NEWS: Health Canada Withdraws ADHD Drug

Health Canada, the federal department responsible for helping the people of Canada maintain and improve their health, has announced that the attention deficit disorder drug Adderall XR is being pulled off the market. The drug, a product of Shire Pharmaceuticals, is being withdrawn due to safety concerns related to reported incidents of sudden deaths, heart-related deaths, and strokes in children and adults taking recommended doses.



This drug is still on the market in the US (and, presumably, in other countries), and the FDA has stated they have no plans for any immediate change. (FDA Statement)

It's worth quoting this part of the FDA's statement:

Patients using Adderall (or parents of children on the drug) who have questions about this medication should consult their physicians before making any alterations to their therapy.

I salute Health Canada for taking a stand and for not being cowed by pressure from powerful drug companies. I'm no expert on ADHD, and in no way intend to denigrate people's experiences with the condition, but stories like this do serve to strengthen my conviction that mind-altering medications are poorly understood and vastly over-prescribed.

Related News Links:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca
www.shire.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
ADHD, Mind Control Immunity
NEWS: Mandatory Mental Health Screening Challenged in House

Thanks to Duzey for putting me onto the story

[edit on 11-2-2005 by Azeari of the Radiant Eye]

[edit on 11-2-2005 by Azeari of the Radiant Eye]

Good to hear, it's odd however, I had a doctors appointment some months ago regards to my ADHD and refused to let him prescribe me any more drugs.

Good find.

Deep

Who says the Canadian drugadministration has good intentions, it might as well that this decision was bought and paid for by a companie pushing Ritalin or concerta instead????

Lets keep a close eye on this...

Health Canada, the federal department responsible for helping the people of Canada maintain and improve their health, has announced that the attention deficit disorder drug Adderall XR is being pulled off the market.

Is this the drug that kids are selling on the streets called Retelen? I hope so, I have heard so many stories about that pill and all of them bad! I am so gald to come here and that this was one of the first things I read, so, thanks for the article.
If it is, this pill is being sold on the streets I heard.. from young teens who are on it, and given to the highest bidder to adults in my area! I think that is insane and that this will only help my community to be a better one.

Also, there are many on this drug, who do not even need it, it has been over-prescribed to too many kids, and is ruining their life and their minds!

[edit on 11-2-2005 by realorritt]

[edit on 11-2-2005 by realorritt]

i work with how shall i put it... troubled kids. it is simply unbelievable how abused the adhd drugs are, both by doctors giving out this stuff like it is candy and by kids knowing how to manipulate parents/doctors/ whatever to get them.

The drug had only been approved for use in Canada since January, 2004 and none of those deaths occurred in Canada. Good call on Health Canada's part.

Great post, thanks.

to give a small child a drug to control them seems alittle bit harsh.when canada does not check the drug and it gets past our safety measures without canadian testing is not good.in the furture we might want to test them before some u.s company just assumes we trust there findings.for i think this is what has happened in this case.can you image having your child been given these drugs and they die at your own hands.i think i would really mad.flukemol........

Good post. Thanks. Good for Canada - but I bet that means we're gonna see another Vioxx-type scandal very soon..

...seems to me too that all kinds of meds are over-prescribed - and dangerous. They fix one thing by shutting down some other essential metabolic or cellular function. Surprise, surprise.

I can't believe how easy it is to get amphetimines such as Adderall. I walked into the doctors office and described my symtoms of ADHD and they took my blood pressure and then wrote me a prescription. Just like that.

A year later I was so strung out on it I ended up homeless, Lost my girlfriend, almost lost my job. My life was a complete mess.

By then ofcourse the doctor also had me on Effexor XR to try and counter the insanity that had taken over my life.

I went cold turkey. It damn near killed me but i'll never take medicine for ADHD or anything else again. I learned my lesson.

Three cheers for Canada..Hip Hip Hoorayyyyyy!!!!

Wupy

Originally posted by soficrow
...seems to me too that all kinds of meds are over-prescribed - and dangerous.

