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As Edmund Burke once said: "The Only Way for Evil to Triumph, is for Good
Men to Do Nothing". We, as a group, need to be a united force and do
EVERYTHING in our power to stop this evil. We need to act so that our
future generation will not be suppressed and diminished in character.
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PARENTS
SPEAK OUT AGAINST SCHOOLS COERCING THEM TO
PLACE CHILDREN ON PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS
Cyndi:
Tennessee
Mom
Cyndi
wrote to Ablechild on March 12, 2005
She
is a proud, courageous mother of 3 who became her children’s biggest
advocate, showing us that there is hope in the face of destruction, when
one is determined to seek out and stand up for truth.
I
am not real sure how to start out a letter about the past 10 years of my
life without others getting bored and not reading the most important parts
of this. I am sure there is a lot I will forget to say, but I am
sure that those reading this will understand the most important
part of this whole story.
My Husband and I married January 1988. Right away we started our family.
We had our first daughter in October of 1988. She was born two
months early. I remember her nurse mentioning ADHD while they were telling
me to expect her to be a little slower and smaller than other children.
Well, turns out today she is a 16 years old, 5 "6, 130lb, smart,
beautiful, sweet woman who attends high school in her actual grade with
honor classes. She was always bright and right on schedule with her
tasks as a toddler after she and everybody else forgot she was only 3lbs
at birth. We waited until she was 4 years old before Mother Nature
blessed us with another miracle, this child a son. He was right on time,
and as handsome as he could be. He, like my daughter, developed just
as he was supposed to.
OH
DID I FORGET TO MENTION WHEN I WENT BACK FOR MY 6 WEEKS CHECKUP WITH HIM,
WE HAD BABY # 3 ON THE WAY?
This third child, a very beautiful little boy had arrived right on
schedule with good weight and health.
All
of these children were raised pretty much by me, in the country with no
neighbors and very little family around. Their Daddy traveled a lot
in his job.
School
life starts for my daughter with a bang!! Before we were truly into
the 1st six weeks of school our daughter’s teacher was sending behavior
notes home almost daily. The teacher asked me, "Has she (my
daughter) been tested for A.D.H.D.?" Hum, seems I remember hearing
this with her nurse at birth????? Okay, I assume they know what is
best for her? My response to her teacher is that, “NO she has not,
but what you recommend we will do.” Off we go to the Doctor’s
office and out of his office we leave, with a prescription for drugs in
hand for my daughter. Oh, I remember this one sentence from this
Doctor’s letter regarding my daughter, "ALMOST SURE TO BE A FAILURE
@ ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL GOALS." Remember this is Kindergarten I am
talking about!!
My middle son (child # 2), starts school at that point. Okay, you
can only imagine what happens next. Off to the doctor we go with my
son, based on school reports. This leads to testing and DRUGS.
Oh, in addition to this there were "Learning disability
classes." After 6 weeks the home room teacher told me she thought my
son did not need these classes so we pulled him from them. He became
withdrawn on the drug prescribed him. He had no social skills at all
on the drug, was very self reserved, and very angry. I was never told
anything about serious side effects. The only side effects that were
mentioned to me were possible loss of appetite and sleeplessness. At this
point my daughter gets classified for “learning disability classes.”
Now here we are at Child # 3, my youngest son. Yes!! How did
you GUESS!!!! The same routine, scenario happens with him starting
school (school=doctor=drugs). Sadly, I was under the misconception
that the school knew what was best for my children. This youngest
son had very serious side effects from the drugs prescribed him. He
went to stuttering after the meds started, and then he started chewing
(pulling) the skin off his hands, and I mean chunks of skin. He was
very nervous to the point that one had to almost wonder if a child that
young was so depressed he might hurt himself. He had absolutely no
self-worth, and no social skills. He could not sleep at night,
which led to him to not being able to get out of bed in the morning.
What did the Dr. do for this? Add more drugs of course, blood
pressure meds that I was told would help him sleep at night. I
had no clue what this drug really was, because at the time it was
prescribed the doctor did not bother to tell me. All I was told was
that it would help him sleep at night. Okay, I started to question: Drugs,
Drugs, Drugs,????? I am asking everyone what they think would be the
chances of having three different kids in one family, in one school
system, with the same label, and all on drugs for it. WOW, how often
could that happen? What are the odds?
