4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008
ADDERALL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
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dderall can be swallowed, snorted, smoked or injected. Here a user prepares to blow a line of crushed pills that she cut with her KUID. Snorting the drug increases its immediate effects on the user's brain.
Photo Illustration by Jon Goering
crave its high or its reinforcing properties. Even chocolate can fall into this category, she said.
Adderall is a mixture of somatil-
amine, this helps the central
**Adderall increases** a user's blood pressure and heart rate. These side effects can increase the urge to smoke cigarettes, because the nicotine has a contrasting calming effect.
"If you quit eating chocolate today, you wouldn't necessarily experience negative reinforcement, but you really might miss the taste of chocolate," Hamilton said.
Adderall, a mixture of amphetamine salts, affects the central nervous system by increasing levels of dopamine in the brain. That enhances enjoyment and motivation during rewarding experiences such as eating or having sex. Without adequate dopamine, a person with ADHD can feel fatigued, depressed or unmotivated.
Strother said doctors could scientifically diagnose a person with ADHD by observing which parts of a person's brain responded during certain activities by taking an X-ray, or PET scan, of the brain.
HOW IT WORKS
"If you look at a PET scan of someone doing math projects, a person with ADHD has an area that doesn't light up." Strother said.
She said the biggest point of disagreement was whether people trying to quit taking Adderall felt compelled to return because of withdrawal symptoms or because they simply enjoyed the high.
Strother disagreed with critics who say ADHD describes a behavioral problem rather than an illness.
"It's not a made-up illness," she said. "Stimulants have been used for 25 years now. It's just too bad some people take advantage of it."
She said stimulants such as Adderalm make all areas of the brain "light up" more.
Adderall, which can be swallowed, snorted, smoked or injected, typically has a calming effect, capable with ADHD, but poses
in people major health risks and side effects for those without ADHD.
The amphetamines cause increased alertness, excitement and blood pressure. The release of dopamine induces a sense of euphoria that can last
ALEXIS
several hours, longer than the 15- to 30-minute high of cocaine. The increased brain activity can cause insomnia, anxiety, loss of appetite, agitation, increased body temperature, hallucinations, convulsions and, in extreme cases, even death.
"I would pick out things from
The FDA blames Adderall use for 25 deaths in children and adults. The FDA also found 54 cases of serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, stroke, hypertension, palpitations and arrhythmia associated with the stimulant.
While she gained the concentration to read, it didn't take long for Alexis to lose her sense of humor, her sex drive, her boyfriend and many friends. Everything she did became logical and void of emotion. There was no room left for relationships, she said of her life with Adderall.
"I would pick out things from my carpet. In my younger years, I'd done some hard drugs,and this stuff is more intense than any of those."
"I really liked how it felt," she said. "It was something I'd never felt before in my life. My eyes were opened. I could understand things better. I had never read a book on my own before then, but I wanted to learn and read. I didn't care about anything intellectually until I started taking Adderal."
ALEXIS Overland Park senior
Alexis, daughter of a psychiatrist father and a psychologist mother, got a trial prescription of Addlerall at age 15, when she complained of having difficulty focusing in school.
get help
A l e x i s
my carpet," she said, describing the intense focus that came from taking Adderall. "In my younger years, I'd done some hard drugs, and this stuff is more intense than any of those."
KU Psychological Clinic
315 Fraser Hall
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785)-864-4121
If you or someone you know struggles with addiction to Adderal or substance abuse, here are four places in Lawrence than can provide assistance.
"It was a real addiction," she said. "I'd call my parents and tell them I got my purse stolen and my Adderall was in it just to get another prescription. I was lying to my parents." She said she developed insomnia and hit bottom when she went seven days without sleeping.
