The Med Game

Tomorrow J has a DR appointment in which we will break it to him that the current meds she's on just isn't working, and NO I will not raise the mgs again. 20mg seemed like a lot to be sticking into my 42 pound child and if it's not even taking the "edge" off, what's another 10mg gonna do? There are a half dozen different medications out there now for ADHD, with another half dozen used to treat other things but have been also proven to improve symptoms of ADHD, so there's no sense in just putting a higher dose of ONE drug into her, when there are a dozen out there we could try at smaller doses first...
 So all morning (I understand it's only 9am and some of you may not even be out of bed yet, but I've been sitting here 2 hours in front of my computer) neglecting my term paper due in two weeks, and online exam due tomorrow in order to do my own research on other ADHD medication options, side effects of each, and pouring through user reviews to try to find one I'm willing to try.
Some of the reviews really bothered me. They talked about how their son is on X drug for ADHD, but on Y drug to alleviate the side effects of irritability (or whatever, that was just the most common one I saw) from the X drug! Seriously?! Yes, lets PLEASE pump our small children full of a dozen different medications to make them "normal functioning." I don't blame parents for this as likely MOST of them just listen to their trusted doctors and are desperate for their children to succeed. I totally relate that that latter part. It was out of pure desperation that I finally relented and put J on medication for ADHD in the first place, but still actively search for other options to help treat her symptoms. I blame the doctors for this epidemic (yes, I do believe this medication to treat side effects to this medication that is used to treat the side effect for this other medication that is used to treat this problem- thing HAS become a true epidemic!). If not the doctors, then I blame the pharmaceutical companies. These people are the ones that are supposed to have the knowledge and medical backgrounds to help people not only get BETTER from whatever ailment they suffer, but assist in prevention as well. Is filling us all full of 50 different medications the answer? Obviously I'm going with a great big "NO" but I'm probably beginning to sound a bit preachy so I should probably step off my soap box.