Comment · Sat, May 25, 2019
Neurotoxicity of Adderall vs. Methamphetamine
Original post in this thread
smolbrainboye · 88 points
Something that has always rubbed me the wrong way is that Adderall at most dosages is widely considered safe, non-toxic, and not neurotoxic whereas methamphetamine has always been perceived as unsafe, and incredibly neurotoxic at all doses. However, the potency equivalency seems to be that every 1 mg of methamphetamine is equal to 2 mg of dextroamphetamine (Rough Approximation). So if 30 mg of Adderall has no risk for neurotoxicity, how is it that 15mg of methamphetamine is neurotoxic? OR is this even the case at all?
To clarify, I haven't read any studies saying that adderall isn't neurotoxic, actually on the contrary I have ready many saying acute exposure to high levels of any amphetamine can result in neurotoxicity, but to those practitioners I've spoken with, they assure me that medicinal and therapeutic doses should not result in any adverse effects on the brain.
I've tried to pinpoint a general dosage in which certain amphetamines could be considered "neurotoxic," but I've had a lot of difficulty. So, for all I know, the practitioners could simply be wrong, or be trying to encourage the use of stimulants for those who have ADHD or some other issue. But if I ass…
What they were answering
Shifterovich · 5 points
It's literally just the high temperature. When you take a non-neurotoxic selective serotonin releaser like MDAI and combine it with a dopamine releaser like amphetamine, you essentially replicate MDMA's neurotoxicity. See this: https://www.reddit.com/r/DrugNerds/comments/bf9i4c/serotonin_neurotoxicity_in_rats_after_combined/
What's neurotoxic about MDMA, apart from some metabolite neurotoxicity, is that the serotonin release increases your body temperature, making the dopamine release neurotoxicity bad.
---
Completely unrelated, but this made me think that since:
- MDMA injected into the brain is not neurotoxic
- MDMA's metabolites injected into the brain aren't neurotoxic
- MDMA's metabolites' metabolites' neurotoxicity is still hard to prove
- serotonin can't cross the blood-brain-barrier
perhaps the reason why MDMA injected into the brain isn't neurotoxic is that that ROA doesn't increase body temperature (due to the last point)? I might very well be wrong but it's nevertheless an interesting consideration.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb sorry to cold-mention you like that but what do you think?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
I think it is still more complicated than just body temperature, but that plays a large role in it for sure.