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ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

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101–110 of 537 posts

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#101

The irony about getting treatment for ADHD is that medical providers make it very hard to get the proper medication and treatment. People with ADHD are horrible at following through and handle rejection poorly. So the worse the ADHD is, the less likely somebody will be able to actually get treatment for it. A lot of people suffer because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle.…

I literally did the thing you’re not supposed to do.

my psych kept giving me everything by Adderall. So I went to one of those online doctors and got Adderall through her.

Then I just told my psychiatrist that I have Adderall prescription and she took it over.

For the record, she’s actually really reasonable and I like her but very conservative about the stimulants. Which when I finally got them were a revelation. Medication that actually works.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#102

Not surprised. ADHD medications save lives, including the lives of others when it comes to things like preventing car accidents. I could even see it being required for driving the way corrective lenses can be.

Before getting onto Vyvanse, I couldn’t drive more than 30 minutes without wanting to stop for a coffee and then needing a red bull to keep going… now I can drive at least a few hours continuous without breaks.

How do you feel after those drives of a few hours?

I have driven up to 6 hours at a time, but I'm in hyper-focus mode the whole time and it takes everything I have to stay locked into that focus so I don't die. I think all the time about moving somewhere where I don't need a car. I hate driving and always have.

I recently found out I have ADHD. I haven't tried meds yet (but am having my first meeting with someone tomorrow to explore it as an option). I'm wondering if this will make driving more tolerable for me. It wasn't even something I thought about before this thread.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#103

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my early 30s and prescribed Concerta to help manage it For a few years being medicated for ADHD was a godsend. I was finally able to be more productive and focus on work, my career took off in a huge way, I've literally tripled my income since I started medication Now I'm incredibly burned out, I've been having pretty severe memory problems, I'm on medical leave from my job to try and cou…

When I first got diagnosed and medicated I pretty quickly burned myself out, too. When you spend your whole life basically unable to work in the way you want to, it can be intoxicating to finally be productive.

It's genuinely hard to describe how good it feels. But it's important to slow down and objectively evaluate how much work and time you are putting in, because burn-out is always a risk.

---

Edit to add - memory holes are also a pretty common effect of high stress levels. If you really got into work and doubled or tripled down on your effort once you got medicated it could easily be causing some of the effects you are experiencing.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#104

I'm on Ritalin - which works for me. Where I'm from (Norway), getting a diagnosis is no walk in the park. Very extensive process, if you're adult. At least the doctors I've seen, have all been very precautious in prescribing anything other than the basics. If Ritalin doesn't work for you, they'll obviously try something other...but my doctor told be straight up that it is a red flag when some patients will ask specif…

That's interesting. I'm in the US and my doctor prescribed Adderall for me. While I'd obviously never argue that a drug can't be abused, for me personally, I can't imagine abusing Adderall more than, say, ibuprofen. It's not that it's unpleasant to take it, but that it has zero pleasant qualities, either, except that now I can pay attention to things that don't fascinate me. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't (seem to) change my mood. Maybe I feel a little more awake after I take it, but that's also the same time of day when I have my morning coffee, and I can't tell you which has more of an alertness effect on me.

It's a stimulant. I have no doubt that someone's found a way to abuse it. But for me, I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to. Other drugs like coffee or beer are much more pleasant. If I realize I forgot to take my daily Adderall, oops! Guess I might not get as much work done today as I'd planned, but not to the point where I'd go back home to get it, and I certainly wouldn't feel a craving or desire to.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#105
post #86

The irony about getting treatment for ADHD is that medical providers make it very hard to get the proper medication and treatment. People with ADHD are horrible at following through and handle rejection poorly. So the worse the ADHD is, the less likely somebody will be able to actually get treatment for it. A lot of people suffer because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle.…

Yeah, the journey to stimulants for me was long and painful, with a lot of procrastination on my part. And now even having them prescribed it is a pain dealing with the bureaucratic / expensive nightmare of USA health insurance.

I just go through GoodRx now, makes it like $20 per month for my prescription. You don't even need to make an account with them, it's like coupon you don't even need to print out. Just tell the pharmacist you are going to use GoodRx and you are done.

My work insurance seems to change all the time, and while going through GoodRx doesn't count towards my deductible, I prefer the price stability. Not fun when I'm randomly told it's $120 now at the pharmacy because my insurance doesn't cover it now for some fucking inane reason. A few phone calls can often resolve it, but it's the last thing I want to do when I'm a day away from withdrawals kicking in. Even more absurd is this is basically guaranteed to happen more than once a year, THERE IS ONLY 12 MONTHS IN A YEAR!

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#106
post #92
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the journey to stimulants for me was long and painful, with a lot of procrastination on my part. And now even having them prescribed it is a pain dealing with the bureaucratic / expensive nightmare of USA health insurance.

What does the DEA have to do with US health insurance, exactly?

They issue licenses for making the drugs and getting the raw materials to make them. The process is inflexible at best and if manufacturer A hits their quota, they can’t get additional raw materials, even if manufacturer B has excess.

