Using amphetamines may increase risk of Parkinson's disease

[Celebration]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-amphetamines-parkinson-disease.html

Benzedrine and Dexedrine are amphetamines often prescribed to increase wakefulness and focus for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, a disorder that can cause excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden attacks of sleep. They are also used to treat traumatic brain injuries.

The study involved 66,348 people in northern California who had participated in the Multiphasic Health Checkup Cohort Exam between 1964 and 1973 and were evaluated again in 1995. The average age of the participants at the start of the study was 36 years old. Of the participants, 1,154 people had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by the end of the study.

Exposure to amphetamines was determined by two questions: one on the use of drugs for weight loss and a second question on whether people often used Benzedrine or Dexedrine. Amphetamines were among the drugs commonly used for weight loss when this information was collected.

According to the study, those people who reported using Benzedrine or Dexedrine were nearly 60 percent more likely to develop Parkinson's than those people who didn't take the drugs. There was no increased risk found for those people who used drugs for weight loss.

[unc70]

1. Likely not caused by drugs, symptom of some aspect of brain chemistry

Since the effect was not see with those using the drugs for weight loss, most likely the effect related to some form of "self-medication".

Suppose the other possibility would be that extra fat in cells in somehow protective in Parkinsons.

[trotsky]

3. Yep doesn't otherwise make a lot of sense.

If the drugs are definitely responsible, it shouldn't matter why one was taking them - they should have the same effect no matter what.

[Celebration]

4. dexedrine is a prescribed drug for ADHD

so it isn't really self medication........... as long as we are speculating, I would guess that the brain is already slightly damaged with ADHD, and the dexedrine amplifies that. But omega three fatty acids, particularly DHA, are protective for the brain, so there may be some protective connection there.

[unc70]

5. The drug use was back in the 1960's, probably not for ADHD

These drugs were widely used in various ways, both by Rx and illegal use.

Probably little of the use was for ADD/ADHD.

[Celebration]

6. I remember when people used by students before exams, but now

http://newideas.net/adhd/medication/dexedrine

it is used rather commonly for ADHD. Kinda scary, no? Ritalin is related to it. This whole class of drugs for use in children long term is very suspect to me.

[charlie]

2. Jibes with that botched Johns Hopkins study

The one that launched a headline blitz -- Using Ecstasy Just Once Could Doom You to Parkinson's. Turned out the "ecstasy" they were using was amphetamines from a mislabeled bottle.