All I knew was that I had three children, all on drugs, all very unsocial,
all very angry and all very destructive with their toys and anything they
touched. Every month the doctor would say all is fine. I just knew that it
wasn’t fine. When I started asking questions about my youngest son
the doctor always blew my questions and concerns off, and just change his
meds around. Because I was uncomfortable with this and this
doctor’s attitude, I found a new doctor who listened to me. He wanted to
run 2 brain scans on my youngest son, which when done came back
"abnormal.” Well, quite by accident I got an appointment with
this particular doctor’s Associate.
I
was going over my questions and concerns with him, and he looked me in the
eye and said "Mom, if you tried everything and nothing works I bet
this is not the problem." He suggests that I make another
appointment and bring school files of my youngest with me. I let the
school know that I wanted everything from my son’s file so he could be
reevaluated for ADHD. When I went to the school to retrieve his
files I found everything was missing from my child's file except for
things pertaining to the present year. I had tried to pull him off of meds
the year before because problems were so severe and the school
called their psychiatrist in to see if she could help him. The end
result of this previous year problem was that the principle told me that
stopping my son’s meds would not work because he was totally out of
control off of meds. Makes one wonder that if he is such a problem
child these reports would still be there, right? When the doctor
looked over everything that I could gather for him from the schools files,
he talked with both my son and I. He said, “I think your problem is the
meds.” He then ordered that my son undergo a sleeping test and an
8 HR brain scan. With the doctor’s help, I weaned my son and my
other two children off the drugs over a month period. My youngest
son went for his sleeping test and brain scan which both came back
perfect.
Okay,
at this point in time, I found Ablechild’s web site and I cried for over
three hours printing off stuff from this site. I wanted any
information that I could get because I knew I had a fight ahead of me and
I wanted to be prepared.
Well, all of a sudden my doctor is no longer in my pediatrician’s
office. Come to find out he left over ADHD and
“MEDICATION” issues. I search for his whereabouts and luckily
find him. He offers to go to school with me if I need him to. NOW
LET ME TELL ALL OF YOU THAT THIS IS A TRUE DOCTOR!!!!
I was off to school for a little meeting about my youngest son. I
had in hand a very thick folder of information printed out from
Ablechild’s website. I had not told the school about the results
of the doctors testing. I had not revealed to the school up to that
point that my son was off drugs. At the meeting I informed the
school that my son was off drugs and had been off them. The
principle went nuts. I mean nuts!!! I told him I did my
research and that I had NO idea that this drug had killed so many
children. I stated that I will NEVER give my children anymore drugs
for this "so called" invented illness ever again. I said I
will home school all my children if I have to. He said "Well that may
be what you just have to do.” I told him that “He could call my
doctor’s office and schedule a good time with him to come into school
for a meeting regarding my son.” Do you know after this comment
the principal has never mentioned DRUGS to me again, and in turn, my
son’s daily visits to the principal’s office have stopped!!!
My
older son has had several teachers who tell me "Him with ADHD?”
“No, I don't see it!" FUNNY HOW ADHD IS NOT SEEN ANYMORE,
DISAPPEARING AS IF IN THIN AIR. FUNNY NOW, MY CHILDREN ARE VIEWED AS
CAPABLE IN LEARNING.
I am not saying that we have an easy life and all is perfect now. I
am saying though, that ADHD “medications” have done a lot of damage in
my life and my children’s, and has taken many good years away from us.
Without the drugs, I do see improvements almost daily. One doesn’t
realize how much joy they could get from seeing two little boys sitting
side by side on their bikes in a conversation and laughing. That
deep belly laugh from a little boy one forgot was there because that
boy’s face was masked by drugs. Today things last longer around our
home, and my children are proud of their things and seem to like them now.
Overall, there is more enjoyment in everyday life. They are still brothers
and sister and will always have their "family bonding fights,"
but we do it naturally now ... it is no longer drug induced!!!
