The (Unsurprising) Side Effects of ADHD Drugs

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?

Anyone who has been forced to sit through a mandatory class on the dangers of illegal drugs, taken high school chemistry, has watched any crime drama on a regular basis, or has watched the news in the past five years should be at least passingly familiar with the effects of amphetamines. Crystal meth, the best known street name of methylated amphetamine hydrocloride, is one of the most talked about drugs in popular media. While not as physically or socially destructive as its illegal cousin, the legal amphetamines found in most ADHD/ADD medications have the same basic effects on the human body.

To me, this makes about as much sense as putting the 'caution, contents are very hot' warning on coffee cups. Don't we, as a society, have better things to focus our attention and outrage on? According to the FDA, apparently not.