Amphetamine long-acting

Methamphetamine (Desoxyn). Methamphetamine is a relatively long-acting stimulant. Lasting up to 12 hours, it can often be taken only once a day and is just as effective at treating ADHD as other stimulants. However, methamphetamine is seldom used today. For one thing, it is much more expensive than other stimulants. For another, this variant of amphetamine is the form often produced in illicit speed labs for street use. Many families and physicians are understandably reluctant to use a medication with this reputation for abuse. 

D-amphetamine and methylphenidate available in long-acting preparations effect are less reliable... 

Cross-tolerance occurs between all opiates that act primarily via the mu receptors. This is the basis of the methadone substitution therapy which is commonly used to withdraw people who are dependent on heroin or morphine methadone is used because of its relatively long half-life (about 12 hours) and its ease of administration in an oral form. Cross-tolerance does not occur between the opiates and other classes of dependence-producing drugs such as the barbiturates, alcohol or the amphetamines, which act through different mechanisms. 

A critical part of the assessment must be to determine the patient s impairment at various times throughout the day to ensure that medication coverage overlaps with the time when the patient is most likely to benefit. As with all medication trials, it is important to start with a low dose of medication and keep increasing it slowly until the optimal risk-to-benefit ratio has been determined. Stimulant medication (methylphenidate, mixed amphetamine salts, and pemoline) and atomoxetine (a non-stimulant selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, approved by the FDA for adult ADHD) are the first-line treatments of adult ADHD. Pemoline is not recommended as first-line treatment due to the risk of hepatoxicity. Stimulant drugs used to treat adults with ADHD are considered safe and effective, and have been well studied. There are several new long-acting formulations of... 

Despite the documented efficacy and safety of the psychostimulants, their mechanism of action is not fully understood. Stimulants affect central nervous system (CNS) dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) pathways crucial in frontal lobe function. The stimulants act by causing release of catecholamines from the DA axons and blocking their reuptake. Methylphenidate releases catecholamines from long-term stores, so its effects can be blocked by pretreatment with reserpine. Amphetamines, on the other hand, release catecholamines from recently formed storage granules near the surface of the presynaptic neuron, so their action is not blocked by reserpine. In addition, the stimulants bind to the DA transporter in striatum (see Figures 2.6 and 2.7) and block the reuptake of both DA and NE. This action reduces the rate that catecholamines are removed from the synapse back into the axon and leads... 

So the paranoid psychosis produced by cocaine and amphetamine overdose is properh called stimulant psychosis. By the late 1960s, the word was out on the street— Speed kills What was referred to in this slogan was not just death by overdose. Amphetamine overdose deaths did occur, but they were relatively rare. Far more common was the development of a paranoid state that often led to acts of violence. In addition, after a long binge of amphetamine abuse, the user may crash (sleep for an extended period) and then awaken deeply depressed. The depression could last for days and is now recognized as a common withdrawal symptom after hca%7 use of either amphetamine or cocaine. The depression often leads the user back to drugs to try to get up again, and the cycle is repeated. Eventually the user s physical and mental health deteriorates badly unless he or she can break out of the cycle. 

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