This was an observational study, not a randomized control trial.
Access to care is one plausible confounder. Individuals who receive treatment may differ systematically in socioeconomic status, healthcare access, parental advocacy, comorbidities—from those who do not, affecting outcomes.
ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
171–180 of 537 posts
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#172My hypothesis about this for a long time has been stimulants help everyone be more productive (with some tradeoffs) and ADHD is kind of a weakly differentiated diagnosis that could apply to most people. Probably something like this was lost when people stopped smoking, obviously beneficial for health - but a huge amount of the public was taking stimulants regularly via nicotine until relatively recently.
That’s a good point on the nicotine.
I found out that i have ADHD through a process of dealing with a hearing issue - I have something called auditory processing disorder (APD), which means while I have excellent hearing, my brain has difficulty processing speech in high noise environments, especially with multiple people or frequencies that correlate to women. ADHD and autism spectrum disorders are highly correlated with it.
A friend who is an audiologist was out with me at an event and basically spotted the adaptations that I had adopted subconsciously over my life (I’m in my 40s). I then got tested and confirmed. It’s likely a result of many consecutive ear infections I had as a kid.
When reading up on APD, the literature describes stories of various people… and it was like looking back on a story of my life. The ADHD correlation is thought to be related because of the way the brain develops (or doesn’t) in the presence or absence of stimuli.
I say this because it would be easy to dismiss my scenario. By most measurements I’m successful and doing great. But had I known or maybe been treated in the past, certain difficult aspects of my life would have likely been managed better or avoided. Brains are complex, and it’s important not to dismiss that problems that people have.
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#173Not 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.
That reminds me of an article I read which claimed that being diagnosed with ADHD will prevent you from being a commercial pilot. Pilots will avoid getting diagnosed and medicated because it will kill their career, even though medication may make them safer. (I suspect ADHD pilots would handle takeoff and landing very well, as well as emergencies, but oh god the checklists and schedules and that whole middle part of…
My meds have me on the ball from about 9am - 5pm. Outside that window I wouldn't trust myself flying a plane unless it was an unusual flight, like flying a new aircraft or flying into a storm, or on a rescue helicopter landing on a highway or mountain. The more routine the more dangerous it gets which is not ideal for your average pilot :-(
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
> handle rejection poorly Off-topic but recently I found out about Sensitive Rejection Dysphoria, its not officially recognized as a thing but it is in active study now, and very related to ADHD, and tbh I wish I knew about it sooner
Yes, knowing about RSD was life changing for me. Before I had my ADHD diagnosis, I just assumed that I have social anxiety and tried to fix it myself by giving me exposure therapy. I would force myself to seek out any social interaction regardless on how I felt. The result was that I got worse, so much worse because I was basically trained myself to disregard my emotions. Turns out being undiagnosed with ADHD is trau…
Dang, that sounds kinda like me though I never heard of RSD until now.
I guess it's like ADHD in that way: I thought I was just a lazy sack of shit until I found out I have a condition that I can treat with a pill. Then I could merely accept that it's not something I have control over, and I could move on.
Funnily enough no matter how great my life is nor how confident I feel, every once in a while a catastrophic fear of rejection will leap into my chest and I suddenly feel like I'm that poor terrified 15-year-old me, and I have to shake it off. I have much better tools for dealing with it now that I don't see it as part of my identity, much like I don't see myself as lazy.
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made an account just to post this as I’ve gone through something similar. Get a formal psychiatric evaluation done out of network by a neurologist who specializes in ADHD. The exam will take a few hours and they will send you a full report and diagnosis. This paperwork will help you a LOT. I’ve used it multiple times when I’ve had difficulties getting care and was well worth the time and money.
I don't even know why they have formal tests. Any health professional and half of the repairmen I've had to my house that has talked to me for more than two hours knows I have it. And probably you too.
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Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#176My hypothesis about this for a long time has been stimulants help everyone be more productive (with some tradeoffs) and ADHD is kind of a weakly differentiated diagnosis that could apply to most people. Probably something like this was lost when people stopped smoking, obviously beneficial for health - but a huge amount of the public was taking stimulants regularly via nicotine until relatively recently.
The science doesn’t support your hypothesis btw.
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 dra…
I'm of course not recommending or condoning this, but with instant release it's definitely possible to also get a higher dosage than you actually need and cut the pills up to take the lower dosage you need, and stash the rest to build up a surplus. Or so I've heard.
And yet, the exact same song and dance is required for extended release and prodrugs like Vyvanse.
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#178I 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…
I feel this. It's so very hard to manage one's medicated-ADHD productivity in a way that feels useful but doesn't burn like a white-hot flame. My boss has been supportive and really helped me see the ways in which I was causing myself burnout, encouraging me (as a senior tech IC) to write things down, do more knowledge and skill transfer, and delegate more. That helped me a lot. What I used to think of as "autonomy,"…
> For the first time in my life I've stayed at a job for more than three years.
This is exactly my experience... I'm on leave now and it's just barely past my 3 year mark at this job. And the last time I burned out this hard was also the last time I passed 3 years at a job
I feel very defective at times, for being unable to stay at a job longer than this without burning out
Re: ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes
#179The 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. Me…
I think of this stuff when folks say “trust the science!”. It’s all trust the science until that science conflicts with some broader agenda of a federal agency or a doctor’s whims about risks to their license.
Medicine really has a bad problem with groupthink. To get the best healthcare you have to both trust physicians and be critical of them.
Then the DEA seems to consider stimulants as a moral failing.
I’ve been off Concerta for 3-4 years now because it was so difficult to keep my productivity up when the pharmacies near me ran out due to the unpublished extra-legal DEA caps on stimulants.
Luckily even have been on Concerta has helped me learn how to manage my ADHD a bit better. It also gave me the chance to heal some of the worst traumas due to undiagnosed ADHD.