ADHD Stimulant Abuse on the Rise in Teens September 7
According to researchers ADHD drugs (amphetamines specifically) are increasingly abused by teens. This has given rise to a 76% increase in Emergency room cases of poison from the drug in teens, a statistic that is much higher than even that of illegal substance abuse in teens and prescription drug abuse in general. Out of those calls recorded 42% of calls dealing with poison from abusing these drugs were of a serious nature, causing moderate to major effects and in some cases death.
Teens usual use prescription drugs to get better sleep, treat anxiety, and help them with concentration. All of these uses occurring under the mistaken idea that they are safer to use than illegal street drugs. Abuse of these prescriptions has gone up with the more common use of amphetamines for ADHD treatment. It’s also thought that these incidences are more commonly reported because those who use amphetamines are more likely to feel sick from using the drug.
Tags: adhd drugs, Anxiety, death, Drug, drug abuse, drugs abuse, drugs amphetamines, er, gene, illegal substance, poison, prescription drug abuse, prescription drugs, research, sleep, stimulant, Substance Abuse, tan, teens, ten, testcountry, testing
john glennon Sep 8
As a former elementary school principal, I am quite aware that attention difficulties are just the tip of the iceberg. ADHD children can’t filter out distractions, finish tasks on-time, use their memory optimally, etc. A pill doesn’t teach these skills.
My wife and I opted to use cognitive skill training for our son, Alex. We used Play Attention (www.playattention.com) and ADHD Nanny (www.adhdnanny.com). We’ve been very successful with these approaches. We also changed our parenting skills with great success.
It’s just important to know that medicine teaches nothing. Parents and teachers must actively participate to help change a child’s life.
TestCountry Sep 8
I commend you for becoming so involved with your child’s well-being! There are a lot more options out there for children with disorders like ADHD and autism that just weren’t there even a handful of years ago. When a child is dealing with these conditions they deserve to have a more personalized and accurate treatment for their individual conditions.