Add to that, under-tested. I really think a lot of these drugs are coming out way too fast. No one knows about long-term effects....seems like the consumer is the guinea pig.

Finally..'

Well, I talked to several teens, about this story today, and I had
many different responses. One young teen, 17, said "I don't even take them I make about 500 dollars every month selling them, and that helped my mother put food on the table."

My question was "If your mother knowss you are doing this, why is she letting you continue to do so, you could go to jail, as well as your mother?"
He said he would rather take the risk, as they are on a low-income per month.
I was rather shocked to find out his mother knew about this, so, I wondered if the child who had been prescribed these since he was 7, did not even need them, why in the world did he get them from a doctor? I knew right away that it was because any child who is any what hyper, is labeled AdHD. which is wrong, and now, people who do not even have this are hooked on this drug through illegal selling.

I talked to a few other teens, who said, that one, he would be in a panic as he has been on the medication since he was 4, and is now 18, and admitted to over medicating himself. He was very concerne and never heard anything about the story. I will post the rest later, I am under he weather.

First of all, I take Adderall XR in combination with Lexapro (I know, some of you are thinking, oh my god, he's going to die, or he doesn't need them). I'm really tired of how the media portrays the mental health drugs, because as the media does, they only report the bad news. In contrast, Adderall XR has really worked well for me; I'm able to focus alot better and get my work done without a struggle - one of the side effects of depression is loss of concentration and a lack of generally caring about anything, so this drug really helped out alot.

I do agree, however, that the drug is probably overprescribed to children who's parents are only looking to cure their own sanity. Most of these kids have consumer hyperactivity disorder - or, high nielsen ratings disorder. And I love how now they have come out with "Adult ADHD", as if kids were the only ones who got ADHD... it's funny how this condition just came out of the blue since Reaganomics.

Anyhow, I actually did some more reaserch on this news article... I checked out the Adderall XR website, which brought me to the FDA website where they address the problem... www.fda.gov...

I know it's easy to jump to conclusions, but I really hate it when drug companies get attacked for releasing a drug that might have been a special case in somebody out of millions. Though I think the health industry in the United States it a complete rip off - way over priced for the quality of health care we get - I still can't believe that people wont go after beer companies because their products caused adverse side-effects, or bunk-bed companies, as around 400 people in America died in 2000 from falling out of them.

It's time to weigh the benifits against the deficits, as my health and many other peoples good health, might be the victim of fearmongering and worthless newsmedia.

...also...

Originally posted by realorritt
Finally..'

Well, I talked to several teens, about this story today, and I had
many different responses. One young teen, 17, said "I don't even take them I make about 500 dollars every month selling them, and that helped my mother put food on the table."

My question was "If your mother knowss you are doing this, why is she letting you continue to do so, you could go to jail, as well as your mother?"
He said he would rather take the risk, as they are on a low-income per month.
I was rather shocked to find out his mother knew about this, so, I wondered if the child who had been prescribed these since he was 7, did not even need them, why in the world did he get them from a doctor? I knew right away that it was because any child who is any what hyper, is labeled AdHD. which is wrong, and now, people who do not even have this are hooked on this drug through illegal selling.

I talked to a few other teens, who said, that one, he would be in a panic as he has been on the medication since he was 4, and is now 18, and admitted to over medicating himself. He was very concerne and never heard anything about the story. I will post the rest later, I am under he weather.

...I think this is a complete lie. I don't think Adderall XR or Adderall have even been on the market for 14 years. And if he took Ritalin, it's not a methamphetamine, so he wouldn't be making $500 selling it. Not to mention if his doctor prescribed him Adderall, he gets 30 pills a month and no more; it is state law everywhere that methamphetamines can not be refilled, so he has to go to the doctor every month to get a prescription. Now, if this family is poor, they probably don't have private health insurance, so they might have to pay for Adderall up front - which is around $100 for 30 pills, and not to mention the monthly doctor visit - which would depend on what kind of health insurance they had, if any.

I seriously think this is a lie; I cant believe this. Why would you come on here and lie about something like this? There are people in America, like me, who actually need to take this drug because of side effects from operations, depression, other medical conditions which really cause people to become demotivated and unfocused.

