About a year ago, comedians Noel Casler and Tom Arnold accused Donald Trump of abusing Adderall on the set of The Apprentice.This was reported by Daniel Moritz-Rabson in Newsweek, and followed up by discussion including a sober explanation by John Kruse in Medium of why Adderall might be an appropriate treatment for ADHD in Trump.
Adderall is a brain stimulant. In therapeutic doses its side effects can include increased blood pressure and heart rate, as well as trouble sleeping. Serious side effects of Adderall abuse include insomnia, mood swings, panic attacks, chest pain, sexual dysfunction, and even sudden cardiac death, according to a summary by the American Addiction Centers.
Also, last month a Twitter thread by JRehling, followed up by a story by Jonathan Vankin in The Inquisitr, noted that Trump’s famous 2016 tweet of himself eating tacos had in the background a half-opened desk drawer with several boxes of the type of Sudafed sold in the UK. This formulation’s active ingredient is phenylnephrine, an over-the-counter drug that is much milder than the amphetamines in Adderall. According to the US National Library of Medicine, although its side effects include effects on the heart, the main problem for oral phenylnephrine appears to occur if the patient is also taking monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, which are typically used to treat depression and which Trump is not known to take.
Too, like most Americans Trump consumes caffeine, which can cause insomnia, fast heartbeat, and other symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. Although not normally a problem — according to Coca-Cola, Trump can drink eight 12-ounce cans of Diet Coke per day without exceeding the FDA’s recommended daily limit — when combined with other drugs Trump’s Diet Coke habit could be of some concern.
Which brings us to the events of yesterday, in which Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed Medical Center for what the White House said were “routine checkups” but were in fact not at all routine. As Jeremy Diamond reported today on CNN, the tests were not routine or planned, and:
Several experts familiar with White House medical procedures said that Trump can get routine labwork done at the White House's on-site clinic, indicating Trump needed tests that can't be done there.
As the White House remains mum on the real reason for the visit to Walter Reed, it’s hard not to be concerned about the state of the president’s health. Although it’s not publicly known exactly what lab tests cannot be done at the White House, it’s reasonable to assume that (say) a cardiac MRI would be beyond the capability of the White House’s internal urgent-care facility.
So, here’s a question for the doctors in the house: is it possible that Trump’s reported use of amphetamines, phenylnephrine and caffeine could have contributed to a heart problem that would cause the White House physician to send Trump to Walter Reed?
Just curious.