Health - Does regular amphetamine use cause degenerative effects?

[thewayigroove]

So, I think we all know that drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy, acid, etc. all cause degenerative effects if used regularly- stuff like memory loss, premature aging and/or death, etc... those are the two main ones I can think of.

I think we all know that amphetamines could kill you with an overdose, but my question is, does regular amphetamine use cause degenerative effects?

And if so, SWIM takes about 80-120mgs of Adderall around twice a week and has been doing so for about 2 years. Is this enough amphetamine use to cause the degenerative effects?

Thanks for your time everybody.

[Panthers007]

I disagree with your premise that "...we all know that drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy, acid, etc. all cause degenerative effects if used regularly..."

I would agree that long-term abuse of any substance can cause deleterious effects on the health, but if by regular use one means taking LSD once a month for a year - then that's quite a stretch. LSD and MDMA have been shown to be physically harmless if used cautiously by educated people. Narcotics as well. The jury on amphetamines is still out to my knowledge.

[paperstreet]

My pet rabbit also is very curious as to the theoretical degenerative effects of amphetamines. (in particular cognitive degeneration)

In my rabbits biological basis of behavior class, they were analyzing parkinson's disease and the progression of this debilitating condition. The professor drew a simple graph with a straight negative sloping line that represented the loss of dopamine producing neurons in the substatia nigra decreased over time, in every human being on the planet. Most humans would not lose enough of their substantia nigra to suffer the effects of parkinsons disease until long after any normal human would die, (you need to lose about 95-99% of your substantia nigra to feel the effects of parkinsons disease) which is why not that many people fall under the spectrum of parkisons disorders. The point he was trying to make was that if every human lived until they were thousands of years old, eventually everyone would suffer from parkinsons disease.

Then he drew a straight line down at a certain point on the graph which represented amphetamine (ab)use. Then he continued the line with the same slope as before. The point of this was to show that the loss of dopamine producing neurons from amphetamine use could lead to a person succumbing to parkinsons disease earlier than they would have without the use of amphetamine substances.

However, despite the professor's theoretical example, the literature shows no link at all between parkinsons disease and amphetamine use. This makes sense because this would mean that every meth-head would get parkinsons disease eventually in their life.

However, this topic is of much interest to my rabbit, and very often wonders what the risks of amphetamines really are. In one study that my rabbit constantly comes across, monkeys were given what would approximate to 40 mgs of adderall every day for several weeks (in a human) which is not an outrageous dosage at all. These scientists reported major losses of gray matter... however this study seems very uncompelling for several reasons... Monkeys have a terrible anti-oxidant defense compared to humans, the methods used to calculate the neuronal loss were questionable and one of the scientists (at least one) were involved in other questionable studies regarding the neurotoxicity of MDMA.

Overall, this is still an unresolved issue, and much more needs to be done to resolve this issue. My rabbit believes that the neurotoxicity and degenerative effects of amphetamines are blown out of proportion and that the use of therapeutic doses of amphetamines do more to strengthen the connections between neurons when substances like amphetamines and methylphenidate are used for study purposes. Outrageous doses of amphetamines are not beneficial for a persons brain, but will one's brain be a lot worse off from amphetamines when occasionally used, or used therapeutically? My rabbit does not know but hopefully more research and discussion is done concerning this topic.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great post in lending solid information to continue the discussion. Also follows the forum rules flawlessly.

[Razorblade]

The use of Amphetamines at even a standard dose may not directly cause permanent damage but if you take into consideration the most basic action of the drug, such as vasoconstriction, increase in blood pressure and heart rate, it could potentially cause some damage. There have been studies of methamphetamine being potentially neurotoxic, however they are not very conclusive and the drug is still prescribed in the USA. The only real health issue related to use of any type of amphetamine is tooth decay, and certain psychological conditions.

[DiDia42413]

I'd say your spot on about the vasoconstriction. However I would call that a "real issue" I think most people underestamate how detramental in the long run that is. I have met many people that have cardiomyopathy and its not as rare as some people like to think. and personally the idea of dieing on the spot from sudden cardiac failure at the age of 40 isn't something that i would light heartedly disregard.

Originally Posted by Razorblade

The use of Amphetamines at even a standard dose may not directly cause permanent damage but if you take into consideration the most basic action of the drug, such as vasoconstriction, increase in blood pressure and heart rate, it could potentially cause some damage. There have been studies of methamphetamine being potentially neurotoxic, however they are not very conclusive and the drug is still prescribed in the USA. The only real health issue related to use of any type of amphetamine is tooth decay, and certain psychological conditions.