DRUGS OF CHOICE FOR WHOM?

   

Piyush Diwan (picture from article, photography not acknowledged)

  

My son has had a friend sleep over tonight as a last hurrah with his favourite mates before we leave this town.  They are 10.

My son's friend is a particularly bright boy intent on his surrounds and an absolute handful to have around, but his joy in living virtually pulsates from him as he undertakes his activities with typical male gusto.  I've had to berate the pair of them several times but secretly laughed at their antics when they weren't looking.

After dinner my son's friend dutifully took his medication just as his mother instructed before she left him with us.

I have grave misgivings about parents, teachers, doctors, psychologists and the source of the push - the major drug companies - giving a child medication just so they are more compliant.  As a parent who is asked to give medication to her child on a daily basis for major medical difficulties I wonder if any of these parents, teachers, doctors, psychologists, etc, care about the long term effects of conformity drugs?

It was suggested to me that I take my daughter off singular on a daily basis because of the long term side-effects in continual use.  I refused. 

My little lady only progressed once she was on Singulair to mitigate eczma of the oesophagus being constantly gouged out by acid from (gastro) reflux.  Her reflux incidents were so violent it could be heard reaching her throat and her gagging was constant.  She never slept for more than 2 hours for the first 5 years of her life.

The paediatrician and I compromised, and she now has 5mg every second day instead of daily.  (Singulair is actually a drug prescribed for asthma, but asthma and eczma are linked).  I didn't care that her life was possibly to be shortened, I just wanted her out of pain so intense that sometimes she was bathed in sweat battling the acids rising at the back of her throat....burning and burning and burning....or sometimes pain so intense that she would bang her head against the nearest solid surface just to divert the pain to somewhere else for a while.......or being so stiff trying to resist what was going on inside of her that picking her up was like picking up an old fashioned porcelain doll - completely rigid.

I looked at my son's favourite daredevil friend and almost cried for him. Within 30 minutes of dutifully taking his pill, he was asleep completely bombed out.  He slept like a drunk person - or someone coming down from heavy drugs gained from the nearest dealer.

What a waste of zest for life.

How would these parents cope with children with genuine issues?