ADHD drugs sent 2,500 to hospital

"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]



"Jan Drew" wrote in message
. com...

"Rich" wrote in message
...

Ilena Rose wrote in message
...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...0_to_hospital/




ADHD drugs sent 2,500 to hospital
Overdose cases fill emergency rooms
By Rob Waters, Bloomberg | May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON -- More than 2,500 children went to hospital emergency
rooms in 2004 after taking a stimulant used to treat attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, most because of accidental overdoses, a US
government report suggests.

About 1 in 4 children who took the drugs and went to emergency rooms
had serious heart or blood pressure events including palpitations,
chest pain, or fainting, said the report by the Atlanta-based Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Many other cases involved children
who accidentally took someone else's medication, the report found.

The researchers reviewed emergency room visits at 64 hospitals between
August 2003 and 2005, finding 188 events related to attention deficit
drugs. From that number, they projected that there were probably 3,075
visits nationally among both children and adults. The review is made
as US regulators weigh whether to require a stronger warning on the
drugs about a possible link to sudden death and heart risks.

``Clinicians should recognize that unintentional overdoses of
stimulant medications are an important cause of injury to patients,"
said the CDC's Adam Cohen who, with colleagues, wrote a research
letter on the report published today in The New England Journal of
Medicine.

It was the first time the CDC collected such data, Cohen said, so he
was unable to say whether such problems were new or how common they
might have been.

The survey was prompted by reports of side effects among the estimated
3.3 million children and nearly 1.5 million adults who take the drugs.
Twenty-five deaths linked to ADHD drugs, 19 involving children, were
reported to the Food and Drug Administration from 1999 through 2003.
Fifty-four other cases of serious heart problems, including heart
attacks and strokes, were also reported. Some of the patients had
prior heart problems.

In February, an advisory committee to the FDA narrowly recommended
that ADHD drugs -- such as Adderall and Adderall XR, which are made by
Shire Plc ; Strattera by Eli Lilly and Co. ; and Ritalin and Focalin
by Novartis AG -- include a ``black box" warning about the heart risks
.

But in March, a different panel of advisers concluded that such a
strong warning was not necessary and might dissuade doctors and
patients from prescribing or using the drugs. FDA spokeswoman Kimberly
Rawlings said she could not say when the FDA would make a decision on
the warning.

``This is what I was concerned about at the first advisory committee,
that what we were seeing was the tip of the iceberg," Steven Nissen,
interim chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the
Cleveland Clinic, said. Material from the Associated Press was used in
this report.


This article is sensationalist silliness. In the first place, 2500 is a
miniscule number in comparison to the number of people who are
prescribed the medication. It's an even smaller number compared to the
number of children taken to emergency rooms for all medication-related
causes.

Look at the subheadline, for example: "Overdose cases fill emergency
rooms." In America, emergency rooms see more than 100 million patients
per year. That means that only 0.00025% of ER visits are related to ADHD
drugs. To say those visits "fill" emergency rooms is not just a
sensationalist exageration, it's an out and out lie. Then we see in the
second paragraph that, "About 1 in 4 children who took the drugs and
went to emergency rooms had serious . . . events . . ." So, fewer than
seven hundred of those 2500 cases were "serious." I know from experience
what the other 1800+ cases were like. Typically a toddler is brought in
by frightened parents after being found with a sibling's Ritalin pills.
The parents don't know how many, if any, of the pills the child took, so
the ER examines the healthy baby, finds nothing amiss, but keeps baby
and family around for three or four hours of observation just to "make
sure." And the "serious" cases? Most of those, too, will be observed in
the ER for a few hours and then discharged home after the effects of the
drug, tachycardia or hypertension or agitation, subside. (Gastric
lavage, or what the lay public calls "pumping the stomach," has fallen
from favor because it is traumatic and too seldom effective to warrant
the risks involved. Administration of activated charcoal is the most
frequent treatment.) Of those few who are seriously enough affected to
warrant admission to the hospital, nearly all will be sent home the next
day. Note that the author of the article had to combine four years of
statistics to amass 25 deaths.

So, all in all, removing all ADHD medications from America's homes would
not significantly affect the safety of the nation's children. To do that
you would have to remove the really dangerous things like coffee tables,
skateboards, and toys that are small enough to block airways.

My...my...let's all be thankful, Rich never had any kids.

Poor, pathetic, Rich.

"Peter Bowditch" wrote in message
...
Mark Probert wrote:

Ilena Rose wrote:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...0_to_hospital/




ADHD drugs sent 2,500 to hospital
Overdose cases fill emergency rooms

That is a moronic statement.

Firstly, the study did not say that there are 2500 overdoses. It said
adverse reactions which may or may not be related to medication.

Second, that figure is for one year, and was reported at slightly over
3000. It reflects, however, eight, EIGHT *8* cases a day.

If anyone thinks that *8* cases a day can fill the emergency rooms in
the US hospitals, they are dumber than the writer.

Eight diagnoses of autism per day in California is described almost
every day by anti-vaccination liars as an "epidemic". They love small
numbers.
--
Peter Bowditch aa #2243
The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud http://www.acahf.org.au
Australian Skeptics http://www.skeptics.com.au
To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com

"Peter Bowditch"
anti-vaccination liars

Peter Bowditch

"Jan Drew" wrote:


"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]

"Anorexia" is loss of appetite. I have it right now because I just ate
a delicious pizza. (Modesty prevents me mentioning the pizza chef who
created it.)

"Anorexia nervosa" is a medical condition identified by avoidance of
food. It is very serious and can be life threatening. I asked you
before if you had ever seen adolescents with permanent feeding tubes
up their noses and who were under 24-hour surveillance in hospital to
ensure that they didn't harm themselves. I also asked you if you had
ever seen a young girl who had carved words like "ugly" and "fat" onto
herself with a razor blade. You didn't answer either question, and
until you have seen things like these your opinions about anorexia
nervosa are not worth a squirt of bird ****.

