ADD Medications Send Thousands to ERs
From Times Wire Reports
Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that problems with drugs for attention deficit disorders drive nearly 3,100 people to emergency rooms each year.
Nearly two-thirds -- overdoses and accidental use -- could be prevented by parents locking the pills away, the researchers reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Other patients had side effects, including potential cardiac problems such as chest pain, stroke, high blood pressure and fast heart rate.
An estimated 3.3 million Americans who are 19 or younger and nearly 1.5 million age 20 and older are taking the medicines.
