Bi-polar at two????

The tragic death of four year old, Rebecca Riley, caused by an overdose of prescription drugs has left me screaming for an answer to the following questions;

How does the medical profession diagnose a two year old as being bi-polar?

Who in their right mind would put a two year on a regiment of two potent anti-psychotic drugs and blood pressure medication?

Seeing first hand, my wife was diagnosed as being bi-polar fifteen years ago, what the effects these drugs have on an individual, how could a parent watch their child being drugged into a stupor? Was this girl’s behavior that bad to warrant the administering of such a mix of drugs?

To this day I still question how my wife was immediately diagnosed and put into a box and labeled, bi-polar. Is there a blood test or can you take a urine sample and find out that someone is bi-polar? No, the diagnosis is often a doctor’s opinion based on observation, family input, and meeting and talking with the person. The medical profession claims that bipolar disorders are often characterized by mood swings. During the course of a month or two aren’t we all experiencing mood swings? Don’t we all have our ups and downs? Should we all be popping pills to maintain an even keel?

The drug companies would love it. Think how happy their stockholders would be. Everything is driven by money. It’s been proven that these companies have put drugs on the market that have hurt and even killed some people. Just look at Vioxx and a recently Risperdal and Seroquel, anti-psychotics that cause weight gain of up to forty pounds per year and elevated blood sugar levels.

Many drugs have benefits, but one has to make an educated decision and weigh the risk factors over the benefits. Any drug that you put into your system has the potential to do harm. A simple aspirin taken for a long period of time will damage your stomach.

Why is it that over the last ten to twenty years we have seen a steady increase of children being put on some real potent drugs? Are children born today not as healthy as ones born thirty to forty years ago? I don’t remember ever having to give any one of my three boys anything harsher than a baby aspirin or Tylenol and that was rare at best.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe parents either don’t have the time nor the patience to deal with a child that is a little hyper and immediately turn to their doctor for help. Maybe they’ve been brainwashed by the slew of drug commercials that always end by saying, “Ask your doctor.”

When you ask your doctor about anything he will probably respond with a quick fix, DRUGS. How do you explain why the aggressive drug treatments of children has become so common. Whatever happened to the TERRIBLE TWOS? I think the terrible twos have been drugged into submission. They have been put into the box labeled ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, have been given Ritalin. Little Johnny acts up and mommy and daddy can’t cope with him so they give him a pill. No muss no fuss just a quick easy fix.

I don’t know what the solution is but I do know that if you haven’t got the time nor patience for children, don’t have any. We have enough legal drug addicts, our senior citizens, we don’t need any more.

And if you have children, please rely on your maternal and or paternal instincts before you put your child in the hands of a doctor. We don’t need to lose any more Rebecca Rileys.