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FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

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Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#101

Post by rgifford »

If you're considering taking drugs for ADHD or giving them to your child, I highly recommend reading into Fen-Phen (1) and other popular, contested drugs. Fen-Phen was a drug marketed to housewives in the 70s that promised weight loss and increased energy. My grandma suffered heart issues later in life due to it. It's since had 13B in settlements brought against it.

Purdue Pharma will likely see 10B+ in settlements brought against them in the coming years for their hand in marketing Oxycontin as non-addictive.

On the topic of Ritalin and Adderall, lots of my friends found they had to increase their dosage to see consistent effects. Some talk about abusing alcohol to get to sleep. All have told me interesting stories about being able to "feel" their heartbeat in odd ways while using (or over using) it. I'd be surprised if both drugs don't see significant settlements related to heart issues, alcohol dependence, or something else in the not too distant future.

ADHD exists. Period.

Also, US history has a bend toward over medicalization and over prescription. I think it's important to learn about this and weigh it when using any prescription drug, but especially highly addictive ones, for extended periods of time.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenfluramine/phentermine

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#102

Post by h0l0cube »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #78
h0l0cube wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? I was a precocious talker and reader, and in many ways a 'gifted' child, but I always struggled to comprehend reading material, or remain engaged with what a teacher was saying. These learning difficulties pretty much negated the value of any 'gift' I may have had. That said, anything related to c…

> Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? Yes! These are even pretty common symptoms addressed in youth. And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. If these are still difficulties for you or if you ever find them to be again, I highly encourage learning more about how ADHD presents in ad…

> And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees.

It's always a small relief to know other people who have/had the same challenges. Thank you.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#103

Post by eyelidlessness »

h0l0cube wrote: post #102
eyelidlessness wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do lower reading comprehension, stunted long and short term memory, and a constantly wandering mind also factor in there? Yes! These are even pretty common symptoms addressed in youth. And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. If these are still difficulties for you or if you ever find them to be again, I highly encourage learning more about how ADHD presents in ad…

> And the rest of your comment is pretty much the story of my life give or take a few degrees. It's always a small relief to know other people who have/had the same challenges. Thank you.

It was so much a relief to me too, and I’m glad I could help in that way. I’ll also tell you it saved my life. I had coped pretty well for years, but for a variety of reasons it deteriorated. I was in such bad shape before I sought diagnosis/treatment. Not saying that’s where you’re at but just validating that it can be seriously debilitating. Please feel free to reach out (same handle everywhere, personal site link in my profile, contact easy to find from there) if you want to talk more or any kind of direction on resources.

Edit: also if you do want to reach out and it feels daunting in any way, you can literally just say “HN” or any other recognizable thing and I’ll understand.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#104

Post by ZephyrBlu »

Jarwain wrote: post #100
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way are all these things related to ADHD? I've previously thought I might have ADHD to some degree (Never been diagnosed though) since pieces like that article felt somewhat familiar to me. I would say I can relate to most of your list, but they don't really seem to be caused by ADHD to me. Or maybe I do have ADHD and that's why I can relate. I have no clue.

Most of the listed symptoms are characteristic of an executive function disorder, of which adhd is the most well known. Very few people have "perfect" executive function without drugs. In other words, it's pretty normal for most people to experience some form of executive dysfunction and it's usually something one learns to manage. Executive functioning is skill just like anything else. From what I understand, ADHD a…

Your response perfectly sums up why ADHD confuses me.

It seems to be very poorly defined, and from what I understand being diagnosed is practically still self-diagnosis because the doctor will ask you questions about your behaviour and judge whether you have ADHD or not based on that.

Looking at the CDC website on ADHD [0] and without trying to force things to fit, I easily meet the criteria for inattention. Yet a lot of the things I struggle with like the parent comment listed I don't view as being related to executive function (Ex: rejection sensitivity and maintaining friendships).

