Bronkaid: Adderall’s Less Popular Sister | Her Campus
Students should be wary. The stimulant effects of Ephedra carry dangerous side effects: rapid heart beat, dizziness, headache, loss of appetite, nausea, stomach upset, trouble sleeping and nervousness. This is in one dose – not two.
“My heart was beating like crazy,” said Katelyn, a senior at BC. “And I felt lightheaded. It was kind of scary, but I think I was too focused on work to really think about it.” Katelyn might have admitted that these side effects were frightening, but she also confessed that she would take it again: “It just helped me get stuff done.”
“I almost liked how I felt. It was a high,” said an anonymous BC senior. “Yeah, my heart was racing and I think I was sweating a little bit, but I was so buzzed that I didn’t care. I want to take it again.”
Even if Bronkaid doesn’t require a prescription, it’s behind the pharmacy counter for a reason. Ephedra, the active ingredient in Bronkaid, was once a popular substance in diet pills, but was banned by the FDA in 2004 for “unreasonable risks to health.” After a government-ordered study into the effects of low to high dose Ephedra, 19,000 adverse events were reported, leading to the conclusion that no dose of Ephedra was safe for sale.
“The drug can be toxic at doses only 2-3 times above the therapeutic range used to treat asthma,” said Bernosky. So although “doubling-up” may not seem like a big deal, it is.