Where I have heard of college students taking Adderall to bone up before a big test, I havn't heard much of Adderall being sold on the black market by younger kids. I have heard of kids buying Coracedin HBP medicine or taking high doses of other OTC antihistamines, since they give about the same "high". If a kid wanted to get a comprable high from Adderall, he would have to shell out 45-75 bucks for 60mg (3 pills) at black market price, for just them only.

Not to mention your spelling is as if you're a child yourself; sorry.

Yes it is, sorry but it is true. A young girl I babysat, when she was 5 started taking the drug, for ADHD ritalin, and is now 19. She was very violent, when taking the drug. At first she was like she was in a trance, and always said she could hear 'bees flying", then as I baby sat her more as her mother went out often to bingo and to a charity she was involved in, she started getting more and more viiolent. After 3 years she grabbed a knofe, and threatened to stab her mother, while standing on the basement steps holding the knife. I was frightened to say the least, and talked her into giving me the knife. Then without warning she started punching me, for no reason, after that her mother gave her 2 more ritalin and she quieted down.
The next few weeks were alright, until she grabbed a young kid and just picked her up and was swinging her ready to throw her, her mother and I raced to her and stopped her.
She has always been violent even before the start of Ritalin, and still is today, but her mother fears she will become even more violent when she is taken off of the drug.
Her brother, who sells them, is the one who was prescribed them because of the fact that he talked too much in school.True! Now, to use that as a reason to give someone Ritalin is crazy, and there needs to be a major investigation into the children and young adults who were given this because a teacher proposed the ideaor, he or she is not paying attention in class, or some other reason....and because every Doctor should do every test available before he or she had prescribed this drug, it would have stopped the abuse of it that is going on.

www.hyperfast.homestead.com...

Prescribed Ritalin is so cheap and so easy to get hold of that a higly profitable illegal resale market has sprung uparound it. Some kids in middle school, high school, and college have taken to buying the pills at an inflated, but still quite manageable, price (about $10 per pill for pills that only cost about 30-50 cents each when purchased by prescription), and then grinding several at a time into a powder that can be snorted or mixed with water for injection.

It is sadly ironic that many young people who start using Ritalin this way are actually good kids and excellent students. But they find out from a friend, or a friend of a friend, that they can get something to help them study for a final or finish a major project. Because so many of them are juggling more than they can really handle, some of them succumb to temptation. Just this once. You know how it is.


But then a few weeks later, more exams, term papers, and projects loom overwhelmingly on the horizon. So they resort once more to the "study aid" that helped them ace their work the last time.






About twelve years ago some college students I knew began to use tiny little pills called Mini-Thins to stay awake to study. These pills were pure ephedrine, the same drug used in allergy medicines, in some diet aids, and in sports-energy drinks.


christian-parenting.learninginfo.org...

To show why I think it causes violence ...

November 20, 1986: Rod Mathews, 14, beat a classmate to death with a bat in the woods near his house in Canton, Massachusetts. Rod was put on Ritalin when he was in third grade.

February 19, 1996: Timmy Becton, 10, grabbed his three-year-old niece as a shield and aimed a shotgun at a sheriff's deputy who accompanied a truant officer to his Florida home. Becton had been taken to a psychiatrist in January to cure his dislike of school and was put on a psychiatric drug, Prozac. His parents said that when the dosage of the drug was increased, Timmy had violent mood swings and that he would “get really angry…”

May 21, 1998: Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, murdered his parents and then proceeded to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding twenty-two. Kinkel had been prescribed both Ritalin and Prozac.

April 16, 1999: Shawn Cooper, a 15-year-old-sophomore at Notus Junior-Senior High School in Notus, Idaho, was taking Ritalin when he fired two shotgun rounds, narrowly missing students and school staff.

May 20, 1999: T.J. Solomon, a 15-year-old at Heritage High School in Conyers, Ga., was being treated with Ritalin for depression when he opened fire on and wounded six classmates.11




So, yes it is very true, sad but true, he does make that much money, and it is mostly from adults who snort it, and are bad addicts.
As far as my spelling, I am still recovering from an injury and am using my left hand to type, so please excuse my mistakes.


