Ok,my kids live with their mom. I have one son,hes 15,he takes zoloft and sleeping pills, I have another son ,hes 13 and takes concerta for ADHD.
Ok to start, my oldest is 225 and hes ony 5-9, hes very over weight. His
BMI is in the obeise range. His diet consists of fried potatoes,meat,and cooked food. Plus coca-cola and pepsi. He eats alot of meat at moms.PROTEIN causes sleeplessness! He doesnt need SLEEPING pills!
Zolft..for depression...hes overweight,depression is common among overweight people. OK my youngest...ADHD caused by processed food,sugar, and cooked food,meat. I know the causes of thease things.
He eats pop tarts,candy,chips! And so does my oldest.
OK heres the thing. Im going in to talk to their doctor because when he prescribed thease drugs he never asked about their DIET nor did he discuss with my oldest about his WEIGHT! "Here ,just take thease pills!"
I am their father and have the right to an opinion as to my kids being medicated! I talked to their mom about this and she has no problem with me talking to the doctor! Im making progress with my X!!
Shes actually listening to me! I talked to her for an hour this morning about cooked food,processed food,meat etc and shes listening!
She sees how healthy I am now and is willing to listen! YAY!
OK heres where I need your help:
We are not designed to eat meat.
Cooked food is dead food.
Processed food is bad.
Digestion is the heart of our immune system.
I need articles,documents,anything you can dig up to PROVE thease things you and I know are true!
Also sudgestions as to how to confront a medical doctor!
Ill be honest, Im very NERVOUS!!
But this is very important to me!
I love my kids!
I want to be prepared before I schedule an appointment!
I will be taking a binder with me of information,articles,etc.
Also any articles on Zolft and its afects, long and short term.
As well as Concerta and Riddelin.
Thank you very much for your insights here!
Rob

You could also try herbal alternatives for those problems, Albizza works with the liver as a natural anti-depresant.
[www.acupuncture.com]
[www.articlesbase.com]

Griffonia seed extract (otherwise known as "5htp" are a precurser to serotonin, the body will make serotonin out of 5htp, serotonin puts you in a good mood and it's great for getting that delta-wave sleep for healing too.
[www.rawfoodtalk.com]
[www.swansonvitamins.com]

Another strategy would be to talk directly to your kids, and have them play with making slow, gradual improvements to their diets.

A common side effect of taking drugs is constipation. If this comes up, you might see about getting your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables. A pound of lettuce daily goes a long way to relieving constipation.

Making gradual changes to the diet, your kids might notice they feel better, and might quit taking the drugs because of that.

Rob, my gut feeling is to try to convince your Doc might be an uphill battle. Books with scientific research citations are 'Eat to Live' by Furman and the 'China Study' by Campbell.But I have gone through 5 Doctors (who all have an alternative slant to begin with) and now, finally, one will actually LOOK at these books, look at what I track on nutridiary etc. So I wouldnt pin my hopes on convincing the Doctors as you are going against a lot of things they studied in med school.

You could just ask the Doctor to help the kids off the pills because you dont think they are helpful in the long run. Fact is at that age these pills often make matters worse adn start a terrible cycle of RX drug dependance. Research on the effectiveness of these drugs is also not very encouraging.

Zoloft, by the way, causes weight gain, and Concerta can have a weight loss effect at first, but will cause the opposite when going off it. GOing off these pills has to happen very slowly and can be difficult, mainly because of spiking sudden re-occurrance of symptoms (which are actually from the detox, not a reoccurring of the symptom). Catherine Creel has a yahoo group that specializes in helping folks get off those pills. [health.groups.yahoo.com] They currently do not accept new members, but if you are persistent they may let you in so you can scroll through the archives and their extensive detox protocols, where they guide you through going off those particular brands specifically.
Doctors are often NOT knowledgeable about the challenges of getting their patients off those drugs. It has to happen slowly and with a detox protocol (the food suggestions do include a lot of fruit and veggies, but also low glycemic/high protein).

I highly recommend you read these two books:
The Antidepressant Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependence, and "Addiction" (Paperback) by Glenmullen

and also
Prozac Backlash by Glenmullen

[www.prozacbacklash.com]


At this point to help you kids get relief fast I'd suggest (I am no expert, by the way, just someone who has been through stuff and learned that you have to take matters into your own hands):
to cut out the junkfood, especially diet sodas, sugar, fats, add as much fruits and veggies as possible. DOnt go too fast too far, and focus on adding the healthy stuff first. Have them watch Supersize me, that can be a good one to help understand the significance of how junk food ties in with depression.

