There's a dark side to the drugs that are used on children with ADHD. In some cases, these young patients have hallucinated that worms, bugs or snakes were crawling on them. These issues should be very seriously considered before putting your child on these drugs.
U.S. government researchers said on Monday that data from 49 clinical studies conducted by makers of ADHD drugs showed that these pharmaceuticals can cause psychosis and mania in some patients, including some with no obvious risk factors.
Dr. Andrew Mosholder and his colleagues wrote in the journal Pediatrics that "Patients and physicians should be aware of the possibility that psychiatric symptoms consistent with psychosis or mania might arise in the course of treatment."
The questionable drugs include Novartis AG's Ritalin and Focalin XR, Shire Plc's Adderall XR and Daytrana patch, Johnson's Concerta, Eli Lilly and Co's Strattera and Celltech Pharmaceuticals Inc's Metadate CD. The review also includes data on Cephalon Inc's modafinil, sold as Provigil.
FDA spokeswoman Sandy Walsh said the data formed the basis for recent warnings about psychiatric side effects that have been added to product labels in recent years. Millions of children use drugs to treat symptoms of ADHD, which affects about three to seven percent of U.S. children.
While the majority of kids on ADHD drugs won't see these side effects, they are out there and represent something quite important for parents to consider before putting their young children on pharmaceuticals.
Dave
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It isn't just kids who get delusions when taking these drugs. Moreover, when child or adult alike become delusional within a few months or weeks of taking Provigil it is time to call 911, immediately. I should know. At about 4:30 am one morning in early 2007, I woke up, rushed to my teen's room and shook him awake telling him to get dressed and go with me to join "The Militia" to fight against a spacecraft which had just landed on our street. Thinking I was sleepwalking my wife eased me back to bed and back to sleep. 4 hours later I awoke more delusional than ever. My wife finally took me to the hospital after I could not explain why there was blood dripping down my forehead upon return from our bedroom. But for that blood I might not be alive today, because my Provigil delusions were quickly determined to be physiological, a result of severe hypotension (low blood pressure) which put me into shock within a few minutes after arriving, causing my kidneys to fail, my liver and lungs to be damaged, and my brain in a hypoxic state not unlike a drawn out version of drowning, such that my brain was damaged. Provigil's manufacturer, Cephalon, acknowledges that its pre-approoval testing showed that one in every 50 people who take Provigil develop hypotension, although Cephalon used an obscure term for this most dangerous side effect, vasodilatation, the meaning of which had to have escaped even the FDA's professionals. Write me: brucealan at gmail.com
Holy Smoke, FallenAttorney, that's 2%
which seems pretty high to me for a potentially fatal side effect.
One other frequent side effect of Adderall XR in children is noctural enuresis. I've seen numerous instances of this in children after being placed on this drug.
There are naturopaths and holistic MD's now using herbs for ADHD. Hopefully, they will experience success with these methods and publish their work.
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