Quote from southbeach4me:
My neighbor is a neurologist and his 19 yo daughter takes it, she has dramatically improved her ability to focus at work and in school. The fact that you, for some reason, are against long term use of medication should have absolutely no bearing on whats best for him. You are not a doctor.
I know a few adults that take ADHD medication for life bcuz its the only way they can be truly productive in life. Ppl with ADHD have brains wired differently and they're brains will ALWAYS be like that. So pleeez, with all due respect to you as a father, for the sake of your son, keep your personal opinions out of it , and let the specialists(neurologists) treat him with what will help him lead a more focused, productive life.........even if it means him taking meds for the rest of his life.
The problem is that makes them more productive in a conventional sense, and less productive in the specialized sense that ADD people are productive.
It's great if she wants to focus at work and in school. Crap if she wants to become a tech startup pioneer, or an adventurer, or any other kind of high focus creative activity.
Since even the best adjusted, most medicated, permanently in therapy ADDer will NEVER be anywhere near as productive at normal tasks as the average diligent/responsible type of person, and since diligent/responsible people are hopeless at tasks which ADD people thrive on, then arguably this is the worst thing you could do. It's like taking an actuary and training them as a fighter pilot, giving them regular doses of amphetamines to hype them up for combat.
Natural selection did not create a significant minority of the population with ADD traits for no reason. They survive and thrive (in the right environment) because it's an adaptive advantage. Have you ever hung around racing drivers, fighter pilots, entrepreneurs, active traders etc. They are rubbish at responsible tasks and pen pushing. But could you imagine the disaster that would ensue if you got rid of them and replaced them with pen-pushers?
It's like punishing kids for fighting. If someone is violent, they are violent. You cannot make them into a passive wimp-boy. Either you channel their inherent aggression, into something suitable like front line soldiering, combat/contact sports, riot squad cop, prison guard or whatever, or you try and teach them sewing and knitting and watch as it goes spectacularly wrong.