How about sleep patterns as well as perceived health risk from moderate 25 mg. ephedrine doses?
Again, very personalized issued. For me, I had no issues. But several posters in this thread have noted insomnia.
As far as health risks:
# The evidence shows that there is an increase in blood pressure attributable to ephedrine alkaloids. A relative increase in blood pressure in any population, even individuals with "normal" blood pressure, will increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death in that population. Many individuals are unaware that they have coronary artery disease or early heart failure because these conditions may not cause prominent symptoms until later in the course of these conditions.
# Approximately one in four adults has high blood pressure. Of those with high blood pressure, 31 percent are unaware that they have it. The extremely high prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed hypertension in the United States population, and the likelihood that blood pressure in obese patients is already elevated, make the effects of great concern.
# The published controlled studies of the use of ephedrine alkaloid products for weight loss cannot establish the safety profile of dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids because many of the most serious risks, such as strokes or heart attacks (consequences of elevated blood pressure), arrhythmias, or worsened heart failure would not have been detected in the trials because of the design limitations of these trials. These limitations also impact certain conclusions attributed to these trials.
# Based on clinical data, the ephedrine alkaloids present in dietary supplements would be expected to have the same or similar effects as other sympathomimetics on heart rate and blood pressure. Controlled clinical trials using products containing ephedrine alkaloids confirm their typical sympathomimetic effects. These studies show a blood pressure effect from ephedrine itself, independent of any additional effect from caffeine.
# There is evidence from peer-reviewed scientific literature that a wide range of drugs with sympathomimetic activity have adverse effects (increased mortality due to heart failure and sudden death) in patients studied with congestive heart failure. These effects have been seen in relatively short-term studies. Similarly, there are studies that document that people with coronary artery disease are more susceptible to the well-known pro-arrhythmic effects of sympathomimetics. The occurrence of such an arrhythmic event is not one that requires prolonged exposure but would represent a risk associated with each use, including the first.
So essentially, the vast majority of the risks come if you have a health predisposition that the stack will exacerbate. I know you have said in the past you were in your 40s, not sure if this is correct or not, but you may want to get a check up with your doctor and see if you have any heart issues before commencing.
