Columnist neglects to mention serious side effects
By Frank Coxon IV | Apr. 19, 2011I feel obligated to respond to Laura Ellermeyer’s Tuesday column on “study pills.” While I applaud her for denouncing their use, I feel she took the matter too lightly. I have ADHD and take Concerta (a form of Ritalin) and suffer the side effects she spoke of, but there are worse side effects as well. All the drugs she mentioned can cause chronic headaches (which I suffer from) as well as loss of appetite, heartburn, vomiting. And that’s just the mild symptoms. Worse symptoms include seizures, depression, heart trouble and sudden death, especially in adults with heart defects or previous heart problems. This can all be found on the PubMed Health website. There have been documented cases of children dying from a Ritalin dose their own doctor prescribed.
