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Ritalin
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Ritalin is a stimulant drug. Ritalin is most frequency prescribed for the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder, which is thought to affect as many as 5% of the youth population in the United States. Ritalin has a very high potential for abuse. A report from the DEA identifies Ritalin as one of the top 10 controlled drugs most frequently reported stolen. It is sold on the streets as Vitamin R, or R-balls. According to the Dept. of Health and Human Services, since 1990 there has been a sixfold increase in the number of estimated drug abuse emergency room visits associated with the abuse of Ritalin.
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Ritalin is one of the most prescribed medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects up to 10% of children in the United States. The cause of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is unknown and there is no cure for ADHD, but soma medications such as ritalin, methylphenidate, and concerta can relieve the symptoms by stimulating the brain and improving mental concentration, behavior, and memory. Stimulants are the most common medications prescribed for children. They include methylphenidate (brand name Ritalin or Concerta), amphetamine salts (Adderall), and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine). Medical research shows that ritalin (methylphenidate) improves behavior in 30% to 70% of children.
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Dr. Allen Buresz - "In 1996 the World Health Organization warned that Ritalin over-use has reached dangerous proportions. Hopefully, by being armed with correct information, you may be able to avoid using Ritalin or other similar medications. Use of these drugs on a long-term basis is questionable. Safety of such long-term use is simply unknown, but many dangerous side effects have been increasingly. Ritalin, for instance, may provoke seizures and suppress growth, or it may cause angina, blood pressure changes, depression or any of a very long list of serious side effects."
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Because stimulant medicines such as Ritalin have such a high potential for abuse, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has placed tight, Schedule II controls on their manufacture, distribution, and prescription. For example, the DEA requires special licenses for these activities, and prescription refills are not allowed. Also, each state may impose further regulations and restrictions, such as limiting the number of dosage units per prescription.
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Do not use Ritalin if you have used an MAO inhibitor such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), tranylcypromine (Parnate), phenelzine (Nardil), rasagiline (Azilect), or selegiline (Eldepryl, Emsam) within the past 14 days. Serious, life-threatening side effects can occur if you use Ritalin before the MAO inhibitor has cleared from your body. Do not use this medication if you are allergic to methylphenidate or if you have glaucoma, tics (muscle twitches) or Tourette's syndrome, depression, or severe anxiety, tension, or agitation (Ritalin can make these symptoms worse). Ritalin may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Keep track of how many pills have been used from each new bottle you receive. Ritalin is a drug of abuse and you should be aware if any person in the household is using this medicine improperly or without a prescription.
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The Ritalin debate took a new turn in March 2000, when a teenager's fatal heart attack raised troubling questions about the safety of this drug. A medical examiner in Pontiac, Michigan, has released findings strongly linking long-term use of Ritalin to the death of 14-year-old Matthew Smith. The teen died at home while playing on his skateboard. Initially, it was thought that he had injured himself in a fall, but the medical examiner found the cause of death to be cardiac arrest secondary to blockage of coronary arteries that supplied blood to his heart. Such changes in the blood vessels are not ordinarily found in children so young, but are typical of the damage seen in adults who chronically abuse stimulants. The boy had been taking Ritalin for ADHD under a doctor's prescription for eight years.
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Ritalin