Counseling and Psychological Services
Watkins Health Center,
2nd Floor
Lawrence, KS 66045
(785)-864-CAPS (2277)
Alpha Recovery Center
1031 Vermont Street
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785)-842-6300
When she stopped taking it, the five-foot-two-inch sophomore ballooned from 110 to 140 pounds in four months. Although she knew she was doing the right thing for her health, she couldn't look at herself in the mirror.
recalls consuming an entire month's prescription in a week, wondering how she would make it to the next month without Adderall.
"You're doing something good by getting off, but then you see the negative effects on your body and it's so depressing." Alexis said.
Counseling Services 2706 Iowa Street Suite F Lawrence, KS 60464 (785)-842-7191
It's been two years since she gave up Adderall and Alexis still has trouble sleeping and experiences mild panic attacks. Despite that, she says she is finally headed in the right direction and will get married this summer.
"I am 23 years old and should have graduated a long time ago and I still have two more years left after this year," she said. "It sucks, but I feel like I grew so much as a person just through dealing with that."
Being in school is a frustrating reminder of what Adderall cost her.
Andrew gulped down his third Bud Light as strangers funneled through the front door of his apartment at a party. Despite a night of drinking, he was still alert, having popped an Adderall a friend slipped him earlier in the evening. He was in full swing, ready to continue partying, and downed another beer.
ANDREW
Andrew, 23, is from Arlington, Va., and dropped out of the University in 2007 to attend trucking school. During his KU years,
"Adderall is everywhere," he said. "With a college crowd, it's like socially acceptable cocaine."
Andrew took Adderall while drinking with friends because it enabled him to party harder and longer.
"I didn't want to be the first to pass out," he said.
When he was a student, Andrew procrastinated on writing papers until the night before they were due, because Adderall kept him awake and made him feel like he could run a marathon.
Javina Quilice recalls being hunched over her biology test, starring hard at the names and numbers on the page, unable to focus. She had been taking tests for years now, but difficult pre-med courses were taking their toll on her grades.
"For me, it was just a utility drug," he said. "I just don't see it becoming habit forming."
JAVINA
Looking back on his college years. Andrew still thinks illegally taking prescription drugs is fine if the user is responsible. But, he admitted, "Few people are."
"I was sitting there and reading whole pages and doing pre-med courses, so I had to retain lots of stuff," she said. "I couldn't retain anything I was reading."
She saw a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with ADHD and prescribed Adderall. She was relieved to discover the grade-saving focus that the drug delivered.
"I was able to get As on my tests because I could focus on what I was doing" she said.
While she was in school, she took her prescribed 20 milligrams each day.
Despite the increased energy she had from taking Adderall, she said the stimulant actually helped regulate her sleeping habits. For the first time, she was accomplishing what she needed to during the day, and it tired her out. She also lost weight while taking Adderall,
when she said was healthy for her. Javina, who attended Johnson County Community College in 2006, stopped taking Adderall when she left school. With no more tests to study for and a job working as a customer service representative, she no longer needed the drug.
Looking back, she said she avoided getting hooked on Adderall because her psychiatrist stayed connected with her and monitored her progress. Also, she never abused the drug for recreation.
"They didn't really care if you upped your prescription That's a $160 doctor visit.It's like by signing that piece of paper, they're saying, 'Here's your drug. Have fun ruining your life."
LINDSAY
As her thin fingers twisted her dark brown hair into a braid, Lindsay stood in her bathroom getting ready for work. She tied off the braid and removed the orange bottle of Adderall from the medicine cabinet. Plucking out a single
"I'm one of those people who tries to stay away from that," Javina said.
Soon, the thumping bass from her stereo seemed to grow louder and her heartbeat quickened. As she looked in the mirror, she saw her body swaying to the music. Suddenly, her palms felt sweaty and her mouth, uncomfortably dry. The Adderall was kicking in.
pill, she tilted her head back and washed it down with a gulp of water.
"It was like everything was building up to more focus, energy and excitement," she said.
which she said was healthy for her.
