Post by misty on Jan 6, 2007 12:20:50 GMT -5
alison............Thread Started on Aug 12, 2006, 1:19am
Hi everyone! I posted a while ago about my doc. getting me to read side affects from this med and others like it. It more or less stated that there is a risk of heart attack in anyone who uses these meds if they had strenuous exercise. Well I had my worries but read alot and talked to people and was feeling better about it. This past weekend our family went on vacation in a little town were there are lots of hiking trails around and we took this really cool one up to the falls. My son who takes 36mg. of concerta is slightly overweight and was having difficulty climbing up this mountain trail. He did it but was very out of breath and I was so stressed about it. We went really slow and he did OK. My question is can he do stuff like this he needs the exercise and all of his friend were walking with us . I just felt like if I didn't let him come he would have been reallied upset and not understand why? We went on a different hike for 4 days in a row and swam at the pool 3 of those days also. If he can't do fun things like that what kind of life is it for him. He is now able to do things with us happily and not fight and argue about it. He is interested and reading the sighs and asking questions about everything we saw. It was great, but in the back of my mind was that info the doc. made me read. I don't know what to do!!!
misty
Amphetamines are probably among the safest medications on the market when taken as prescribed. They've been around for 75 years. To put that in some perspective, aspirin has only been around just over 100 years. The same goes for ritalin.
Stimulants are very safe if used as directed by healthy people. Heart problems, especially arythmias, will exclude you from taking stimulants for obvious reasons. Many doctors will screen you, checking for high blood pressure and may even do an EKG before prescribing.
Health Canada banned the use of Adderall due to a few unexplained deaths, but analysis of the data shows that the rate of these deaths was not any different from the rate of unexplained deaths you would get from a sample of the general population, so it wasn't a particularly rational move on Health Canada's. But at least you know that Health Canada is very strict about their meds so I'm sure they would ban Concerta too if any major problems had arisen.
If you are young and don't have any risk factors, you should be OK to excersize on any stimulant- but check with his doctor to be sure.
when my daughter was on Strattera I had my mom (Shes an RN) check her BP regularly.
I hope that helped you a little. I'm sure people with kids on stimulants currently will chime in with better advice sooner or later.
marja
Alison Hi
My son has been on concerta for 2 and half year´s now, so I think I can answer you pretty well, allthough Misty allready pointed out some good thing´s to you.
I understand the worry you feel, but at least with my son, doc preferred monthly check up´s for BP, he attented to all the activities they had in school, including slalom, skíing etc. and there were never any problem´s. So as long as the nurse is monitoring his BP frecuently and he´s healthy, there should be nothing to worry about.
I hope this helps´s a bit.
Charlie Girl
Before allowing your child to take stims, the dr should have done a thorough check up concentrating on his heart. In addition to an EKG, your son should have had an echocardiogram. The echo can and will show problems that don't show up in an EKG. The dr should do periodic checkups also to ensure that there is no problem which has cropped up.
If he is doing this, then I wouldn't worry about it unless you see your son turning blue around the mouth, finger and/or toe nails, rapid heart beat or any other sign of heart problems. Simply being a bit short of breath during strenuous excercise which he isn't used to isn't unusual, especially if he is a bit over weight. Chances are he would have had some difficulty with it anyway.
Many kids participate in athletic programs in school while taking stims. In fact, its discrimination and illegal for a school to deny a child the right to participate in a sport simply because he is on stims.
To be on the safe side, talk to your son's dr. If he hasn't done an EKG and echocardiogram, ask him to perform them. If those come up clear and your dr is confident of your son's well being, you shouldn't need to worry. If the dr hasn't done those tests and refuses to do them, find another dr who will. That way you can know that you have done the best you can to keep your son safe and you can relax.
I can't stress enough though that the only way you can know whether this was normal for your son or if there is a problem that should be addressed is to ask the dr.
Hi everyone! I posted a while ago about my doc. getting me to read side affects from this med and others like it. It more or less stated that there is a risk of heart attack in anyone who uses these meds if they had strenuous exercise. Well I had my worries but read alot and talked to people and was feeling better about it. This past weekend our family went on vacation in a little town were there are lots of hiking trails around and we took this really cool one up to the falls. My son who takes 36mg. of concerta is slightly overweight and was having difficulty climbing up this mountain trail. He did it but was very out of breath and I was so stressed about it. We went really slow and he did OK. My question is can he do stuff like this he needs the exercise and all of his friend were walking with us . I just felt like if I didn't let him come he would have been reallied upset and not understand why? We went on a different hike for 4 days in a row and swam at the pool 3 of those days also. If he can't do fun things like that what kind of life is it for him. He is now able to do things with us happily and not fight and argue about it. He is interested and reading the sighs and asking questions about everything we saw. It was great, but in the back of my mind was that info the doc. made me read. I don't know what to do!!!
misty
Amphetamines are probably among the safest medications on the market when taken as prescribed. They've been around for 75 years. To put that in some perspective, aspirin has only been around just over 100 years. The same goes for ritalin.
Stimulants are very safe if used as directed by healthy people. Heart problems, especially arythmias, will exclude you from taking stimulants for obvious reasons. Many doctors will screen you, checking for high blood pressure and may even do an EKG before prescribing.
Health Canada banned the use of Adderall due to a few unexplained deaths, but analysis of the data shows that the rate of these deaths was not any different from the rate of unexplained deaths you would get from a sample of the general population, so it wasn't a particularly rational move on Health Canada's. But at least you know that Health Canada is very strict about their meds so I'm sure they would ban Concerta too if any major problems had arisen.
If you are young and don't have any risk factors, you should be OK to excersize on any stimulant- but check with his doctor to be sure.
when my daughter was on Strattera I had my mom (Shes an RN) check her BP regularly.
I hope that helped you a little. I'm sure people with kids on stimulants currently will chime in with better advice sooner or later.
marja
Alison Hi
My son has been on concerta for 2 and half year´s now, so I think I can answer you pretty well, allthough Misty allready pointed out some good thing´s to you.
I understand the worry you feel, but at least with my son, doc preferred monthly check up´s for BP, he attented to all the activities they had in school, including slalom, skíing etc. and there were never any problem´s. So as long as the nurse is monitoring his BP frecuently and he´s healthy, there should be nothing to worry about.
I hope this helps´s a bit.
Charlie Girl
Before allowing your child to take stims, the dr should have done a thorough check up concentrating on his heart. In addition to an EKG, your son should have had an echocardiogram. The echo can and will show problems that don't show up in an EKG. The dr should do periodic checkups also to ensure that there is no problem which has cropped up.
If he is doing this, then I wouldn't worry about it unless you see your son turning blue around the mouth, finger and/or toe nails, rapid heart beat or any other sign of heart problems. Simply being a bit short of breath during strenuous excercise which he isn't used to isn't unusual, especially if he is a bit over weight. Chances are he would have had some difficulty with it anyway.
Many kids participate in athletic programs in school while taking stims. In fact, its discrimination and illegal for a school to deny a child the right to participate in a sport simply because he is on stims.
To be on the safe side, talk to your son's dr. If he hasn't done an EKG and echocardiogram, ask him to perform them. If those come up clear and your dr is confident of your son's well being, you shouldn't need to worry. If the dr hasn't done those tests and refuses to do them, find another dr who will. That way you can know that you have done the best you can to keep your son safe and you can relax.
I can't stress enough though that the only way you can know whether this was normal for your son or if there is a problem that should be addressed is to ask the dr.
