is there realy any scientific evidence of long term efects of Dexedrine ?
forgive me if its here but i havnt found it, but without my meds everything is hard.

theres so many hits on google but hard to find the actual scientific evidence if there is any, im not interested in how it affects rats or even normal people.

but im thinking its going to be a hard slog to get this medication again, and if theres any good data wich might suggest the long term progniosis for someone that gets such a fantastic benefit ( ie feels 100% <Normal>) and with zero significant side effects.

if it makes me feel normal for 10 years then stops working or cuases problems to make me stop then thats worth it, if it worked for the rest of my life (30 years) even better. even if theres problems after 10 years I would hope theres some way to offset those problems.

Ive taken it on 2 seperate occasions of moderate length and its worked fine for the duration, with no noticable change on the same dose after initialy ramping it up.

I keep being told a myriad of other excuses for not being given it, but I know those are all wrong.

But they also say they dont know the long term side effects and use this as if its a reason not to prescribe it, but googling is hard to find any scientific study, but if there were any serious long term side efffects then surly these would be quite well known given the nature of thr drug and how long its been around?

Ive had Dexedrine a few times and its worked realy well, although the medical profesion here in the UK messed me about I have developed PTSD and even lost my mind for a while, but that was becuase they witheld it, not while I was on it.

I know it doesnt work this well for everyone, and I know if people take it who dont need it can only make them worse, and the problems with recreational use or in rats, is usualy the only evidence quoted to me, but realy im only interested in finding out something I can feel is more applicable to me, ive been trying to read peoples experiences here, but its hard going being so tired.

dexedrine has been in use for a long long time.

i went to pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez )
and searched for the following string: dexedrine long term side effects
and I tried this string too: long term dexedrine effects
I got about 2 pages of citations . I think a more carefully worded search might turn up more.

ME :D

thanks I had a quick look, one or two of them said theres little or no studies done, the longest i could find was a study upto 18 years at the Mayo clinic, but that was from somewhere else and the link the scientific article is broken.

I would be interested in any long term side effect studies too. I've been on dex for about one year now. I haven't found anything myself, but there must be something out there. You may want to try just looking for side effects of amphetamines (medical use of course).

You can do your own research and come to some conclusions although they won't be based on long term studies. I have learned a lot through wikipedia. For example, I know that dex puts your body in a constant state of fight or flight. The chemical reactions that take place from that can be followed on wikipedia pretty well. You just click on the blue links and you get fruther and further explanation of the effects. For example I know that cortisol is incresed in the body, and if you research the effects of cortisol relesae on wiki, you can see the domino effect it has on other systems of the body, and that's just one physiological aspect. There are many other things that happen and it is like a cascade of events.

Your body regulates the chemicals it needs through a system of checks and balances, negative and positive feed back loops and equilibriums. If you can determine one chemical that dex throws out of whack then you can follow it through the loops and estimate the other affects it will have.
So far I have learned many things, I am no Dr. but here's a few that I have determined through my reading.

Constant glucose metabolization can cause depleated glucose levels in a flight or fight state. Hypotonic urine, caused by the cells becoming dehydrated, by a loss of water. Incresed cortisol production (stress hromone), results in increased belly fat in men. Also affect many other things. I know the drug can have affects on insulin prodction, collagen production in the skin....and many other things. Reading about these affects has been very enlightening for me because they explain so many of the side effects I feel and see. I may have got some of the details wrong.

I would type in dexedrine in wikipedia and then follow the blue highlighted chemical links and see what they do in the body. It's a good start for your own research.

I would love to see some long term studies though?

all these psychoactive drugs work on particular brain chemicals, but they do it by binding to certain sites in the brain, diferent drugs bind to differemt sites for the same chemical wich can mean almost opposite effect, depending on wether that part of the brain is involved in speeding up or slowing something down.

the older drugs cuased more problems becuase they affected the entire body, newer drugs are often suposedly much more selective.

the sites these drugs are intended to bind to are probably also slightly diferent chemicaly in each of us.

I think the brain especialy is too complicated and variable from person to person, to assume you can work this stuff out from some chart. especialy if you assume it just works on one particular chemical equally throught the body,

and then you would need to know the actual levels in your particular body, and the required level for optimal balance. then add drugs to adjustacoridingly. would it be cool if that was possible though, maybe it will somedday.

ive had many diferent noradrenaline and dopamine agonist type drugs and they have all been so totaly different effect on me.

also long term damage can be cuased by so many diferent mechanisms.
the only worthwhile thing to look at is examples of people who have teken it for a long time. those people exist. it just needs a study to find and study them, but then what do you compare it with, you cant compare it with a normal person, becuase the person who is taking it is taking it becuase there is something wrong, so this makes it awkward to work out what they would of been like if they hadnt taken it. its probably uqually awkward to find people with the same condition but have been left untreated for such a long time.

but still some statistics about whats happened to people whove teken it al their lives would be of some use still. if nothing else it might help try to avoid any such problems with carefull monitoring or other drugs to reverse or prevent such bad effects.

Check out this site (FDA): http://google2.fda.gov/search?client=FDA&site=cder&output=xml_no_dtd&lr=&proxystylesheet=FDA&q=long+term+study+dextroamphetamine&as=GO

It's long but it takes you to the search I did for long term studies. There's some info, but I havn't read thru it yet.

I would be leery of anything you read on Wikipedia. It allows for input from just about anyone on any subject.