I
want others to know that my baby, my youngest son, Joey, and
ABLECHILD.ORG, is the one who opened my eyes to this. Through Joey
this happened when his big beautiful green eyes looked up at me with
puddles and he said "MOMMY WHY CANT I BE NORMAL JUST LIKE YOU AND
DADDY AND SISTER AND BROTHER?" Now if I didn’t hear that cry for
help I wouldn’t have been much of a Mom. I then found
Ablechild.org and their important information, which helped me fight back
against what I found out, was wrong.
From my ordeal, I have promised myself that if I can share my story with
others and keep one child away from this destruction I will be grateful.
I just hope people hear my words.
THANK YOU JOEY and ABLECHILD.ORG,
Marijo,
a mother from Wisconsin
and her son Johnnie
Johnnie,
a young boy currently in fourth grade, has had an extensive history of
allergies to medications beginning at age 1, which includes penicillin,
sulfa, erythromycin and the pertussis vaccine.
Throughout his preschool years, Johnnie was a very difficult child and his
mother, Marijo, attempted to find out why. She asked her
pediatrician to perform allergy testing but was told that there were no
symptoms that would warrant it.
When he was involved in some extremely difficult incidences with other
children, such as excessive curiosity about private parts, this concerned
Marijo and she took him to other medical doctors to seek a second and
third opinion. She was told that Johnnie had a "conduct
disorder" and was referred to a psychiatrist. In June 2000, she
took Johnnie to Dr. Eric Schweitering, a well-known child psychiatrist in
the Milwaukee area.
After an interview that lasted an hour at the most, at the age of 5,
Johnnie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was prescribed Risperdal,
an antipsychotic drug usually prescribed to those diagnosed with
schizophrenia. He prescribed
it off-label (for something it was not originally intended to
“treat”). His mother was
not told that Risperdal was not FDA approved for children. At first,
the “medication” seemed to help but the behavior problems would come
and go and the dosage was gradually increased. While on the
Risperdal, Johnnie was very tired and had horrible weight gain.
Additionally, he still had periods when his teacher complained that he was
"off-task". During the period that he was on this drug his
mother often complained to Dr. Schweitering about the side effects.
Marijo asked, "Isn't there another route besides the drug?
Couldn't it be allergies or something?"
Dr. Schweitering assured her that Johnnie's behavior and attention
problems in school were not allergy related, even despite Johnnie's
previous medical history of allergies to drugs.
After his first year of school, Johnnie was taken off the “medication”
for the summer and there was some improvement overall, but at times, his
behavior was pretty bad. Sometimes, he had violent temper
tantrums, slamming doors and throwing things.
In September 2001, when he started the 1st grade, he was put back on the
Risperdal at the same dose he started on the year before. This time
the results weren't nearly as good and the drug dose was increased at a
much greater pace than the year before. Meanwhile, Johnnie did
poorly in school. His teacher would complain that he wouldn't stay
in his seat, didn't pay attention, was off-task, and had no memory.
For example, he would be shown how to do a math page and a few moments
later, he'd forgotten the instructions.
On Thanksgiving Day of 2001, Johnnie had a fever, complained of a severe
headache and passed out on the floor. His parents phoned 911 and
Johnnie was taken to the Children's Hospital. After he regained
consciousness, Johnnie said he had a sharp pain down his right leg.
His mother phoned Dr. Schweitering about the incident and questioned him
about whether the Risperdal could have caused these symptoms and could
have made him pass out, but the psychiatrist assured her that it was not a
result of the “medication”.
In April of 2002, when it was noticed that Johnnie continued to fall
behind the other students his age, he was categorized as a Special
Education student and was given an Individual Education Plan (IEP), which
addressed his math, reading and social skills and included a special
reading class with one-on-one instruction. His moods kept worsening,
his attention was dispersed, and he was not a happy child at all.
Again at the end of first grade, his mother removed him from all
“medications” for the summer. Since Johnnie had not done well at
all the previous year while on the Risperdal, in September 2002, when he
began 2nd grade, Mrs. Tillson kept him off the drug and
instead, kept in close contact with his teacher. The teacher noticed
good improvement at a regular pace and by December of 2002, Johnnie was
removed from the Special Education reading class because he had caught up
with the rest of the class and had scored 93% in his reading
comprehension.
