Harold Koplewicz: Your Brain on Ritalin | Big Think

Never in the range of a normal individual? I’m in the 99th percentile unmedicated let alone medicated. My specialty is emergency medicine. I simply attend to the things I like and luckily I like my job, hence the performance.

I wouldn’t recommend taking Ritalin for ADHD. I started taking Riddle alone when I was 10 I like the feeling of it, so I took two pills, then three and four then five then . keep in mind this took place over a year. Eventually when I had six I was frightened for my life and I told my parents… They poison control and I was 5 mg away from OD… this is why I would not recommend taking Ritalin

Ritalin did save my academic grade. It’s actually crazy.

have been taking ritalin since the begining of July and it seemed to be working fine, I have ritalin and generalized anxiety disorder and it seemed to calm down my anxiety and make my mind feel slow so I can concentrate but now, even after the medicaiton effects have worn off I feel tired, lazy, not focused and just overall not my true self and I hate it. I thought ritalin was for me but I don't think it is.

So many myths in this video. But no wonder, it's at least 12 years old.😅 My son takes Ritalin (10mg). Once we started he came up to me and said: "I feel somwhat calm. Never felt this way before". It basically calms down that ADHD brain which is proven. Same applies for the nervous system. He is not just more focused, he is also less anxious.

So much for stimulants don't work differently in ADHD brains than in normal brains.😂

Psychosis is a potential side effect.

Actually this med do increase my appetite

I could actually talk to people when im on the medication, but when im not it feels like im trap in my self

I dont have ADHD but still took ritalin for more performance measures but it didnt worked out the way it should for a non adhd brain
Makes you sleepy and your focus levels are the same
(bonus:i did marijuana with ritalin as well and side note، never try it you will lose your appitate and will power for tommorow and will go through rough times) as i am at this moment writing this

Thank you for telling the truth.

Is seeing Christina Aguilera constantly stalking me a Side Effect?

Oh, I am so more attentive than a typical, normal individual when I'm hyperfocused or taking meds (addy, not Ritalin).

This seems to have been edited in a way that is, at best, kinda misleading, and at worst seems to misrepresent Dr. Koplewicz position. I get what he's saying when he tails about the "myth" that it affects people with ADHD differently than those without it, because, it's true it has the same the chemical effect of producing more dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. He's not wrong, but to start with that soundbite seems to miss the point, because even if the mechanism in the brain is similar, it clearly does NOT affect people in the same way. If you already have enough of these chemicals, boosting them is going to have a VERY different outcome to if you're lacking them, as he rightly later points out. It's like saying "I think there’s a myth out there that if you are a diabetic, that insulin shots are going to work on you differently than they will on the normal population. It’s a myth; it’s inaccurate. So for all of us, whenever we would take on of these medicines, it's going to move sugar from the blood into other body tissues where it is used for energy, and stop the liver from producing more sugar."
That may be true. But if you take it when your body lacks insulin, you're going to have a VERY different reaction than someone who already has a normal level of insulin. But you really seem to truncate the part where he discusses this difference and it almost feels like you cut him off mid thought. Same with the addiction and long term chemical changes question, for which you include a soundbite that doesn't even really answer the question
You include a bit where he mentioned dexedrine, which is rarely prescribed these days, compared to alternatives like Adderall, Vyvanse and Mydayis, precisely because it's generally considered less effective, and with more severe and noticeable side effects, as if these are normal effects for all meds. Clearly, he never got to actually answering the question, so I have to assume he was going on to discuss how modern medications have all kinds of properties that limit this risk, but you never include that part of the answer.
It's a shame, because Dr Koplewicz is a man quoted as saying "if you have a disorder, if you have a real illness, and if the illness is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the only treatment that we know is effective is medication.
There are other treatments that might be helpful in addition to the medicine. But to date, the first line of attack is medication...To suggest that this is a fraud, that somehow children are being abused by these treatments, is really an outrage, because for these kids, to not get treated is really the greatest abuse and neglect." He is a man known for promoting these medications are some of the safest, most tested, best tolerated, and most effective medications we have for any disease or disorder. And yet, as I watch it, it seems to have edited his interview in such a way as to present him as if he's some kind of skeptic, or has doubts about the safety and effectiveness of this medication. I'd love to see the full interview, in context.

