Special Report: Thai Students Abuse ADHD Drugs To Stay Ahead

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Special Report: Thai Students Abuse ADHD Drugs To Stay Ahead

By Punsita Ritthikarn, Contributor

 

Top: Ken, a student of political science at Chulalongkorn University, on campus recently. Photo: Taylor McAvoy

 

Ken had a reputation as a lazy introvert who came late to class with sleep on his face. Before the day’s lecture would begin, he would throw back a pill with a mouthful of mineral water.

 

Some days Ken didn’t show up at all. What his classmates didn’t know was that he was undergoing MRIs and brain scans to contend with epilepsy and a neurodevelopmental disorder. One day in 2016, he stopped coming entirely.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2018/08/08/special-report-thai-students-abuse-adhd-drugs-to-stay-ahead/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-08-08

[Lupatria]

Bad news for all manufacturer of IQ enhancing soi milk products, promising they will turn your rum-dum kid into an astronaut or reborn Einstein,- unless the ADHD Drugs come from the same source...

[Redline]

At least one aspect of Thai society has reached this decade ?

[Ulic]

My nephew was diagnosed with ADD.  He was barely passing school. Always distracted, staring out the classroom window. There is a great deal of pressure not to put children on medication in Canada. My brother put his son on medication without telling his teachers. The next parent-teacher meeting his teachers remarked how much more attentive and engaged he was. The difference was night and day and they knew he had been put on medication. He went from barely passing to a B+ student. Now a solid A. My brother takes him off medication weekends and holidays.

New delayed release medication is coming out that is taken the night before and is absorbed in the bowel providing a consistent slow absorption and early morning effectiveness. There is also less chance of student abuse because it takes 10 hours to move through the digestive tract to the colon and start working. ADD meds may not be needed by everyone diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but it can be life changing for students, parents, teachers, and classmates. Try it if needed. If it does not work for you stop.

[ChrisY1]

One has to wonder how he ever got admitted to Chula.

Not so much that he had to contend with his medical conditions, but how he managed to achieve academic results that enabled his admission.

Edited August 8, 2018 by ChrisY1

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, Ulic said:

My nephew was diagnosed with ADD.  He was barely passing school. Always distracted, staring out the classroom window. There is a great deal of pressure not to put children on medication in Canada. My brother put his son on medication without telling his teachers. The next parent-teacher meeting his teachers remarked how much more attentive and engaged he was. The difference was night and day and they knew he had been put on medication. He went from barely passing to a B+ student. Now a solid A. My brother takes him off medication weekends and holidays.

New delayed release medication is coming out that is taken the night before and is absorbed in the bowel providing a consistent slow absorption and early morning effectiveness. There is also less chance of student abuse because it takes 10 hours to move through the digestive tract to the colon and start working. ADD meds may not be needed by everyone diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but it can be life changing for students, parents, teachers, and classmates. Try it if needed. If it does not work for you stop.

Always..but always..consult with a doctor before commencing on any drug (or giving it to others) and keep them fully informed as to possible side effects or to other effects.

[dpspike]

News flash: American students have been abusing ADD drugs for at least a decade, and most are doing it purely for the buzz.

 

This is not a Thailand thing. Be glad it's not crack or meth.

[tfc]

1 hour ago, Ulic said:

My nephew was diagnosed with ADD.  He was barely passing school. Always distracted, staring out the classroom window. There is a great deal of pressure not to put children on medication in Canada. My brother put his son on medication without telling his teachers. The next parent-teacher meeting his teachers remarked how much more attentive and engaged he was. The difference was night and day and they knew he had been put on medication. He went from barely passing to a B+ student. Now a solid A. My brother takes him off medication weekends and holidays.

New delayed release medication is coming out that is taken the night before and is absorbed in the bowel providing a consistent slow absorption and early morning effectiveness. There is also less chance of student abuse because it takes 10 hours to move through the digestive tract to the colon and start working. ADD meds may not be needed by everyone diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but it can be life changing for students, parents, teachers, and classmates. Try it if needed. If it does not work for you stop.

 

I'm glad you wrote this post.  My uncle was basically in his own words "non-functional" first at school then later in the workforce.  He was diagnosed with adult attention deficit disorder and tried many forms of "natural" supplements, had already been persevering but not well with meditation for going on 5 years at the time and had reached the point where he was trying the most "out there" forms of "complementary medicine," as well as CBT, NLP etc.  Eventually he caved in and took the medicine that his psychiatrist prescribed him and the difference was also like night and day.  I guess because he had genuine ADD he didn't become hyperactive, aggressive or "pushy" but actually became calm and focused.  There was a lot of judgment from extended family and friends because the state and suburb we lived in was pretty anti-medication but for him in his own words it made him a functioning, better version of himself and if he had to take it for life then so be it.

 

He returned to do his HSC (Australian system at the time) as a mature aged student (25 years old if I remember correctly), studied hard and got straight A's where previously he barely scraped through at about 51%.  Because of his condition he was very interested in studying neurological science and he was welcomed into Melbourne university where he not only continued getting high distinctions but was making links between gut health and neurological health a long time before it become more common knowledge.  He's still on medication now and is a neurological researcher and doctor, knowing full well the side-effects but with the philosophy that "where before he was merely existing, now he is actually living."  And IMHO quite well, enjoying not only his work but also extending his focus, skill and creativity into his other paths of interest.  I'm proud that he's also not ashamed to openly admit or declare that he is on medication, the reason why and so on.  He acknowledges that not all cases are like him and is cautious about children being prescribed as "we" believe most kids are "crazy" (in the normal way) so just let them run around and have their fun without medication.  I guess my point is that he resisted taking medication for so long because there was just so much stigma and narrative against it that surrounded him and it really "postponed his life" for a long time. 

 

 

[Laughing Gravy]

What the young men states in the article and how he feels is what I have seen people using this awful drug. Zombies that erode feeling and personality. It should be  class A drug not given out like smarties to children and young adults who don’t fit the norm.

One time if you were hyperactive you would play more sport nd run it offf. No you sit looking at Computer games playing  pointless games all day. I am generalising of course.

?

[Jonmarleesco]

'... at the Plearnpattana School, parents are asked to only medicate their children if they are unable to manage their outbursts of anger in the classroom ...'

 

A clip around the ear can work wonders. But, hey, this is LoS. 

[Chris Lawrence]

Poor lad, dammed if he does and dammed if he doesn't. 

 

He has a mental disorder that brings total shame to the Thai way of thinking. Articles like this don't help; I skimmed it but didn't think it was getting to the point.

 

I had a young kid for 12 hrs in a car trip, ADHD. He would focus on one thing, I had to place a new thought in his head to get him to think and shut up. Poor kid we got to the camping site and in half an hour got his nut sack fin chopped. His mum had to rush him to hospital. It was 4 young girls me and the two young lads. I spent time with the boys, he turned out to be a nice young man, that hated his medicine.

[Fex Bluse]

. 

Edited August 8, 2018 by Fex Bluse