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The Hyperactivity Myth

© Traute Klein, biogardener

What's wrong with being hyperactive? Do we all have to act like peas in a pod? Some of us function better on the move than sitting still. And if hyperactivity is a symptom of allergies, as we are being told, then let's take care of the allergies and forget about drugging the sufferer. I am not trying to dispense medical advice. I am merely sharing my opinions based on living with a hyperactive child for 67 years. I have, however, been in a cyber-chat with a prominent medical practitioner who shares my opinion and who has successfully treated hyperactive children.

Correspondence with a Cyber-friend

When discussing the Ritalin/ADD/ADHD controversy with a cyber-friend a couple of years ago, I saved one of my responses. Here it is: Dear Debbie, Did you know that Ritalin works in the body like heroin? When you give Ritalin to a heroin addict, his body can't tell the difference. If I had been born in the US and 15 years later, I might have been put on Ritalin, too, because I can't keep my hands still. I talk with my hands and sometimes I hit people with them while I am talking, because I get enthusiastic about the subject. In school and in church, I have been and still am always drawing or knitting while someone is talking. I no longer try to hide it, because that is the way I am. I cannot pay attention if I have to hold my hands still. Only if I can move them, am I able to hear what people are saying. I can think much better on the move than sitting still, and I definitely cannot talk with my hands still. When Ernie wants me to stop talking, he holds onto one of my hands, and I fall silent immediately, even in the middle of a sentence, unable to say another word. Doesn't that sound like a hyperactive child? Whenever I taught children like that in school, I gave them lots of things to do which allowed them to move around in the room, and that always solved the problem. They can pay attention when they are moving but not when they have to sit still. And when they got really restless, I used to send them outside to run around the school, and I left it up to them how many times they wanted to make the round. We would always wave to each other as they passed the classroom window. This method is especially effective for teenagers with too much pepper in their pants.

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