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Home | Medical | Drugs

ADD Medications, Long Term Effects You Should Be Aware Of

By: Jimmy Brownen

Adderall, Ritalin, Dexedrine, Concerta are the names of drugs used to treat ADD. These drugs are more often than not end up being misuse for some reasons. It was even shown in one episode of the Desperate Housewives where Lynette, the character that had hyper boys end up taking their medications so that she can keep up with them. This is a common scenario of ADD medication abuse.

Take some time to reflect on this account.

Mike is a rising attorney at his firm. His dream, like everyone else's is of course to make partner. To reach this goal, he has to work extra hard which means putting in more hours and energy at his already hectic schedule.

Mike told one of his friends about his trouble of keeping up and even putting more effort. His friend has offered his solution. He suggested that Mike gets himself prescribed with ADD medication such as Adderall just as he did a few months back. Mike's friend told mike that even if the medication did make him feel a little edgy, it did a lot to improve his energy level. To get this medication prescribed, mike only needs to tell the physician that he had trouble paying attention and stay organized at work.

Inspired, Mike tried his luck at getting himself prescribed with Ritalin. It was true, getting the medication prescribed for him was a breeze. After a few weeks of taking the medication, Mike's life had dramatically transformed. He was energetic and this showed through the cases he won easily. As a bonus, he also found that he lost 8 pounds, the weight that seemed impossible to shed.

Three months later, Mike seemed like a changed person. His wife reported that Mike wasn't sleeping well at night, and often didn't get more than two or three hours of sleep at a time. Usually pretty level tempered, she and the children found themselves walking on egg shells because even the smallest things sent him over the edge. His moods were unpredictable, and even though she tried to point this out to her husband, he told her that she had no idea what she was talking about!

Meanwhile, at work, Mike's coworkers began to observe some paranoia. Mike was positive that attorneys with whom he previously professed to have a close working relationship were now gunning to get him fired and trying to sabotage his cases. No one seemed to know what he was talking about.

Mike finally took the advice to go see another physician and needless to say the root cause of problem was detected. The medication was in no doubt causing the symptoms and mike was immediately instructed to stop medication. A few weeks later, Mike's condition improved.

First, you need to know that chemically, the drugs prescribed for ADD are very similar to cocaine. And like cocaine, they increase the amount of dopamine available to receptors and that translates into a calming effect on the body. These drugs are dangerous, not only for those who don't have ADD, but also for those that do!!

These stimulants are used for obvious reasons that they provide the calming effects for those with ADD disorder. However, this is not true as users tend to experience the opposite effect.

Non-medical users of these stimulants are college students and housewives. This is very much tied to their strong need to be more energized, get more attention as well as get high. The methods of taking them are like normal drugs or, for better effects of the drug, crushed and snorted.
It is essential that long term effects of these stimulants be made known to all as the number of users of these stimulants are gradually increasing.

Abusing stimulants for even short amounts of time alter the brain and its chemistry. These same drugs that are thought to produce that calming effect (remember the dopamine?) actually begin to destroy the receptors for dopamine, which in turn makes dopamine less effective for calming! Other side effects of using these drugs can include:

- Communication between the two hemisphere of the brain will gradually become ineffective. This is due to the significant loss of the gray matter, a substance that surrounds the corpus callosum which carries the responsibility to do so.
- Deficits in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that takes care of functions like feeding, drinking, activity level, etc.
- Associated with a pattern of abnormal brain structure that looks like the deficits in early dementia and schizophrenia seen on MRI's.

Here are more side-effects:

- Paranoia
- Insomnia
- Extreme feelings of hostility
- Anorexia
- Depression
- Short temper
- Poor attention span
- A feeling of 'being on the edge'
- Psychosis
- Memory loss
- Hallucinations
- Severe mood problems

Once you are dependent on these drugs, there is no turning back. You will find yourself taking more and more dose of them to get the same effect. This just proves that it is not worth it to get involve in the first place.

Article Source: http://bytepowered.org/articles

Jimmy Brownen is a leading expert in the field of ADD/ADHD and has years of experience in the treatment of it. For more information on the disorder or for alternative means of curing ADHD, please visit his site.

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