[edit on 13-2-2005 by realorritt]

[edit on 13-2-2005 by realorritt]

First hand experience. My sister-in-laws brother is on Ritalin. He's still in trouble at school and is in kind of a transe, and is selfish. How can this be considered a solution.

There are in many cases better solutions than drugs to problems. In my own life, I have long since stopped taking medications for anything. Man, I don't even pop an aspirin for headache. It's usually something herbal or a vitamin I take for problems like congestion or something.

True story. My dad's severe heal pain has been markedly alleviated, I think, with an MSM, Glocosamine, Chondroitin combination. Not sure what else could have helped it, unless it is the stretching he says he does. But this did occur shortly after he started taking the supplement. And when I say severe pain I mean hopping around not being able to put pressure on his heals. Now, sometimes you wouldn't know he has problems with his heals and walks near normal. He does have pains sometimes, but his present condition is so much better than before.

A solution for some cases of suppression might be just doing something like setting goals and accomplishing them, working toward a life long dream or something. Which in itself doesn't involve a bottle or injection of anything. And, it's kind of amazing how pain can just be a non-factor when you are working hard, and getting things done.

Troy

Your brother.

A great presidents, Churchill, another great genius Edison, and Einstein, famed scientist, were all thought to have this problem. So, if they had been put on this drug, would we today have the lightbulb invention, and Einstein's teacher wrote on his report card that he would never amount to anything, so, if these people had taken this drug, ;speed' would they stil have had their brilliant minds as they did? I doubt it, as it cause so many other problems. The number one person to tell a parent to have their child tested for ADD or ADHD is teachers! They can not tolerate any bad behaviour, most of them and see difficulties in school work being linked to ADD, which is wrong.
A school in my area actually has a nurse who has two full tables of Ritalin for kids who are between 5 and 10! That is just wrong to drug kids when they have no say in it, and are unaware what they are taking is going to cause them problems down the road.
Reduced appetite: This effect may be worse in the very young. It may improve after several weeks or months. If it continues to be problematic, one may reduce the dose; or time a short-acting stimulant to wear off before mealtimes. Some people find that methylphenidate compounds have slightly less appetite suppression than amphetamine compounds. In some cases we resign ourselves to a eating a large breakfast and supper followed by a very small lunch. A late evening snack can also help. Some non-stimulant AD/HD medications do not cause appetite suppression.

www.ncpamd.com...

Rebound: Some people who take short acting methylphenidate or amphetamine experience irritability or depression for an hour as the stimulant wears off. Sometimes this is worse than the individual’s behavior before the medication was started. One can avoid rebound by spacing the doses closer together, giving a smaller dose after the final larger dose, or by switching to a longer acting stimulant. Recently several new long-acting stimulant preparations have been released. Although the long-acting compounds often have less rebound, it may still occur in susceptible individuals. Sometimes, we add a tiny dose of short-acting stimulant when the longer-acting stimulant wears off.

Headache: If this does not improve with time, we may reduce the dose or switch to another stimulant. Sometimes caffeine restriction helps.

Jittery feeling: Eliminate caffeine or other stimulant-type medications. A small dose of a beta-blocker (a type of blood pressure medication) can block tremor or jitters.

Gastrointestinal upset: Take the medication with meals or eat smaller, more frequent meals.

Sleep difficulty: Sometimes the sleep problem is due to the AD/HD, not the medication. If the sleep problem is truly due to medication effect, we have several options. Sleep difficulty is more common when one is using a long-acting stimulant or if one is giving a short-acting stimulant in the evening. Now that there are more long-acting stimulants on the market, one can often eliminate this problem by using one of the more intermediate-length stimulants. Clonidine or guanfacine facilitate sleep. We also counsel the individual on establishing good sleep habits.

Irritability: Sometimes irritability may be due to the AD/HD or another psychiatric disorder. If the irritability is truly due to the stimulant, one might reduce the stimulant dose, switch to a different stimulant, add an SSRI, (paroxetine, sertraline) an alpha agonist (clonidine/guanfacine) or use another class of medications to treat the AD/HD.