However, despite the fact that he was now doing well academically, Johnnie
continued to see his psychiatrist, Dr. Schweitering, because he continued
to have both good days and bad days.
The bad days were those that the teacher could not keep him
on-task. He also kept going because he liked Dr. Schweitering and was
excited to go see him.
In January 2003, Dr. Schweitering insisted that Johnnie needed to be put
back on “medication”. He convinced Marijo to try a different
drug, Trileptal by telling her that there were no side effects like
Johnnie had experienced on the Risperdal and it was really safe. He
also told her that having good days and bad days was characteristic of
"bipolar disorder" and if it were not
‘treated ‘, Johnnie would most likely become a drug or alcohol
abuser as an adult.
Marijo took two weeks to carefully research this new drug, Trileptal, and
finding no reports of adverse side effects, she decided to give it a try.
In January 2003, Johnnie started out at the dose of ½ tablet in the
morning and ½ tablet in the evening with the instructions to increase the
dosage after one week. The day after taking the increased dosage,
Johnnie broke out in a rash covering his body. Marijo took Johnnie
to his medical doctor who did blood work. Johnnie also had
tonsillitis at this time and was taking an antibiotic, Cefzil for that.
The medical doctor changed the prescription of the antibiotic to a
different one and phoned Dr. Schweitering to question him about the
Trileptal. Marijo also
phoned him. He assured both of them that the Trileptal was not the
cause of the rash and insisted that Johnnie should keep taking it.
This phone conversation was on a Friday. On Sunday morning, Johnnie
woke up with blistering sores all over the inside of his mouth and a
blister on his arm and he was rushed to the Emergency Room of the local
hospital.
The doctor in the ER diagnosed him with a full-blown adverse drug reaction
to the Trileptal, which was confirmed by blood tests. The adverse
drug reaction Johnnie experienced is called Stevens Johnson Syndrome,
which is a serious condition that can lead to permanent scarring and even
death. The ER physician phoned Dr. Schweitering and told him of this
adverse reaction to the Trileptal and Dr. Schweitering finally agreed that
he had to be taken off of it.
But while on the drug, Johnnie had developed a severe skin rash, ulcers in
his mouth and throat, and ulcers in the mucous membrane of his eyes,
causing dry spots.
After this incident, Johnnie was taken off all medications for 90 days
until the allergic reactions to the “medication” had worn off.
His mother phoned Dr. Schweitering to make an appointment because Johnnie
wanted to see him. He told Marijo to contact him when Johnnie could take
“medications” again stating, "If I'm not treating him with
“medications”, I don't need to see him."
In March 2003, after the allergic reaction had worn off, Johnnie had his
tonsils and adenoids removed. After the surgery, while he was
recovering, he told his nurse that he would like to see Dr. Schweitering
who worked in the same hospital on a different floor. The nurse
phoned him to come visit Johnnie but he replied that he was too busy and
so he didn't come visit him, even
though Johnnie had
been a patient of his for the past two years.
While Johnnie was in the 2nd grade, he only took “medications” for a
short period. Most of the year he was not on psychiatric
“medications” and despite the fact that he spent several weeks in the
hospital on these two occasions, he did considerably better in school --
his reading improved markedly, and his math skills improved as well.
After these incidents, at times, Johnnie continued to have a rash on some
parts of his body, particularly those constantly covered by clothing.
His parents experimented with different laundry detergents and other
household items and at one point; they noticed that the rash disappeared,
accompanied by a positive change in Johnnie's behavior. They
analyzed the environment for what had changed and they realized that they
had stopped using bleach in the laundry and immediately after that,
Johnnie's behavior had improved markedly. They discovered that he
was allergic to chlorine. They then traced back many of the earlier
temper tantrums and behavior problems he'd had and realized that they
occurred when he was swimming daily in a chlorinated swimming pool.
They have also determined that Johnnie is allergic to molds. His
mother, Marijo, stated, "The fact is that all these medications that
Johnnie was allergic to since the age of one should have been a clue for
any competent Doctor, but Dr. Schweitering just wouldn't consider
it."
