Are Over the Counter Stimulants Addictive?

About Over the Counter Stimulants

Over the counter stimulants are substances that people take that will raise nervous activity in a person’s body, meaning that it will cause their nervous system to work at a higher pace resulting in them feeling more alert and awake. Over the counter stimulants are commonly sold as diet pills or energy drinks or pills.

Over the counter stimulants are usually safe for people to take in the recommended doses, but people who end up abusing these stimulants risk the chance of having physical health problems such as less sleep, poor diet, dehydration, anxiety, and heart complication due to an increased heart rate. Moreover, people can become addicted to over the counter stimulants, especially diet pills, which will cause them to constantly abuse the stimulants.

According to CA.gov Alcohol and Drug Programs, people who start taking diet pills may start taking just a few diet pills to help them lose weight. However, over time they may end up graduating to full addiction and dependence. Caffeine, ephedrine and phenylpropranolamine are some of the dangerous and addictive substances found in diet pills.

Addiction to Over the Counter Stimulants

Many people think of drug addiction only applying to illicit drugs, and this is not true. A person can form an addiction to any type of drug because addiction is a psychological illness. Addiction is a disease that will cause a person to continually seek out and use drugs even if they are over the counter medications.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction is a brain disease because drugs change the structure and function of a person’s brain. For most users of drugs the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary. However, over time drug abuse causes changes to occur in a person’s brain that take away a person’s self-control and their ability to make rational decisions. A person who forms an addiction to drugs will have intense impulses to take drugs.

Over the counter stimulants can cause a person to feel more alert and energized which can result in the person continually taking the stimulant for energy, however this is a vicious cycle and a person may begin to solely rely on the stimulant for energy. Many people will continually abuse over the counter stimulants and continue to take more and more of the drug so that they can receive more powerful effects from the drug.

Continual abuse of over the counter stimulants can lead to addiction and dependency which can then lead to serious health problems unless a person receives the proper help they need to stop their addiction.