Woodbury Reports, Inc.
Bonners Ferry, Idaho

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Over Medicating Our Youth

September 9, 2013

On today's Parent Choices for Struggling Teens, Frank Granett, R.ph and ADHD expert specializing in Nutritional Physiology and Psychiatry in regards to the assessment process for children battling behavioral symptoms, joined Lon in a very frank and informative interview about the epidemic of our children in the United States being diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medications. "In the past five years there has been an upsurge in the nation with over 12 million young children and young adults consuming these stimulant drug medications. This "trend" in drug therapy has grown and the long term risk factors of these medications is creating the "perfect storm". Parents with pre-school children (ages 3 and 4) are being encouraged to pursue prescribed medications for their children with behavior problems.

When asked how did we get to this point? Frank explained that between forty years ago (when the first cases of ADHD) appeared to present day, there are several key factors: nutrition, environmental and physiological, that are affecting our children. "Nutrition is one of the key risk factors for our kids and this behavioral health crisis. Our children are nutrient deprived and they are consuming food that is lacking in enzymes compared to 40 years ago and parents are unaware that the key neuro transmitters are manufactured in the stomach and the small intestines. Another risk factor for ADHD is environmental, which can be problems within the family: ie, divorce of parents, bullying and etc. "We need to strengthen our kids and empower them with knowledge. Our children can be taught to think positively and emotionally in a positive way. We should be doing mental health training for our kids, just as we have physical education in our school for kids." And lastly, physiological effects can manifest into behavioral problems. The nerves in the cervical spine can be pinched, cutting off the flow of energy and neurons to the brain, so a chiropractic assessment and an alignment of the spine is really beneficial.

"Drug therapy has its place, but further down the line. With an intervention of good whole foods that contain the least amount of sugar and the removal of processed, chemically altered foods can be a parent's first step in managing their child's behavior. A poor diet can have a hypoglycemic effect on children and by mid-day, when there is a "crash" from no sugar, a child's body reacts by flooding the body with adrenaline, which often mimics symptoms of ADHD. This is especially so with the teen population, who lives on a steady diet of junk foods.

Parents also need to know the difference between a behavioral assessment and a bio-assessment. "For the last 40 years we've only used the behavioral assessment in diagnosing children, therefore the primary intervention has been drug therapy, which has become a behavioral health crisis. But now, many prestigious institutions, including Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, are teaching differential diagnosing which involves a root cause analysis prior to drug therapy especially in children. And based off of a recent 6 year study by John Hopkins, it was proved that long term drug therapy in young ADHD symptomatic children is not effective and may lead to other behavioral conditions."
Dr. Granett ended his interview with some last comments to consider: "children deserve a voice and I believe we as parents and educators and all health care providers need to get to the root cause before drug therapy. Kids can revert and conquer their behavioral symptoms.

To listen to the full interview, go to Over Medicating Our Youth on LATalkRadio.
Also available in Podcast

Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports, Inc. and www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.

Pharmacist Frank Granett, R.ph is also the author of the book: "Over Medicating Our Youth" and is the Director of clinical pharmacy operations at BCOM Psychiatric Hospital with over 25 years of experience specializing in ADHD stimulant and psychiatric medications. Frank is the founder of the non-profit CAOOY- the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth, whose primary mission is to help parents help their children in determining the cause of behavioral challenges by ruling out nutritional, physiological and environmental risk factors prior to premature drug therapy. Frank is also the father of 6 children.

Stay Tuned for Upcoming Programs:

September 16:
Colleen Morris: "Ask a Kid"

September 23:
President of Landmark College; Peter Eden

September 30:
C. Lynn Williams: "Staying Sane While Raising a Teen"

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Attention Viewers:

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