I'm done...

with Bulletin Boards. You know the ones, they are the quirky, sometimes serious, most of the time waste-your-time kind of places that you can go to and read what others opinions are on just about any subject. There are tons of them....for example. You can go to Yahoo.com and look up their OMG! section where people spend their time writing about the flavor of the day celebrity and recent mishap or unfortunate event.  Do these people actually have this much time and effort to waste on something as brainless as this? Do they actually think that what they comment about will do anyone any good?

Maybe. Maybe not.

However, pointless the issue or the comment is, I'm sure there is someone out there who will take them serious and argue whatever point is being made. Ugh.

Which brings me to my point.

I was on one of those Bulletin Boards (I won't disclose which one) but I will tell you that it had to do with ADHD/ADD and parents who were seeking support and information about their child's new diagnosis. Now, at first, I found this board to be pretty helpful and in return, offered my menial suggestions and support to any "newbies" (as we like to call each other in the "bulletin board" world) or to anyone else who would read the post.

In this particular offer of assistance, there was a woman who was writing about her child's resistance with taking a medication. I immediately thought, HEY! That looks like a post for me! Since my own lovely little one gave me so much resistance in the beginning that I thought any day the Department of Family Services would be knocking on my door.

I had true experience. I thought I could do some good here. Make my offering! Support the cause! Rally 'round girls! The cavalry is here! Duh-da-da!

Unfortunately, in reality, it was:

A. HUGE. MISTAKE.

I make myself comfortable at my desk and my coffee cup by my side, I begin typing to "Bluemommy" my condolences and support of her latest issue. I go on to write to her about what I do with my daughter's medications how well it worked for me and that maybe it would ease her pain as well. I edit my post, make sure my grammar is correct, and click "post". Proud of my support to the ADHD/ADD message board society, eagerly I sit back and await her response.

What I wasn't expecting was a BARRAGE of angry responses.  Not from the original poster, but from just about EVERYONE else telling me IN CAPS and BOLD fonts that what I had suggested was not supposed to be done. EVER!  Well, I was quite shocked, and frankly taken aback by what they said. I take a minute to process what they wrote. Reading and rereading every line.

Were they being mean, or perhaps helpful? Maybe they were just know-it-alls. I wasn't sure. So me, being me, took the high road.

Assuming that they were knowledgeable and being helpful, I wrote back that I was going on the instructions of my doctor and would never assume that what I was doing was upon my own discretion, and thanked them for their assistance. Okay, I wasn't that polite, but I wasn't nasty either. After all, of course, I was giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The next response blows me away.

In the post, this person explains to me the difference between a Pediatrician and a Psychologist (as if I didn't know the difference) and then continues with implying that my doctor is only giving me the medications because of the special 'perks' doctors could get while accepting free samples of a particular medication. As if handing me two free samples is going to get her a trip to Cabo.  The person goes on to write that my doctor has no idea what medications she is giving out and that only a psychologist should be prescribing ADHD/ADD medications (okay, I agree that a psychologist should be part of the process, but not solely and I wasn't about to let on that I agreed with anything she wrote). 

I couldn't believe that this person had the audacity to tell me about my own doctor! The assumptions were outlandish! Like a train wreck, I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. An invisible force pushed me to read on.

"Abilify is ANOTHER example of marketing mania, because the REAL INTENDED patient population can't possibly buy enough of the drug to make the company a profit. So they greased the FDA, and now they are marketing a drug that was a last-chance treatment for dissociative schizophrenics, as a treatment for depression and ADHD!!!! This is unconscionable. For the population it was intended, the choice between the severe side effects of: Cerebrovascular Adverse Events Including Stroke, WORSENING of Depression, WORSENING of Suicide Risk, Inducing Mania, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, IRREVERSIBLE Tardive Dyskinesia, Diabetes Mellitus, Seizures, and Convulsions, and being trapped in otherwise untreatable schizophrenia, WAS an option. NOT SO FOR SOME KID WITH ADD!!!"

