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Drug abuse in pregnancy: Marijuana, LSD, cocaine, amphetamines, alcohol, and opiates
Published in Hung N. Winn, Frank A. Chervenak, Roberto Romero, Clinical Maternal-Fetal Medicine Online, 2021
Jacquelyn C. Howitt, Anita Bublik-Anderson
MA, the most popular amphetamine, can be smoked, snorted, injected, orally ingested, or administered anally. Smoking and injection allow rapid uptake of the drug into the brain, and the user experiences a “rush” that lasts only a few minutes. Snorting and ingestion produce euphoria, which lasts longer. Amphetamines stimulate the release of neurotransmitters and interfere with their reuptake at the nerve terminal (3,46). The catecholamine excess accounts for amphetamine’s peripheral alpha and beta actions and central nervous system (CNS) stimulant effects of vasoconstriction and bronchodilation, increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and an increased respiratory rate. An enhanced perception of environmental stimuli, mood elevation, and a decrease in hunger and fatigue are thought to result from amphetamine’s ability to stimulate the reticular activating system. High doses of amphetamines can cause hypertension, retinal damage, cardiac seizures, stroke, and death. Chronic use can lead to anxiety, insomnia, hallucinations, confusion, psychosis headache, pallor or flushing, palpitations, blood pressure instability, and cardiac arrhythmias (3).
Consciousness, Sleep and Hypnosis, Meditation, and Psychoactive Drugs
Published in Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, Understanding Psychology for Medicine and Nursing, 2019
Amphetamines are synthetic substances that act primarily by increasing the release of dopamine. In addition, they inhibit the dopamine metabolism and its reuptake, and increase the release of noradrenaline and serotonin. Amphetamines are frequently prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to treat narcolepsy, treatment-resistant depression, and obesity.
Obesity
Published in Geoffrey P. Webb, Nutrition, 2019
Appetite suppressants are drugs that affect appetite, usually by affecting neurotransmission in the brain centres that regulate feeding. When noradrenalin (norepinephrine) is injected into the brains of experimental animals, it reduces hunger and food intake and also stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. Amphetamine has a noradrenalin-like effect and was the first appetite suppressant to be widely used. Amphetamine itself also increases the activity of the nerve transmitter dopamine and this produces a potentially addictive euphoric effect. Modified amphetamines maintain the noradrenalin-like effect but the addictive dopamine-like effect is minimised. They have been widely used in the USA because until 1996 they were the only appetite suppressants approved by the FDA. In controlled trials, they produce only modest extra weight loss as compared to placebos and then only in the first few weeks of treatment. The only appetite suppressants currently licensed for use in the UK are two old drugs of this type.
A primer on sleeping, dreaming, and psychoactive agents
Published in Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 2023
The stimulants amphetamines and methamphetamine act upon the body similarly to adrenaline. They are chemically related to norepinephrine and dopamine and are used to raise energy levels and reduce appetite and the need for sleep, while providing feelings of clearheadedness and power. Amphetamines work by increasing synaptic levels of primarily dopamine, but also serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine. Amphetamine and methamphetamine are white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powders whose use can lead to memory loss, aggressive behavior, violence, and paranoid and psychotic behaviors when misused. Part of this behavior is due to the fact that the use of these psychoactive agents allows individuals to remain awake for extended periods of time, thus not needing to sleep. The lack of REM sleep, and thus the lack of dreaming, is associated with paranoid and psychotic behavior. As the drug is metabolized, euphoria is replaced with dysphoria, restlessness, agitation, nervousness, paranoia, violence, aggression, lack of coordination, pseudo-hallucinations, delusions, psychosis, and drug craving, while physically, as fatigue brings sleepiness with sudden starts, itching, picking, and/or scratching can occur. Even a single morning oral administration of methamphetamine can produce robust disruptions in nighttime sleep, with larger amounts creating greater issues (Herrmann et al., 2017). Unfortunately, the use of even minor amphetamines, such as methylphenidate (Ritalin and Concerta), typically given to children and youth diagnosed with ADHD can delay and reduce REM sleep periods (Sangal et al., 2006).
A review on modafinil: the characteristics, function, and use in critical care
Published in Journal of Drug Assessment, 2020
Seyed MohammadReza Hashemian, Tayebeh Farhadi
At present, there is symptomatic treatment for narcolepsy patients, although there is no cure for the condition. Modafinil, methylphenidate and amphetamines are used as stimulants to treat symptoms such as extreme daytime sleepiness, cataplexy and nocturnal sleep disruption. Modafinil is indicated to improve wakefulness in patients with excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy (https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00745). Methylphenidate is indicated to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in patients 6 years of age and older and for the treatment of narcolepsy (https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00422). Amphetamine is indicated for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders as well as for the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as narcolepsy (https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00182). Other therapeutics to treat the symptoms are tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors and sedative-hypnotics (sodium oxybate)5.
Changes in sexual behavior patterns due to stimulants use: three case reports
Published in Journal of Addictive Diseases, 2020
Valentin Yurievich Skryabin, Denis Khoryaev, Marco Torrado
During recent years, the patient injects one gram of amphetamine daily right before bed and masturbates for 4-6 hours while viewing pornographic material. At the end of such a compulsive masturbation period, he falls asleep exhausted for 4-5 hours. During the next day, he maintains activity periodically taking orally amphetamine dissolved in water. By night the “masturbation marathon” is repeated. He lived the situation with a mixture of pleasure and lack of control and had only one remission due to his incarceration for a year. Two weeks after his release from prison, the patient resumed daily amphetamine consumption and masturbation in a state of intoxication. The patient was admitted to the hospital for the therapy of amphetamine dependence.