Adhd

Efforts by doctors and public health experts to rein in the use of antibiotics in children appear to be working, according to a new study that shows a 14% decline in pediatric prescriptions for those drugs between 2002 and 2010. As many as half of the antibiotics taken in this country are taken inappropriately - to treat infections caused by viruses instead of bacteria, for example. In these cases, the drugs don't help patients, but they do help bacteria build resistance to the drugs.

Medications to treat mental health disorders is soaring among U.S. adults, according to data released Wednesday by Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager. Twenty percent of all adults said they took at least one medication to treat a mental disorder. Among women, 25% said they took such medication and 20% said they were using an antidepressant. The survey analyzed prescription drug trends among 2.5 million insured Americans from 2001 to 2010. Medco researchers also found that adults ages 20 to 44 had the greatest uptick in use of anti-anxiety medications, atypical antipsychotics and drugs to treat ADHD.

Only a handful of pet funeral homes exist around the country, but that's about to soon change. This month, Coleen Ellis, owner of Pet Angel Memorial Center in Carmel, Ind., will begin franchising her pet funeral home business and plans to open 250 to 300 locations nationwide over the next seven years. Ellis believes that pets, who are treated as family members by most owners, should receive the same quality after-care as humans. L.A. UNLEASED Funerals for pets: a growth industry Her service includes picking up the bodies of deceased pets from veterinary hospitals, where they're immediately wrapped in blankets and put into caskets.

A polarizing debate over the growing use of the drug Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children has now been thrown to the courts. That is the wrong place to address this subtle medical issue. What's needed, for a start, is government research that might settle the dispute. Ritalin has been used to treat ADHD for more than a decade and has been highly successful in some children for whom nothing else works.

Prescribing psychotropic medications to normal, healthy kids who want to boost their academic performance is "not justifiable" because it contravenes a physician's responsibility to promote a child's "authentic" development and to protect him or her against coercion by parents or peers, a group of neurologists and bioethicists has asserted. When older adolescents who are closer to the age of autonomy (or their parents) ask for such medications, arguments against the practice are weaker, the group concluded.

My neighbor's child, Daniel, was only 5 when she noticed that he blinked a lot. Reassured by numerous family members and friends (some of whom were physicians) that it would go away on its own, she tried to ignore it. Such tics are, in fact, common. Almost 20% of children develop one before age 10.

Kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are normally treated with behavioral therapy and stimulant medications. A new study suggests that a highly restricted diet can be just as effective at reducing symptoms in a majority of children with ADHD. Diet is not a routine consideration in diagnosing and treating ADHD in the U.S. or in Europe, where the study was done. Many doctors are open to the idea that certain foods might trigger ADHD symptoms in some kids, though they believe it's a relatively minor factor in most cases.

I'm the mother of a child diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What this often means is I feel lonely and stigmatized, and turn to the Internet in search of support. In other words, I'm just the kind of mom for whom McNeil Pediatrics, manufacturer of the popular, long-acting stimulant drug Concerta, is offering "practical, credible information" on its ADHD Moms Facebook page, launched last July.

These are fidgety times for America's children. Roughly 1 in 12 kids ages 6 to 17 has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, more commonly called ADHD. Add the undoubtedly huge numbers of kids who are simply restless and easily distracted, and you have a potentially vast market of parents looking for help wherever they can get it, including the supplement aisle. While some parents try to sharpen their kids' attention with single herbs such as St.