“AD/HD” is an accepted spelling in a vast amount of current medical literature. Perhaps your knowledge is simply out-dated.
One theory as to why a stimulant such as Ritalin is effective treatment for ADHD (I got this from my brother who does research on this sort of thing - I hpe I remember it right):
The brain contains ‘executive’ centers which oversee the activity of cognitive centers. They do this by inhibiting the cognitive functions. In ADHD it is believed that these executive centers are not functioning fully so that the cognitive functions are running at full tilt all the time. This makes it difficult to concentrate as attention is constantly being re-directed by new stimuli. Ritalin acts by stimulating the executive centers, thus allowing them to exercise control.
I hope that makes sense.
Can I ask a further question about Ritalin:
My GF works in a special-needs school with PMLD, ADHD and autistic children. Some of these kids have been proscribed Ritalin from a very young age (4 or 5) due to serious behavioural difficulties. Several of the children (now aged about 7 or 8) are finding the Ritalin has little or no effect, even at its highest recommended dosage (which is really for adults).
What is the alternative treatment for a child who has passed through the usefulness of high dosages of Ritalin? What further treatment is available for child put in this position by (perhaps) poor judgement earlier in their lives? I realise all cases are different, but is there a possible hierarchy of drug treatment which these unfortunate kids could move on up? Or is Ritalin considered the last option in the scale?
Thanks for any insight.
Interesting thread, this. My high school girlfriend (we’ll call her Fluffy) was doped up on Ritalin. Not because she had ADHD, mind you, but because Fluffy’s mother disapproved of her not spending 60+ hours per week on homework and school projects. Imagine, a 16 year old girl needing a few hours of sleep, or wanting to watch some TV or just chill now and then! Fluffy’s dad was a (crazy) doctor, so it was easy to get some ritty.
Result? Fluffy didn’t act like a regular teenage girl, she acted like a machine–couldn’t sleep, didn’t eat, became boring and unemotional. Also refused to listen to my best efforts to talk her out of taking the stuff. But she sure did get a lot of homework done, hell of a lot more than I did. She even suggested I take the stuff, but I never did.
Result for me? I’m a lazy-ass mofo, with mediocre grades all around, but at least my brain is clear. 
Fluffy did okay for herself and quit taking the stuff in college.
Here’s my question: are there any old folks on Ritalin? I mean, if a kid/teen/college student isn’t focusing academically, it makes sense for them to take Ritalin regardless of AD/HD diagnosis, since performance is improved absent horrific side effects. But do old, retired people with AD/HD–who have nothing better to do with their time–require and take Ritalin?
This is along the lines of my understanding of the disorder, even though I didn’t hear it in terms of executive centers, something to look into.
I don’t know but there are amphemide salts that work a little differently as well s some non-stimulant treatments. It’s a tough call for a parent to hav etheir child take strong drugs to be able to function knowing that them taking this drug might prevent drug therapy from being effective in the future. There is some evidence that drug therapy has a chance of curing AD/HD but once doses get that high any possibility of it curing it is nil.
I was wondering that myself, once work is not an issue anymore, it just might be better to fall back inot ADD mode, which will almost certainly be inattentive by that age.
I’m in my early 40’s and take Ritalin. It does lose its effect though. The best solution my doc and I have found is to take it for a few weeks and then switch to methamphetamine. When the methamphetamine becomes useless, we go back to Ritalin or Concerta. The act of switching somehow makes a difference - a sort of tolerance.
Even then, sometimes it helps me and sometimes it doesn’t. They are working on new drugs, so hopefully someday there will be one that I don’t develop a tolerance to.
I have ADHD and used to take Ritalin, which reallllly helped me.
My mother does NOT have ADHD, however, out of curiousity she once took a dose of my meds. She said it had NO effect on her. Keep in mind that she is almost twice my size, so maybe if she took twice the dose i did maybe it would’ve had some kind of effect on her.