--
Peter Bowditch aa #2243
The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud http://www.acahf.org.au
Australian Skeptics http://www.skeptics.com.au
To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com

"Jan Drew" wrote in message
news

"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

The subject is the RISKS from ADHD drugs. Since all risks are relative, it's
entirely appropriate to compare them with others with the same endpoints, in
these cases ER admissions.




[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]




I wrote this triage assessment of a patient awhile back. (Maybe not word for
word, because I'm doing it from memory, but pretty damn close):


"7yo male presents ambulatory, anxious and, per mother, c/o abd pain since
yesterday. Today, pt has fever and anorexia, and pain has localized to RLQ.
+nausea, no emesis. Denies diarrhea. Bowel sounds present / hyperactive. Abd
is firm, tender, +guarding, +rebound. Lungs CTA. Skin warm, dry, pale. VS's
138/58, 112, 24, 99%, 101.1f."


I won't tell you what the patient's diagnosis was, but all the doctors here
know, and it wasn't anorexia nervosa. It wasn't caused by ADHD medications,
either. The word "anorexia" in the note was appropriate, correctly used, and
referrant to a symptom, not a diagnosis, as is common in medical
terminology. Sorry, Jan, but YOU are the one who is wrong about the word
"anorexia," not I.
--


--Rich

Recommended websites:

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
http://www.acahf.org.au
http://www.quackwatch.org/
http://www.skeptic.com/
http://www.csicop.org/

Ilena Rose wrote in message
...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...0_to_hospital/


. . .


But in March, a different panel of advisers concluded that such a
strong warning was not necessary and might dissuade doctors and
patients from prescribing or using the drugs. FDA spokeswoman Kimberly
Rawlings said she could not say when the FDA would make a decision on
the warning.

.. . .


The important warning is already there, i.e.:

"Keep this and all medications out of the reach of small children."

Were it not for the fact that most parents obey this advice, medication
related pediatric emergencies would come a lot closer to filling the
nation's emergency rooms.
--


--Rich

Recommended websites:

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
http://www.acahf.org.au
http://www.quackwatch.org/
http://www.skeptic.com/
http://www.csicop.org/

FDA Approves New Labeling ADHD Drug with Side Effect: ANOREXIA

That's where the subject was discussed.

If you wished to discuss it more...go to the proper thread.

"Jan Drew" wrote:


"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]


--
Peter Bowditch

"Jan Drew" wrote in message
. com...
FDA Approves New Labeling ADHD Drug with Side Effect: ANOREXIA

That's where the subject was discussed.

If you wished to discuss it more...go to the proper thread.


Stick it in your ass, Jan. You are not the mha traffic cop, and you may not
tell others where to discuss what.

Now, as for the anorexia side effect of stimulants, are you aware that
anorexia was the INTENDED effect of amphetamines when they were prescribed
as "diet pills" in the '60's and '70's? Then, as now, they did not cause
Anorexia Nervosa, which is a psychiatric disorder.






"Jan Drew" wrote:


"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]


--
Peter Bowditch

"Rich" wrote in message
...

"Jan Drew" wrote in message
news

"Rich tried to change the subject from ADHD drugs.

The subject is the RISKS from ADHD drugs. Since all risks are relative,
it's entirely appropriate to compare them with others with the same
endpoints, in these cases ER admissions.

Wrong, that is NOT in the NEWS!




[ besides being ignorant and does NOT know what Anorexia is.]




I wrote this triage assessment of a patient awhile back. (Maybe not word
for word, because I'm doing it from memory, but pretty damn close):


"7yo male presents ambulatory, anxious and, per mother, c/o abd pain since
yesterday. Today, pt has fever and anorexia, and pain has localized to
RLQ. +nausea, no emesis. Denies diarrhea. Bowel sounds present /
hyperactive. Abd is firm, tender, +guarding, +rebound. Lungs CTA. Skin
warm, dry, pale. VS's 138/58, 112, 24, 99%, 101.1f."


I won't tell you what the patient's diagnosis was, but all the doctors
here know, and it wasn't anorexia nervosa. It wasn't caused by ADHD
medications, either. The word "anorexia" in the note was appropriate,
correctly used, and referrant to a symptom, not a diagnosis, as is common
in medical terminology.

lol...

And

WOW!!!

Poor Richey..what a job trying to back peddle.

NONE of that was SAID.

Just a simple:

Anorexia is experienced by everybody after a full meal.


Sorry, Jan, but YOU are the one who is wrong about the word
"anorexia," not I.

That would be a blatant lie.

My words:

Not at all. I am in fact well aware of what *anorexia* means.

In fact it is classified as a *disease*.


Sorry, Mayo Clinic states otherwise. I would have NOT used the word fact,
if I was not sure.


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anorexia/DS00606

You have not only proven your ignorance [and tried to back peddle] but once
again proven yourself to be a liar.


--Rich

"Rich" wrote in message
...

Ilena Rose wrote in message
...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...0_to_hospital/


. . .


But in March, a different panel of advisers concluded that such a
strong warning was not necessary and might dissuade doctors and
patients from prescribing or using the drugs. FDA spokeswoman Kimberly
Rawlings said she could not say when the FDA would make a decision on
the warning.

. . .


The important warning is already there, i.e.:

"Keep this and all medications out of the reach of small children."

Yeah...Just GIVE IT TO THEM!!

Were it not for the fact that most parents obey this advice, medication
related pediatric emergencies would come a lot closer to filling the
nation's emergency rooms.
--


--Rich