health unit 7 responses
1. Oftentimes, college creates feelings of stress and overwhelmedness for students. Studying, papers, assignments, midterms exams, and final exams cause students to stress about performing well and not failing. To reduce the levels of stress and fear, students are drawn to misusing stimulants in hopes of performing better and being stress-free. The problem with this is that students are taking stimulants without a prescription. I think that students take stimulants to feel levels of relaxation and calmness. Students take stimulants thinking that they will feel better and perform better in the classroom or even in sports, and to stay up to be able to party. Additionally, I think students take stimulants because they often binge drink and binge eat, so they take stimulants to lose weight. The positive effects of stimulants are that they make individuals feel happier, relaxed, improve attention, increase self-esteem, and suppress appetites. On the other hand, the negative effects of stimulants are that they contain caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine. Large doses of stimulants can cause over-stimulation which leads to anxiety, panic attacks, seizures, headaches, etc. Although the positive effects may seem attractive, the negative effects turn things around. If I knew someone who was considering using stimulants to enhance their abilities, focus, and skills, I would tell them to immediately see a doctor so they can be prescribed the proper medication. I would also let them know what the misuse of stimulants can turn into, so I would strongly steer them to get help if they feel that they strongly need it. Overall, the misuse of stimulants by college students is extremely high and can be reduced with the right medication and medical attention.
2. I remember in high school I had friends who would take adderall to focus in school. And I remember it was almost every day they took it, their doctors didn't even prescribe it to them. It's scary because you never know if something could be laced. I think students take stimulants, simply because it helps calm them down, and it helps them achieve their focusing spans and concentrating skills. College life is not easy, It's a big adjustment rather than highschool. And for some, their attention spans are much more different than someone else's. Adderall, for instance helps them focus when they're doing work late at night, it helps them focus on their exams. For some, this helps students be calm, and comfortable when in public, parties or being with friends. It has a negative impact because combining alcohol with adderall is deadly. Alcohol is a depressant, and adderall is a stimulant. It can affect the stomach, increase anxiety, which impacts sleeping patterns, headaches are common and tremors too. I think having someone taking stimulants is kind of risky to do, but if it helps that person and they ONLY use it for school purposes, once in a while.. I think it would be okay to do. But if I see that person ingesting more than for educational purposes and help. Then I would suggest weaning off of it, and fidning some type of treatmentm or different alternatives rather than a stimulant every time.
3. Adapting to college life is not always easy for some students and they feel pressure for studying combined with a culture of pulling pre-exam all nighters which is why some students make abuse prescription stimulants such as Adderall. Students who abuse Adderall and similar drugs tend to have several characteristics in common and because these drugs are commonly used to help students focus on reading or studying, abusers tend to have grade point averages of a B or lower. Students often do not feel guilty after abusing Adderall and similar drugs. They may feel like they are self-medicating for ADD or they do not consider the drugs to be as dangerous or illegal others.
Positive effects may include:
· Intense feelings of happiness.
· Increased energy/sociability and self-esteem.
· Improved attention.
· Opened breathing passages/easier breathing.
· Suppressed appetite.
Negative effects may include:
· Increased heart rate.
· Heightened blood pressure.
· Very high body temperature.
· Muscle shakes or tremors.
· Agitation.
If someone I knew was considering using stimulants, I would tell them about the negative effects and I wouldn’t really mention any of the “positive” ones.
4. I believe that certain students take these drugs because they feel overwhelmed, stressed, and they want to get through college. I also believe this drug is taken because most students are being peer pressured to take this drug, and they are convinced that this drug will help them. I personally never looked at this drug, But I do believe that it might help for a while and then it might become a stimulate that the individual I abusing. One of the positive effects is that it helps them stay awake, focus, and study before a big exam. However, this article, states that "ADHD medications do not make students smarter. It may help them focus and stay awake, but abusers should not expect the drug to help with more complex learning such as writing better papers or studying for college-level exams". Some people that I know feel guilty after abusing Adderall and similar drugs because they believe they are self-medicating for an attention deficit disorder or do not consider the drug to be as dangerous.Some of the negative effects are that some students do not know is that Adderall and other ADHD drugs have more risks than many other commonly used medications. I believe that doctors when prescribing these medications to patients need to be careful the weigh the risk against the benefits it provides. This study, it has stated that "the most common side of Adderall and other stimulants is insomnia, which appeals to students who use it to stay awake." In certain studies of Adderall's safety, conducted by the manufacturer, they found that the drug caused gastrointestinal problems, blurred vision, increase heart rate, and reduced circulation, and irritability".One of the crazy parts that I see is that it causes hallucinations and cardiac arrests. I know someone I became very dependent on this drug that he started changing, and he was not the same person he was before. I believe if anyone wants to be on this medication, they should know the facts of the medication before consuming the drug. Everyone's body is different and you do not know if this medication will be a great fit for you.
5. College is a very stressful time for most college students, especially due to the stress of getting good grades and the workload from each of one's classes. A lot of the times, this can lead to students using certain stimulants to focus and get their work done as fast as they can, such as Adderall, or something to relax them and ease the stress and anxiety, such as Xanax. With that, some of these students are even self-medicating, as they do not have a prescription for these drugs, but continue to take them anyways. "Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is estimated to affect up to 8% of college students in the United States. Stimulant medications are among the first-line agents for the treatment of ADHD in adolescents and young adults. Although stimulants are highly efficacious and have a well-documented safety profile, the nonmedical use of stimulant medications (e.g. the use of stimulants without a prescription), particularly among college students, appears to be gaining weight as an important part of the drug use problem. The College Alcohol Study (CAS) reported by McCabe et al. estimated that up to 25% of a nationally representative sample of US colleges endorsed nonmedical use of prescription stimulants in the past year. More recent data suggest that over a four-year period, almost two-thirds of college students were offered prescription stimulants for nonmedical use, and 31% had used stimulants for nonmedical purposes," (nih.gov). I think t hat students take stimulants most of the time to be able to focus, as well as be able to complete their work faster and more efficiently, especially when they waited longer than they should have to start their work. While stimulants do have positive affects for studens such as allowing them to be able to focus more in class and be able to complete the task of getting their work done or studying (due to the enhanced ability to be able to focus better and more attentively), there are other negative affects that can come with stimulants as well such as anxiety, increased heart rate, dizziness, nausea, and some people can even develop a more serious health-realted issue such as a stroke, seizure, or heart attack. I know someone once who was taking stimulants for school unprescribed so frequently that they wound up having a seizure at the age of 20. Because of this, I would tell people to stay away from the stimulants unless they are prescribed by a doctor for a legitimate medical reason, because they can be very dangerous. I also think a lot of the times people think these drugs make them smarter, which they do not, they just allow you to be able to focus better. If one focuses more on their time management of their work, then they will not need any stimulant drug to help them finish an assignment or study for an exam.