Latest news with #Ritalin
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
ADHD drugs back in the spotlight after study debunks rising prevalence
An increasing number of patients are seeking support for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with pharmacological-based treatments an important part of medical care for the neurodevelopmental condition. A study published this week in the Journal of Affective Disorders has found that greater awareness and acceptance around the disorder has led to more people seeking help. The research, led by a team at King's College, London, debunks claims that the disorder is 'naturally' on the rise. The data comes as a national taskforce in England investigates what this rising demand for support means for the NHS. Figures published in May 2025 by NHS England estimated there were nearly 2.5 million people in England with ADHD. This includes more than 550,000 currently waiting for an assessment. Every month 20,000 more people are referred for support, a rise of 13% compared to last year. Pharmaceutical Technology looks at some of the current options in the UK and casts an eye ahead to what the future drug landscape might contain. The first choice for patients with ADHD is methylphenidate, which belongs to a class of drugs called central nervous system (CNS) stimulants. The drug, which works by blocking the reuptake of norepinephrine and dopamine, increases activity in the brain, including regions associated with attention and behaviour. It is known under the brand names Ritalin, manufactured by Novartis, and Johnson and Johnson's Concerta. There is also Equasym and Xenidate, among others. Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate is also used to treat patients with ADHD. Like methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine is a CNS stimulant and acts as a norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI). This drug is known under the brand name, among others, as Elvanse and Vyvanse, both manufactured by Takeda. While stimulants are fast acting, with side effects felt soon after administration, non-stimulant drugs take longer, yet can offer an alternative if drugs like methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine dimesylate do not work. While improving, access to pharmacological-based treatments is still impaired amid an ongoing global shortage that began in September 2023. Methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine were primarily affected – the shortage arising due to a combination of manufacturing issues and increased global demand. A separate study published in The American Journal of Managed Care in March suggested that overdiagnosis of ADHD is fuelling the shortage of stimulation medications. One of the most advanced candidate drugs, and one with notable buzz surrounding it, is Axsome's Sunosi (solriamfetol). Sunosi, which is also an NDRI but not a conventional stimulant, met its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial (NCT05972044) earlier this year. The medication led to a 45% drop in ADHD symptoms. As measured by the Adult ADHD Investigator Symptom Rating Scale (AISRS), 150mg Sunosi dosed achieved average reductions from baseline of 17.7 points, compared to 14.3 points for placebo. Sunosi is already approved in the UK to treat excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in adults with narcolepsy, with or without cataplexy. Certain patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) are also eligible to take the medication. In 2022, Axsome paid $53m up front to acquire Sunosi from Jazz Pharmaceuticals. A drug with a recent approval extension in the US, though not the UK, was Supernus Pharmaceuticals' Qelbree (viloxazine extended-release capsules). The mechanism of action of Qelbree, though unclear, is thought to be through inhibiting the reuptake of norepinephrine. Originally approved for children in 2021, the FDA updated the drug's label in January this year to include adults. ADHD treatments were in the political crosshairs in the US recently. The disorder, along with autism, was singled out by the Trump administration for an 'over-utilisation of medication'. Pharmaceutical intervention remains a helpful part of managing the disorder, though it is part of a combination of treatments that also include coaching and lifestyle changes. "ADHD drugs back in the spotlight after study debunks rising prevalence" was originally created and published by Pharmaceutical Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Medical experts expose the dark side of ADHD drugs - from serious psychiatric side effects to heart problems - as urgent warning issued for students and people with 'pseudo' ADHD
Peter was only 12 when he was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin, medication which was, in his mother's words, a 'godsend – his focus improved and he stopped climbing the walls'. But five years on and Joanne, 55, who lives in Hampshire with her husband Paul and their three children, takes a different view.
