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Notice: This information is presented for educational purposes only. Consult a doctor or other health professional for proper medical care.
What are some of the side effects and safety considerations associated with ephedrine use?
In general, because ephedrine is a CNS stimulant associated side effects are similar to other CNS stimulants including, but not limited to, dry mouth (indicative of dehydration), insomnia and headache. Likewise, safety / suitability considerations are similar to other CNS stimulants. For instance, ephedrine should not be used at least one week prior to surgical procedures, it should not be used during pregnancy or during breastfeeding and it should not be used by individuals with heart conditions or individuals otherwise not generally healthy.
Because the topic of safe use with respect to ephedrine products is so critical, we have prepared are more complete discussion on this topic located below. This page provides a partial reproduction of a report presented by the National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements.
[Note: complete report available here.]
Safety Assessment
RAND reviewed adverse events reported in 52 published randomized controlled clinical trials. No serious adverse events (death, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular/stroke events, seizure, or serious psychiatric events) were reported in the clinical trials. However, evidence from the trials was sufficient to support the conclusion that the use of ephedrine, ephedrine plus caffeine, or ephedra plus caffeine is associated with 2-3 times the risk of nausea, vomiting, psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and change in mood, autonomic hyperactivity, and palpitations. The contribution of caffeine to these symptoms cannot be determined.
RAND also reviewed 71 cases reported in the published medical literature, 1820 case reports provided by FDA, and more than 18,000 consumer complaints reported to a manufacturer of ephedra-containing dietary supplements. Most of the cases were not well documented so decisions could not be made about the potential relationship between the use of ephedra-containing dietary supplements or ephedrine and the adverse event.
For additional information on the safety of ephedrine, we recommend you review an analysis presented by Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, available here.
Notice: This information is presented for educational purposes only. Consult a doctor or other health professional for proper medical care. |
