Attention Disorder Meds Don't Up Drug Abuse Risk
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Mark Probert mark_prob...@hotmail.com
Attention Disorder Meds Don't Up Drug Abuse Risk Mon Jan 6,10:53 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Alison McCook NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two studies offer more evidence that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who use stimulants like Ritalin (news - web sites) are not at risk for drug addiction later in life, as some experts have feared.
One study, which followed almost 150 children with ADHD for 13 years, found that those who received stimulants appeared to have no increased risk of trying, using or abusing drugs as adults.
And based on a review of all previous studies that examined stimulant use among ADHD kids and later risk of abuse, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens of M***achusetts General Hospital in Boston and his colleagues found that those given stimulants appeared to be less likely than non-users to abuse drugs later in life.
Both studies appear in the January issue of Pediatrics.
Many children and teens with ADHD are treated with stimulant medication, the best-known being Ritalin. While it may seem paradoxical, these drugs appear to focus patients' attention and calm behavior.
The question of later risks ***ociated with the drugs is an important one: previous research has suggested that between 1% and 7% of children in school are taking stimulants to control their behavior.
Dr. Russell A. Barkley of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, lead author of the follow-up study, told Reuters Health that some have feared that stimulant use could prime kids to become drug users because its effects resemble those of some drugs of abuse. For instance, he noted that Ritalin is chemically similar to cocaine, while amphetamines resemble a street drug known as "crystal meth." The reason his and other studies have not discovered a link between the legal and illegal drugs is likely because they are not similar enough, Barkley noted. Stimulants "are not identical to the drugs being abused on the street," he said.
In addition, stimulants are given as pills, while other drugs are often snorted, injected or smoked. Previous studies have shown that drugs taken orally are slower to enter and clear the brain than those that enter the body through the nose, blood or lungs. Drugs that move slowly into and out of the brain are also less likely to become addictive, Barkley noted.
Barkley's co-author, Dr. Mariellen Fischer of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, told Reuters Health that she suspected ADHD itself may be a risk factor for drug use. So treating it effectively could even reduce the risk of drug abuse, she noted. This many explain why Wilens and his team found that ADHD kids given stimulants had a lower risk of later drug use than those who did not receive the drugs, Fischer added.
Barkley, Fischer and their colleagues obtained their findings by following 147 kids through adolescence and adulthood, until the participants were an average of 21 years old.
Although it is possible the people included in the study could have gone on to abuse drugs later in life, Barkley said in an interview that previous research has followed ADHD kids given stimulants into their mid-30s, and not seen an increased risk of drug use.
Barkley cautioned that these results do not suggest that all kids with ADHD should be given stimulants and nothing else to manage their condition--rather, doctors should also consider helpful techniques like tutoring, special education and working with the child's family.
"None of us are advocating that drugs alone should be used to manage ADHD," he said.
Dr. Joseph Biederman, one of Wilens' co-authors, has received research support from several drug companies, and serves on the speakers' bureaus and advisory boards of a number of drug companies.
SOURCE: Pediatrics 2003;111:97-109,179-185.
"Roger Schlafly" roge...@mindspring.com
Except for cocaine. From the study: Stimulant treatment in high school also did not influence drug use in adulthood except for greater use of cocaine. ... Treatment with stimulants did not increase the risk of ever having tried most illegal substances by adulthood except for cocaine.
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/111/1/97 The paper has some way of explaining away the cocaine increase, but the full paper is not freely available online.
"Mark D. Morin" neurops...@NOSPAMgwi.net
On 1/6/2003 7:22 PM, Roger Schlafly wrote : and the last sentence reads: Subsequent analyses showed that this elevated risk was primarily mediated by severity of conduct disorder by young adulthood and not by stimulant treatment in childhood.
--
==================================================== There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Psychiatrist and author http://home.gwi.net/~mdmpsyd/index.htm
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
The elipses (...) indicated that this statement was deletd: "This difference was no longer significant after controlling for severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood." Interesting how you decided to not post this statement.
Some way? A real statistician would understand that if something is not statistically significant, it is not statistically significant. And a real statisician would know that controlling for other variables is well-known, valid, method of accounting for the affects of extraneous variables.