I have been taking Dex for over 10 years now. I cannot say that there are any long term side effects, any more than say, drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes has other serious long term side effects, but short term, nicotene can have a great short term benefit for people with ADD. Several studies support that too... cannot say I have them on the top of my head at this time though. Too bad the negative effects of nicotene are so bad. I quit smoking over 20 years ago.

Also keep in mind that new studies are showing that people with ADHD actually have different brain chemistry, and the effects of Dex on us is different than on 'so called' normal people. Dex changes the way that neurons react, and it seems to correct, or compensate for the action of faulty brain chemistry and activity. So I would want to see studies of the long term effects of Dex on ADD people, and not on normals.

I am staying on the Dex myself.

I have been taking Dex for over 10 years now. I cannot say that there are any long term side effects, any more than say, drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes.

Phew! ;)

[quote=Dex4Me;620357]I would be leery of anything you read on Wikipedia. It allows for input from just about anyone on any subject.

Yes, my teachers say the same thing. It's always good to cross reference anything on the net. But so far I haven't found anything to be incorrect on Wiki. I've used it for many things and have always cross referenced my material.

The same reason wiki can be flawed, is also the same reason why it can be so good. The material is viewed by millions of eyes, many of whom are experts in their field. Usually anything that is not confirmed scientifically or accepted through experimentation is quickly caught and edited out by these people. Also, wikipedia requires that sources be listed, and information without sources is usually quickly removed by the staff whom is always monitoring for inaccuracies.

Wiki, is not a scientifically peer reviewed journal in the traditional sense. But it is peer reviewed by many experts in their field. Still, I would always cross reference any information that isn't found in a scientific peer reviewed article/journal, especially stuff found on the net.

I would be leery of anything you read on Wikipedia. It allows for input from just about anyone on any subject.

I have been taking Dex for over 10 years now. I cannot say that there are any long term side effects, any more than say, drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes has other serious long term side effects, but short term, nicotene can have a great short term benefit for people with ADD. Several studies support that too... cannot say I have them on the top of my head at this time though. Too bad the negative effects of nicotene are so bad. I quit smoking over 20 years ago.

Also keep in mind that new studies are showing that people with ADHD actually have different brain chemistry, and the effects of Dex on us is different than on 'so called' normal people. Dex changes the way that neurons react, and it seems to correct, or compensate for the action of faulty brain chemistry and activity. So I would want to see studies of the long term effects of Dex on ADD people, and not on normals.

I am staying on the Dex myself.

wow 10 years thats realy encouraging to hear thanks :DD its realy made my day. may I ask what dose such as mg/kg and if its been constant ?

so ok thats 1 statistic on its own so far, but at least it means its not definatly bad long term. maybe we could have some sort of dex usage census ? and build our own statistics lol ? obviously we wouldnt hear from people who have died from it but then we would probably hear that in the news.

and yes from what ive read the damaging problems are from cases of normal people taking it.

ive also read a bit on methamphetamine wich is neurotixic in high doses, and indicated the possible neorotixity of this (ilicit)drug is related to the increase in dopamine levels in the brain and that dopamine breaks down into a very strong free radical wich cuase the damage by destroying neurons.

I was a bit worried as I did try this for a very short while, but the doses I was taking were minute compoared to ilicit use, but the effect was remarkable in that i felt more calm and in control clear headed etc, and less anxiety and good mood than on dexedrine. I certainly didnt feel high or euphoric.

although I have often said feeling normal for the first time when I was precribed the right medication (for the wrong reasons) was so fantastic, if its posible at all for perfect health to make one feel euphoric this was as close as you can get.

this isnt aproved for any medicnal use, although i dont know if its ever been considered, obvioulsy the abuse potential here is alrming, and probably why. but many now ilicit drugs were once developed for medicinal use.

I think the re uptake inhibitors dont increase levels of dopamine.
but do they actually measure dopamine leves in peoples brains ?
are our dopamine leves lower ?

maybe theres even mileage in taking more vitamin c or something to ensure the long term safety ?

The first study on the use of stimulants for behavior was in 1937.

There definately needs to be more long term work.

I have read research on the negative impact of methylphenidate on boys between the ages of 7-9yrs.old ( stunted growth ).

The good news was that a med holiday worked.

Stopping the meds meant an end to the side effect.

I've also seen & heard stimulants described as "The most benign drugs in psychiatry."

While I claim no expertise in this area, I (personally) believe that the fact stimulants are secreted out of the body so quickly, is positive.

Lastly, there is longitudinal research on the use of stimulants helping to decrease the likelihood of alcohol, substance & nicotine use, in boys.

That trend has been studied for a number of years now.

hope that helps


tc

mctavish23

(Robert)

what you say is also encouraging,
Lastly, there is longitudinal research on the use of stimulants helping to decrease the likelihood of alcohol, substance & nicotine use, in boys.

although I wonder of the public reaction to this aproach.

what you say is also encouraging,

although I wonder of the public reaction to this aproach.

I would think the reaction would be positive (ie Wellbutrin, Antibuse, etc. -- although this is contradicted for amphetamine due to potential for abuse) although the absence of abuse is very difficult to judge in the individual. And alcohol use, for instance, is very prevelant, therefore not always seen as a "problem" (until it becomes one of course).

After my tenure with amphetamine, it does not produce longterm side-effects provided the shortterm ones are addressed (ie appetite suppression).

There is evidence that changes in hormones are normalized over time, hence the immediate hunger or sleep immediately after stopping the medication.