Time Business News
23-05-2025
- Health
- Time Business News
The Role of Faith Communities in Addiction Recovery
Addiction hollows out more than the body—it carves away at the soul. As individuals spiral into cycles of substance dependence, they often experience a profound disconnection from purpose, community, and hope. Faith communities occupy a singular position in addressing this existential desolation, offering spiritual restoration, compassionate fellowship, and moral guidance. Where traditional clinical models often prioritize neurochemistry and behavior, the spiritual domain—long ignored—finds a sanctuary in the heart of the church, mosque, synagogue, or temple. Exploring the Line Between Treatment and Risk In discussions about attention disorders, some people question the effects of certain substances on focus and behavior. While approved medications like Adderall and Ritalin are commonly prescribed, there's ongoing curiosity about unconventional substances. For example, some wonder, does meth help with ADHD ? Though methamphetamine is chemically similar to some ADHD medications, it is a dangerous and highly addictive illegal drug. Using it without medical supervision poses serious health risks and is not a safe or approved treatment. Legitimate therapies exist that are both effective and regulated, ensuring safety and long-term support for managing ADHD symptoms. Addiction as a Spiritual Crisis Chemical dependency frequently masks a deeper yearning. Beneath the surface of addiction lies a quest for transcendence—a desperate attempt to soothe internal wounds or fill an aching void. This dimension of suffering transcends mere biology; it speaks to the metaphysical dislocation of the human spirit. Addiction thrives in isolation, shame, and despair—the very antitheses of spiritual flourishing. Faith traditions have long recognized this: from ancient prayers for deliverance to modern psalms of sobriety, the battle against addiction has always been a spiritual endeavor as much as a physical one. Overview of Spiritual Recovery Frameworks Several recovery frameworks draw directly from religious tenets. Celebrate Recovery, a Christian-based program, integrates biblical teachings with the twelve steps, placing Jesus Christ at the center of the healing journey. Similarly, Alcoholics Anonymous, while not overtly religious, was founded on the belief in a 'Higher Power' that restores sanity. These models thrive on the premise that spiritual surrender catalyzes transformation. The rhythm of confession, repentance, and renewal found in sacred texts mirrors the arc of recovery itself. They offer rituals of restoration that resonate on a soul-deep level. The Role of Fellowship and Belonging One of the most potent antidotes to addiction is connection. Faith communities offer more than services—they offer sanctuary. Within these gatherings, individuals rediscover identity not as addicts, but as children of God, worthy of love and restoration. Weekly meetings, communal prayers, and support groups create a rhythm of accountability and grace. It's in these spaces that addicts are not shamed, but embraced; not stigmatized, but seen. This communal infrastructure provides not only encouragement but a framework of accountability that nurtures long-term sobriety. Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Mentorship Faith leaders often serve as first responders to personal crises. Their offices are sacred confessionals where brokenness is met with nonjudgmental compassion. Unlike therapists, spiritual mentors may operate outside the clinical model, allowing them to speak directly to questions of meaning, guilt, forgiveness, and destiny. Pastoral counseling, when done well, helps individuals make sense of suffering within the broader narrative of divine purpose. Many churches train lay leaders to support recovery ministries, multiplying their impact across congregational life. Bridging the Gap Between Theology and Therapy True healing lies at the intersection of spirit and science. Increasingly, faith-based organizations are forging partnerships with licensed counselors and treatment centers to create integrated models of care. These collaborative approaches respect the integrity of both the sacred and the scientific. A patient may attend a clinical detox program while receiving spiritual counseling and participating in religious rituals. The goal is synergy: treating not just the symptoms of addiction, but the soul that suffers beneath them. Respecting Pluralism and Avoiding Coercion The integration of faith into recovery is not without complexities. Not all individuals resonate with a religious framework, and coercing belief can hinder healing. Faith communities must tread carefully, ensuring their doors remain open to all, regardless of creed or conviction. Sensitivity to trauma, doctrinal diversity, and mental health challenges is paramount. It's not dogma, but empathy that should lead. A wise faith community knows when to offer prayer—and when to refer out to clinical care. Understanding the differences between illicit substances is essential for awareness and prevention. Although both drugs are powerful stimulants, are meth and crack the same ? The answer is no—meth, short for methamphetamine, is a synthetic stimulant that affects the central nervous system, producing intense euphoria and energy. Crack, on the other hand, is a form of cocaine that is smoked and delivers a rapid, short-lived high. While both can lead to addiction and severe health consequences, their chemical compositions, effects, and methods of use differ significantly. Knowing these distinctions is crucial when discussing drug abuse and recovery options. conclusion In a society often defined by disconnection and despair, faith communities possess an extraordinary gift: the ability to speak to the whole person—body, mind, and soul. Their role in addiction recovery is not peripheral—it is essential. Through compassionate presence, sacred rituals, and unwavering hope, these communities restore what addiction steals: dignity, purpose, and belonging. The future of recovery may well depend on this sacred partnership—where theology meets therapy, and healing becomes holistic. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Cambridge native Millyz returns for a homecoming show
