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An experimental stimulant drug from the World War II era is showing up in weight loss and sports supplements sold today, according to a new study. The stimulant, known as phenpromethamine, was last sold as a nasal inhaler called Vonedrine in the 1940s and 1950s, but it has since been withdrawn from the market and has never been approved for oral use, according to the study, published Tuesday (March 23) in the journal Clinical Toxicology. It's also banned from competitive sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The new study appears to be the first to confirm the presence of phenpromethamine...

You know those little vials of who-knows-what that TV bills as a healthier alternative to energy drinks. Turns out they might make you die. Or to be more specific, the flavored energy shot "has been mentioned in some 90 filings with the F.D.A., including more than 30 that involved serious or life-threatening injuries like heart attacks, convulsions and, in one case, a spontaneous abortion," according to a New York Times investigation. ... Don't worry, 5-Hour Energy fans, Monster Energy drink is a culprit, too. Following a review of FDA records, The Times found that 5-Hour Energy was implicated in at...

A report published today in the journal Pediatrics, however, estimates the incidence of psychotic symptoms at 1.48 per 100 person-years. (Person-years is defined as total years of treatment with a drug. For example, 100 people taking a drug one year is 100 person-years.) The statistic was based on data from 49 randomized, controlled trials of ADHD medications. In those same studies, no psychotic symptoms were reported in children who did not receive medication. Moreover, an analysis of spontaneous adverse-event reports to the FDA showed more than 800 reports of psychosis or mania. Psychotic symptoms were found with every ADHD drug...

GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 22 — Stimulants like Ritalin lead a small number of children to suffer hallucinations that usually feature insects, snakes or worms, according to federal drug officials, and a panel of experts said on Wednesday that physicians and parents needed to be warned of the risk. The panel members said they hoped the warning would prevent physicians from prescribing a second drug to treat the hallucinations caused by the stimulants, which one expert estimated affect 2 to 5 of every 100 children taking them. Instead, they said, the right thing to do in such cases was to stop...

(CNSNews.com) - Parents seeking a way to help their children overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increasingly resorted to the prescription drug, Ritalin. However, critics claim some doctors and entrepreneurs are exploiting the behavioral disorder and the dissatisfaction with Ritalin for their own financial gain. Recently, the mother of now-12-year-old Michael Mozer of New York City hired a lawyer to look into the possibility of suing Michael's elementary school because administrators there had allegedly been too hasty in diagnosing the boy with ADHD. Michael Mozer ended up being prescribed Ritalin, his mother Patricia Weathers told the New York Post,...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A group of researchers have uncovered evidence for why caffeine's stimulating effects stay with us long after we down the day's last cup of coffee. They have also identified a protein that appears to play a key role in how caffeine exerts its long-lasting effect. Dr. Gilberto Fisone of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and his colleagues found that mice genetically engineered to lack the protein, dubbed DARPP-32, did not experience as long a period of stimulation from caffeine as other mice. Fisone told Reuters Health that DARPP-32 may therefore represent the means by...