Posted on Wed, Apr. 12, 2006
Advocate of ADHD patch says it shouldn't be the first choice
It's deceptively tricky to use, he said, primarily because it shouldn't be worn more than 9 hours.
By Dawn Fallik
Inquirer Staff Writer
A member of the FDA panel that recommended approval of a new medicated patch for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder says he does not think it should be the first choice for parents.
The patch, called Daytrana, contains the drug methylphenidate, the same stimulant used in Ritalin. The Food and Drug Administration rejected a form of the patch last year before granting its approval last week. The new formulation is aimed at children ages 6 to 12 and is expected to be on the market this summer.
Richard P. Malone, a psychiatry professor at Drexel University's College of Medicine and the FDA panel member, recommended approval of the new patch but said he was "a little conservative" and feared that parents would fail to follow the patch's instructions.
"Even though there might be directions that it's supposed to be on for nine hours, people might leave it on for longer," he said, possibly causing unwanted side effects, including tics, insomnia and weight loss.
The demand for patch medications continues to grow, from a single motion-sickness drug 25 years ago to more than 30 prescriptions used by 12 million people worldwide for ailments ranging from bladder control to heart disease. Besides the ADHD patch, the first antidepressant patch was approved last month.
But the FDA also announced last month that it was conducting an "exhaustive review" into the safety of transdermal patches, focusing on how they worked with heat. Repeated studies have found that patches cause the body to absorb as much as four times the amount of drug when heated, whether from soaking in a hot tub or from a high fever.
In 2003, the FDA rejected the ADHD patch in a 12-hour form, citing too many reactions.
As recently as June, agency officials had recommended that the patch not be approved because of potential for harm.
But in December, an FDA advisory panel, including Malone, unanimously recommended approval of a nine-hour version, saying that the side effects mirrored those from pills.
The patch's marketer, England-based Shire P.L.C., whose U.S. base is in Wayne, also makes Adderall XR, the world's most-prescribed ADHD drug.
Company officials said that the patch might be beneficial for children who can't swallow pills, and can be easily removed if side effects occur.
Although the recommended wear-time is nine hours, the drug's effects last for about 12 hours, said Liza Squires, a pediatrician and child neurologist who works for Shire. The patch will come in four doses for different ages. "It might be useful for weekends, when a child has a soccer game or a piano lesson and doesn't require a full day of ADHD therapy," she said.
Nearly 3.3 million Americans age 19 and younger used an ADHD drug last year, a decline of five percent from 2004, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., a prescription drug benefit program manager.
The top drugs had about $3.5 billion in sales last year.
In December, advisory panels worried about tests showing that as many as 22 percent of clinical trial subjects using the patch became so sensitive to the drug that they could not take methylphenidate at all.
Shire officials said those results came from a clinical trial in which adults kept the patch on the same spot continuously for 21 days straight.
The Daytrana patch is supposed to be left on for nine hours with 15 hours off, using alternate sites, Squires said.
It also should not be used with heating pads or electric blankets, because that causes the drug to be absorbed much more quickly.
ADHD drugs have come under scrutiny recently. Last month, FDA officials rejected a "black box" warning- the strongest alert - about psychiatric side effects, but another FDA committee recommended a similar warning about the cardiovascular risks.
The Daytrana label will include warnings about insomnia, decreased appetite and nausea, as well as sensitization, in which some patients become so sensitive to the drug that they cannot take any more.
William Pelham Jr., a professor of psychology and pediatrics at the University of Buffalo, conducted two trials of Daytrana, which is made by Miami-based Noven Pharmaceuticals.
Although several children in one nine-hour trial withdrew because of severe side effects, Pelham said that sometimes happens the first time a child takes any ADHD drug, but usually does not occur the second time.
He said the most significant side effect parents would see if their children wore the patch longer than nine hours would be an inability to sleep.
Malone, however, said he wanted to see whether the patch and children were compatible. "I personally think it would be easier to use pills," he said.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
MAYBE BERNARD LORD SHOULD TRY THE PATCH BEFORE OUR YOUTHS ARE FORCE ON IT???
