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 2^nd 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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