“Ultimately, it’s a risk-benefit analysis,” Dr. Blakely summed up. “For a child with a true attention deficit, it’s almost always worth it.”
Dr. Blakely pushed a barely legible prescription across the desk. “There’s currently no physiological exam that can definitively diagnose an attention disorder. But based on the questionnaires — yours and her teacher’s — and my own impressions, I think it’s worth trying Ritalin for eight weeks.”
Daniel swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple doing a dive. This was really tough for him. He’d stayed up hours compiling an exhaustive list of anti-Ritalin websites, along with one-line summaries describing a rainbow of alarming effects: depression, anxiety, growth suppression, predisposition to drug addiction, and more. He thrust the printout across the desk. “What do you think?”
I bit my lip.
Blakely read it slowly. “Look,” he said, rotating his monitor in our direction so we could view the screen. “I’m all for research — good for you. But half the sources on this page are actually representatives of an erratic religious cult. Another 25 percent cite effects that are real — heightened irritability, increasingly greater ‘craving’ for the stimulant high, for example — but occur almost consistently with misdiagnosed patients who don’t need Ritalin, or misuse it. And the rest of the sites are privately owned ventures with little or no accountability.”
He clasped his hands together, looking straight into our eyes. “No long-term medication is ideal. But let’s take a look at the effects of untreated ADHD.”
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