Wait with weight loss efforts for later, first they have to get off the drugs safely and that takes a while (do not go cold turkey!). And very important: exercise! Teamsports maybe? Something they will enjoy and really do. Therapy plus exercise has been found to be as effective as pills, a lot of research has been done on that, probably Glenmullen has the citations.

Hope this helps. GREAT that you are on the case, i think you are saving them a lot of trouble later on, although the immediate road ahead may be hard.
Best wishes.

Darn RR
I wish you well in your quest. A couple of thoughts I have, are that
1) medical doctors often aren't actually very smart, and are ILLITERATE with regards to the causes of health, and
2) it will probably depend alot more on the open mindedness of the doctor than of anything that you can dredge up to prove to him what the real causes are.

Everyone is different and have their own belief system, you can show someone information that exceeds the scientific requirements to be regarded as fact by a long way, and they can still rubbish it if they are that way inclined. There are a gazillioin books around that can illustrate the negative impacts of drugs, or the health benifits of food, the question is realy what makes this doctor tick ?

Thats just my thoughts, maybe Bryans suggestion would be more effective ? Like maybe you could pump you kids full of real inspiring news about how healthy you can become from different eating styles ?
Good luck.

Herbs are fine, but I dont feel they need to "take" something for the problem,they need to change their diet and be rid of the problem.
My youngest son just finished a bowl of campbells chunky soup,now he has a runny nose! He dint have a runny nose before eating that!
I told him its whats in the soup causing the runny nose! Its the artificial flavorings and additives they use to process the soup and his nose is running because his body is ridding itself of those toxins! my oldest always has colds! I told him its because hes continually putting toxins in his body and his body is constantly having to fight the toxins!
thats all a cold is is the bodys cleaning mechanisms at work! the more toxic one is the more often and more severe the colds will be!
I dont get colds anymore,I eat pure organic finally and since I quit eating conventional fruit my nose stopped running!
I will tell their doctor thease things! this is the info I need to approach him with! Also I have no control over what they eat at their moms so if I can convince the doctor to get them off the drugs,and get their mom to change their diet there will be sucess! I am going to request the doctor to try a 30 day trial and see if he will agree and my X will agree to a 30 day trial of raw fruit and greens. maybe even just a simple WEEK!

Am Icorrect in assuming that a parent has the right to refuse any drug prescribed by a doctor for their kids?
I fully agree that DIET is the place to start to address ANY condition a doctor would prescribe pills for.I understand that the average doctor is very un-knowledgeable about diet.So you have to take it in your own hands.Afterall,how many side effects will a stalk of celery or a big bowl of fruit have?
None.So I would say you are very safe going the route of good nutrition.
It would be an amazing thing to see what would happen to kids if they all started eating fresh fruits and veggies,instead of the poison sliding down their throats that the food manufacturers are calling "food".
I dont have any kids of my own,but if I did you better believe they would be eating only fresh real foods at my supper table.And if they didnt want that,they would go hungry.
roadrunner,Bravo! More power to you for taking a stand on all of this.

Brian



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2008 10:19PM by Raw1228.

Hey Roadrunner --
I have some input as a mom who has been there:
I think that if you try to get them to only eat raw foods right away it may be too much of a fight or too difficult. I would try (with your ex's help) to cut the sugar and white flour first -- along with anything artificial. Then, when they are used to that, cut out meat (maybe keep a little fish in the diet for a time) and high fat dairy. Then cut out all wheat and the rest of the dairy if you can. All the while, have the kids eat all the raw fruit and veg (don't mix them at each meal) they can first, then eat cooked after the raw (they'll probably eat more raw that way). Also, they are at an age where they can be instructed and take part in directing their own health. Have them research on their own (or do it with them) their health problems and how healthy eating can help and where pharmaceuticals are harmful. It may take a long time and your kids may have more problems before you get to that point. I have four kids; three are in their twenties and have varying eating habits. My 23 year old has been the hardest, and we have dealt with many of the same issues (antidepressents, obesity, health problems, etc. and are still going through it -- she's a mess physically because she abused her body pretty badly when she was younger). Hope this helps. Good luck!

be very careful with what you say to a doctor. if it were me i would just say i was going to start seeing someone else and leave the doc with only that info. then i would work with my kids and their other parent reducing and possibly weaning off the drugs, adjusting diet, activity, herbs etc as needed. medical doctors don't believe in natural therapies nor do they want to have their practices threatened by people taking responsibility for their own health. again, tread carefully with the doctor on this one.

