Ritalin
Ritalin is a stimulant acts as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. At a therapeutic dose, it blocks 70 percent of the neurotransmitter transporters that remove dopamine from the synaptic cleft and bring it back into the presynaptic neuron. Cocaine acts on the brain in the same way. However, Ritalin clears much more slowly from the brain than cocaine does, and thus it blocks dopamine reuptake for hours, as opposed to cocaine’s relatively brief disruption of this function
Ritalin and the other ADHD medications cause a long list of physical, emotional, and psychiatric adverse effects. The physical problems include drowsiness, appetite loss, lethargy, insomnia, headaches, abdominal pain, motor abnormalities, facial and vocal tics, jaw clenching, skin problems, liver disorders, weight loss, growth suppression, hypertension, and sudden cardiac death. The emotional difficulties include depression, apathy, a general dullness, mood swings, crying jags, irritability, anxiety, and a sense of hostility toward the world. The psychiatric problems include OCD symptoms, mania, paranoia,psychosis, and hallucinations. Ritalin also reduces blood flow and glucose metabolism in the brain, changes that usually are associated with “neuropathologic states.”
References
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Whitaker, Robert. (2010). Anatomy of an Epidemic Chapter 11 The Epidemic Spreads to Children (Epub p. 301). New York , NY: Crown Publishing.
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Whitaker, Robert. (2010). Anatomy of an Epidemic Chapter 11 The Epidemic Spreads to Children (Epub p. 311). New York , NY: Crown Publishing.
Metadata
Type:🔵 Tags: Psychiatry / Pharmacology / Biology / Neuroscience Status:☀️