As a result of taking the Trileptal, which caused the Stevens Johnson
Syndrome, Johnnie has side effects that will be with him for the rest of
his life. He has dry spots in his eyes as a result of the mucus
membranes being eaten away. This causes his eyes to water, to stick
together closed, and to itch. This condition will have to be watched
closely for the rest of his life. Fortunately it was caught in time
and the “medication” was discontinued before the condition progressed
to permanent scarring or worse.
The family’s insurance, United Healthcare, paid for these psychiatric
“treatments” and the “medications” were paid for on a co-pay
basis.
Now that Johnnie is off all drugs and his parents have eliminated all
chlorine from their household in the form of bleach, hairspray, shampoos,
etc., Johnny continues to improve in school and socially.
He is a happy little boy. His mother stated, "His damage
could have been so extensive given the seriousness of the Stevens Johnson
Syndrome, it has prompted me to try to stop the senseless drugging of
children!!! I'll do anything that it takes to stop this."
Update
10-27-04: John is now in fourth grade and is having his IEP reviewed this
spring. He is finally working at grade level and is doing extremely well.
He has scored 100% on all his spelling tests and has gotten A's on both
math tests so far this year. He is now on the Student Council and
his teacher told me he is a leader among his peers!
It is my strong conviction that since my son was removed from all
drugs he has been steadily improving. We have continued to monitor
his diet and chemicals. In fact I know that the “medication”
prescribed him caused the majority of his learning problems. I would
like to help with this cause in whatever way possible!
Amy
Wheeler a mother in Angola, New
York
What
happened to our family started when
my son was 3 years old.
The special education school
my daughter was receiving services
from said they noticed that my son
was displaying ADHD symptoms.
We, not knowing all the
horrible things about ADHD and the
drugs to treat it, went along with
it and put him on Ritalin. When my
son turned school age he was
referred to another school district
and at that school the school
psychiatrist, who also worked at a
children’s psychiatric hospital,
put him on Imiprimine. My son went
down to 39 lbs., had sever temper
tantrums, stomachaches, etc.
When I tried to question my
son’s treatment, they started
bringing in the psychiatric social
worker that worked with the
psychiatrist at the school and
hospital. The social worker told us
if we didn’t keep him on the
“medicine”, he could not attend
school.
In Jan/1998, I took my son
out of that school, stopped the
drugs, and started homeschooling
him. He suffers from nervous jerks
still to this day even though he
hasn’t taken those meds in almost
6 years.
My son is also back in a
regular school and is doing well
despite the nervous jerking he does
with his neck. If possible, please
post this email because I want
parents everywhere to know that
this can happen to them and that
they can do something about it. I
hope this ADHD nightmare will go
away for all families.
Sincerely,
Amy
J. Wheeler
Cindy
Gallaher, New York (A
Parent's Choice)
Daniel
Rosecrans, at three, suffered from a severe exposure to carbon
monoxide from a leaky furnace that left him brain injured. By
kindergarten, the schools were determined to pin a label of ADHD on
him after he showed difficulties in learning and demanded that his
mother, Cindy Gallaher, put the child on Ritalin, taking her to
court to enforce it. Five more medications were tried in the next
two years that turned Daniel psychotic and suicidal. Moving to
another state to escape, Cindy was again forced to drug her child by
court order, Daniel was hospitalized due to psychosis three times
and tried on four more medications not even approved for children.
Moving yet again to escape forced drugging, a third state demanded
Daniel be drugged after the original state, NY, insisted Daniel was
ADHD/ODD/bipolar despite Cindy's pleas that he was brain injured.
Hospitalized again three times, Daniel was extremely psychotic and
suicidal, so Cindy moved her family back to NY to demand a brain
scan from her ex-husband's insurance company. Again, NY courts and
Child Protective forced Cindy to drug Daniel, four more
hospitalizations (one constantly giving him shots of Thorazaine and
Benedryl to shut him up, forcing him to wipe with shower curtains,
and locking him and other children in time out rooms for hours) and
five different drugs later Daniel was forced into a residential
treatment center where he was sexually and physically assaulted.