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#105

Post by geoduck14 »

rgifford wrote: post #101

If you're considering taking drugs for ADHD or giving them to your child, I highly recommend reading into Fen-Phen (1) and other popular, contested drugs. Fen-Phen was a drug marketed to housewives in the 70s that promised weight loss and increased energy. My grandma suffered heart issues later in life due to it. It's since had 13B in settlements brought against it. Purdue Pharma will likely see 10B+ in settlements b…

I've been on Adderall for almost 30 years, and I'm not seeing any heart issues.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#106

Post by geoduck14 »

alea_iacta_est wrote: post #38
thonos wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have resources and time to let your ADHD brain go free it can be fun, but it becomes a struggle when you try to be a working adult with normal job. I'm not even talking about 'not being able to concentrate' because that's easily fixed with medicine. nowadays But ADHD is so much more involved on the emotional and psychological level. My childhood was mostly 'driven by impulsivity', so having medicine available…

> My childhood was mostly 'driven by impulsivity' That's the definition of being a child. Do you think that a child is driven by long term planning or wisdom?

As a child and adult, I am impulsive AND a long term planner.

When the mood strikes me, I make GRAND long term plans. Then, when I'm gripped by impulsively, I try and keep it honed into the plans I made.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#107

Post by eyelidlessness »

eric4smith wrote: post #13

The very worst problem with ADHD drugs is that they are overwhelmingly used to "treat" normal behavior with children - especially boys.

The very worst problem with these drugs is that they’re misunderstood, for two primary reasons:

- The treatment of “behavior” precedes the treatment itself, diagnosis is external to patients, and the benefits are consequently poorly understood

- they’re abused by people who don’t benefit from them, so their impact is distorted

That said, I wish my parents had wanted to treat my “normal” behavior when I was young. It would have saved me decades of turmoil, almost certainly would have helped me avoid self medicating with alcohol, and probably would have helped me avoid several emergent mental health situations.

My parents thought this way too. And as a consequence I had to go without care for my entire childhood, and was unaware care could help for two decades after.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#108

Post by eyelidlessness »

rgifford wrote: post #101

If you're considering taking drugs for ADHD or giving them to your child, I highly recommend reading into Fen-Phen (1) and other popular, contested drugs. Fen-Phen was a drug marketed to housewives in the 70s that promised weight loss and increased energy. My grandma suffered heart issues later in life due to it. It's since had 13B in settlements brought against it. Purdue Pharma will likely see 10B+ in settlements b…

Increasing dosage to feel consistent management is normal for ADHD patients. The goal is to reach the highest dosage that doesn’t cause side effects. This is where we actually get consistent relief from some of our symptoms.

The reality about ADHD and self medication and substance abuse is that it’s untreated patients who experience it the worst.

If your friends who’ve talked about this with you are anything like me, they learned to develop a reliance on alcohol to sleep before they were treated. If they developed that after, it’s definitely possible they’re overprescribed. But it’s also a sign they’re indulging on both and probably have an underlying substance abuse problem.

A healthy response to ADHD medication is generally to use as much medication as needed and not want more. I’m currently prescribed an as-needed boost in the evening if my daytime med wearing off causes too much anxiety. I’ve only needed it three times in two weeks, and when I took it today it was a relief, but it was also a relief to recognize how little I’ve needed it.

Those of us who benefit from these drugs aren’t constantly trying to get more. We’re just trying to get help from our doctors to feel normal.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#109

Post by JamesBarney »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #104
Jarwain wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the listed symptoms are characteristic of an executive function disorder, of which adhd is the most well known. Very few people have "perfect" executive function without drugs. In other words, it's pretty normal for most people to experience some form of executive dysfunction and it's usually something one learns to manage. Executive functioning is skill just like anything else. From what I understand, ADHD a…

Your response perfectly sums up why ADHD confuses me. It seems to be very poorly defined, and from what I understand being diagnosed is practically still self-diagnosis because the doctor will ask you questions about your behaviour and judge whether you have ADHD or not based on that. Looking at the CDC website on ADHD [0] and without trying to force things to fit, I easily meet the criteria for inattention. Yet a lo…

> It seems to be very poorly defined, and from what I understand being diagnosed is practically still self-diagnosis because the doctor will ask you questions about your behaviour and judge whether you have ADHD or not based on that.

This seems pretty par for the course. A doctor asking you questions and then deciding whether or not you meet some threshold based on the answers to those questions is a large part of medicine and a huge portion of psychiatry.

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