BERNARD LORD TRUE LEGACY????
Bernard Lord’s Legacy
(Compiled by the Communications, Policy Staff of the Official Opposition)
A recent survey shows that the Conservative government led by Bernard Lord has failed to make even a slight impression on New Brunswickers. Three-quarters of the respondents could not name a single policy or program they would describe as Bernard Lord’s legacy.
We think Bernard Lord does have a legacy
– a legacy that has made New Brunswickers poorer while the Premier has gotten richer. It includes:
* The highest paid Premier in Canada ($188,902/year) at a time when most corporate CEOs are tying pay to performance.
* Education test scores that rank at the bottom of Canada’s schools.
* The lowest economic growth rate since 2001-02.
* The lowest ranking for quality child care in Canada.
* The second longest wait times for medical and surgical treatments in Canada, more than doubling over the past 10 years.
* The third highest inflation rate in Canada. (Sept. 2005)
* One of the worst records in North America for access to higher education.
* One of the worst job creation rates in Canada.
* One of the highest unemployment rates in Canada.
* Lowest minimum wage rate in Canada
* Lowest social assistance rates in Canada
* The worst performance of any province in Canada for narrowing the wage gap.
* The biggest increase in low income full-time workers anywhere in Canada, except Newfoundland.
* A state of sustained population decline for the first time since the Great Depression.
* A $1.26 billion increase to the Province’s net debt.
* A 30 % increase in taxes and fees since 2000.
* A 50% cut in funding to attract industry to New Brunswick.
* A whopping 200% increase in forest licenses and fees.
* The $2.2 billion Orimulsion fiasco.
* The sale of $1 million worth of toll booth equipment for $25,000.
For more information contact: Rayanne Brennan, Office of the Official Opposition, (506) 462-5148
L'opposition reste vigilante
L’héritage de Bernard Lord
(Information compilée par les analystes en politiques et le personnel des communications du Bureau de l'opposition officielle)
Un récent sondage démontre que le gouvernement progressiste-conservateur dirigé par Bernard Lord n’a pas réussi à laisser une impression durable sur les gens du Nouveau-Brunswick. Trois quarts des répondants ne pouvaient pas nommer une seule politique ou un seul programme qu’ils percevaient comme étant l’héritage de Bernard Lord.
Nous croyons que Bernard Lord a un héritage – un héritage qui a appauvri les gens du Nouveau-Brunswick alors que le premier ministre s’est enrichi. Il comprend notamment :
* Le premier ministre le mieux payé au Canada (188 902 $ par année) à une époque où les PDG des corporations lient de plus en plus le salaire à la performance.
* Des tests d’éducation qui place le Nouveau-Brunswick au dernier rang des écoles au Canada.
* Le plus bas taux de croissance économique au Canada depuis 2001-2002.
* La dernière place en termes de qualité des services de garderies au Canada.
* Le troisième taux d’inflation le plus élevé au Canada.
* Un des pires endroits en Amérique du Nord en termes d’accès à l’éducation postsecondaire.
* Un des pires taux de création d’emploi au Canada.
* Un des taux de chômage les plus élevés au Canada.
* La pire performance de toutes les provinces canadiennes en termes de réduction de l’écart salarial.
* La plus grande augmentation de travailleurs à faibles revenus au Canada, exception faite de Terre-Neuve et Labrador.
* Un état soutenu de déclin de la population pour la première fois depuis la Grande dépression.
* Une augmentation de 1,26 milliards $ de la dette nette provinciale.
* Une augmentation des taxes et des tarifs de 30% depuis 2000.
* Une diminution des fonds pour attirer les entreprises au Nouveau-Brunswick de 50%.
* Une augmentation énorme de 200% des tarifs et des frais de licence dans le secteur forestier.
* Un fiasco de l’Orimulsion de 2,2 milliards $.
* La vente de matériels pour les postes de péage d’une valeur de 1 million $ pour seulement 25 000 $.
* Le salaire minimum le plus bas au Canada.