Depression: This may occasionally be a delayed effect of stimulant medication. It may be more common with the long-acting stimulants. Screening for a history of depression, and treating co-existing depression can minimize this. If the depression truly is related to the medication, one may switch to another class of medications to treat the AD/HD. These second-line medications would include the tricyclic antidepressants and bupropion (Wellbutrin.)

Anxiety: If an individual is anxious, the stimulants can exacerbate the symptoms. The treatment of this side effect is similar to that of depression. It may be best to treat a co-existing anxiety disorder before treating the AD/HD.

Blood glucose changes: Individuals with diabetes mellitus or borderline glucose tolerance may experience a rise in blood sugar. Such individuals can often take stimulants but may need closer monitoring of their diabetic control.

Increased blood pressure: Stimulants may cause increases in blood pressure or pulse. This is usually not significant at normal doses in most people. Individuals on very high doses of stimulants or individuals at risk for blood pressure problems should be monitored more closely. Some adults may opt to continue the stimulant and add a blood pressure medication.

Psychosis or paranoia: These are rare side effects. They may occur in an individual who is already predisposed to a bipolar disorder or another psychotic disorder. Psychosis may also occur when someone takes a stimulant overdose. It is important to screen for and treat certain other psychiatric disorders prior to starting a stimulant.

Tics and stereotyped (repetitive) movements: In the past we rarely gave stimulants to individuals with tics because we believed that the stimulant would make the tics worse. Recent data seems to indicate that low to moderate doses of amphetamine or methylphenidate do not exacerbate tics. If an individual has tics, or develops them while on a stimulant, it should be discussed with the prescribing physician. The patient and physician should then carefully weigh the risks and potential benefits or medication treatment.

Originally posted by realorritt
Your brother.

A great presidents, Churchill, another great genius Edison, and Einstein, famed scientist, were all thought to have this problem. So, if they had been put on this drug, would we today have the lightbulb invention, and Einstein's teacher wrote on his report card that he would never amount to anything, so, if these people had taken this drug, ;speed' would they stil have had their brilliant minds as they did? I doubt it, as it cause so many other problems. The number one person to tell a parent to have their child tested for ADD or ADHD is teachers! They can not tolerate any bad behaviour, most of them and see difficulties in school work being linked to ADD, which is wrong.
A school in my area actually has a nurse who has two full tables of Ritalin for kids who are between 5 and 10! That is just wrong to drug kids when they have no say in it, and are unaware what they are taking is going to cause them problems down the road.
Reduced appetite: This effect may be worse in the very young. It may improve after several weeks or months. If it continues to be problematic, one may reduce the dose; or time a short-acting stimulant to wear off before mealtimes. Some people find that methylphenidate compounds have slightly less appetite suppression than amphetamine compounds. In some cases we resign ourselves to a eating a large breakfast and supper followed by a very small lunch. A late evening snack can also help. Some non-stimulant AD/HD medications do not cause appetite suppression.

www.ncpamd.com...

Rebound: Some people who take short acting methylphenidate or amphetamine experience irritability or depression for an hour as the stimulant wears off. Sometimes this is worse than the individual’s behavior before the medication was started. One can avoid rebound by spacing the doses closer together, giving a smaller dose after the final larger dose, or by switching to a longer acting stimulant. Recently several new long-acting stimulant preparations have been released. Although the long-acting compounds often have less rebound, it may still occur in susceptible individuals. Sometimes, we add a tiny dose of short-acting stimulant when the longer-acting stimulant wears off.

Headache: If this does not improve with time, we may reduce the dose or switch to another stimulant. Sometimes caffeine restriction helps.

Jittery feeling: Eliminate caffeine or other stimulant-type medications. A small dose of a beta-blocker (a type of blood pressure medication) can block tremor or jitters.

Gastrointestinal upset: Take the medication with meals or eat smaller, more frequent meals.

