What is your opinion about school children and drugs?

This is really a menace in our world. The parents want high marks from their children. The tension is too much for the children, many are not in a position to withstand this enormous stress.

Hundreds of thousands of doses of tranquillizers and other drugs are prescribed to children. But nothing will help including methylphenidate to increase their marks. The right food, love and time from their parents and the correct planning of the school and extracurricular works and activities are the best medicine to improve the situation but without any tablets.

Talk to your child and listen to your child, they are much more intelligent than you think, accept this and handle, the success will be mostly yours.

In some countries the paediatricians give cholesterol reducing tablets to obese children at the age of eight, nine or ten years. Here we should not forget the adverse side effects of the disappearance of the muscles if there is less physical activity. Your doctor must monitor the situation very closely; otherwise it is difficult to take the responsibility of such treatment.

Teach your children from the beginning what to eat and how to eat. If you also do not know, go to your dietician and learn it at first before teaching your children. We should keep it as subject even in the kindergarten. Could anybody tell me why such programs are not yet implemented?

We must be very careful with side effects because there are no clinical studies for children. So, the experience of your doctor is very important here.

My son has to take methylphenidate; can you inform me about this drug?

It is a drug used as part of a treatment programme for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with symptoms of more difficulty in focusing, controlling actions and remaining still or quite than others who are at the same age.

It is also used to treat narcolepsy, a sleep disorder which causes excessive daytime sleepiness.

The side effects methylphenidate include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, nervousness, loss of appetite, stomach pain, headache, painful menstruation, difficulty in falling sleep or staying sleep, fast and irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, faintness, excessive tiredness, slow or difficult speech, numbness of an arm or leg, seizures, agitation, blurred vision, hallucination, abnormal thoughts, mood changes, depression, fever, hives, sore throat, unusual bleeding, joint or muscle pain, skin rashes, itching and difficulty in breathing or swallowing.

Caution: Methylphenidate may cause sudden death in children and teenagers with serious heart problems or heart defects. In adults heart attack or stroke with heart defects or serious heart problems may occur. Talk to your doctor about these problems, particularly the risk of this drug in medication.

Methylphenidate may slow children’s growth and may give problems in weight gain. Your child’s doctor must accompany you both during the whole therapy to take necessary action immediately when it is necessary. All the other forms are not serious and may be dangerous to your child’s health.

Fixing the therapy for three months may not bring always the best results, the child’s doctor and the psychologist must work together to find the right medication and therapy. The role of phosphates in food and also a healthy food in general without any junk as well as processed foods is also necessary during this medication to achieve good results.

Methylphenidate should not be used in children under 6 years of age, since safety and efficacy in this age group have not been established.

There are no studies available in pregnant and breastfeeding women. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding while you use methylphenidate check with your doctor and he will advise you the benefits or risks. If it is possible to manage without drugs it is the best during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The half-life period of methylphenidate is 2 to 4 hours.