What the hell this has anything to do with my little ol' comment about easing the administration of medications to a child was beyond me!

My summation:  Whack-o #1.

So, now my Italian is up. Gloves are off. You asked for it.

Here is my response;

"Wow. I don't know exactly how to take all of that, honestly. I understand your concern, however, I have only given out ( and anyone else who has been lurking this post) a tidbit of information. I apologize to whomever started this thread with the hopes of getting some assistance with an easier way to give their child a medication. The last thing I want to do is give someone information that may be wrong. So with that, I say to the original poster, please check with your doctor or psychiatrist on the best way to dispense a med. With that being said, I would like to state that you are right about the pediatrician only being a pediatrician. They are not a Psychologist. The information that you don't know is that my pediatrician has done extensive work in the ADHD field, and with Dr. Feingold himself for many years. She has extensive knowledge of medications and has decades of work behind her. She would NEVER push meds on to me just so she could get some 'treat' from a drug company. I trust her judgement, and combined with what I feel is best for my daughter and what her knowledge is, together we make the decision of what is right for her. I WILL NOT put my daughter on meds that I feel would be dangerous or cause serious side effects. I'm insulted in the fact that you assume that I have had absolutely no experience with ADHD or within the medical field and don't know the difference between a Psychiatrist and a Pediatrician. You have no idea who I am or what life experience I have just by a couple of inquisitive posts I may have written. With this, I ask you to step back, take a breath, and think about exactly who you are angry at.  As far as the drug companies go, I feel it is up to us; the consumer and parent to figure out, research what is best for US, and our family. To have you imply that I am ignorant to the fact of what drug companies are doing these days and the discoveries you have written about is simply an arrogant statement. 
I feel that each of us here cares enough to read, research, and find support about everything that is or could be effecting our children health and welfare. I think that is why we are all here, am I wrong?
This board has been helpful and there are a lot of good people here. However, I don't appreciate being attacked.

Take that, Bia-ch.

Even after my long-winded rant, I get a couple of other posts, suggesting that I "leave my doctor" and that she "obviously knows nothing about medications" and the biggest bomb, "if it is inhaled, it is deadly".

Hmm. Well, that one was quite serious now, wasn't it?

I paused for a moment and thought about that one. Inhaling a med? How does that accidentally happen?

I can't help it. My sarcasm steps up to the plate.

I wonder if she experimented with her child and let them snort their med. You know, like an easier way to get the child to take his/her meds. I'm sure she had grave results. Poor thing. Which is probably why she was so adamant about 'accidental inhaling'. Of course! It's all coming clear to me now!

Please.

 Just to appease myself and try to justify what they say (in-case of the off chance they could be right), I go to a drug website. I find that there is absolutely nothing there that states inhaling the med would or could be deadly.

Yup. You got it. I found  whack-o #2.

 So, again, me being me, I wanted to see exactly who is behind these incredible posts. I check their member profiles. You know, they have the "who I am, what I like, etc. etc., and up pops quirky, cute answers that are just 'oh-so-funny'!

Expecting to find maybe someone with some experience in the medical field. Instead I end up seeing that every one of these members are SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). Now, before getting on my gruff about SAHM's, I have absolutely nothing against them. It is a thankless job, and THE hardest job in the world and I have the utmost respect for what they are doing.

 However, my point being is that none of them state in their profile that they have the medical expertise that they are so urgently handing out to me and suggesting that I do. IMMEDIATELY and in BOLD! 

If there were some sort of  professional, educational, experience or tangible proof that they could show me, I would heed their warnings. But there wasn't.  All they had were their opinions. Opinions that were in the form of such false expertise. It is then I realize that if I was someone with half a brain, or didn't feel secure in how I parent my child;  might have followed these words of advice, entrusting complete strangers who have absolutely no idea who they are imperatively giving demands to, and I could have made some serious mistakes with my child.

With that, I  slowly nod and purse my lips.

 Yep.

I'm done.

The Bulletin Board world is on their own.

From now on, I'm keeping my 'opinions' to myself.