* L’allocation sociale la plus basse au Canada.
* Les temps d’attente pour les interventions médicales et chirurgicales les deuxième plus longs au Canada. Ils ont plus que doublé au cours des 10 dernières années.
Pour plus d'information, veuillez contacter Rayanne Brennan au bureau de l'opposition officielle, (506) 462-514
I SHOULD TEAM UP WITH THIS GUY????
Music Archives
Rock and Revolution
By john lucas
Publish Date: 13-Apr-2006
Living Things singer-guitarist Lillian Berlin (left) doesn’t believe in ADHD. My cat’s name is Mittens. The doctor said I wouldn’t have so many nosebleeds if I kept my finger outta there.
Living Things singer-guitarist Lillian Berlin (left) doesn’t believe in ADHD. My cat’s name is Mittens. The doctor said I wouldn’t have so many nosebleeds if I kept my finger outta there.
Any crew of sneering young things can muster enough snotty attitude to put forth an aura of rocking swagger, but it takes true talent to bash out tunes good enough to warrant such an image. To its credit, Living Things has managed both, but the St. Louis, Missouri–spawned quartet has a little something extra going for it: songs that are actually about something. The 12 tracks on the band’s sophomore album, Ahead of the Lions, make it clear that Living Things singer-guitarist and lyricist Lillian Berlin has more on his mind than sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. Actually, those weighty matters are probably in there somewhere as well, but the 25-year-old Berlin’s primary concern seems to be the plight of young America under the current right-wing regime. “I said hey, hey, hey, this is our birthright,” he sings on “Bom Bom Bom”, “To be bought and sold, shipped off ready to die”.
in + out
Lillian Berlin sounds off on the things that enquiring minds want to know.
On making music with a message: “I’d like to lure people in through the music and hopefully they walk away picking up on an idea that maybe they’ve heard about but haven’t been thinking about as much, and maybe they’ll form an opinion.”
On using art as a tool for social change: “I think if there’s hundreds of artists that are injecting this into their art, through music, film, and books, and people are escaping and reading and watching and listening to this stuff, it can start actually making a difference. I think at one point in time, from about 1967 to 1971, art around the world was actually making a difference, with people wanting to think and react and do something about the climate of the world.”
On getting started in rock ‘n’ roll: “We’re very primal. We just sort of picked up the instruments and went with it. I think I had a guitar for about four weeks before we did our first gig. Once we got the instruments we were, like, ‘Okay, now we just go play ’em.’”
“I would describe it as a record with a social conscience,” Berlin says, reached on the set of a Los Angeles video shoot. “I set out to write an album, lyrically, that dealt with a myriad of social issues that were going on in America and how that was affecting the rest of the world, and how it was affecting younger people, younger adults in America.”
Not content to use his music merely as a means of venting his rage at the fucked-up state of the union, Berlin offers a message of empowerment to his generation. “Wake up,” he tells listeners on “No New Jesus”, “and uncuff your hands.”
Berlin knows first-hand what it’s like to feel powerless. In junior high, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and prescribed Ritalin and Prozac, mood-altering medications that the singer has described as “crack for kids”. Berlin’s mother eventually took him off the pills, and he has since become an outspoken opponent of what he sees as an epidemic of hasty, inaccurate diagnoses that are creating a generation of drug-dependent youth.
“ADHD, unfortunately, is this thing where they’ve given a name for issues that young people pretty much have had for decades,” he says. “A younger person most likely is going to be more hyper than an adult, because as a child you have more energy. A younger person is probably going to do a lot more daydreaming than an adult, because children are more free to have their mind run.
“Since scientists can’t prove that ADD and ADHD exist, my whole issue with it is that you don’t prescribe a drug that’s as harsh as Ritalin, Prozac, and an assortment of other ones,” he continues. “They’re harsh drugs that really affect your brain and your body in such a way that it can damage you.”