Like most things associated with drug criminality, the rules are stupid and capricious.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#107

The irony about getting treatment for ADHD is that medical providers make it very hard to get the proper medication and treatment. People with ADHD are horrible at following through and handle rejection poorly. So the worse the ADHD is, the less likely somebody will be able to actually get treatment for it. A lot of people suffer because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle.…

I've heard it argued that ADHD diagnoses should come with a social worker.

Every time I realize it's Friday and I'm gonna run out of medication because I forgot to call in the refill I think about that. Three day weekends are the worst.

One workaround I've heard is that you order every 30 days even if you forgot to take your pills one or two times. Any surplus pills go into an old bottle you hide in the back of a drawer. You only ever withdraw when you've fucked up your re-order.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#108

The irony about getting treatment for ADHD is that medical providers make it very hard to get the proper medication and treatment. People with ADHD are horrible at following through and handle rejection poorly. So the worse the ADHD is, the less likely somebody will be able to actually get treatment for it. A lot of people suffer because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle.…

Yeah, it's ridiculous. I've been taking medication for ADHD since the 3rd grade. Why in the good goddamn should I have to go in EVERY month for a refill for a medication I've been taking for over 20 years.

Yep. For a while there I was able to work with my doctor and pharmacist to get Adderall from my Kaiser health plan pharmacy in 90 day increments but that stopped with the med shortage. Now that the shortage is over they won't do it again. Neither my doctor nor pharmacist know if this is an actual regulation change due to the shortage or just a health plan policy change. If it's a reg change, it'll never go away. If it's a health plan policy, maybe there's hope.

The problem is that Schedule 3 meds can't be shipped and must be picked up in person at the pharmacy (where driver's license # must be entered in an extra procedure not required for other meds). Health plan pharmacies have lines, don't have drug store hours and aren't on every corner. The combo of "in person pickup" + "30 day limit", which were enacted by different people at different times for different reasons creates life disruption and a massive waste of time, energy and money (we're all paying for this in increased prices). I've been on these same meds like clockwork for decades. In such cases they should relax either "in person pickup" or "30 day limit" but, we all know, it won't happen.

And if I need to travel on a trip or vacation for a week or two, with the 30-day limit there's a 25-50% chance I'll run out of meds and getting special dispensation to refill early requires contacting and coordinating the doctor and pharmacist in a non-automated, out-of-band loop. There's a two day automatic grace period to account for the pharmacy being closed on weekends but when my 30-day window falls on a weekend, I now have to coordinate pickup on an exact day - like I don't have a life outside of this bullshit. All just to get the meds which help me function normally.

Being forced to deal with all this for years has made it so I understand the health plan's back-end IT system capabilities (and lack thereof) better than most of their employees. It's still inconvenient for me but I'm one of the lucky ones. My meds are dialed-in and working, I have a flexible schedule and can parse bureaucratic systems. I got diagnosed and stable on my meds back before every ADHD patient was automatically considered a suspected drug abuser - which is ironic because I've never even had a drink, much less used illicit drugs (ADHD and alcohol/rec drugs tend not to mix well and I was diagnosed as a child). Which makes it meta-ironic I'm required to have a drug screen blood test every year to verify I am taking my prescribed drugs and not selling them - as if I got diagnosed in 4th grade as the ultimate long con knowing these meds would become street drugs worth a buck a pill decades later. I can't imagine a new ADHD patient still struggling to find the right med and dosage trying to figure all this out without giving up.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#109
post #85

The irony about getting treatment for ADHD is that medical providers make it very hard to get the proper medication and treatment. People with ADHD are horrible at following through and handle rejection poorly. So the worse the ADHD is, the less likely somebody will be able to actually get treatment for it. A lot of people suffer because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle.…

This doesn't even account for the perma-drama due to the artificial shortage generated by the DEA. Getting your prescription filled, if you manage to wrangle one, often requires hours of calling around which pharmacy can fill said prescription. And you get to do that every months. And you can't get a prescription earlier, you have to wait a full month. So, essentially: Right when you're forced off your medication tha…

The hoops I have to jump through for a prescription I’ve been on for multiple years is ridiculous. My insurance will wrongly think I’ve filled it at a CVS I sent the script to hoping they’d have it in stock and then I sometimes end up paying out of pocket because otherwise I am exhausted all day and have limited capacity to do tasks.

The meds themselves have dramatically improved my life by being more capable of getting tasks and work done. Main downside is the drop off around 8/9pm when I become really tired and unfocused.

Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

#110

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my early 30s and prescribed Concerta to help manage it For a few years being medicated for ADHD was a godsend. I was finally able to be more productive and focus on work, my career took off in a huge way, I've literally tripled my income since I started medication Now I'm incredibly burned out, I've been having pretty severe memory problems, I'm on medical leave from my job to try and cou…

> On the other hand, if it led to my current situation it's probably one of the worst choices I could have ever made. I hate having massive holes in my memory like this, and being burned out this way is extremely difficult to bear

Considering the timing, have you considered the possibility of long COVID? I ask because the symptoms you describe are not typically associated with ADHD stimulants, but definitely are typical of post-viral syndromes [1].

[1] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2426874122

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