What you need to know: Adderall. Ritalin. Concerta. Vyvance.
Adderall. Ritalin. Concerta. Vyvance. Focalin. Attenade. Intuniv. Mydayis.
Over time, those habitually using Adderall develop a tolerance to the drug and are unable to function normally without it.
- Often prescribed for children diagnosed with ADHD
- Adderall is the most abused brand-name drug among high school seniors
- 1 in 5 college students have used Adderall to enhance study time, unaware of its physical dangers and unaware that it is a felony to use someone else’s prescription
- Adderall abuse is a growing concern among high school and college students – the drug’s most frequent abusers.
- Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvance, Focalin and Attenade are Class 2 Narcotics, Amphetamines, similar to Cocaine.
- For some, ADHD drugs are a gateway to the abuse of other addictive medications, including opiates.
- Adderall and other amphetamines have a high potential for addiction and abuse.
- 6.4 million children 4 – 17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD.
- 20% of all boys are diagnosed with ADHD by high school.
“The drugs are sold, stolen and shared for a host of nonmedical reasons. They are used by students who want to lose weight or stay up all night to study. Students often mix them with alcohol and other drugs, with serious and sometimes lethal consequences.
When crushed and snorted, stimulant drugs have the same effect as cocaine, but ADHD pills are cheaper and easier to obtain.” ~ Dr. Gretchen LeFever Watson, Clinical Psychologist
These drugs are BIG BUSINESS
- ADHD drug market is $14 Billion dollars
- In four years sales of ADHD drugs grew 89%
- Shire, whose ADHD drugs Adderall XR and Vyvanse generated close to $2.4 billion in sales in 2016, launched a long-acting amphetamine called Mydayis in 2017.
- The global ADHD Therapeutics Market is expected to reach $25 Billion by 2024
Who abuses these drugs?
- Students
- Athletes
- People with eating disorders
- Adults
Side
Side Effects
- hallucinations, delusional thinking, or mania
- aggressive behavior or hostility
- suppresses weight gain and growth in children
- seizures
- blurred vision
- exacerbate motor and phonic tics and Tourette’s syndrome
- may cause sudden death and serious cardiovascular events
- fast, pounding, or uneven heartbeats
- pain or burning when you urinate
- talking more than usual, feelings of extreme happiness or sadness
- unusual behavior
- dangerously high blood pressure
- severe headache
- buzzing in your ears
- anxiety
- confusion
- chest pain
- shortness of breath
- uneven heartbeats
- weakness
- dizziness
- feeling restless, irritable, or agitated
- insomnia
- dry mouth or an unpleasant taste in your mouth
- diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting
- fever
- hair loss
- loss of appetite, weight loss
- loss of interest in sex, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm
7 year old boy
“My son first started taking Adderall when he was in 1st grade.
He was 7 years old in the spring of his first grade year and I cannot tell you how scary it was for us when he started telling us about the four distinct voices that he would hear throughout the day.
He had four voices, which had names and they were telling him what to do.
We were in the process of having him evaluated when the voices suddenly stopped. We had taken him off of medication for the summer and hadn’t put two and two together — that this was the reason for the vanishing of the voices.
He went back on Adderall on September. By October my son was taken to an inpatient mental facility for evaluation because he had become suicidal.”
Just One Adderall . . . eventually led this young man to addiction and suicide
24 year old, Richard Fee, athletic, class president, medical student: Became violently dilusional and hanged himself. The story was told in a 020213 New York Times article.
“Richard’s first experience with ADHD pills, like so many others’, had come in college. Friends said he was a typical undergraduate user — when he needed to finish a paper or cram for exams, one Adderall capsule would jolt him with focus and purpose for six to eight hours, repeat as necessary.
So many fellow students had prescriptions or stashes to share, friends of Richard recalled in interviews, that guessing where he got his was futile. He was popular enough on campus — he was sophomore class president and played first base on the baseball team — that they doubted he even had to pay the typical $5 or $10 per pill.
