ADHD Medication and Heart Rate?

Hi everybody!

I have a question I haven't seen addressed anywhere else, and hope the mucho collective wisdom here can perhaps give me some direction/thoughts/ideas/answers...

Background: I am 42 and a newbie to cycling, just started about 8 weeks ago. My longest single ride so far was yesterday on my trainer, an hour and 49 minutes, and I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Whoo hoo!

Further Background: At age 39, I was diagnosed with ADHD. After some trial and error with the dosage (under with my doctor's supervision), I now take 56mg of Concerta daily and it has helped me enormously. It is about a 12-hour time release, and yes, it basically legal amphetamine. (I also know it's banned, but I'm so far from that being an issue that it's not a concern right now.) Sometimes on weekends I don't take it, especially if it's after about 11am as it would keep me up at night.

Since I haven't been riding very long, I don't have enough information to determine if there's a correlation between elevated heart rate and the medication. I notice that my heart rate varies quite a bit from one workout to the next, sometimes 170s, sometimes 150s, but think that is more due to (I hope!) starting to get more fit.

Is this something that anyone has run across or heard about? I don't expect to find a lot of information online about it, since it's a banned substance, but any thoughts you could share or information resources you could direct me to would be sooooooo helpful! You're welcome to send a PM if you'd rather not post, no problem.

Thanks so much!!!!

"I am not a doctor," but I have been a teacher for 30 years and I have 2 kids who have ADD. One of my kids took medication for 7 years. The other one couldn't take it. The short answer is yes, Concerta could be elevating your HR. Any stimulant could. I would discuss it with your doctor who prescribes it. If you are not bothered by it, I'm not sure if a medical person would consider it a problem.But, I would rule out any other causes. My HR tends to be higher than it should be, especially at the beginning of a ride. I've read some current research that says that the target HR zones that are commonly published are not applicable to trained people. In other words, your maximum is really a lot higher than 220- minus your age.
What is your resting HR when you first get up, before you put your feet on the floor?

Robyn

Also not a doctor here - but I have anecdotal evidence that medications can elevate your hr. Last spring I tried some OTC allergy medication (some generic version of Allegra or something similar I think). It raised my normal hr a lot. I didn't feel any different - percieved exertion wise, but my hr ran about 10 beats higher than normal.

I would confirm with your doctor, but I would not be at all surprised that your meds affect your heartrate. I experience the opposite effect--I'm on medication for high blood pressure, which keeps my heart rate low. I rarely see it above 170, and when I do, it's usually followed by the immediate realization that I forgot my morning dose.

Although I assume the rates you are referring to are when you are working out hard and not resting. These rates are not out of the ballpark. I'm nearly 10 years older than you and in a workout shoot for the high 150s, even low 160s.