Issue & concerns of treating dyslexia with stimulant med

[Hope]

I am not just generally concerned about the issue of blurring the diagnostic distinctions between dyslexia and other learning disabilities, such as ADD and ADHD; I have personally had those distinctions wiped out by the medical professionals that I sought out for expert care. They quite possibly have done me much more harm than good. Their medical treatments of my dyslexia and further diagnoses of me with attention deficit disorder (ADD) may very possibly have been counter productive and destructive to my coping and/or compensating mechanisms as a dyslexic. The powerful stimulant medications used in the treating of people with ADD and ADHD have commonly known negative side effects. These common side effects combined with how these medications specifically effect people with dyslexia can have significantly destructive consequences.

There are many ways of knowing and equally many types of intelligence. People with dyslexia, in their attempt to adjust to the world and compensate for their disability, commonly develop a way of knowing and thinking that is unique to them. These unique attributes are frequently related to empathy, emotional intelligence, creative thought, perceptual intelligence, the ability to see the larger picture, and bringing it all together in problem solving.

The current stimulant and non stimulant medications used in treating ADD and ADHD, are used not just to increase alertness and attention, they have a psychiatric component to them as well. They are also designed to alter behavior, and the way people think. This is why these medication are very frequently prescribed to "emotionally disabled" children. They are unfortunately frequently used by classroom teachers to compel conformity and obedience. But, this very same component of this medication can be potentially very destructive to the very ways of thought that dyslexics have developed, over the course of a life time, in order to compensate for their disability.

The commonly known zombie side effects of these medications can have a profoundly negative effect on emotional intelligence. They can destroy the highly valued sense of empathy and emotional understanding that is so critical in developing good people skills and creative thought that are essential in the professional world. These medications can also be quite harmful to problem solving skills of a dyslexic. For me, they seem to destroy perceptional intelligence (actually seeing, in the minds eye, images of complex and abstract thought). They narrow cognitive focus and reduce ability to see the bigger picture and interconnection between thoughts.

An aspect of these medication that have been both surprising and alarming to me is that, they not only seem not to addressing my memory deficit as a dyslexics, they seem to have made it much worse. Although, I am not a doctor or an expert in learning disabilities, I suspect the problems dyslexics have with certain aspects of memory are very much unique to dyslexia, and simply what may work to improve memory in others will not necessarily work for dyslexics. So, those aspect of these stimulant medication that increase alertness and attention that commonly improve memory does not work for dyslexics. As fare as the learning process is concerned, I question the benefits of the increasing concentration benefit of these medications without improving memory of what is being focused on. Additionally, what seems to be a further problem with these medications is their potential anxiety causing side affects and probable harm this does to memory. My final concern in regards to how these medications effect memory of dyslexics, is the frequently occurring "brain fog" or rebound that occurs after taking the medications.

It seems to me that these medications can actually, create symptoms of attention deficit disorder in those with dyslexia over the long run, as a result of the person's mind and body adjusting to the medications, slowly building a dependence on the medication to maintain existing or prior levels of cognitive functioning, and then developing a resistance or tolerance to the medications. The dyslexic person, in the long run, my be much worse off than before starting to take the medications with still having the initial issues with dyslexia compounded with the new symptoms of ADD, and the destruction of the coping or compensation mechanisms that dyslexics develop and depend on.

A more philosophical issue is the moral hazard of crossing that line in the sand, and going down that slippery slop of treating a normal person with a learning disability with a DEA class two psychiatric medication that implies psychiatric illness and the profound potential consequences.

I think that, at this point, my major concern about prescribing these medications that are indented for use by people with attention deficit disorder is there is very little research on the long term effect of taking these medication on young people and adults exists. I am particularly concerned about the effects of taking these medication as a person grows older and the connection between cardiology and neurology.There are potential side effects to the medication that are not specific to dyslexics, and wonder if the rick of them occurring increasing as a person ages.



Sincerely,

Hope