Ritalin

Ritalin

Every day millions of kids in the United States get a dose of Ritalin. It has been known for years the drug improves symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Children with ADHD are overactive, impulsive, and unable to pay attention for more than a few minutes. Although most children act this way some of the time, children with true ADHD act this way most of the time. Concentrating on a project is a project in itself, and kids with ADHD need help to control their impulsive behavior so they can complete a project. While Ritalin helps to reduce over-activity and to increase attention levels, some concern has arisen over the potential harm it may have on children long-term.

A serious and potentially dangerous misunderstanding is that children with ADHD are statistically at no higher risk than "normal" children for alcohol and drug abuse as teenagers and adults. This is not true, and it is another reason why treatment for ADHD is so important. Recently, adults who were using Ritalin throughout their childhood have begun talking about their experience growing up with Ritalin. They describe how they became so use to taking their pill that they developed an addiction as they became adults. Now, they feel a need to take something, whether it's Ritalin or any other drug. Instead of helping, Ritalin ultimately created a problem, which harmed them far more than the drugs helped them. I think that giving a child a pill to make him or her calm down could possibly be alright if the results are known. Letting children rely on this drug as if they needed it to survive creates a problem in that it causes them to develop a potentially destructive habit. I don't agree with giving two year olds Ritalin to make them calm down because they're too young, but it's not much better giving fifteen year olds Ritalin when they learn to depend on it day to day.

Ritalin is said to help the performance of the child. Children with ADHD have too little dopamine, a chemical needed for several vital brain functions. A child's brain has too many molecules that suck up dopamine before it does its thing. Ritalin gums up these molecules, so they leave the dopamine alone. The children get used to taking a pill three times a day and then what? Do they continue this process until they're old? Some cases show that the patient goes off the prescribed medication once symptoms are less noticeable. Which was approximately after adolescents. Some limitations are deciding the best time for the child to suspend his or her daily dose of Ritalin. Ritalin has helped a lot of children and adults become focused and be able to continue and finish a project. Yet in the meantime it has created addictive tendencies with people always needing something to put into their bodies so they can cope