Sleep difficulty: Sometimes the sleep problem is due to the AD/HD, not the medication. If the sleep problem is truly due to medication effect, we have several options. Sleep difficulty is more common when one is using a long-acting stimulant or if one is giving a short-acting stimulant in the evening. Now that there are more long-acting stimulants on the market, one can often eliminate this problem by using one of the more intermediate-length stimulants. Clonidine or guanfacine facilitate sleep. We also counsel the individual on establishing good sleep habits.

Irritability: Sometimes irritability may be due to the AD/HD or another psychiatric disorder. If the irritability is truly due to the stimulant, one might reduce the stimulant dose, switch to a different stimulant, add an SSRI, (paroxetine, sertraline) an alpha agonist (clonidine/guanfacine) or use another class of medications to treat the AD/HD.

Depression: This may occasionally be a delayed effect of stimulant medication. It may be more common with the long-acting stimulants. Screening for a history of depression, and treating co-existing depression can minimize this. If the depression truly is related to the medication, one may switch to another class of medications to treat the AD/HD. These second-line medications would include the tricyclic antidepressants and bupropion (Wellbutrin.)

Anxiety: If an individual is anxious, the stimulants can exacerbate the symptoms. The treatment of this side effect is similar to that of depression. It may be best to treat a co-existing anxiety disorder before treating the AD/HD.

Blood glucose changes: Individuals with diabetes mellitus or borderline glucose tolerance may experience a rise in blood sugar. Such individuals can often take stimulants but may need closer monitoring of their diabetic control.

Increased blood pressure: Stimulants may cause increases in blood pressure or pulse. This is usually not significant at normal doses in most people. Individuals on very high doses of stimulants or individuals at risk for blood pressure problems should be monitored more closely. Some adults may opt to continue the stimulant and add a blood pressure medication.

Psychosis or paranoia: These are rare side effects. They may occur in an individual who is already predisposed to a bipolar disorder or another psychotic disorder. Psychosis may also occur when someone takes a stimulant overdose. It is important to screen for and treat certain other psychiatric disorders prior to starting a stimulant.

Tics and stereotyped (repetitive) movements: In the past we rarely gave stimulants to individuals with tics because we believed that the stimulant would make the tics worse. Recent data seems to indicate that low to moderate doses of amphetamine or methylphenidate do not exacerbate tics. If an individual has tics, or develops them while on a stimulant, it should be discussed with the prescribing physician. The patient and physician should then carefully weigh the risks and potential benefits or medication treatment.

yeah well where i come from not everyone has the oppurtunities after school to become an albert einstein

what about all the ppl with a.d.d who after school did absolutely nothing

i've got a supply of 12 hour concerta, dexamphetamine with tablets and 6 hour pills

i'm in year 12 at the moment and i know if i don't take them i won't do as well

i am not hooked on them at all!

i hate taking them, it sucks big time... but this is a very important year for me and i know if i don't i'll do #!

and i don't think the pills alter my mind at all.. as soon as it wears out i'm back to normal

i can understand why some people wouldn't want to take them, because socially it's not very good. It can suppress your emotions

i guess it's a decision which comes down to what's more important, but after school i don't intend to take them on a day to day basis as i am now and my friends actually don't think i'm much different and i make a bigger deal out of it than it really is

A table full of Ritalin! That's nuts. ADHD isn't even a real disease. Kids will be kids. I grew up just fine and so did many of my friends, and we didn't take Ritalin in school.

Want to know how a rate the drug Ritalin, not two thumbs up, how about two middle fingers up.

Troy

Originally posted by dman182
i've got a supply of 12 hour concerta, dexamphetamine with tablets and 6 hour pills

i'm in year 12 at the moment and i know if i don't take them i won't do as well

i am not hooked on them at all!

i hate taking them, it sucks big time... but this is a very important year for me and i know if i don't i'll do #!

and i don't think the pills alter my mind at all.. as soon as it wears out i'm back to normal

Are you taking these pills under a doctor’s order? I really hope this is the case. The effects of these pills is not fully understood yet, and by taking unnecessary medication that was not prescribed to you, you could be taking a very large risk with your health.