You don't have to go all the way to raw to get great results. If you get BBC America or your X does or know someone who does, there is this show "You Are What You Eat" and it is not about all raw, just about unproccessed foods and it shows people how to get off of the SAD diet and onto unprocessed foods.

It's mostly vegan, they diss cheese and most meats on the show, they do eat a bit of fish though. Each show follows the first eight weeks of someone trying to change their diet and the struggles that they face and how they always look and feel fantastic at the end. Their headaches are gone, they have more energy and they've usually lost about 2 stone (28 pounds) at the end of the show. They really cover all the bases on the show, in every episode they do a fridge raid and diss all the proccessed foods in it and tell how the processed foods are affecting thier health, they disect a poo sample and get a colonic, they get a blood test to check for deficientcies, and then it goes over their new eating plan. It's a perfect intro into how to change your diet and you don't have to plodd through reading a book to get inspired, it would be cool to show your kids the show or to tell your doc that you are changing your kids' diet to this type of diet, which would be more mainstream than raw! You could think of it as a transitional diet.

[www.bbcamerica.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2008 02:38AM by Lillianswan.

so your son is 15? My daughter is 14 and she saw a show at school called supersize it. She no longer wants to eat fast food. She has chosen to stop eating meat as well. She says it is because she does not feel good after eating meat. I have an 11 year old that turns her nose up at green food. She is very happy to eat meat. If I should force fresh vegis at her she is most likley to resent me and the food. I am trying to wean her off of soda right now. It is a hard road, if I push to hard she would resent and sneak (her father drinks soda)

One thing I have noticed in my family is they are being challenged in what they eat and I am their example. They are seeing positive changes in me and want to follow. Your son is old enough to see what you are eating and I am sure he wants to lose weight. The person to persuade is your ex. in the care of your children and That is going to be a hard one for you. There has got to be a way for you two to get together and talk about these things. She should have the same concerns about their health as you.

I don't think it is a good idea to go to a doctor in the mind set of teaching that doctor, they have their agenda I really think the key is to talk to your ex. What does she need to take care of the children? Encourage her to omit soda or something else. There has got to be a positive way you can get this accomplished but in what you have written you seem frantic and frusterated. I really wish you could resolve this
Pam

i think you should approach your kids and start doing more active time doing acitive things with them eating good food and being a good example .. trying to talk to a pill pushing doctor is pretty pointless ..probably about all he will agree with you is your childrens obesity and exercise otherwise anything you say will fal on deaf ears

if your X is willing to listen and help or work with you you can probably achieve more for your kids sake between you than interfereance witha doctor

Wow, thanks for all the replies.
The reason I wanted to go to the doctor and not my X is because the kids are taking the drugs because the doctor prescribed them. so my X agrees with the doctor. I used to be that way before when i was SAD. I did what the doctor said to do. Ive talked to her, i talked to her for an hour yesterday and she listened for once! I want to talk to the doctor because I asked the kids how their visit with him went and found out he NEVER asked about their diet. He NEVER talked with
my oldest about his weight! He just asked them a few questions about school
and wrote the prescriptions! He drugged my kids based on their grades at school, not their diet or weight or anything else!! That makes me angry! I watched supersize me with them a couple weeks ago, plus my oldest watched that show in health class. He was suprised at the weight gain and the quick poor health that came from eating McDonalds in just 30 days but he will still eat there and Burger King, jack n the box. He said it doesnt matter, he loves the food!
My youngest on the other hand doesnt want fast food now so thats awsome!
Yes the battle here is with my X who still believes in the old school food pyramid we all grew up with. Meat,Dairy,Vegetables and Fruit.
i asked her what she feeds them at home, she said I "steam" the veggies.
And they have mostly chicken and turkey, and not much red meat.
And she doesnt feed them processed food she doesnt buy canned or boxed food like can corn or macaroni, she buys fresh veggies and steams them and they eat a lot of fried potatoes. Ok fried potatoes are horrible for them! she dissagrees!
Ok so yes this is a battle here.

do a google search for acrylamide. there is plenty of evidence available to prove the point about potatoes.

