Big pharma pushing Adderall and Ritalin as productivity boosters for humans, page 2
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reply posted on 13-12-2008 @ 03:35 AM by ZeroKnowledge
reply to post by RedGolem


Well, in doses recommended by manufacturers, under normal (no drug interactions, no certain illnesses) conditions those drugs should not kill 99.9999999... (warning - uneducated guess) of patients. But once you increase number of people who will use it - fatalities can happen. We are all different inside. Some might be much more prone to side effects. And there are people who do take several drugs - so here adds interactions thingy. And there are people who have specific problems that will make individual in higher risk groups.
So once drug is taken by larger group of people (not to mention OTC suggestion - why not GSL then???) there is higher chance of someone dieing of it. In researches by drug companies - even in phase 4 - amount of data is significantly lower then if it is going to be prescribed to increase concentration to general population.
For example - in methylphenidate - drug went through all the tests, and after decade of usage FDA voted to add black box warning - that it might cause sudden death/heart stroke and other nice things (oops, black box suggestion was rejected month later). By the way -Adderall also has similar blck box as i found out.
It does not mean that it will happen often, but it does mean that there is a small chance that it might. Small chance multiplied by larger group of users - number of people who suffered from it higher.
Plus - there is a tiny chance of depression. Pretty severe depression though. So here added drugs for depression that also have their side effects and the chances of unwanted outcome rise.
If i would guess - reason for black box arguement was because there were 25 deaths between 1999 and 2003 for unknown reason with people (kids and adults) that used methylphenidate. From 3 million users.So increase number of users by 10 and number of victims has a chance to rise similarly if it is correct corelation.

[edit on 13-12-2008 by ZeroKnowledge]



reply posted on 13-12-2008 @ 05:20 PM by thomasblackraven
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reply posted on 14-12-2008 @ 12:51 AM by Ant4AU
reply to post by Sonya610


I can't say that adderall lowered any inhibitions of me and my frinds I only noteces that it caused us to be more focused and decisive in what we were doing. We weren't proscribed it so just to clarify.


reply posted on 14-12-2008 @ 05:41 AM by Divinorumus
Originally posted by Sonya610
Thanks, that is good to hear. I have done more reading on Adderall and depression; apparently it is sometimes used along with standard anti-depressants. The drug can give depressed people a “major boost”, plus it often raises their energy level and inspires them to get stuff done.


I suppose these things work differently in everyone. When I was taking methphenidate I was also prescribed Zoloft. The combination worked great to alleviate clinical depression, but I never lacked motivation to get things done until I started the Zoloft. My depression WAS my motivation. When the Zoloft started to work its magic, things didn't bother or depress me. Thus, the garage never got cleaned for a year, dirty dishes could wait until tomorrow, the cat litter box too, etc. I had to stop the Zoloft to regain my clinical depression in order to get my motivation back, ha. I eventually gave up the methphenidate too when I discovered regular cardio/aerobic level workouts worked much better than pills.

Strange thing too, the few times I tried taking larger doses of methphenidate or Adderall to see what all the hype was about, all it did was give me a headache and cause me to fall asleep. I would even occasionally take 10-20 mg of methphenidate with a cup of coffee in order to fall asleep at night when my brain wouldn't shut down enough for sleep. I later learned this is quite common with those that are ADHD (as opposed to ADD).

[edit on 14-12-2008 by Divinorumus]


reply posted on 14-12-2008 @ 06:27 PM by RedGolem
reply to post by TeeJay


Tee Jay
that was some good information you posted, thanks.

Also thanks to every one else who has been posted there experiences with the drugs in question.


reply posted on 17-8-2011 @ 12:20 AM by shaolin_dragon
Thread resurrection alert!
My son (5 yrs) has been diagnosed with ADHD and we took him to a neurologist for a once over. His immediate reaction was to start our son on Adderall (not the XR, he isn't old enough) and to get him started immediately. (He got his secretary to print the script immediately).
We are supposed to start him tomorrow. 2.5mg in the morning with breakfast, and another 2.5mg at lunch time.
I've been reading all the great things this drug can do for those who like to study, do work etc, but my question is what sort of reaction are we likely to get from our son. I know each person is different, so can react differently to various drugs, but is it likely to turn him into a zombie as i have heard Ritalin can do or is the chemical make up of the two drugs THAT much different?
I'm torn terribly between drugs and alternative diet. Trouble is, our son is sooo bloody picky, that trying to get him to eat/try different foods is an uphill battle. I dont like drugs. Never did, and never will. I HATE the fact that the school systems say the children HAVE to be vaccinated (that's a different discussion, please keep On-Topic for this thread) but I'm just concerned about his well-being on Adderall.
Does anyone here have children this young that have been put on it, and have had any serious side-effects? Is it really the super-drug that many are led to believe for those children with ADHD?
I apologise for raising this thread from the dead, but wanted peoples opinions on the drug and younger children.
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