What is the reason for abusage of drugs such as Adderall, Ritalin, Dexedrine, Concerta? You may have seen one episode of the Desperate Housewives in which Lynette, start consuming her children’s Adderall so that she can be more energized to keep up with them. This is just one common instance of misuse of ADD medications.
Consider this story.
Mike is a rising attorney at his firm. He’s 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.
One night, he was having drinks with a pal and complaining about his fatigue but that he can’t afford to slow down. His friend said he’d been taking Adderall for the past 2 months to keep his competitive edge at work. He was able to convince his physician that he had trouble paying attention at work and staying organized. He was subsequently diagnosed with ADD and voila – he had his prescription for Adderall! He felt great, maybe a little more edgy than usual, but it was worth it!
Mike took his pal’s advice and was easily able to score his very own prescription for Ritalin. For the first few weeks, Mike thought he felt better. He didn’t seem to tire as easily and he was winning his cases like crazy! Moreover, he had lost those extra 8 pounds he’d never been able to shed. Mike thought he’d found the perfect solution.
Three months later; Mike’s happy ending had changed into a nightmare. He was beginning to loose sleep; spending no more than two to three hours of night sleep. He had also developed terrible mood swings and was easily irritated by those around him. His wife tried to reason with him on this but he refuses to listen to her.
Even his working life took a nasty toll. Colleagues he used to work closely with are now treated like they are his enemies; bent on bringing him down. There was no way anyone can reason with him.
Mike finally went to a physician and it needless to say the cause was unveiled. He was immediately taken off the medication which was causing these symptoms and a few weeks later things went back to normal for Mike.
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.
Because the use of stimulants is reaching epidemic proportions, it is important to know the long-term effects of using such substances.
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 grey matter, a substance that surrounds the corpus callosum which carries the responsibility to do so.
- Deficits in the hippocampus – responsible for such basic functions such as feeding, drinking, activity level, etc.
- Develop abnormal brain structure akin to deficits in early dementia and schizophrenia seen on MRIs.
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.

About the Author:
As a leading practitioner in the field of treating attention deficit disorder, Jimmy Brownen has had man years of experience in the treatment of such disorders. For more information on adderall or vyvanse, please visit his site today.

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