Roadrunner, I just wanted to send you good wishes as you move through this with your kids. I think it's a great idea to be an example and educate them as much as you can regarding their diets and health. But it's sometimes hard for us to remember what it feels like to be a teenager. Did you listen to your parents once you made up your mind about something? I knew eating boxes of ho-ho's, guzzling coca-cola and gorging on McDonald's non-foods and other junk was not good for me as my parents set a good example, but I ate them anyway. Who knows why - I can't remember but I did. Cheap? Available? Sugar high? Could be many reasons why I ate this stuff. The beauty of raw foods and eating well is the body can turn itself around and regenerate at any age. I think what is most important is to plant as many seeds as possible and trust that your kids will understand at some point.

I also feel for you with regard to medical doctors and the tendency to prescribe drugs. I'm dealing with it with my Mom who is not well. I know what can help her, but she's too connected to her doctor in terms of giving over her power to him. I can only send her love at this point. Tread lightly with trying to convince their doctor that you are right. Focus on talking with your kids and demonstrating what good health is all about.

These are your kids and you have a lot of influence with them even if they won't show it to you right away. They're developing their sense of selves and this can sometimes get in the way of conscious reasoning. This can impact all of us at any age -- you know not getting it, but I think it's even more intense during adolesence. Also these kids that are here today are SMART. That's one of the reasons why adults get freaked out and try to drug them to keep them quiet because they speak the truth a lot. They are much smarter and aware than we were. I have a feeling your boys will come around. The truth always prevails. They're fortunate to have you as a Dad.

Wishing you peace.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2008 06:38PM by rawangel.

Wow, once again thank you all for the replies!
I have decided to just request the doctor take the kids off the drugs, i have a right to decide as much as their mom does on weather or not they take drugs.
She told me yesterday she doesnt want them taking drugs but the doctor says its ok...BUT, she really doesnt want them to take anything so Im going to talk to her more after this weekend.
I took a MAJOR step today and put my foot down!
I usually get them what they want to make them happy like coke,hungry man dinners,campbells soup etc but today I told them NO MORE CRAP!
I went to the store and this is what I did.
I got each of them 1 of each of thease items:
1 bag of grapes (2lb bags)
1 box strawberries
1 bundle of bananas
1 pound of dates
1 bag of carrots (2 lb bags)
1 bag shelled no salt peanuts raw (3 lb bag)
I will continue to do this from now on.
No more coke or pepsi, I told them they can drink water.
I have a culligan tank we all drink out of.
I dont drink tap water and neither do they .
They've drank quite a bit of water since I got the culligan tank.
Ok I will tell their mom tonight when I take them home what I did.
And ask her if she will do the same.
She tried to tell me in our conversation yesterday she cant afford raw fruit and veggies.
I spent 35 dollars for all thease things and its enough to feed them for about 3 days or more!
I will show her the receipt.
I was happy today to see they were happy with what I got, it was like I went and bought them treats!

I asked her about taking them to a naturalpath.
She said thats fine but insurance wont cover it.
Thats ok I can afford it.
naturalpath doctors are far less expensive than doctors and are far more effective.
Ok so this is where im at!
So today is a success!
Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.
Rob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2008 07:23PM by roadrunner.

sounds like your heading down a great path id have to add tho .. encourage you to include your kids in the process

teenagers can get fairly hostile and resentfull if they feel they are being forced into something

take them shopping .. help them choose stuff ...try some raw recipies out together !

if your ex has a tough time meeting her food budget then maybe send the kids home with a bag of stuff each as well .. at least you would know they are going home *with something* and and going home *to nothing*



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2008 07:36PM by Jgunn.

Develop a plan of action to change their diet and their lifestyle before confronting the Doctor. Afterall, if their diet and activities are as you say then the kids might need those medications just to function. Taking them off the medications and not changing their diet or lifestyle habits is not going to make the children function better but it will make you feel better. It doesn't do anyone good to confront the doctor without a plan of action.

Be patient with your children. You have obviously thought this over at great length but It might be a bit of a shock for them. Also if their systems are so used to junk food to suddenly switch to so much raw food might make them very uncomfortable. You really need them on side or they will just eat the things they love behind your back. Remember how addictive all that junk is - I think wean them off slowly and yes to view fruit as treats is great.wow what a great idea - living off treats!

Best of luck and well done for communicating with your X in such a positive manner. Little steps - Rome wasn't built in a day.

Philippa