Cindy had to prove with a brain scan that Daniel was indeed a brain
injured child, NOT ADHD/OD or bipolar, yet the state of NY still
demanded Daniel be drugged by court order, refusing proof of
Daniel's true injuries. Taking her son out of the state, she now
lives in VA still under NY court order to drug her child if needed,
but has proved to the VA neurologists that Daniel is brain injured,
and Daniel is finally learning to control himself without drugs.
Five years of forced drugging, however, has left his neurological
system severely damaged, left him with little self esteem and no
trust in anyone and has robbed him of his childhood.
(Note,
Cindy Gallaher has been speaking out on this issue and has started an
organization to help inform the public. Please visit the site at: http://www.gallaherdesign.com/aparentschoice/index.html
).
ROBERT
GRIEGO, LOS ANGELES
CALIFORNIA
Robert
Griego, a Hispanic TV writer from Los Angeles,
was separated from his wife Georgina, who had primary custody of
their son Briant. In
1996, when Briant was in first grade, Georgina was pressured by her
son’s teacher to “medicate” him because he was
“hyperactive.” After
repeated meetings and school pressure, Georgina agreed to medicate
her son. According to
Mr. Greigo, “I felt that the school and mental health officials
took advantage of Georgina, in part, because she was Hispanic and
spoke very little English. Georgina couldn’t really communicate nor ask questions
easily. The Latin
culture does not question authority; we simply trust what is told to
us by those in charge.” A
prescription was filled for Ritalin, and the boy began experiencing
side effects, including nervousness, insomnia, loss of appetite and
he would become angry very easily. Additionally, Briant was making no academic progress.
Fed up with their son’s lack of academic progress and
adverse reactions to the drug, Mr. Griego transferred Briant to a
private school where he has become a normal student making excellent
progress.
VICKI
DUNKLE,
PENNSYLVANIA
In 1999, teachers said that Shaina Dunkle from
Pennsylvania was “too active” and “talked out of turn.”
Her mother, Vicky Dunkle, was pressured by the school
psychologist to have Shaina evaluated for ADHD.
The psychologist referred Shaina to a psychiatrist who, after
a 30-minute evaluation—with no tests or physical exams—said she
had ADHD and prescribed a psychiatric drug, then later two more.
On February 26, 2001, the school nurse phoned Mrs. Dunkle to
report that Shaina had suffered a seizure.
At the doctor’s office, Shaina began convulsing.
Her mother rushed to hold her in her arms, where, minutes
later, Shaina, aged 10, died from the toxic effects of the drug.
The Coroner ruled the death was due to Disipramine toxicity.
According to a New York Post series on this
issue in August 8, 2002, the following cases were reported:
Michelle
Lawson, the Bronx, New York
Michelle Lawson, an
African American housing counselor for a non-profit agency, said Bronx school
officials repeatedly pressured her to drug her 6-year-old son, Dominick,
claiming the first grader had ADHD because he was “disorganized, forgetful
and had a problem sitting in his seat.”
School officials were unrelenting, despite her continued objections.
Then when she complained to the district superintendent’s office, she
felt even more intimidated. Pressured to take Dominick to the New York
Psychiatric Hospital, here a doctor reviewed a school report and
prescribed Ritalin after a 45-minute talk with the boy.
Still battling to keep her son off the drug, officials later threatened
to file child abuse complaints against Mrs. Lawson with the city’s
Administration for Child Services. According
to Ms. Lawson, these officials “basically said they were going to take my
rights as a parent away.” At this point she decided her only recourse was to
take her son out of the public school system and enroll him in private school.
JOYCE CAVA, QUEENS, NEW YORK
According to Joyce Cava, her
11-year-old son Bryan was held back in the fourth grade of his
Middle Village school, Queens, New York, because she refused to bow
to school pressure to drug her son. Bryan had passed his statewide
reading and math tests. “It
was extortion,” said Mrs. Cava, who had been pressured by the
school for over a year to drug her son for ADHD, despite the fact
that Cava’s own pediatrician said he was a normal boy.
School officials told Mrs. Cava that her son was held back
because of “behavior problems,” not because of any academic
problem.
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Here
are just some of the many parents that have experienced coercion to
label and drug their children. Many of them have used their
voices to bring about positive changes. AbleChild.org
encourages all parents who have faced this issue head on and who
want to speak out to contact us at ablechild@optonline.net
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