It doesn't decrease my appetite actually I'm eating way more because I actually. I'm cooking food now instead of not eating until four pm... And I sleep better

I take Ritalin to calm me down let me say if law suit weren't invented than I will not take Ritalin

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid and I did take ritalin but I stop taking it because my father didn't like how the medication affected me. 😨

You at least tried to tell the truth about these awful drugs but honestly methylphenidate is nothing more than a reduced dose of speed which I took lots of back in the 60's thus I am very skeptical about any doctor who would knowingly prescribe this crap for human beings. I can tell you speed makes you think you are some super smart incitive individual and you can see things normal human beings can never see because they are not affected. I do not accept that this drug works in a positive way on a human being. The symptoms are exactly the same as being upped on speed. Cant sleep, busy all the time etc etc etc. The doctors I would BET HAVE NEVER even taken the medication and yet THEY claim to be experts. Like using LSD for army psychiatric tests in the 60's. That worked out well huh?? SOrry but I would NEVER let a loved one take this crap any time any where. Keep talking and maybe eventually you can break on through to the other side but dont fry their brains with speed. IMO

Imagine you had tv static behind your eyes constantly, and a chain of words running through your head at the same time. That’s what I was like before my methylphenidate. When I say my head was quiet for the first time I mean it. It can be life changing

I see a lot of positive reviews on ritalin but seems to have the exact opposite effect for me. I become extremely stressed and hyperfixated on things when I take it. I usually end up really mentally exhausted after taking Ritalin. Is it just not for me? I have ADD by the way. Does it make a difference?

I feel so sad that I don't have the benefits from taking Ritalin... I just feel a bit anxious and lightweight in my brain. My motivation and focus is just the same sometimes either

when i take the medicine my heart rate barely goes below 100 bpm and im extremely stressed and quiet

You should take this down as research for years have found negative effects from ritalin.

Millionaire + from excel alone literally

Gantt chart

302 C

I was talked off ritalin in the 90s. Got back on it last year. Furious that I haven't had it the entire time. I DEFF have ADD turns out.

I have symptoms like, I cannot think in series, there is always something blocks my sequenc of thoughts, i cannot stop fast thoughts coming while talking to some one, while doing some works to be finished quickly i feel like am procrastinating and cannot finish it as my collagues do, my mood is up and down to my goals so i keep studying and then stop doing so anymore, buy some courses then i stop following them.i get distracted easily, i forget a lot, i cannot decide or give a point out of a meeting, just keep silent. I do things in rush without be aware of outcomes. I cannot stick to rules and regulation, confused all the time, deprssion kills me, stop thinking in the middle of conversations, mix between things, very difficult to link ideas, forgot what i say a second ago so i cannot proceed in conversations, am totally drawn from social activity and many other symptoms.

This is a sensitive subject for me. My dad smoked crack my mom eventually put him out, but she left him for the guy he was buying it from. I was 7-8 at the time and that correlates with the beginning of me acting out and being disruptive in class. Like most "bad" kids in the mid 90s, the school recommended a Dr and that Dr diagnosed me with ADHD. As a toddler my mom was told my IQ would be slightly above average so this made no sense to me and I was ashamed. I was given Ritalin twice a day and immediately went from class clown to honor roll. When the teacher asked a question suddenly I was consistently the 1st to raise my hand like it was a game of jeopardy. The following yr, the kids I used to misbehave with began to treat me differently. They began to call me "teachers pet" and pill popper. I was internally conflicted because I grew up thinking 1 day I would be the big man on the street corner but now because I was an A+ student my steed cred was no good (yes, subconsciously we thought about that kinda stuff even at 9-10 yrs old cuz of systematic programming). The irony of that was it brought me to the realization that it wasn't the meds making me smart. It was in me all along. I immediately started spitting the pills out after the nurse would give them to me and yes my behavior immediately made it obvious but I nvr let myself fail a test or my intelligence be questioned again. I had become aware of myself so being the guy on the corner was no longer appealing anymore. Turns out I'm brilliant in my own right. Ppl with ADHD have special abilities. We think much faster, and it's super likely that we were the ppl that left Africa and populated the world. We don't sit still for too long and even tho no one likes change, no one adapts to it faster than us. We are unquestionably the best muti-taskers, and we learn without even paying the slightest bit of attention cuz of our uniquely hyper-active subconscious brain functions. All these yrs being told we're different in the wrong way and not up to our current society's standard, but the proof is starting to show that it most likely developed as a gene in select humans for not just survival, but the flourishing of the human race. My best advice is 1st embrace it... it might be at the moment that u find YOUR super power ❤️

Don’t ever give your kid Ritalin I had to learn how to express myself, and I had to re-discover my personality because of the detrimental damage it did to my mind afterwards.