Lindsay started taking Adderall illegally two years ago because she was working 12-hour shifts at
LINDSAY
Olathe junior
energy would ever get out of hand. But soon, what was once a convenient way for Lindsay to stay awake on the job until 4 a.m. began controlling her.
a nightclub three times per week. Women she worked with at the club took it to provide energy for long shifts of dancing on tables and entertaining customers.
When she began taking Adderall more frequently, she decided to try to get a prescription from her doctor by taking ADHD.
"I wanted to quit before I ever got a prescription," Lindsay said. "It had taken over my life. I was seriously a slave to Adderall."
"I drank two Red Lines," she said about the high caffeine drink. "I totally acted it out. My doctor started prescribing it."
When she realized she was hooked, in a moment of strength she flushed her entire prescription down the toilet. But then she gained 10 pounds in two weeks and depression set in. She returned to the doctor for a refill.
"They didn't really care if you upped your prescription," she said. "That's a $160 doctor visit. It's like
by signing that piece of paper they're saying, 'Here's your drug. Have fun ruining your life.'
Not long after she refilled her prescription, Lindsay began searching Google for rehab centers and made appointments with psychiatrists. But she couldn't gather the courage to check into rehab and skipped every appointment. At her lowest weight, the 5-foot-3 junior, whose normal weight is 125, weighed 110 pounds. Being on the drug suppressed her appetite, making it easy to skip meals.
"I didn't start taking it because I wanted to lose weight, but it put that desire in me in a weird sort of a way," she said. "I just couldn't stop and I wanted to. With everything in my heart I wanted to."
Although Lindsay no longer takes Adderall, she said she still struggles with the effects of her abuse. She said she no longer reads style or fitness magazines because of their unrealistic expectations for women. Seeing friends in her classes who take Adderall is difficult for her because it reminds her of her slender self.
"It breaks my heart because I know what it does to you," she said. "It totally took me into some of the lowest places that human beings who struggle with those feelings can go."
A year ago, Lindsay was riding back to Lawrence with her brother after spending Christmas Day with her family, when she admitted to him that she was still taking Adderall.
"I started bawling, saying, 'I'm taking it again. I don't want to take it. I want to give my life to Christ,'" she said. "I got home that night, flushed it down the toilet, and that's that."
"The more you take, the more your body gets used to it, the more you get addicted," she said. "It's
Lindsay began attending a local church and seeing a psychiatrist on a regular basis. She said she hasn't returned to Adderall since.
Liz has a love-hate relationship with Adderall. She loves the high, but hates the addiction.
LIZ
something that I can't imagine not having right now"
Three years after Liz was prescribed Adderall in high school, the Overland Park freshman regularly takes more than her prescribed dosage — simply because she likes how it makes her feel.
"I absolutely for no reason need Adderall," she said. "I can focus and do it on my own, it's a mind thing. I just want the drugs."
Liz said when she takes Adderall she can do anything except stay in the same place or sit still. She craves a constant flow of new information or a change of scenery when she's on the stimulant.
She likes to mix it with heavy drinking and other painkillers and prescription drugs. At 3:30 p.m. on a recent Friday, she's still recovering from last night's activities.
"I mix Adderall, Xanex and Hydrocodone and I drink all the time," she said. "I black out all the time."
Linda Keeler, psychologist for Counseling and Psychological Services, said mixing an "upper" like Adderall with a "downer" like alcohol can severely damage the liver, which filters both substances, and the brain, which responds to chemicals.
"Telling the brain to both relax and be aware can cause neurological problems and long term damage." Keeler said.
Liz, who has abused Adderall for three years, said the damage had already been done.
"I just really started relying on it," Liz said. "I started snorting it, started selling them to get money. I took them and wouldn't eat or sleep — I would go crazy."
She blames her current abusive addiction on the legal prescription she got as a teenager to treat her ADHD.
"No one under 18 should be taking Adderall," she said, her voice shaking as she spoke. "I don't think I should've. I don't think today I would even have this — this thing to deal with. But here I am still taking it and I don't want to be without it. That's awful."
Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
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