grlfrnd, I am Sorry about your experience, and wish you the best health-wise, That said I also believe that ephedra has been the whipping boy of supplements over the last 18 months. This is as safe of a product as any if TAKEN CORRECTLY, obviously with your experience if WILL have adverse effects when used by some people as mostly all medications and supplements will.
I have used ephedra for 7 years, I was one of the first to use xenedrine in my area, I ONLY took the recommended dosage, and drank well over a gallon of water a day. I work 3rd shift and watch my daughter during the day, meanning I would get 4 hours sleep a day, not nearly enough to give the energy needed to maintain a regular work out regimine, At 5'9" and 248 lbs I needed a change, I started to read various magazines about routines and only took a 1 a day vitamin, and xenedrine (with ephedra) After the initial "jitters" things worked out fine and now at 180 lbs for 6 years, I truly believe that with the assistance of an ephedra based suppliment, Iwas able to turn my life around and am in better shape than I was at 25 and am now going on 40.
People get in trouble when they add a something to a huge array of things they may already be taking or they "double up" too try to "do it quickly". Here is 1 example I had a friend that was taking yohimbe, and decided to also take an ephedra based product, sorry that is a no-no, and fortunately he was wise enought to get the info before mixing and matching his suppliments.
To all that are even thinking of using an ephedra based product at least do these 2 things, have you bp checked, if it is already high, forget about it, also if you do start taking it remember WATER,WATER,WATER!!!!