Prepare a medication safety review
Your full health and medicine history lets the prescriber choose and monitor ADHD treatment safely.
Guideline advice, not formally gradedADHD evidence
Start with the time you have
1 minute
Open your notes and write the one health detail or medicine the prescriber must not miss.
5 minutes
List every medicine and supplement you take right now for the appointment.
15 minutes
Write down your own and your family's health history, and your questions about baseline checks.
A plan
Prepare the safety information
- Gather medicines and relevant health history.
- Share the information at the clinician's assessment.
- Confirm required checks and the monitoring plan.
How sure the science is
Guideline advice, not formally graded, ADHD evidence
Recommended by ADHD clinical guidelines, but nobody has pooled the trials and graded how sure they are. Guideline advice is a considered judgement, not a measured certainty. Measured in people with ADHD.
NICE NG87 1.7.4 to 1.7.6 (committee consensus informed by very low to moderate quality safety evidence) and AAP medication safety guidance.
The number, drawn
Full health and heart assessment before starting medication
Why it matters
Whether a medicine suits you depends on more than the ADHD diagnosis. The AAP and NICE call for your medical history and physical checks before prescribing, including a heart assessment, and NICE says an ECG is needed only when specific heart features are present. Telling the prescriber about other medicines and other conditions helps catch interactions or anything that needs a closer look.
How to do it
- List every prescribed medicine, anything you buy without a prescription, and supplements.
- Tell the clinician about heart symptoms, fainting, and heart problems in your family.
- If they apply to you, mention other mental health conditions, worries about substance use, and plans for pregnancy.
- Ask which baseline measurements or extra assessments you need and who will arrange them.
A qualified prescriber decides whether treatment suits you and which tests are needed. A normal screening result does not replace follow-up, and new symptoms still need reporting.
Putting it into practice
In real life
- Bring the names of your supplements, not just prescribed medicines.
- Mention any sudden death or inherited heart disease in the family at the assessment.
Watch out for
- Common mistake'Natural' does not mean it can't interact. Put it on the medicine list.
- Common mistakeNot everyone needs an ECG. Ask which tests your own history and examination call for.
Trusted guides
How we rated it
- Evidence grade
- A Moderate or high certainty evidence in people with ADHD, or an explicit ADHD guideline recommendation.
- The number
- Full health and heart assessment before starting medication (NICE, 2019)
- Benefit
- 80/100 The benefit score is an editorial prioritization for the general list, weighted by certainty. It is not a prediction of what will happen for you.
- Effort
- Quick win
Sources
- Tier 1 guidelineAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87), recommendationsNICE, 2019
- Tier 1 guidelineClinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of ADHD in Children and AdolescentsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, 2019
- Tier 1 guidelineAttention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: What You Need to KnowNIMH, 2024
General information about ADHD, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Tailoring changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess you. Medication decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.