On the far left, Millyz in 2015. Katherine Taylor for the Boston Globe Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Along the way he's experienced highs – Advertisement Recently Millyz spoke with the Globe via Zoom from Los Angeles, where he was doing press for his new album 'Blanco 7,' the latest installment of a series that revolves around Blanco, the alter-ego that Q. What part of Cambridge did you grow up in and what was it like? A. It was between the Port [Cambridgeport] and the Coast [Riverside], about three blocks from Central Square. Columbia Park was as close to me as Hoyt Field was, so I would fluctuate between both of those. Maybe it was on like the cusp of gentrification, but definitely not what it is like today. It was fun – it was very basketball-centered. Everybody would freestyle in the neighborhood, people would do beatboxes with their hands and I'd jump into the cyphers. I remember walking to a party at Mystic Projects [in Somerville] and I was rap battling with somebody over there, so they anointed me as the guy from the neighborhood that can rap. Q. At the same time you've talked about getting into trouble at a young age. What caused it? A. it wasn't like I was born into generational gangbanging. There was street stuff going around, but I really think that being placed into special education [gave me a mindset] at 11 or 12 that 'I'm a bad kid, let me have fun with the bad kids.' Once you're taken out of regular school and you're told in sixth grade to be put on Ritalin or Adderall and they put you in the short buses and the small classrooms with all the other behavior disorder kids, they kind of label you below all the other kids, and I think that really affected me. Advertisement Q. That's been a theme of your work, including a two-volume album series called 'SPED.' But you're quick to praise the teachers you had. A. Special education teachers are amazing. I had restraint teachers – when I start bugging out, they have the right as an adult to physically restrain me, and those were some of the best people you could meet. Those teachers are some of the best humans in the world because they got to deal with the craziest kids. Q. Many Boston drivers were handed your CD through their car window. What was your best spot and when did you realize you could stop? A. My trick was that I would stop traffic at the light after club events or things with a lot of traffic. I just put my car in park and while everybody was honking, I would pass them my CD. When I got to, like, the 20th car, I would run back to my car and drive off! Then things shifted and I tried to be on the precipice of that. It shifted to MySpace, but I didn't really get any real traction on that. Twitter came around, and I finally started finding my niche with Instagram. Q. Could you have found the same success staying here instead of moving to New York? A. No. Because when I moved, I was happy with local fame, and I was happy making music that was therapeutic. But [career-wise] nothing was really clicking for me. I think a very fundamental thing about this rap [game] is you need to be able to be around actual rappers to see how it goes. Like you can't just watch them on social media and TV. And the pandemic, it slowed everything down, and that was actually perfect for my music because I wasn't really a big club rapper, I was actually rapping about introspective things, about pain, mixed with bars and metaphors, and so the style of music I was doing connected during the pandemic. But now it is possible to make it out of Boston, because with outlets like TikTok, you can pop from there, but you would still have to go spread your wings and mingle in other places. Advertisement Q. What's it like when you come back here? A. For motivational purposes, we pull up in five black trucks with the jewelry on, showing that we're really in the game. We came from right here and I'm back with a 30-person entourage. It isn't a figment of your imagination that it can happen. Interview has been edited and condensed. MILLYZ With Skrilla and Benny the Butcher Saturday May 10, 8:00 p.m., MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Tickets $35.24 - $61.50 at Noah Schaffer can be reached at noahschaffer@
Business Mayor
04-05-2025
- Health
- Business Mayor
I learned the horrifying risks of 'miracle' ADHD drugs and stopped taking them… but it was too late
Mandi Masterpole was one of 16 million Americans taking ADHD medications — the only catch? She didn't have the disorder. She took drugs like Adderall and Ritalin without a prescription, using them to power through schoolwork, juggle babysitting jobs, and stay energized for parties. By 22, Masterpole suffered a devastating heart attack after five years of abusing the stimulants — which she likened to 'legal speed.' 'I bought a few and I tried them and that was it. I remember my eyes lighting up, the colors seemed to be brighter,' said Masterpole from Hamilton, New Jersey. 'Everything seemed to be bright. I thought it was like heaven. I was like, 'Oh my god, this is amazing.'' One pill a day quickly became two as she chased that initial high. Eventually she was snorting the drug four times a day with most of her $600 weekly paycheck going towards the cost. ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Vyvanse are designated schedule II drugs under the Controlled Substances Act. Mandi Masterpole began abusing Adderall and Ritalin when she was 17. She enjoyed it for its ability to keep her awake and alert to keep up with her school work while also spending time with friends and partying For people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), they can be valuable medical tools as they simply replenish depleted levels of chemicals in the brain that help patients concentrate. But for those who don't have the disorder, they overstimulate the brain with pleasure hormones, leading to performance-enhancing effects and an addictive euphoric 'high' that can prove dangerous. Masterpole would take the drugs, typically crushed up and snorted, for six days a week. 'It got to the point where I would make a schedule. I would stop the pills on Tuesday, because I was off work on Wednesday,' she said. 'So I would stop on Tuesday, I would take Wednesday to eat and then I would start my pills again. I needed to take a day to eat because I wasn't eating anything.' The drugs decimated her appetite with her weight plummeting from a healthy 140 lbs to a stick-thin 114 lbs. The drugs were also doing insurmountable damage under the surface. Aged 21, she became unexpectedly pregnant with her daughter, Shea, and though she says she stopped taking the drugs during her pregnancy, by that point the damage to her heart muscle was done. 'I knew when I went into labor, I was telling my mom, 'something's not right',' Masterpole recalled. 'The doctors asked me if I had taken anything, I ended up telling them that I had abused drugs and they basically said I had blown out my heart.' On top of that, she was a type 1 diabetic and had not been taking her insulin as needed. 'I would tell people to steer clear of these drugs completely. It's not worth it. It may make you feel good but it's going to tear everything apart,' Masterpole, now 34, said. She is pictured with her daughter Shae 'The drugs had weakened my heart, plus the diabetes had made it so weak that when I went into labor my body couldn't handle it,' Masterpole said. Years of heavy drug use in addition to mismanaging her diabetes made the young woman's heart 'ridiculously weak,' the doctor told her. 'There was nothing to it,' she said. 'He was like, 'you just shattered it.'' Now, the 34-year-old often requires a wheelchair to get around as her weakened heart has left her with fatigue and shortness of breath. She can't have any more children due to the stress it would impose on her depleted body. Masterpole is looking back on her experience in the hope of educating young people who opt to start taking the drugs without a doctor's order just to get ahead in academics or to party. The irony, Masterpole says, is that even though she was abusing her body, she was excelling in her school work and social life. She worked and studied all day to become a mortician but was still able to see her friends and party at night. Years of heavy drug use in addition to mismanaging her diabetes made the young woman's heart 'ridiculously weak,' the doctor told Masterpole After her heart stopped twice, doctors implanted an LVAD—a mechanical pump that supports a failing heart—to keep her alive 'Here I am telling myself I'm doing the right thing getting school done but I was blowing my heart out the whole time.' Adderall and similar drugs boost concentration by increasing dopamine (motivation, focus, and reward) and norepinephrine (alertness and attention), helping the brain prioritize tasks and ignore distractions. 'I was telling myself, I'm getting so much done, I have time, I can still party, I can still hang out, I can get up and go to work.' She was making money babysitting at the time and figured that, as long as she could still be a proper caregiver, her drug use wasn't be problematic. 'It's not like I'm nodding off in class, it's not like I can't see the kids. I'm washing them, I'm changing diapers, I'm doing everything I need to do,' she recalled thinking. But taking Adderall in high doses puts undue stress on the heart, speeding it up and raising blood pressure, which over time can cause the heart muscle to thicken. Amphetamines like Adderall and Ritalin also cause blood vessels to constrict, which reduces the supply of oxygen getting to the heart. And they disrupt the regular electrical activity in the heart, causing a life-threatening disruption to normal rhythm known as ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. Stimulants can also cause spasms in the heart arteries, cutting off the flow of blood even without any buildup of plaque there, which exacerbates heart damage. At the height of her addiction, Masterpole did not consider any of this and it led to irreparable damage. Masterpole, pictured with her daughter when she was a newborn, remains on the heart transplant wait list After giving birth to her daughter, her heart stopped twice during a week in the hospital and she was taken to the operating room to have a Left Ventricular Assist Device, or LVAD, implanted. The device helps the heart mechanically circulate blood when the left ventricle – the heart's main pumping chamber – is too weak to function effectively. Masterpole also had a pacemaker and defibrillator installed in her heart when she was 29. A pacemaker acts like a metronome for the heart, sending small electrical pulses to maintain a steady beat. And a defibrillator monitors the heart's rhythm 24/7. She is now on a waiting list for a heart transplant, which, in some cases, can take years. Your browser does not support iframes. She remains at the bottom of the list due to the fact that the interventions have worked so far. And while she is doing better now, Mandi had to put her dreams on hold. Unable to finish her mortuary schooling, she returned later but found it too difficult to balance with her many health needs. 'I would tell people to steer clear of these drugs completely. It's not worth it. It may make you feel good but it's going to tear everything apart,' Masterpole warned. 'It's not the quick fix I thought it was. Everybody should know it's not what you think, it will lead you down a way that you do not want to go.'
