Expert: Norm Bishop - 11/10/2010

Question
QUESTION: why do all the long term side effect articles on ritalin I read state that those who feel addicted to ritalin are only people who've abused it? My mom told me it was allergy medicine for most of my life so I didn't abuse it yet I still after 15 years of not being on this medication have an in-ignorable need to increase my dopamine levels in order to feel normal. I believe this drug did serious damage to me in my youth and I'd like some answers to THAT instead of continued comments about how ONLY if you abuse it can you become addicted to it. If I started drinking at age 7 to 16 then I'd be an alcoholic by now...calling my issues today bi-polar is inaccurate. I've been down that road already. Doctors didn't help..they just wanted to put me on more meds that made me even MORE sick and futhermore I am too happy and content with my life to be suffering this mental disorder. If I was high everyday during my developmental years on a Class II controlled substance then why is it so far fetched to state it damaged me so that I'd need to increase my dopamine levels in the same way in order to function indefinitely in my adulthood too...I live a life that is happy and fulfilling otherwise so please don't' come at me with a bunch of mental disorders I COULD have. THIS is what happened to me...so where is my support group?


ANSWER: I am not a doctor or a pharmacist, so I really don't know much about drugs and their long term effects.  I know what you know, that we are told that the dosage of ritalin normally given to children does not cause chemical dependence, and that when the student taking the drug is really ADHD (brain chemistry difference) that the effects of ritalin are a calming, not a high.  

I won't give you a bunch of mental disorders that you might have, since I am not a Psychiatrist or Psychologist who would be qualified to do so.  I am a teacher who has been in special education teaching, supporting, administrating and now teaching teachers.  So I know the classroom part of it, not the medical parts of it.

I would direct your question to a well trained physician, possible someone who does a lot of prescribing of Ritalin and similar drugs or a pharmacist who has studied drug interactions and their effects.  It don't think what you propose is impossible, but I don't know that for a fact.  I do know that 50% of students I have seen be prescribed ritalin had a positive effect as a result.  The others were just as wild as they were before they took the drug.  You may have been in the 50% with no effect.

Glad that you have a great life and as a result, I think your support group is where mine is, right here with my family loving me and me loving back.

Norm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: That's probably one of the more honest answers I've received from people who consider themselves experts in anyway in this field so I appreciate your candor. I have a few more question though. I was reading on Wikapedia yesterday that there have been no long term studies of this medication and how it affects children in the long run beyond 4 weeks yet this medication has been available and in some form given to children to treat ADD since 1938(ish). That being said after SO MUCH time WHY hasn't there been any long term studies? What excuse can the makers possibly give to justify this? How much time do they need? How can it continue to be given to children when the long term affects are not "known"? There's talk of a cover up in order to sell medications which doesn't seem TOO farfetched because I am not the only person I know who had this same experience from and on the drug. If it came out that this was a factual consequence in a report wouldn't it greatly affect their bottom-line? Since drug companies are pretty much the only people who fund drug research then isn't it possible that they know this but aren't talking? We've heard it said for years that they cushion their findings in order to gain FDA approval. I had a terrible experience on this drug..psychosis, daily nausea, irritability, stunted growth etc. It did not make me better. I didn't stay in my seat until the med, true, but I never felt well AFTER the med AND my life at that time became unhappy and difficult when before I loved life and I couldn't wait to experience everything...I can clearly remember that. 50% is not very affective either..and kids don't have a voice or say in what they are given so that means 50% of kids are suffering unknowingly and unnecessarily. How can this drug that's claimed to have so many negative affects continue to be given to children when there are no long term studies done on the lasting affects? That just seems irresponsible. Yes my life is great now but I had to go through years of struggle before I figured out why I was the way I was that didn't need to happen if the proper information was made available to me and my parents. I had to figure this out and learn to treat it on my own. I would do anything to work with someone who may have long term solutions so I could put this part of my life firmly behind me but as long as there is denial that it can even happen then I'm left floundering.  Psychiatrists or Psychologists started the problem...how can they solve it esp if they don't have all the facts? Also I already worked with these people and they tried to tell me it was bi-polar which when I read the symptoms are assumptions based on feelings and not based on fact in any way and NOT SUPRISELY involved MORE drugs for the pharm compaines bottom line. btw I do not have a great life as a result of Ritalin...I have a great life as a result of my strength of character overcoming the result of Ritalin. Here is the link to the article I found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention-deficit_hyperactivity_disorder_controvers Thanks -Carol  

Answer
I don't have the answers to these questions, but even as a professional teacher, I think about the same things and have similar concerns.  I do think that it has gotten better, but still a long ways from where it should be.  Doctor's, especially Pediatricians and Family Practice, should be better trained in ADHD, and drugs like Ritalin.  More research needs to be done with alternative methods to see what affect they have, and on and on.

Thanks for the article link...interesting...

Norm