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ADHD Drug Makers to Warn of Side Effects
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
Publication date: 2007-02-22
Arrival time: 2007-02-21
WASHINGTON - Drugs prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will include guides to alert patients and parents of the risks of mental and heart problems, including sudden death.
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it directed the manufacturers of Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera and all other ADHD drugs to develop the guides. In May 2006, the agency told manufacturers to revise the labels of the drugs to reflect concerns about the cardiovascular and psychiatric problems.
Draft versions of the guides posted on the FDA Web site include discussion of reports of increased blood pressure and heart rate in ADHD patients, as well as cases of sudden death in some who have heart problems and heart defects. In adult patients, the reported problems also include stroke and heart attack.
The alerts also cover psychiatric problems, such as hearing voices, unfounded suspicions and manic behavior, of which there is a slightly increased risk in patients who take the drugs, the FDA said. The guides also tell patients and their parents of precautions they can take to guard against the risks.
Wednesday's announcement came roughly a year after two panels of FDA advisers recommended that the drugs include such patient medication guides. The announcement covers 15 drugs, including extended-release, patch and chewable versions of some of them.
Ritalin is manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. and in generic form by other companies; Adderall is made by Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Strattera by Eli Lilly & Co.
ADHD affects an estimated 3 percent to seven percent of school-age children and four percent of adults, the FDA said.
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Food and Drug Administration ADHD drug information:
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I took My son who has ADD off of his medication about a year ago. We had tried two of the one left him with behavioral ticks and the other one really didn't seem to help. I started seeing reports in the newpaper and on the news about risky health concerns and decided to take him off his meds....This summer I started doing more research on all natural methods for ADD and ADHD. Since this fall I have been using all natural supplements that I got from the health food store and have been very happy with the results.
Blessings,
Karen
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Karen, can you share more about what you have done? Has magnesium had any effect?
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Let me begin by first tell a little about my son and the medication we tried. Zach is 10 soon to be 11 and we were told when he was 7-8 that he had ADD. We first tried Strattera and were on that for about a year...it really didn't help. Then he was put on Concertta, That one worked really well until Zach developed behavioral ticks. We had to stop that and go back to Strattera with a higher doseage. After all the reports started coming out I felt really lead to stopped the medication.
First thing I did was prayed. I prayed from January(06) until late summer for something to help Zach with out hurting him in the long run. One day in August while atWal-mart there was a magazine called "First" in it.... it had an article about ADHD and the missed symtoms. Since Zach only has ADD (and if you were to be around him you would never know he had it. His problems are more with focusing and concentrating.) I read it anyway.
The article listed 3 factors that were commonly over looked. 1st the lack of omega 3 in kids diets, 2. Allergies, and 3 large tonsils (leads to sleeping problems) Since Zach has really bad Allergies and slightly large tonsils I wanted to know more. After I read this article I went on google and looked up omega 3's. I found on most sites that our bodies do not make enough Omega 3's and our diets don't consist of things that have the recomend daily requirements. (There's a lot of web sites with a lot of information....sorry I didn't save any of them) Omega 3 are gotten by what you put into your diet or by taking Omega 3 supplements.
I then went into my local health food store. told them about Zach and the problems he was having and ask questions. My local heath food store was very helpful and I was shocked by how many different things they had to treat ADD and ADHD. My son Zach takes 3 teaspoons of omega 3(cod liver oil) mixed in yogurt (I use the trix fun size it has lots of fruity flavors) every morning and just recently in January-07 I started adding a DMAE pill. I call it his brain food. We are very happy with the results
If you have any more questions please feel fre to ask.
Blessings,
Karen
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Yes I read the article to after my mom sent it to me my son is on Ritalin for ADD and autism I am now having him removed because of this article and other reasons.It really scared me when reading this article because I lost a baby 8 years ago from heart problems and don't want to lose another child again.I have not been giving my son the Ritalin since reading the article and so far so good.But he has opnly been not taking it for 3 days.I could go on and on about my son and the issues with the ritalin and him but we only have so much space to write it on here.
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Thank you for the information! My son is an Asperger's child and as such, has problems focusing, but all the Dr.s agree that meds aren't the best answer. He is already on supplements, and the Omega 3 is one of them.
I would love to hear from others on what has worked for them.
I'm going to try to do a post later about therapy for sensory issues, too. I need some ideas.
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Just a question to ask what is this Omega 3 is it a pill and is it something over the counter.
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I would like to point out, too, that if you child is on medication, do not just yank them off of it. If you feel it is something you would like to discontinue, contact your dr. and see how to wean them off without shocking their system, etc. I have two children who are ADHD...and we have tried "other" ways of dealing with it. We always end up back on Concerta. It works well for them, to the point that unless you see them off of it, you would never know they are ADHD. The only side effect we have is my 6 year old is emotional...and Concerta is known to emphasize that. Would he still be as emotional had he not been on it? We will never know. He was a sensitive child from the get go! We just watch him, and know that for us, medication IS the best way to go for our children.
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What a great topic! My son is now 13 and I have recently taken him off his a.d.h.d. medicine. I found that some children had died from Adderall XR and said enough is enough! I now have my son on cod liver oil and special vitamins called teen active. I must say he is doing rather well. Also I'm trying to change his and the family's diet to less artificial food colorings, etc.
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Our ds has had a genetic study done at our local children's hospital. He has a dx of ADD. They were looking for some chromosomal abnormalities that might cause some of his behavior. They did find that he has a carnitine deficiency (sp). Last night we started him on a pharmaceutical grade of L-carnitine (can only get is by prescription). Carnitine is an amino acid. If you google carnitine and ADHD you will find some studies showing that it helps. The genetics dr at the children's hospital is a conventional dr so we know this isn't quakery.
Ds also takes a magnesium/Vitamin B6 tablet from Kirkman Labs, Nordic Naturals Cod liver oil and a special multivitamin. These were recommended by a DAN (defeat autism now) dr who considers ADD an autistic spectrum disorder (I know some people do not). We have also changed our diets (the entire family) and are now eating healthier---preservative/additive/dye free and mostly organic.
We have not ruled out that we will not give ds any medication but I wanted to make sure that it's absolutely the last resort. It scares me to give him the medication but if the other methods don't help then we will do it. This has been a long journey that we have been on since ds was 4 (he's almost 8). He does have some traits of Aspergers but not enough for a dx. I'm not downing anyone who puts their kids on meds because that might be the road we will be on after 'fixing' ds's carnitine deficiency. We just want to be absolutely sure that there is nothing biologically wrong that would cause his impulsive behavior.