[Health&Healing] Ritalin May Cause Damage to Brain

[Guest guest]

Wouldn't pharmaceutical companies love the profits of a mood

altering drug when taken as a child, that produces long term

depression as an adult?...

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Ritalin 'may cause damage to brains'

By Pravin Char, Metro

 

Children given Ritalin to control hyperactivity could be permanently

brain damaged, it was claimed yesterday.

 

Research suggests the controversial 'chemical cosh' drug raises the

risk of depression and anxiety in adulthood.

 

Ritalin alters the brain's chemical composition so that it has a

lasting effect on mental health, US scientists believe. Because

these changes take place while a child's brain is growing, they

could cause irreversible damage.

 

The findings will alarm parents using the drug to control a child's

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

 

British GPs dispensed a record 254,000 Ritalin prescriptions last

year, up from 208,500 in 2001. One in 20 children is said to have

ADHD, which makes them boisterous and unfocused.

 

'It is vitally important we evaluate the long-term effects of these

drugs,' said Dr Nora Volkow, director of the US National Institute

on Drug Abuse.

 

Although American studies involved laboratory rats, the doses given

were comparable to those used on children.

 

In one test, giving Ritalin to young, healthy rats increased the

presence of certain chemicals linked to depression in adults.

Asecond study found higher levels of stress hormones and anxietylike

behaviours.

 

Last night, Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton urged the

Government to investigate Ritalin use.

 

The Royal College of Paediatrics said: 'Ritalin has been used for 40

years. If there was a long-term side-effect, it would have been

discovered by now.'

 

Novartis, the company which makes Ritalin, insisted there was no

clinical link to depression or anxiety disorders.

 

Find this story at

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifeandstyle/health/articles/8211049?

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