Ritalin May Change Brain Long-Term, Study Shows

Reuters News Service ^ | November 11, 2000 | Reuters Staff

[t-shirt]

Ritalin May Change Brain Long-Term, Study Shows

Sunday November 11 2001

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The stimulant Ritalin (news - web sites), a drug used to help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may cause long-term changes in the brain, researchers reported Sunday.

The changes look similar to those seen with other stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine, at least in rats, the team at the University of Buffalo found.

``Clinicians consider Ritalin to be short-acting,'' Joan Baizer, a professor of physiology and biophysics who led the study said in a statement.

``When the active dose has worked its way through the system, they consider it 'all gone.' Our research with gene expression in an animal model suggests that it has the potential for causing long-lasting changes in brain cell structure and function.''

But Baizer said that Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, probably is not addictive in the way drugs of abuse are if it is used properly.

``Children have been given Ritalin daily for many years, and it is extremely effective and beneficial, but it's not quite as simple as a short-acting drug,'' she said. ``We need to look at it more closely.''

High doses of amphetamine and cocaine have been found to switch on genes known as ``immediate early genes'' in brain cells. One of the genes, called c-fos, has been linked with addiction when it is activated in certain parts of the brain.

The researchers gave rat pups sweetened milk carrying methylphenidate in comparable doses and at similar times to what a child would get.

C-fos genes were activated in their brains in a pattern similar to that seen in cocaine and amphetamine use, the researchers told a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.

``These data do suggest that there are effects of Ritalin on cell function that outlast the short term and we should sort that out,'' Baizer said.

She said perhaps a gene chip -- a microarray -- could be used to see just which genes are turned on and off by methylphenidate.

[cva66snipe]

I think it's a one or two year time frame of being Ritalin free and with the doctors release.

[copycat]

My son's school said they wanted to test my son for ADHD. I told them I thought it was junk science and refused to allow him to be tested. I told them kids had been growing fine for thousands of years before Ritalin came along.

I feel very sad for any parents who allow their children to be medicated to "correct their personality."

[copycat]

Why don't YOU act like someone with a brain?

You crossed the line.

[Al B.]

The Ritalin usage is a flag for a underlying Neurological condition and nothing more.

What a pile of cr@p. There is no scientific basis for that statement. If you've got one, name it.

[shaggy eel]

BUMP

[mlo]

Seems FR is full of it today!

Maybe this explains some of it.

[Trust but Verify]

And which line would that be? I didn't know we had lines here anymore. You must not have read any of the hysterical nonsense people like t-shirt have been posting today.

[cva66snipe]

My son's school said they wanted to test my son for ADHD. I told them I thought it was junk science and refused to allow him to be tested. I told them kids had been growing fine for thousands of years before Ritalin came along. I feel very sad for any parents who allow their children to be medicated to "correct their personality."

Yes they have been growing up that long and doing fine. Though I don't consider it junk science I think the point that kids in the past 15 or so years have started having epidemic problems simular to ADD ADHD points to another cause being overlooked.

The increase in entertainment technology is the trigger of the ADD ADHD increase. Kids with sensory processing problems will indeed behave like ADD ADHD kids when exposed to this newer technology.

BTW this is outside the relm of most mental health experts field. Better information is actually found in Vestibular Science research. As I posted earlier an Audiologist can test for this.

[OldFriend]

One of the questions on the forms my son had to fill out was whether Ritalin had been prescribed after puberty. He never took it at any time but was told that it was a disqualifier. That was about ten years ago and with the huge drop in enlistments during the past eight years, that may have changed. I am very sorry to learn that the requirements have changed. If I am not mistaken, either Harris or Klebold of Colombine infamy was rejected due to his being on Ritalin.

