Long-term effects of ADHD medications have not been well studied. Stimulant medications affect brain development. Subtle long-term side effects of pharmaceutical ADHD therapy are likely. 30% to 50% of children will outgrow ADHD without any medications. But which children need ADHD treatment? Leading expert on holistic treatment of ADHD discusses long-term effects of ADHD medications.

ADHD: long-term effects of medications. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. ADHD medications affect brain development. We know that. 50% of kids with ADHD outgrow it without medications. Video interview with top expert in holistic treatment of ADHD. ADHD Without Drugs. Medical second opinion helps to make sure ADHD diagnosis is correct and complete. Medical second opinion also helps to choose the best treatment for ADHD. Long-term effects of ADHD medications have to be better investigated. Finding the correct ADHD medication is possible only after detailed evaluation by ADHD specialist. Avoid long term side effects of ADHD medications. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Parents have to make sure ADHD diagnosis is correct and complete. Best medicine for ADHD in kids is integrative medicine treatment. Best therapy for ADHD is combination of dietary changes, exercise and behavioral modification. List of ADHD medications is long. Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. Medications to treat ADHD are mostly amphetamine derivatives that stimulate central nervous system. Their long term side effects are not known. No long term clinical trials on ADHD medications side effects have been done. Video interview with top expert in pediatric attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, ADD) and autism. Long-term effects of ADHD medications can lead to a change in brain development and brain architecture. Medical second opinion confirms that ADHD diagnosis is correct and complete. Medical second opinion also confirms that ADD treatment is required. Medical second opinion helps to choose the best treatment for autism and ADHD. Get medical second opinion on ADHD and autism spectrum disorder and be confident that your treatment is the best. ADHD Medications Long Term Side Effects. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Let's talk about treatment of ADHD. Two-thirds of patients who received the ADHD diagnosis are treated with the pharmacological medications. Most ADHD medications are stimulants, amphetamine derivatives. There is perhaps less doubt that ADHD medications are effective in the short term. Short term safety profile of ADD medications is well studied. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. But what about the long-term efficacy of ADHD medications? What are potential long-term side effects of ADHD pharmaceuticals? Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD (Integrative Medicine ADHD specialist, UCSF). It turns out that ADHD medications are very effective in the short term. They have a lot of side effects. But for some kids they might apparently work OK. ADHD medications are effective for about 70% seventy percent of kids with attention deficit disorder. Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. You can look at the few long-term clinical trials of ADHD medications that have been done. Results do not look so good. It does not look like overall ADHD medications all that helpful. Nobody is really sure why. But so far the long term data does not indicate that ADHD medications are helpful for better success at school. ADD medications do not help with better behavior. We really don't know a lot about long-term side effects of ADHD medications. We know that there is not dramatic long-term side effects. Because kids have been using ADD medications for a long time, since the 1950s really. But nobody has ever looked about subtle side effects. Nobody has ever looked at how ADHD medications affect brain development. We know they affect brain development. ADHD medications have to influence brain development. Because you are changing the neurotransmitters in the brain by using these stimulants. That is part of how the brain develops in these children. Maybe in the long-term it could help. Maybe it's making ADHD worse. Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. We don't know. Long term side effects of ADHD medications is something we really need to look at. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. In the long term clinical trials another result was seen. The effect of ADHD medications was at least attenuated. ADHD medications had a diminishing effect with time. The children take these drugs for maybe, 5 - 10 years. Then they grow to be adults. Is anything known about what happens when children with ADHD stop taking medications? Because the balance of neurotransmitters in their brain is affected for over a decade or so. What happens if you suddenly stop or decrease the dose of ADHD medications? Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Are there any clinical trials done in young adults about that? Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. No. What we do know is this. If you leave kids with ADHD without medications, about 30% to 50% percent of kids will outgrow their ADHD. They just won't have ADHD as an adult. They will not have a diagnosable ADHD. They may have that behavioral tendency. Some people are quieter, and some people are more active. Some people are more organized. Some people are disorganized. But 30% to 50% thirty to fifty percent of children will outgrow ADHD. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Without any medications? Dr. Newmark. Yes. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. That is a very large number. Dr. Sanford Newmark. It is a large number. Dr. Anton Titov. Medicating almost half of the kids who legitimately do have an ADHD might be a wasteful thing to do. Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. It might be, but it depends on how much they are suffering from their ADHD. I use medications, I don't want to present myself as somebody who is totally against medications for treatment of ADHD. Sometimes you have a kid who is failing school. Who is having terrible social life. The house is in complete uproar because of their behavior. Then you really need to use these medications to stabilize things so kids can succeed. Even if they are going to outgrow ADHD later. We haven't studied this. But my guess is that kids with more severe ADHD are the ones who are not going to outgrow their ADHD anyway. Dr. Sanford Newmark, MD. But you don't know. There is a role for medications to treat ADHD. But also there's a bigger role for some of the other treatments that may have a long-term positive effect without the negatives. ADHD: long-term effects of medications. Video interview with top expert in holistic treatment of ADHD. What are long term side effects of amphetamine meds?