ADD Options

[pebkac]

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/2007090...arent-diagnosed

Turns out that it may not be as overdiagnosed as we think...

[Mommy]

My brother has Asperger's syndrome. It's affected his entire way of life; however, he has had a post graduate school reading level since he was in the 2nd grade. When it comes to math, though, he has a really hard time. He is currently in the 9th grade and can barely do 4th grade math.

If it wasn't for my brother being on medicine, he would not be able to function normally at all. Autistic children are known to be bipolar, schizophrenic, manic depressive, epileptic, OCD, or some combination of those. My brother battles severe schizophrenia and epilepsy. He sees a lot of stuff that isnt there. When he was in the fourth grade, we had to pull him out of school because it was so bad that he would sit in his desk screaming and crying to get the bugs off his skin...or he would run out of the classroom, out of the building, and into the street because some "small people" were chasing him. He did EVERYTHING in sets of tens. He would scratch at his skin until he bled because he thought there was bugs on him. Medicine has done a lot for him with all that. He also takes medicine to keep him from having seizures. At one point in his life, if he missed one dose of his medicine (he took it 3 times a day), he would have a grand mal seizure.

He is also severely violent with just about everyone. Many blame this on bad parenting, but a lot of Asperger's kids are very very violent. My brother pulled a knife on me when he was 3 years old. Thats not bad parenting...thats a psychological problem. His medicine also helps calm him down and makes him a lot happier. He doesnt take any ADD medicines like ritalin or aterol.

It's still hard because he is now 14 and deathly afraid of movie theaters, sports arenas, etc because anything loud frightens him. Girls scare him. He likes girls, but he doesnt like them to give him attention (he is REALLY cute so he gets a lot of attention....until they get to know his personality lol). When he does get attention from girls, he freaks out. He gets so upset that he goes to the bathroom at school to call my mom from his cell. If she doesnt answer, he freaks out even more. Thats when he will start pacing. If it gets completely out of control, he will run away...like as in out of the school and god knows where.

I think a lot of people speak with ignorance on this topic. I detest more than anything when people say that mental illness isnt real or that no one needs medicine to balance their moods. Yes, it is very very over diagnosed. I agree on that, but some could not function without it. If it werent for the medicines my brother is on, he would be locked in a mental institution...no joke. We almost have had to put him in one before when he was unmedicated.