manages to end up on Jornay PM — or any other ADHD med (it’s easier than you might think) – there are some important facts you need to hear.
But it’s especially necessary to know about another kind of treatment – one that can work wonders without the danger of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, or “sudden death.”
‘The most powerful tool’
Jornay PM comes with a list of adverse reactions as long as your arm. And if parents were to really read the label, there’s no way any of them would give this drug to their child!
Just a tidbit of its side effects include: anxiety, psychotic or manic symptoms, long-term suppression of growth, increases in blood pressure and heart rate, and sudden death.
Seriously? Considering that a kid can be “officially” diagnosed as having ADHD based on such commonplace behavior as fidgeting, squirming, and not paying attention, dispensing a drug with these kinds of serious side effects should be against the law – for any child!
Then, there’s the adverse reaction normally reserved for adult guys who take the “little blue pill” – priapism, or a “painful and prolonged” erection, which can occur even before a child goes through puberty!
And the FDA is fine with this med being given to little boys?
It’s so bizarre that it’s almost impossible to wrap your head around.
HSI panel member Dr. Allan Spreen has long supported dietary changes for hyperactive kids and says that the “improvement can be absolutely amazing.” Actually, he adds, many kids who wind up under the ADHD umbrella of symptoms aren’t truly “hyperactive”… instead, they are chemically sensitive.
The “trick” is to find out which food additives they’re specifically sensitive to.
Take artificial colors, for example — if you start reading labels to find them, you’ll see how they can turn up in almost any processed food, especially those that are marketed to kids, such as fruit bars, cereals, and waffles.
And you’ll also find artificial colors on the Jornay PM pill!
In fact, the blue #1 that colors the pill is closely linked to ADHD symptoms.
But instead of adding more chemicals to a child’s routine, why aren’t we removing those additives? I’m not just talking about artificial colors but also sweeteners such as HFCS and preservatives like BHA and BHT.
It’s not as though we don’t know how. The Feingold diet, created by pediatrician Benjamin Feingold during the 1970s, is the exact opposite of drugging kids with these kinds of stimulant meds, as it’s designed to eliminate as many potential “triggers” added to food as possible.
And in the beginning, it also restricts the consumption of foods that are high in salicylates — substances found in certain plants, as well as an ingredient in aspirin and other pain meds, that some children may be sensitive to.
Jacqueline Fellows describes the way this dietary approach worked on her son Dylan as “amazing.”
The kindergartener was always being sent to the principal’s office, crying or yelling at teachers, even having meltdowns when he felt challenged by a simple task. But then, Fellows started Dylan up on the Feingold diet, and as she describes it, “It’s the most powerful tool that I have for him.”
And for any parent who decides to give this method a try, the only “side effects” would be making special arrangements in school and anywhere else your child may be served food, such as a birthday party.
Look, millions of children in the U.S. are already being dosed with a bevy of highly risky, addictive drugs to “treat” ADHD. And the approval of Jornay PM is only a sign of things to come with the FDA.
As a parent or grandparent who may be under pressure from your child’s pediatrician or school nurse to start them up on one of these meds, the most important advice to remember is from Dr. Spreen: Never believe for one minute that drugs “are the only answer.”
“FDA Clears first ADHD bedtime medication” Megan Brooks, August 10, 2018, Medscape, medscape.com