I have AD3D. No cure.

Only good stimulant next to coke

Ritalin and any stimulant is extremely addictive infact it stimulates norepinephrine receptors more potently than Heroin...........save yourself from these f****ng addictive drugs. Just meditate and develope alternate methods(you have to figure out yourself like me) to learn things .........there is something called called prana yoga from a 5900 year old book written by Vedic indian philosphers .......... I swear to God i have never been so much hyperfocused and attentive because of that........beware of paid commentators.......save yourself from addiction Ritalin or adderall is the first drug that people use while falling falling in the pit of addiction.

These videos and the comments leave me very confused, most people cite that they gain motivation to do things. Ritalin doesn't give me motivation, I have that all the time, it just helps me realize I'm wasting my time on useless things. And I would only notice it many hours later, with the medication I notice it about 2 hours earlier than usual, which gives me time to get back to what I was doing. I already knew I was different from my ADHD peers, but every day it seems I'm more different than I thought.

Strange, I don't feel happy when taking Ritalin, quite the contrary, the only effect I felt is that I get more serious, with less desire to talk and so on. My concentration improves very little, but I feel calmer. I'm much happier as soon as the effect wears off, I feel like listening to music, talking a lot, playing with people. Including this is one of the doubts I feel about continuing with the medicine. I feel I lose that good feeling when I take Ritalin, but those who live with me say that in general it's good because they don't feel like talking or doing fun things like I do and the medicine gives them a time of rest.

Thank you. You made it so clear.

If i could go back in time I'd rather kill myself rather than relive my teenage years on Ritalin again. I'm 33 now and I've given this plenty of thought. Ritalin is just hard drugs that doctors prescribe for kids. It doesn't fix anything. Drugs make life for a child worse, just like they do when you're an adult.

My friend is prescribed ritalin for ADHD but doesnt use it. He gave me a 10mg pill and I crushed it up and snorted it before higher level math. I'm a above average student in math but for 4-5 hours I was just on a peak. Understanding, comprehending and realizing at 200% the clarity. I felt hyper focused.

I was put on it in the 90s iv adhd and it made me worse

Everyone in our school is on adrenal or Ritalin. My friends can go on 5 to 6 hours focused but I have attention span of probably one hour. I usually cope with it by trying to do less hyperactive activities before studying or do the studying after workout, shower and waking up. Anyway there are better ways of coping with attention deficit that does not require being hooked on medication.

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ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ZOMBIE
WHATS IN YOUR HEAD
IN YOUR HEAD
ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ZOMBIE

RITALIN IS ZOMBIE CHEMICAL

This guy is excellent at explaining

Ritalin is great for me for I hoped the side effects would be slimmer. My head is hurt and I don't want to eat or drink

Not all people with adhd are overactive a lot are hyper focus guess we don’t count

Very insightful. It is important to keep educating oneself, especially as patients. I think, a person who depends much on a drug as a mood-lifter, will be more inclined to abuse, since the drug delivers a state of emotion which that person yearns for, but doesn't get, normally.
I've started my journey today, curious to see how it develops.

When I take Ritalin I drive to the suburb I meant to, and don’t end up travelling in the opposite direction for 5 minutes before I realise. 🤓 I can’t drive with anyone in the car talking .

Listen if all you’re wanting to do is feel normal like everyone else, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment because nobody is actually normal. There’s so many variables to the human psyche that because someone has ADD they’re going to take amphetamines it’s going to help that I find very very unlikely I think it might distress the person more than if they had learned natural coping skills with their own brain instead of adding chemicals to their brain. See you guys and sit there and worship ADD medication all you want but you need to know your brain is more capable than you think and with discipline and regular training you don’t need these amphetamines and stimulants tab really still coming into your system if you’re going to do that you might as well drink alcohol or smoke weed or do methamphetamines or do cocaine. Quit coming up with excuses sure you’re going to get more stuff done because it’s releasing a huge amount of dopamine into your system. You guys just like to get high is it is you like the way it makes you feel what makes you feel high. Get over that bull crap and realize that you have potential I’m trying to do that myself I’m an addict and you guys are making yourselves attics

I have add and i tried so many forms of Ritalin and they make me so depressed. I was also addicted to them at one point..it feels like you are on something when you have taken the pill. I have dropped Ritalin because it has so many side effects

It screws your memory up