This is part 4 of the series where I go over different types of medication and inform you about the dangers of taking them. This time around, I am going over prescription stimulants.
Some forms of medication may be better than others. This is based on how the medication works, possible side effects, and overall effectiveness. Overall effectiveness is based on whether or not the medication gets rid of the root cause of the mental health problem.
Let’s take a look at what prescription stimulants do to the brain and how it affects the way people live. Before we begin, I have to state that there are different kinds of stimulants out there. This article will only go over stimulants that are prescribed, so keep that in mind.
How Do Stimulants Affect The Brain
If you don’t know, stimulants are taken for people that have ADHD because it helps with keeping attention and hyperactivity. Stimulants are also taken for people with narcolepsy since they have problems with alertness and keeping attention as well. So how exactly does stimulants work?
Prescription stimulants work in two ways. First, they increase the activity of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is typically known for being happy and involved in pleasure and motivation. People with ADHD typically have lower levels of dopamine, so they have a hard time paying attention and learning.
The other way that prescription stimulants work is by increasing the activity of norepinephrine in the brain. Norepinephrine is known to increase heart rate and provide more energy for the body. This effect also makes it so children are able to pay attention and not engage in hyperactivity.
Chemical Imbalance & Brain Chemistry
For this section, I’m going to break it down into two different sections. First, I’m going to talk about prescription stimulants and why the change in dopamine and norepinephrine can be counterproductive. Second, I’m going to talk about other mental illnesses that can occur after the use of prescription stimulants.
Changes in Dopamine & Norepinephrine
To start things off, I would like to share a small part of an article that touches on the brain chemistry of ADHD. The article states
“Once the level is where it should be (norepinephrine), the brain functions normally, and the individual becomes less hyperactive, inattentive, and/or impulsive. Once the drug wears off, the level falls — and symptoms return.”
Silver, 2019
According to the article, the medication is doing what it’s supposed to do, but once it’s removed, things go back to normal. With that being said, this means that you have to stay on the medication in order for those problems to go away. So this shows that the medication doesn’t truly get rid of the problem. In fact, the medication just blocks or mitigates the symptoms that one may feel.
However, I do have one big problem and it involves children that have “ADHD”. The reason why I used quotations is because I believe that most of the children that are diagnosed with ADHD doesn’t really have ADHD. Let’s take a closer look as to why I say that.
Children & ADHD
Most cases where children are believed to have ADHD comes from the school setting. Either the child doesn’t pay attention in class, gets distracted easily, or is constantly moving around. As humans, we can recall many different instances where we’ve engaged in all of those activities.
When we are bored, we tend to drift around and not pay attention. We may move around a lot or think of something creative to do to entertain us since class isn’t doing that for us. These behaviors or actions does not give enough evidence that there is a learning or attention deficit. Whenever you work with children that have “ADHD”, the first thing you try to do is to make learning into something fun. A clear example of this would be turning homework or lessons into a game that the child can participate in.
In most cases, the child is paying attention, not getting distracted, and can have the ability to be active. If this is the result you get, then there isn’t a problem with the child. It’s more of a problem with the way that the teacher teaches the lesson to the children. Also, the problem can come from parents whenever the child has to do homework or learn something.
With that being said, an easy solution would be to make the activities or lessons that the child engages in more exciting and fun. Children are supposed to be full of energy and want to have fun. If you can have them learn while participating in those activities, that is a happy child.
Questions To See Whether or Not Your Children Have ADHD
Since most cases revolve around the school setting, I have a few questions and statements to give out.
- Do your children engage in those behaviors primarily in school?
- Do your children not pay attention to things that they find uninteresting?
- How often do your children pay close attention and learn from the activities or hobbies they enjoy?
- What activities or hobbies do you find your children the most attentive in?
- What reasons do your children give to explain why they aren’t paying close attention or focusing?
As you can see, most of these questions are asked to find a pattern in the behaviors the child performs. I believe that some children do have problems learning and paying attention. Those children can use some help and support to get them through school and later on in life. However, I don’t believe the number of children with ADHD is as high as it is.
A lot of children find school and other activities to be boring and therefore, don’t engage fully. If parents and caregivers learned how to make school and other activities more fun, children will be more likely to pay attention and engage.
The Potential Problem With The Increase Of Dopamine
To finish this section off, it’s important to look into the increase of dopamine that occurs when someone takes prescription stimulants. Earlier when I talked about brain chemistry, there was one thing that I left out.
If you take a look at the brain chemistry for Schizophrenia, you can see that people believe the cause for it is “too much dopamine in the brain”. With prescription stimulants, the amount of dopamine in the brain increases, which can cause a problem. This is one of the reasons why children are monitored so closely when taking prescription stimulants.
You have to take a close look at the dopamine levels to make sure that they are normal or at baseline. The problem with this is that it’s hard to monitor and can take a long time. You never know if there’s a day where the medication is not taken or too much has been taken. Also, everyone responds to medication differently, so it’s not a one size fits all approach. Since everyone responds to medication differently, let’s take a look at the side effects of taking stimulants.
Potential Side Effects of Prescription Stimulants
This section will look at the short-term and long-term side effects of prescription stimulants.
Short-term side effects include
- Increase blood pressure
- Increase heart rate
- Decrease blood flow
- Rate of breath increased
- Loss of appetite
- Lack of sleep
- Violent behavior
Long-term side effects include
- Increase blood pressure
- Increase heart rate
- Insomnia
- Heart Failure
- Seizures
- Anxiety
- Depression
Again, we have depression and anxiety as a possible side effect for these medications. Since a high percentage of people that take stimulants are children for ADHD, a lot of them are not going to know how do deal with those things.
Most likely, these people are going to look for more medication to deal with those issues (which creates more potential problems in the long-run).
If your children are taking prescription stimulants, it’s important to monitor them closely to see if they develop any side effects.
Alternative Solutions for Prescription Stimulants
Even though the majority of articles and research papers say that medication is the most effective treatment for ADHD, here are some alternatives that can work.
If you feel like you’ve tried these methods before and they haven’t worked out, feel free to try another method or even medication (if you have too, but very careful dosage).
Alternative Solutions for ADHD
- Behavior Therapy: According to a 2017 study regarding the neurofeedback of behavior therapy and pharmacology on the improvement of ADHD symptoms, behavior therapy had the most extensive results.
- Diet & Exercise: According to a 2018 study regarding the diet of children that have ADHD, elimination of junk food and replacing it with healthy foods can reduce the symptoms of ADHD.
Conclusion: Are Prescription Stimulants Worth It?
In my opinion, prescription stimulants can be useful and effective for those dealing with ADHD. This medication is not as risky as the other ones and is monitored very closely to ensure safety. If you feel like this is the only way to help, then by all means go ahead and use the medication.
This whole series isn’t to force people not to take medication. It’s just to inform people of the dangers of taking medication and to provide alternatives. Also, to talk to mental health professionals and get them to look into other ways to help people instead of what’s “easiest” to give out.
