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Children and stimulants?

Cosmicjamas

21:28 / 04.05.03

My son, age 4, has just been prescribed Ephedrine nose drops. Now, of course, there's only a low dose of the drug in them but even so it concerns me. I remember having these as a child, and really craving the stimulant effect. The craving for stimulants re-emerged when I was a young teenager, and I had an amphetamine habit for about 20 years. Never a serious problem with it, and always at a controlled dose, but a drug habit all the same. And that desire will always be with me.

Do stimulants really have a different effect on children? Ritalin is widely prescribed for children with ADD and hyperactivity, and from what I've seen it really does help their attention span.

But should any child really be given stimulant drugs? Can it "rewire" the brain, so to speak, to create a craving?

Salamander

22:21 / 04.05.03

First, you must descern the difference between habit and addiction. Most people have a stim habit, caffee and soda for instance, which goes unoticed and unchecked, an addiction. a habit implies something consciously done and regulated. Your sone may very well develope a habit someday, doesn't mean coke or meth, it may be caffiene or adrenalin.

w1rebaby

22:24 / 04.05.03

IMO, no. But then I've had a Saturday experiencing what happens when small children are given Coke late at night.

I think the problem is less that it can rewire the brain to become an addict in later life, rather that it can cause immediate behavioural changes. I find it hard enough to cope with stimulants as an adult and lead a normal life, with a higher body mass and tolerance.

I read an interesting piece by someone who had been given Ritalin as a child and was now an adult (I think it was on plastic.com). According to him, the reason it was effective was purely because of the stimulant effects; stimulants help you focus in on the task at hand instead of being easily distracted. I don't think there's any magic interaction between what is basically an amphetamine cocktail and AD(H)D that gives a "paradoxical" effect - the effect isn't really paradoxical, it's what should be expected.

pomegranate

15:37 / 14.05.03

i don't think you should necc. worry that yr son will want to do uppers when he's older just cos he's being prescribed ephedrine now. it could be that that's just how you are, and whether or not you had stimulants as a child you would have enjoyed them as an adult. yr son could be the same way, or not. i hope the nose drops help him. let us know how he does on them.

captain yossarian

10:24 / 22.05.03

i live in austria and i sometimes hear rumours: it´s true that doctors in the usa give downing medicaments to children with hyperactive and/or deviant behaviour? this is very bad...

captain yossarian

10:26 / 22.05.03

one more: coca cola "thins" the bone-material of the skeleton... the phosphoric acid in cola consumes calcium. children who drink huge amounts of coca cola get their bones broken more often.
children should drink more clear water. adults too.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

11:14 / 24.05.03

Indeed. As a nutritionist once put it (IIRC): "We need more phosphorus like Custer needed more Indians."

As to the possibility of engendering a stimulant habit in a child: My personal and entirely subjective opinion is that some people are more likely to crave certain drugs than other people. It's as if there's a little chemical hook in the brain. If you're a stimulant kind of guy then you'll be attracted to stimulants; it doesn't matter if you're 4 or 40 when you get your first taste.

Making sure that kids and young people avoid fatigue by giving them a healthy diet and enough excercise is probably more important than keeping them away from all stimulants. If they don't feel run down and weary, then they won't be as interested in uppers. (And yes, I realize this is much easier said than done!)

cusm

13:24 / 26.05.03

Stim aside, Ephedrine is an effective decongestant when actually perscribed for it. Though I'm suprised he got real Ephedrine and not Psuedophed. That's what I always used to take for nasal, and its less jittery then the real stuff.

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