Category: Medication

Let the Games Begin?

The latest prescription for childhood ADHD is a game. EndeavorRx is its name. Want to see it? Go to https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/video-endeavorrx-is-first-video-game-approved-by-fda-to-treat-adhd.html.

The FDA approved it for children ages 8-12…the first game it has EVER approved as a prescription.

Apparently, the research behind it, out of UCSF, was convincing… https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417841/fda-approves-video-game-based-ucsf-brain-research-adhd-therapy-kids

To some….  See some criticisms here.

If you’re interested but outside the age window, you might like to know this: In 2013, Nature published the results of a study on a game called Neuroracer showing that six weeks of training with the game improved older adults’ attention. How old are we talking? 60-85 years of age. For more see https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/09/108616/training-older-brain-3-d-video-game-enhances-cognitive-control.

Under 60 and over 12? Well, UCSF’s working on games for various ages and abilities. Find them at https://neuroscape.ucsf.edu/technology/.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down I guess.

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Medication Metaphor: Tunnels

Imagine yourself inside a room full of tunnels.

You can look down any of them.  Maybe you like this sense of freedom.  Maybe you also find it distracting.led-lighting-1846929_1920

But now you have your ADHD medication.

Walls go up over all the tunnels except the one you’re facing.

When you turn your head, the wall for the last tunnel you faced slides up.  The wall for the tunnel you now face slides down.

You can switch which tunnel you look down, but you can see only one tunnel at a time.

You can also see the tunnels with obstacles.

On medication, you find it’s easier to enter these previously-avoided tunnels (maybe because the more appealing tunnels have their walls up, keeping their temptations out of sight).

And once you enter one of these “harder” tunnels, the medication helps you stay there.

This is part of the experience of ADHD medication for many of those with ADHD, on the one that’s working for them.

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Medicating Children

As the mother of a teenager with ADHD soon entering high school, I want to know the pros and cons of medication.  If you are a parenpill-1254786t reading this, you likely do, too.  And I will admit, I’m torn.

The research seems too unfinished for me to rely on it as much as I might like.

Consider that over 40 scholars from the UK, USA, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Australia will be reviewing  various “pharmacological interventions” to rank how well they work and their “tolerability profiles,” looking at these things for children, teens and adults.  The scholars note that “there is a lack of up-to-date and comprehensive evidence on how available ADHD drugs compare and rank” with regard to their ability to deliver desired results and to do so with tolerable side effects.  See more here.

But do we keep waiting for what seem to be more definitive answers? At what cost?

Consider this…recent research suggests that school could be a more rewarding experience for children and teens with ADHD who use medication for their symptoms.

Examining about 10, 0000 12-year-old twins, some who’d been followed since 7 years of age, researchers found that medication-free children with ADHD showed lower educational achievement than children with ADHD using methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta).  And the medicated children showed lower educational achievement than children without ADHD.  That is, ADHD appeared to lead to lower educational achievement but especially when unmedicated.  Plus ADHD symptoms predicted a negative educational trajectory from 14 to 16 years of age.  See study here.

Where does this leave us parents wanting our children to have the best chance at achieving what deep down really matters to them?

It leaves me leaning toward the test of experience.  I am willing to let my teen, when wishing to do so, swallow a pill as I (figuratively) swallow mine.

Meanwhile, I will keep combing the research….

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