Essay on Poppin Pills

An epidemic is sweeping our nation and it can be found in the households of 11% of school-aged children in America. ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common behavioral disorder among children in America. It is estimated that 6.4 million children between the ages of 4-17 have been labeled as suffering from ADHD. Meanwhile, two thirds of the kids with that diagnosis receive prescriptions for stimulant drugs such as Adderall or Ritalin to treat their condition. These numbers are staggering and have fueled concern amongst physicians that the ADHD diagnosis is being overused. It appears that symptoms are being diagnosed in children so readily that it is breeching the zone of ambiguity as to whether the child is truly in need of medication. This causes many health risks to be disregarded that are associated with the usage of stimulant drugs such as addiction and anxiety. The increase in diagnosis can be attributed to frustrated parents who pressure doctors to help when their child starts to misbehave regularly or perform poorly in school. Research has shown that holistic methods of treatment such as diet change are more effective, and less harmful than stimulant medication in treating ADHD because they target the true cause of the child’s misbehavior, rather than merely treating their symptoms. The purpose of stimulant drugs in the treatment of ADHD is to help mimic the effects of dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, which are the neurotransmitters located in the brain that are responsible for attention and focus. The production of all three of them can be traced back to the amino acid known as tyrosine which is found in foods such as: lean meats, poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, and fish. Children who suffer from ADHD have low amounts of these neurotransmitters in their body, therefore they suffer from symptoms such as talking incessantly, lacking patience, not being able to remain seated, and overall being severely inattentive. Once the child begins taking stimulant medication the effects of the neurotransmitters are quickly mimicked within their body providing a quick-fix to their misbehavior. However, the prolonged usage of stimulant medication can hurt a person’s ability to produce to the correct amount of neurotransmitters naturally within their body. Not to mention, even if a child has enough neurotransmitters, the true source of their misbehavior could be linked to the receptors in their brain lacking the ability to respond properly from messages within the brain. Thus leading to ADHD symptoms (Hyman 102). Especially in cases such as the ones previously mentioned, science has made it evident that stimulant drugs do not target the true problems occurring within the body of an ADHD patient. In such cases where a child is experiencing ADHD due to a lack of response to brain signals it has been proven that exposure to lead is leading cause of the problem. Children born between the years of 1989-2001 were all exposed to lead in the form of mercury found in vaccines that the children received at a young age. Scientific studies have shown that lead toxicity is associated with cognitive and behavioral problems in children due to the toxin interference they cause within the brain. Toxins like lead impair the neurotransmitter’s ability to listen to chemical signals from the brain and throws them off course. However, their function can be improved through proper diet and nutrition which then lessens the symptoms of ADHD (Hyman 28, 102). The typical American diet today is chock full of trans fats, artificial additives, and high amounts of sugar. This is practically a recipe for contracting ADHD because all of these factors are connected to it. Trans and hydrogenated fats along with High Fructose Corn Syrup are found in basically all foods manufactured in a factory. They are known to damage cells, cause inflammation, and interrupt normal brain function. They effect everyone, but especially

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