“He would just procrastinate, wait till the last minute and then take a pill to study for tests,” said Ryan Sykes, a friend. “It got to the point where he’d say he couldn’t get anything done if he didn’t have the Adderall.”
Richard scored too low on the MCAT in 2009 to qualify for a top medical school. Although he had started taking Vyvanse for its jolts of focus and purpose, their side effects began to take hold. His sleep patterns increasingly scrambled and his mood darkening, he moved back in with his parents in Virginia Beach and sought a local physician to renew his prescriptions.
Mrs. Fee noticed Richard putting tape over his computer’s camera, he told her that people were spying on him. (He put tape on his fingers, too, to avoid leaving fingerprints.) He cut himself out of family pictures, talked to the television and became increasingly violent when agitated.”
Richard’s parents tried to get the doctors to stop prescribing the drug. Since Richard was over 18, his doctors said Richard’s treatment was private.
14 year old female
I have been taking this drug for years. It makes me feel crazy, depressed, and in pain.
But I have all A’s.
I usually have headaches everyday. I read the whole Harry Potter series in 5 days.
I love dark things. The adderall gives me that mood, and feeling to write or compose music, or stories.
I never eat.
It makes me feel lonely. I never hang out with friends.
I get dry mouth, headaches, moodswings, stomach aches, I also get annoyed with everybody.
20 year old male – Heart Attack
A college freshman was diagnosed with ADHD 2 years prior and was prescribed 15 mg of Adderall XR orally daily. He reported drinking (whiskey) after studying and before going to bed every night.
One particular night he drank until the early morning hours and instead of going to bed he took 2 tablets of Adderall XR (total 30 mg) to keep himself awake to prepare for an examination that day.
Later that afternoon he developed chest pain, accompanied by light headache. After 30 minutes, he took 1 tablet of Tylenol, which relieved the pain a little but never eliminated it completely until 24 hours later when his parent picked him up at the campus and brought him to the Emergency Room.
He was transferred from the Emergency Room to the intensive care unit, diagnosed with myocardial infarction – heart attack.
Taking these drugs with alcohol increases the risk of serious cardiovascular side effects like myocardial infarction even without underlying risk factors.
Adult male
Adderall creates a plain, hollow shell of a human being who is productive yet lacks the other attributes of being human, such as strong emotions, empathy and creativity.
I dare anyone who has used used this drug for more than a month to go off it and see if they can still feel the same amount of pleasure in life that they could before taking this neurotoxin.
This is the primary substance used in animal models to create a permanent brain change reminiscent of paranoid schizophrenia. In monkeys given adderall for 3 weeks, 40-60% of their dopamine nerons are destroyed and this damage has shown to be irreversible.
Google: “neurotoxicty of amphetamine ADHD”
There are cases where use of these drugs led to mental illness and psychosis.
FDA Warning
In the medication guide, the FDA warns people to call their doctor immediately if they experience mental problems, “especially seeing or hearing things that are not real, believing things that are not real, or are suspicious.”
29 year old female
I feel like it stole my sense of humor and lightheartedness.
I paid a price, and I feel like I lost part of my life. I was a mere shadow of my former self when on the pills. If you are a very introspective person like I am, please think twice about taking the easy (pill) way out. You can do it without it, just eat right, exercise, take care of yourself, and follow your bliss and you’ll be ok.
————————————–
Prescription stimulants are often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Drugs like Ritalin, Concerta, Dexedrine and Adderall are given to help people with ADHD feel more focused.
There is a widespread belief that stimulants enhance performance in school, work and athletics.
People are taking these stimulants with no knowledge of the dangers including psychosis, heart attack, stroke and even sudden death.
“There is now clear evidence that the medication should be, in most instances, the last line of defense and not the first line of defense. And what the research is clearly showing is that over the long term, the drugs are not as effective as a behavioral intervention.” ~ Dr. Gretchen LeFever Watson
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