The medicated phase of Berlin’s life is documented in his forthcoming book, Post Mortem Bliss. “It’s a diary that I kept from when I was 12 to 18, so it’s like junior high to high school, dealing with this whole ADHD thing that had infected my life,” he reveals. “The only thing I got out of it was the classroom that I was put in. I was put in this special sort of classroom during the day for three hours. They required you to keep a diary entry every day. I think it was a way for teachers to eavesdrop on the kids to see what they were thinking or doing. But I got this diary out of it that is very honest because it’s me as a young person writing what I felt was going on, and I think it probably represents a large proportion of people in that age group and how they feel today.”
Not all of Berlin’s youth was spent in a Ritalin daze. In fact, the genesis of Living Things can be traced to childhood afternoons spent making a basement-rattling racket with his bandmates, who also happen to be his brothers: bassist Eve and drummer Bosh. A second guitarist, Cory Becker, was a later addition to the group’s lineup but has been a friend of the Berlins for years. On Ahead of the Lions, they take a back-to-basics approach to riff-fuelled, raw-power rock. “March in Daylight” and “On All Fours” will kick-start the heart of anyone who ever moshed to “Territorial Pissings”, while other tracks such as the aforementioned “Bom Bom Bom” reach back to the strutting stylings of the Stones and the Stooges.
Given that, you might expect Berlin to possess an enviable collection of well-worn classic-rock records. This, he insists, is not the case. “When you rehearse and you record and you gig so much, when you go home the last thing you want to do is listen to music,” he says. “That’s how it is for a lot of my friends, and that’s how it is for me and my brothers. I can’t even put on a record when I’m at home, I’m so tired of hearing guitars, drums, and bass, so a lot of my influences are from my other forms of escapism: reading, or watching a film, or looking at a friend of mine paint a massive mural. I get a lot of ideas that come from other places.”
Wherever the band’s ideas come from, it’s clear that Living Things has a powerful message, and an equally potent slash-and-burn rock ’n’ roll attack with which to convey it.
Living Things plays the Plaza Club on Saturday (April 15).
WRITERS BEWARE!!!! IF YOU WRITE A LETTER TO THE IRVING PAPER???? YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE!!!
This woman wrote a letter to the Editor which was printed Tuesady.
MLA has a right to voice opinion
This letter is in support of Abel Leblanc (MLA - Saint John). I just want to take this opportunity to say what a wonderful human being he is. Not only is he honest and sincere, he has a genuine humanity for his people.
I think his voicing his opinion was in accordance to our Canadian rights of freedom of speech, and I believe that he has a right to speak his mind on any issue that he sees of importance.
He is a good man who has done many things to help myself and my family, and I am in support of him 100 per cent. I really hope that all will be forgiven in this matter and that he will be able to move on with it with his chin up and his public's support.
And all the best to you Abel!
COLLEEN BROSNAN
Fredericton
Now? Nothing wrong with this story so far but I was surprised to hear from the woman this story.
Ever since she wrote her letter to the Telegraph Journal?
She has received phone calls from the paper asking her if she would love to subcribe to the Irving paper?
The policies are simple to get a letter printed in the paper.
You have to give your phone number.
If she would have known that they would bother her with phone calls?
She would have never wrote that letter supporting Abel LeBlanc.
COME ON TANKER????? PLEASE MAKE UP YOUR MIND????
Tanker just announced that he re-join the P.C. Party!!!!
My God???
What's going to happen next!!!!
I wonder if Abel LeBlanc will write a letter to the editor about this one???....lol
A READER SENDS CHARLES A COMMENT ABOUT ADD-ADHD!!!!
there is no such thing as ADD or ADHD. there is no physiological test to prove or diagnose it.
it is true that there are children who demonstrate certain behaviors, such as not paying attention, constantly moving or fidgeting, and memory problems, but the cause can not simply be stated as, "oh, the kid has ADD or ADHD. drug him and give him all A's in class."
when this fake illness or "disorder" was first talked about, it was called attention deficit syndrome. a "syndrome" is a condition that many people show but no cause has been determined. the cause has been known for years, but our society won't say it.
