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Ritalin: Ritalin La
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Ritalin is an amphetamine. In street lingo, it's called "speed." Selling speed to children is a felony, but feeding speed to children with a prescription is called "treatment." The practice of dosing children with powerful, mind-altering drugs is, in fact, a form of chemical abuse, yet it is tolerated today because it is framed in the language of medicine. Parents and teachers all too easily agree to the mass drugging of schoolchildren because it makes symptoms of ADHD seemingly go away. This drugging practice is, ultimately, pursued for the convenience of the children's caretakers and the profits of powerful drug companies, not out of any real concern for the health of the children.
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Perhaps the most controversial theme in the Ritalin debate is the question if its use can lead to psychological drug dependence in the long run. A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry titled “Is methylphenidate like cocaine?” concluded that indeed it was. Its lead author, Nora Volkow, director of nuclear medicine at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., used positron emission tomography scans to look at where and how quickly Ritalin acts in the brain. In Volkow's study, eight healthy male volunteers were injected with the drug. Their scans were then compared with those subjects in previous studies who had been injected with cocaine. The authors reported that the distribution of Ritalin in the human brain was “almost identical to that of cocaine.” The drugs' effects ... peaked at almost the same time — between four and ten minutes in the case of Ritalin, and two to eight minutes for cocaine. Even the highs were similar.
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[O]pponents of Ritalin, labeled a 'wonder drug' and a 'chemical cosh', believe it may be addictive and has dangerous side-effects. Moreover, many believe ADHD is a fraudulent title for a non-existent condition once put down to the exuberance of youth.
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The history of Ritalin dates back 40-60 years ago when chemists created the drug using natural stimulants including caffeine and ephedrine. Ritalin was tested on lab rats and the results showed the rats were more focused, calm, and manageable. The short-term effects of the drug pushed the chemists to keep experimenting and derived the long lasting stimulant Ritalin (methylphenidate), which was first introduced as a treatment for hyperactivity in 1950.
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Methylphenidate (Ritalin) comes as a tablet, an extended- or sustained-release (long-acting) tablet, and an extended-release capsule to take by mouth. The regular tablet and the extended-release tablet (Ritalin-SR) are usually taken two or three times a day, preferably 30-45 minutes before meals. The last dose of the day should be taken at least several hours before bedtime because the drug can cause sleeplessness. The extended-release tabletis usually taken once a day, in the morning, with or without food. However, the extended-release capsuleis usually taken once a day, in the morning, before breakfast.
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Answer: Ritalin use in children is based on effectiveness. That is, using the minimal dose to decrease the hyperactivity. Very large doses are occasionally used, focusing on the effect. Once the child is normal the dosage is slowly decreased until the child becomes more active. The dose is usually titrated up and down based on the child’s response.
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