[okiedust]

You are quite right to say this. Many disorders produce in children symptoms of "ADHD" such as the auditory one you mentioned. We have to keep in mind that a child's only reference to his world may be disordered and that may produce anxiety symptoms which are quickly diagnosed as ADHD. Many children come from such chaotic backgrounds and stressful situations that the childs normal response of anxiety is quickly attributed to a medicable disorder. Sad. There are hyperactive kids with this disorder, but I think it is truly rare and uniquely responsive to medication. What happens when so many kids are medicated is that the adults perception of the kids behaviour improves and the kid responds to the positive feedback he gets from the adults and he is assumed to be "responding to treatment."

Disclaimer: I do believe there are real cases of ADHD, but it has become a convenient excuse for many other things.<p. regards

[Barry Goldwater]

Isn't Hillary Clinton a big advocate of Ritalin? Didn't the Clinton administration promote and fund its use? The Clinton legacy will outlive the Clintons.

[HelgaHawk]

Wrong. I love my son as much or more than any other parent, but if it weren't for Ritalyn, he would probably be in fourth grade anyway (school' and their policy of social promotion), but would have the skills of a first or second grader. When he was 4, he was so severly hyperactive (he has ADHD), that he would fall out of his chair at the dinner table NUMEROUS times in one night (couldn't sit still). He'd get hurt all the time, bouncing off the walls, tearing down the hall and running into the corners of walls, climbing on his toy chest and busting his lip, etc etc etc. I took him to a pediatric neurologist, she tested him (I wanted to be sure there were no neurological issues since he was born 8 weeks early), and she basically said he was perfectly normal except for the severe ADHD. So, to make a long story short, I believe Ritalyn has it's place. I believe my son is doing better in school and socially because of it. I also believe teachers should NOT be the ones diagnosing and pushing Ritalyn, only doctors should. There are way too many kids out there who don't really need this stuff and are taking it to make teacher's and parent's lives easier.

[WackyKat]

This is government mind control at work. Parents have been prosecuted for refusing to dope their children with Ritalin. Resist!

[cva66snipe]

What a pile of cr@p. There is no scientific basis for that statement. If you've got one, name it.

It's what I've said all along in these Ritalin threads ADD ADHD is in general a gross misdiagnoses. C.A.P.D. or Central Auditory Processing Disorder symptoms and ADD ADHD are so close in behavior that only an Audiologist can tell the two apart by doing multiple tasking test. That is where it shows up. In general I am talking about doctors who prescribed the Ritalin rather than these type test first.

Research sources outside the mental health practices have established this connection. They have used Ritalin for these disorders wrongfully so I know for at least since the mid 1960's.

Tell you what though while shrinks may not understand the Vestibular/Cognitive relationship of these type disorders the Vestibular researchers sure do. In general I'm talking about damage that never leaves even after puberty as the cause isn't chemical but rather neurological damage.

Click here to get to the link

And another great site showing the relationship

Click here to get to the link

Click here to get to the link

[copycat]

The personal attack line. People are entitled to post what they wish, hysterical or not, without you insulting their intelligence.

Personally, I think it shows evidence of a weak argument.

[Victoria Delsoul]

"Children have been given Ritalin daily for many years, and it is extremely effective and beneficial, but it's not quite as simple as a short-acting drug," she said. "We need to look at it more closely."

High doses of amphetamine and cocaine have been found to switch on genes known as "immediate early genes" in brain cells. One of the genes, called c-fos, has been linked with addiction when it is activated in certain parts of the brain.

Good information, thanks.

[copycat]

Audiologist, yes. Behavioral Psychologist, yes. Ritalin, no.

[Bump in the night]

Re: reply #7: (standing ovation)! BRAVO! Great speech! You said it all!

[cva66snipe]

Audiologist, yes. Behavioral Psychologist, yes. Ritalin, no.

That's likely true for 97%-98% suspected ADD ADHD kids. I would not deny a child at least trying the treatment though ONLY if the other aboved mentioned failed. When the doctors start doing as much the Ritalin usage will bottom.

[Bump in the night]

You know... I'm begining to think that you work for Eli Lilly. You sure do jump on every single anti-psych drug thread that comes across Free Repubic and try to convince us that taking drugs is okay... as long as a quack... oops... I mean psych... gives them to you. I think that you get paid to do this.