kids who appear to have ADD or ADHD have one very wrong thing in common, and that is the style of parenting that they were given. these are kids who were not raised by parents who sat with them, read books with them, played with them, or talked to them very much. instead, these children were placed in a room with a bunch of toys on the floor and a tv constantly on in order to hopefully keep the kid quiet. these children were never shown how to stick to doing one thing for any length of time. they were just left to do whatever they wanted or whatever they could manage.
so now these kids are in school with no ability to stick to doing any one thing for any length of time. they were raised to do whatever they felt like whenever they felt like it. so it makes sense that they want to keep doing that.
during those early years, we need to sit with kids, talk to them, show them how things are done. when they play with ONE toy at a time, make sure we show them how to put those toys away before moving on to the next thing.
drugs do not solve the problem. they only slow the kid down so he can't jump to the next thing so quickly. kids don't learn how to behave better when on drugs. they are just unable to do what they have been programmed to do. as soon as the drugs wear off, they'll get right back to those other behaviors.
is there such a thing as a chemical imbalance? yes. but those chemicals are produced in those early years when we've been ignoring out children. can the imbalance be fixed? YES, even in teen years. how? by doing the same things with the children that we should have been doing when they were crawling. talk to them. show them how to do things the right way. don't let them get away with giving up. even in teen years, those missing chemicals will be produced. but WE have to take control of the issue in order for it to happen. DRUGS will not take control. even when kids are in their teens, we can still teach them the right behaviors and they can learn to overcome the problem. but nobody will learn anything unless they face the issue, the real issue, honestly and admit what's happening. you can't fix something unless you know what's broken. and you can't fix something if you pretend that something else is broken.
WHERE ELSE WOULD THE DAILY GLEANER GAS UP????...LOL
First time I ever met this little sweetheart. Very friendly...
THERE???? WAS IT POWER OF THE BLOGGER OR MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR????
Maybe now the Irvings are charging for air??? They can afford a new flag????
A MINISTER FROM THE LORD GOVENMENT WALKING OUT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE LEGISLATURE???
I almost took a heart attack when I saw Claude Williams walking out.
These Minister usually take the side door.
As a rookie Minister? He must have had a lot on his mind???..lol
GOD'S MINUTE!!!
WHEN THE DISCIPLES SAW HIM WALKING ON THE SEA
THEY WERE TROUBLED, SAYING, IT IS A GHOST! AND
THEY CRIED OUT FOR FEAR. BUT IMMEDIATELY JESUS
SPOKE TO THEM, SAYING, BE OF GOOD CHEER! IT IS I;
DO NOT BE AFRAID. SO HE SAID, COME. AND WHEN
PETER HAD CAME DOWN OUT OF THE BOAT HE WALKED
ON THE WATER TO GO TO JESUS. BUT HE SAW THAT
THE WIND WAS BOISTEROUS, HE WAS AFRAID; AND
BEGINNING TO SINK HE CRIED OUT SAYING "LORD SAVE
ME."
( MATTHEW 14:26,27,29 &30 *NKJV )
Dear Charles,
Now Peter began to sink because he took his eyes
off of Jesus, and focused on the waves all around him. This
was because his faith faltered. So what did Peter do but
reach out to Jesus who was the only one that could save
him! You see Peter forgot to; WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY
SIGHT. ( 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 )
Now we may not be walking on water, but when our
troubles surround us, if we focus on them instead of placing
our faith in Jesus, we will start to sink as well!
So Charles, when you are facing difficulties and
troubles surround you; keep your eyes on Jesus' power
rather then on your problems. Also when you are
apprehensive about your troubles, and if you doubt Christ's
presence or His great ability to help; remember that He is
the only one that can really help you as well!
Now tonight why not read this story. You will find it in The
Book of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 22-33, for wonderful
reading it truly is!
Finally Charles, WATCH, STAND FAST IN THE FAITH
BE BRAVE, BE STRONG. LET ALL YOU DO BE DONE
WITH LOVE. Amen. ( 1 CORINTHIANS 16:13 )
With My Love & Prayers,
your servant Allen
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