Long-Term ADHD Drug Use Appears Safe

[Dizfriz]

"Long-Term ADHD Drug Use Appears Safe"

A release from Science Daily News:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0718103140.htm

Based on animal studies but looks interesting.

Dizfriz

[TygerSan]

Yay! Now they just need to find a better model of ADHD, and we're set.

Well that and look at the juvenile animals as adults like 6 months past treatment. . . the rodent work with antidepressants shows that there can be delayed effects after brain maturation is complete, even though the drugs were administered very early in life. At the equivalent of adolescence/young adulthood, there were no differences between animals given fluoxetine during the equivalent of 3rd trimester, but if you wait till the animals are fully developed adults, you see some deficits in emotional processing.

[JOHNCG]

Originally Posted by Dizfriz

"Long-Term ADHD Drug Use Appears Safe"

A release from Science Daily News:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0718103140.htm

Based on animal studies but looks interesting.

Dizfriz

I think that the fact stimulant medications have been used to treat ADHD for so long without any serious long-term problems coming to light also bears witness to their safety.

I mean, the first 'clinical trial" of the treatment of what we would now call ADHD dates back to 1937; and there is a scientific literature beginning in 1950 and carrying on to date that clearly documents the fact stimulant drugs are safe and generally well-tolerated when used to treat ADHD across the lifespan.

In short, if it were true that stimulant drugs like the amphetamine analogues and methylphenidate were not safe; if it was a fact that they caused organic brain damage, for instance, or psychic dysfunction in the long-term when given to persons with ADHD, then surely we would know about this, surely the fact would have come to light at some point (over the past 70 years) in the literally hundreds of controlled scientific studies that have been conducted to investigate the effects of stimulant drugs in ADHD?

[Amtram]

This will, of course, still not be satisfactory to ADHD deniers. . .