All the best, Jeff
"Roger Schlafly" roge...@mindspring.com
A real statistician would give more reliable results. This paper was written by shrinks with a pro-drug agenda, not statisticians. Even still, they admit that ritalin use is correlated with later cocaine abuse.
"All Star Gal" allstar...@earthlink.net
So long as you dismiss and totally discount the fact and reality, they are drugged up on stimulants...I guess you could conclude that.
...
Mark Probert Mark_ProbertSpam...@hotmail.com
No, they did not. Read the thread and see what you are ignoring, as usual.
"CBI" 00...@mindspring.com
No, they admit that severe behavioral disorders are ***ociated with cocaine use - not Ritalin. I would think a math whiz like you would be able to follow the discussion of confounders and controlling for them.
BTW - you can get the article for $10. Why should I have to pay for mine and not you?
--
CBI, MD
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
Really? Two are neuropsychologists and two and psychologists. I do not believe the authors have a pro-drug agenda. I believe they have a pro-patient agenda. And, as you should know, psychologists have extensive training in statistics. More than many mathematicians, like those who play with imaginary bubbles.
All the best, Jeff
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
How do you define drugged up?
I do not believe they are drugged up in any way.
When people are drugged up, they are not able to perform well. Kids and adults on Ritalin and similar drugs are able to perform a lot better than when they are off the drugs.
You can make an analogy to people with schizophrenia on antipsychiotics. I wouldn't call them drugged either. They are able to perform better (e.g., they do not have problems with voices that are not there or as many problems determining what is real and what is not).
Sorry, but I do not see a problem with people who are able to function markedly better on Ritalin or with these people taking Ritalin, if it helps them to perform better.
Jeff "All Star Gal" <allstar...@earthlink.net> wrote in message ...
jake inva...@invalid.com
you can be like a glutton and buy and hoard information all you like but the truth has a way of coming out in spite of information control.
CBI, MD you STILL havent said what part of Maryland you come from Daddy, what does "FORMATTING DRIVE C:....." mean ?
jake inva...@invalid.com
On Mon, 6 Jan 2003 22:29:58 -0500, "Jeff Utz" Earth to Jeff some are so overdrugged they can barely walk or see properly you think so?
(e.g., on the contrary , ironically the known "side-effects" of anti-psychotics are hallucinations and sometimes psychosis Interview with John Nash: How Does Recovery Happen?
I don't really know because I think you have individual experiences. Statistically it is not so rare for persons to come out of real mental illness and become normal thinkers again. Records of this go back, before any type of medical treatment, any type of drug treatment. And one curious fact about that is the statistics on that is that the existence of the drug treatment perhaps has not increased the proportion of people who really recovered from mental illness so that they reach a state of not needing drugs and not being in a sort of semi-disabled state.
FizzyMagic fizzyma...@yahoo.com
Others, like you, are unable to think properly with _or_ without drugs.
jake inva...@invalid.com
It must be wonderful to be able to diagnose cognitive functioning of unmet strangers from behind a keyboard.
You must surely be a legend in your own mind.
I am merely saying that it does not PROVE anything more than the fact that sane human beings prefer freedom over tyranny, and often a belief system/ideology is a way of rationalizing that attitude.
Unfortunately, a belief system/ideology can be used for the exact opposite as well -- by insane people.
Libertarius =====================
Byte Me byte...@nana.com
In article <B61665C852F08A54.514ECA63B5F23F3E.73F4CB4C037A4...@lp.airnews.net>, kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com says...
Since when is 'performance' so important in determining someone's value as a human being?
"allstargal" allstar...@earthlink.net
Must be nice to live in a fantasy world.
Not true.
The empirical studies found that students diagnosed with ADHD and treated with Ritalin or Amphetamine academic performance was no better than students diagnosed with ADHD whose parents didn't drug them up.
Only 15-20 % of those diagnosed with Schizophrenia.improve from treatment with AP's.
80-85% of all those diagnosed with Schizophrenia and treated with AP's will derive no relief from their symptoms of SZ, by taking AP's, while incurring all manner of damage to major bodily functions, including their CNS and brain, especially TD.
Niether would I, if they did perform better.
But, they do NOT perform better...so they are risking all manner of damage to vital organs (especially their heart and brain) for no improvement in performance.
