The (Unsurprising) Side Effects of ADHD Drugs

Why the FDA's Call for Warning Labels is on Par with McDonald's Coffee Warnings

Hi. My name is Max and I have ADHD.

When the first rumblings of 'ADD' starting making themselves heard across the country, I was already past the point in my life where medication would have been able to make a noticeable difference in my development. When I was growing up, there was no 'ADD' or 'ADHD'. You were just 'hyperactive' and you either learned to cope with it or you didn't. A lot of us just learned how to multitask to force ourselves to be able to pay attention.

Then, in my mid-twenties, I went to a psychiatrist and got a prescription for Adderall.

Wow.

It's hard to explain the difference that it made. All of a sudden, I could focus without an act of will. It didn't solve my problems, but it gave me an additional tool to deal with them. And how do Adderall, Ritalin, and other ADHD drugs do this? Simple: they're amphetamines.

Amphetamines, also known as 'speed,' have a variety of effects of the human body, including (but not limited to) increased cognitive activity and decreased reaction time. In other words, they speed you up. Now why, pray tell, does that have a positive effect on people already diagnosed as being 'hyperactive?' No one really has a clear answer on this.

One popular theory involves the levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. This makes a lot of sense, considering that Adderall and other amphetamines affect the way that dopamine is absorbed by the brain. Another theory involves amphetamines causing perceptions to shift so that the body and mind are both acting at an accelerated rate, causing the patient to act normally. However, no one is really sure.

So, given all of this information, why is the FDA spending money and influence to force the drug manufacturers to put a warning label on their products which state that they may cause increased pulse rate and higher blood pressure?