If you take ADHD medications, you should be watching your pulse and blood pressure

https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/adhd-add/115003?xid=nl_mpt_Psychiatry_update_2025-04-09&mh=22c3cd8ebe0a923b5ca6e6e20f1222e0&zdee=gAAAAABm4uK279jdo8CafLOm4JPz0sgm8eROJ6H7GdfxGvH9_dh-e3vaHvPfFgfVvLTOrVxu7IzgOZjaDOo5SqXSuPk5o185gqPs7KYIv4wO-rjbk3ZgvV0%3D&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Automated%20Specialty%20Update%20Psychiatry%202025-04-09&utm_term=NL_Spec_Psychiatry_Update_Active

With ADHD diagnoses at an all time high, as is the number of patients taking amphetamines and other ADHD medications, this bears reminding.

If you are taking a medication such as Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, or on a SNRI medication such as Strattera and Qelbree, you should be taking your blood pressure and heart rate at home. At least weekly. Because in the new age of post covid vaccines, we don’t know the risk that you have with elevated heart rate or blood pressure while taking these medications. This alert they put out today is unlike any I have ever seen before…..we educate about elevated BP and heart rate, but they have never gone so far as to include the non-stimulant medications as well.

My recommendation? Go get a good quality wrist blood pressure cuff. It will measure your heart rate and BP at the same time. Track it daily with any med dose changes. Weekly at minimum for regular monitoring.

Oh yeah. And don’t slug back a ton of caffeine with the ADHD med. Seeing a rise in issues from that too.

The more you know. ♥️