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Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#221
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study also does not claim to show a causal relationship.

I was actually going to point that out. IMO from what I've seen of parents are that people who bring their children at a young-ish age to a therapist have a different issue. Especially "being to hyper" or "being unable to focus" have a different issue. Children are supposed to be outside moving 8-12 hours a day, have you seen puppies? They need something similar. Instead many parents give their children tablets, plop…

I can sort of agree then you throw in loose correlations like less worshiping of gods = higher ADHD diagnosis, among others. If you look at the bible belt, there's lots of drug abuse, especially opiates among them. Do you have any data that positively proves more worshiping of gods = less drug use?

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#222
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the parent of a child with ADHD that is medicated, it seems completely plausible that it could cause depression. When my kid has had too high a dosage (or accidentally takes a double dose) she's like a zombie, completely flat affect, and very little motivation. It's like it drains her life away. Part of the problem is that it's very difficult to get the right dosage for any given day because diet, metabolism, and…

I take phentermine (another legal amphetamine; partial doses), and this doesn’t surprise me at all. The bipolar-level manic highs and depression/lows are very real. The feelings of suicide and hopelessness creep up; I have enough personal awareness and grit to ignore it but it feels awful. To avoid that creep-up, the best thing I found is to have “break” days at least once or twice a week. That is, no pills. I doubt…

I’ll be honest, I’ve been on adderall (with occasional periods off the drug) for almost 20 years now, and I’ve never experienced anything remotely approaching mania or severe depression (as distinguished from rare bouts of sadness). And I’ve not always been the most careful taker of the medication, frequently alternating between taking too much or lowering my dose.

I’m not saying it’s not possible to have those side effects, I just haven’t experienced them.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#223
post #195

Can someone comment on whether ADHD medication leads to 'loss' of the unfiltered imagination that I have come to associate with my perpetually distracted self ? A friend on ADHD meds told me that it feels like trading unbridled creativity for stability. He found it to be an essential drug for functioning, but I got a sense that it involved losing something really central to your sense of self. Almost like being made…

Diagnosed at 25, started Vyvanse right away. My ADHD is similar to what you describe, and the medication has helped with the mandatory chores of day to day life. If anything it has the effect of feeling that nothing is “too hard” for me and that I am not “too dumb to learn or do X”.

Side effects are light to moderately sever headache if I don’t drink enough water, IBM, high blood pressure and a pinch of insomnia.

It’s all worth it.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#224

FWIW, ADHD increases the risk of depression too. Executive Function Disorder creates a lot of internal thoughts of "I'm a loser" "I'll never be able to succeed", and so forth. Though, being fair, those are thoughts other people will direct at those with ADHD as well.

> "I'll never be able to succeed" Is it the condition which causes this, or the diagnosis of the condition? I think diagnoses can easily inspire feelings of futility. It's no longer something you can change about yourself by wanting to change, it becomes a medical condition you've been stuck with.

When I got diagnosed with ADHD I felt empowered. It let me think, no, I'm not uniquely broken, there's a ton of successful people who have similar brain chemistry to me.

I think you're getting downvoted because it sounds like you're encouraging people not to get professional help.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#225
A bit of perspective from speed user (amphetamine, not meth) who I know: Been into it for 10+ years. Usual weekend binge on 3.5 grams of good quality amphetamine. Can last from Friday evening till Tuesday, will little sleep between. Lots of things get done. Rest of the week head and brain is out service, depression you call it, nothing is been done, hard to go to work, any excuse willdo, sort out yourself some food or a takeaway, watch some youtube, sleep a lot till you get better. Current state, 5 weeks clean: go to work, no problem 8 hours shift, do your duty to pay the bills. After work - eat, relax for a bit, read a lot be it books or just daily news. Bed time. Personal projects be it coding or electronics just put on hold....

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#226
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so strange that an amphetamine would get rid of depression?

Who said it's strange? I didn't know I had ADHD, and if I hadn't and still was depressed, probably an anti-depressive would have been more suitable. My point is, of course AMPH helps depression from ADHD, because ADHD is a debilitating disorder. But AMPH probably doesn't help in other types of depression not caused by executive function disorders.

Amphetamines has an established history in depression treatment, with some emphasis on light depression. They fell out of favor with the introduction of then state-of-the-art SSRI's (1980s I think).

Somewhat before that – US context late 1970s – there was political pushback against the largely unrestrained (but legal) amphetamine production by the pharma industry, which supplied more than enough to saturate all the recreational and abuse cases.

DEA brought amphetamines into the Scheduled drugs, manufacturing became quota limited. Incidently, the medical community found that psychostimulants does not have any medical value in treating depression.

Some studies have found them beneficial, some not. The pharma industry has since transitioned into opioids but stimulants have been making a comeback for 20 years with record numbers in ADHD,ADD diagnoses.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#227
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the parent of a child with ADHD that is medicated, it seems completely plausible that it could cause depression. When my kid has had too high a dosage (or accidentally takes a double dose) she's like a zombie, completely flat affect, and very little motivation. It's like it drains her life away. Part of the problem is that it's very difficult to get the right dosage for any given day because diet, metabolism, and…

If a double dose noticably zombifies then a single dose must zombify too, just unnoticably. Surely any zombie is too much zombie.

That’s not true. For example, a lot of Benadryl will make you hallucinate, but that doesn’t mean a normal dose will make you hallucinate a small amount.

Getting horribly fall down drunk as a teenager caused me to shit my pants once. But I didn’t so much as fart when I got tipsy on vacation recently.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder (I actually had ADHD and a touch of autism, but whatever), they put me on Lithium. I'd rather be on a small methamphetamine dose than Lithium if I got to choose my misdiagnosis.

Can you clarify the aversion to lithium? I was under the impression from multiple friends and family on it that out of many of the other drug cocktails prescribed to manage bipolar disorder, lithium was one of the tamer and more effective medications.

I'm not them, but Lithium can have an acquired resistance develop over time, which is unfortunate given how stable it is. It will be used as a first step for determining bi-polarism, or when a stable med is immediately needed, from what I've seen.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a double dose noticably zombifies then a single dose must zombify too, just unnoticably. Surely any zombie is too much zombie.

That’s not true. For example, a lot of Benadryl will make you hallucinate, but that doesn’t mean a normal dose will make you hallucinate a small amount. Getting horribly fall down drunk as a teenager caused me to shit my pants once. But I didn’t so much as fart when I got tipsy on vacation recently.

I wouldn't bet on that. It's far from a sure thing and the price of losing is too great.

Re: Association between ADHD medication and depression: A 10-year follow-up

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every child I know diagnosed with ADHD had parents who didn't want to deal with them You must not know many parents then. Parents I know that have children with ADHD recognize their children are struggling beyond simple hyperactivity. These are children that are markedly behind their peers in childhood milestones regardless of their family upbringing, education, and socio-economic status. These are children that ha…

Couldn’t the posters point about lack of parental engagement be the root cause for being behind their peers? I’m sorry, it doesn’t seem like you’re really challenging the argument.

> it doesn’t seem like you’re really challenging the argument.

That's probably because it's an argument uninformed by even the slightest bit of research into how a brain with ADHD works.

Also you're sealioning, so :reported:

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