One of the most hotly debated topics these days is the increasing number of children who are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. While many parents are thankful for the diagnosis and medications that are intended to cure it, others believe that children are being over-medicated for the disorder and that too many children are being diagnosed. Whatever you believe on the topic, it is important to understand the potential risks and dangers associated with taking these drugs. One such drug, Adderall, has been prescribed for attention deficit disorder and has also been prescribed to treat narcolepsy, which is a condition marked by severe drowsiness and falling asleep at inappropriate times.

Adderall, like many medications, has a number of side effects, some of which are very dangerous. The side effects differ depending on if the drug is given to a child or to an adult. In children, the common side effects are stomachache, difficulty falling asleep and changes in emotional state. In adults, side effects include loss of appetite, weight loss, difficulty falling asleep, and headaches. Additionally, there are some rare but very serious side effects that can occur in both adults and children. These incredibly dangerous side effects include: aggression, symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome, depression, and seizures.

Also, there were 12 reported sudden deaths of children in the United States who were taking Adderall. This led to a brief ban on the distribution of the drug by Health Canada. This ban has since been lifted. This does not mean, however, that those deaths were not caused by Adderall, so you should not be quick to look to the drug if your child has any heart-related issues while on Adderall. Additionally, Adderall has been classified as a schedule II controlled substance, which indicates that it has a high level for abuse and addiction. Therefore, if you or you child have been prescribed the drug, there is a high likelihood that addiction to the drug will occur.

If you or your child have taken Adderall and suffered negative consequences, or have experienced addiction and are now abusing Adderall, your first step should be to contact your physician. Once you doctor has confirmed that your serious side effects were caused by a drug that is supposed to simply aid the brain in keeping you on task, you may want to speak with a lawyer. It is heartbreaking that a medication that you give to your child to help them can actually cause them to end up in a worse situation that when you began. When the side effects of the medication are worse than the original problem, you have come out on the losing end of the cost-benefit analysis.

Although Adderall was approved for use in adults and children by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that does not mean that the drug manufacturer is blameless in the resulting injury and health problem caused to you and your child. In fact, even if the drug manufacturer did not know of all the dangerous possible outcomes from Adderall that does not mean that they are not liable to you for the damages caused by the drug.

If your child has developed depression, seizures, or some other serious side effect from taking Adderall, you likely have incurred additional medical bills, and maybe even therapy costs. These are all costs that you would not have incurred if Adderall had not harmed your child, so the drug manufacturer is to blame and should be made to pay accordingly.

You should contact a personal injury attorney at once to discuss you or your child’s reaction to Adderall and what type of lawsuit you may have against the drug manufacturer. You will not know without speaking with an attorney, so take that first step today and call an attorney. You owe it to yourself and your child to get the compensation that you deserve. We cannot let drug manufacturers bully us into accepting negative side effects, simply because we took their drugs.