"Mark D. Morin" neurops...@NOSPAMgwi.net
On 1/7/2003 5:50 AM, allstargal wrote : Could you provide that citation? TIA Citation please.
--
==================================================== There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Psychiatrist and author http://home.gwi.net/~mdmpsyd/index.htm
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
And you're evidence is what? Or is this just your opinion?
Yes. I have seen how kids on Ritalin have greatly improved and done better in school and life thanks to Ritalin and related drugs.
Yet, people who need them do better on them. Go figure.
All the best, Jeff
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
I wouldn't know.
And what empirical studies are these?
I guess we shouldn't help the other 10-15%.
And your evidence of this is what?
All the bst, jeff
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
When a student is able to do better in school, his self esteem goes up.
When a nine-year old does not have to be told to put his left sock on, then his right sock on, then his left shoe, then his right shoe, but rather can focus well enough so that he can do these simiple tasks, his self esteem goes up.
When a kid playing soccer is able to play soccer without running around (or off the field), is able to focus on the game, and plays better, his self-esteem goes up.
And when one is able to do better work at work, his pay goes up.
All the best, Jeff ...
"CBI" 00...@mindspring.com
Daddy, what does "MD" stand for?
--
CBI, MD
"Jeff Utz" kidsdoc2...@hotmail.com
I thought MD stood for "My Daddy". My brother is a physician. There is a plaque that says he signs his name "MD" for "My Daddy" in his kids' room.
jake inva...@invalid.com
Maryland of course Official USPS Abbreviations State Abbreviations Street Suffixes Secondary Unit Designators State Abbreviations State/Possession Abbreviation ALABAMA AL ALASKA AK AMERICAN SAMOA AS ARIZONA AZ ARKANSAS AR CALIFORNIA CA COLORADO CO CONNECTICUT CT DELAWARE DE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA FM FLORIDA FL GEORGIA GA GUAM GU HAWAII HI IDAHO ID ILLINOIS IL INDIANA IN IOWA IA KANSAS KS KENTUCKY KY LOUISIANA LA MAINE ME MARSHALL ISLANDS MH MARYLAND MD M***ACHUSETTS MA MICHIGAN MI MINNESOTA MN MISSISSIPPI MS MISSOURI MO MONTANA MT NEBRASKA NE NEVADA NV NEW HAMPSHIRE NH NEW JERSEY NJ NEW MEXICO NM NEW YORK NY NORTH CAROLINA NC NORTH DAKOTA ND NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS MP OHIO OH OKLAHOMA OK OREGON OR PALAU PW PENNSYLVANIA PA PUERTO RICO PR RHODE ISLAND RI SOUTH CAROLINA SC SOUTH DAKOTA SD TENNESSEE TN TEXAS TX UTAH UT VERMONT VT VIRGIN ISLANDS VI VIRGINIA VA WASHINGTON WA WEST VIRGINIA WV WISCONSIN WI WYOMING WY Military "State" Abbreviation Armed Forces Africa AE Armed Forces Americas (except Canada) AA Armed Forces Canada AE Armed Forces Europe AE Armed Forces Middle East AE Armed Forces Pacific AP The arrogant, grandiosity gods of the Mental Health System, blessed with omnipotent power and use of deadly force by the state, grasp human victims in capricious hands and play with their brains.
Clover Smith
jake inva...@invalid.com
On Tue, 7 Jan 2003 17:26:51 -0500, "Jeff Utz" the evidence of my own eyes daily, my working experience in mental hospitals, and the testimony of c/s/x/ survivors survivors the reference was to people diagnosed as SZ The arrogant, grandiosity gods of the Mental Health System, blessed with omnipotent power and use of deadly force by the state, grasp human victims in capricious hands and play with their brains.
Clover Smith
"All Star Gal" allstar...@earthlink.net
Whatever MD actually stands for, .CBI best take care not to post anything the control freaks trying to control ASAD, do not like.
I believe the last time someone using the initials MD posted something the ASAD's sicko control freaks didn't like, ASAD control freaks har***ed that posters ISP until the ISP demanded the postersuggesting he was an MD, provide public proof of his MD, or they cancel his ISP contract with them.
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