Insomnia

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Almost 60 of the adverse-reaction reports dating back to 1980, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, involved children under the age of 10.

The TGA has asked pharmaceutical companies to provide updated information about any cardiovascular side effects involving ADHD medication.

"The TGA is currently reviewing this new information," a TGA spokeswoman said.

Prescriptions for Ritalin increased tenfold after the drug was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in August last year, reducing the cost from $49 to $29.50, or $4.70 for concession card holders.

More than 5800 prescriptions were written for Ritalin in January this year, compared with 523 in August last year.

Prescriptions for Dexamphetamine jumped from 96,000 a year to 232,000 in the 10 years to 2004-05.

The US Food and Drug Administration is reviewing 90 studies to determine whether ADHD drugs were linked to the deaths of 25 people, including 19 children, between 1999 and 2003.

The drugs were also associated with 54 cases of cardiovascular episodes, including heart attacks, strokes and serious heartbeat disturbances.

Last week, a panel of pediatric experts advising the FDA recommended new information about psychiatric and heart risks be added to the labels of ADHD drugs.

They declined to recommend the "black box" warning - the strongest for prescription drugs - which a different advisory panel endorsed last month.

The FDA will consider both panels' recom...

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Matter-of-fact Kirstie says: "Sometimes Paige will only sleep for an hour a night.

And we can't let her come downstairs on her own because she could hurt herself or wreck the place.

"I've learned to sleep when she does.

Otherwise, I'd get really tired and I never know when she's going to wake up.

There's always something to do when I'm awake." Ann, who's nearly 50, admits she would be lost without Kirstie.

"I'm sure Paige would be fostered and I'd be in a care home.

We just wouldn't be able to cope without her.

I worry sometimes that she's got to have her own life and that we're holding her back, but we're all very close, especially after her daddy dying, and she says she's happy to look after us," says Ann.

Kirstie's dad passed away last May after a three-year battle with cancer.

For the last couple of months, only her mum and Kirstie knew that Kevin was going to die, a huge burden for a young teenager to come to terms with.

Ann says: "It was very hard.

We found out, but we wish we'd never known.

It was very hard for Kirstie because neither Kevin nor Paige knew the cancer was terminal.

"Kirstie was very quiet, she didn't want to accept her daddy was dying but she was fantastic to him right until the end.

We all miss him terribly." Kirstie has ambitions to be a pain nurse, influenced by what she watched as her dad became increasingly frail.

But, when it comes to boyfriends and marriage, she's adamant there's no way she'll ever desert her mum and sister.

"Boys my age...

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b, irritability and loss of appetite.

In extreme cases, the drug can cause paranoia, hallucinations and heart attacks.

A survey of students at 119 colleges nationwide found that, on certain campuses, up to 25% of respondents had misused ADHD medication in the past year.

A 2004 survey of students on a UW campus that found 14% had abused an ADHD medication.

Sources: IMS Health; the January 2005 edition of the journal Addiction; "Illicit Use of Prescribed Stimulant Medication Among College Students," 2004 study, led by UW-Eau Claire professor Samantha, a Marquette University sophomore, popped it on the eve of a big history test.

"I stayed up all night," she said, "and totally zoned in." For years, students have used coffee, NoDoz caffeine pills and other stimulants to help them through exams, papers and other demands of college.

Today, some students are taking a study aid that can be deadly.

Adderall, a medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, has become popular among college students who don't have the disorder, according to students, college health officials and an emerging body of research.

Adderall is an amphetamine and works like cocaine.

Those who use it can stay focused and awake for hours on end.

Students with prescriptions sell it or give it away.

"If you can take a drug that allows you to stay awake through finals week and concentrate on relatively boring topics, you can see how the word would spread," said William Frankenberger, a psych...