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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

#251

Post by zrail »

jereees wrote: post #223
screye wrote: 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’…

> 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”.

This is a good way to put it. Prior to starting medication (vyvanse specifically, although I tried concerta) initiating a task or trying to learn something was, most of the time, "too hard" so I spun my wheels doing random stuff and occasionally doing just enough work to keep myself employed. Now, nothing is "too hard" because it's possible for me to get over the activation barrier and start doing the thing.

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

#252

Post by comprev »

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #240
dijit wrote: post #234

So, I had a psychologist tell me that I have many ADHD markers and referred me to the central mental health agency for an official diagnosis. Unfortunately, In Sweden, an official diagnosis means higher insurance (fine), higher mortgages (not fine) and the inability to hold certain licenses. Of course those markers of ADHD are pretty severely affecting my life, which is why I was seeing the Psychologist in the first…

How does a medical diagnosis result in higher mortgage costs? Is health privacy data not protected in Sweden?

Perhaps a higher risk of unemployment due to impulsive decisions - be it getting fired or quitting? I wonder if bipolar patients also get penalised for their condition.

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

#253

Post by baskethead »

vorpalhex wrote: post #4

This was for ONE adhd medication and the risk was only increased for the initial 90 days... and then went back to baseline.

You misread it. It went back to baseline after discontinuing the treatment which means that the increased depression was during the time while taking the medication.

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

#254

Post by FollowingTheDao »

mrtranscendence wrote: post #216
FollowingTheDao wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who’s been institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital four times in a still living with bipolar schizoaffective disorder I can tell you being nearsighted is no comparison to having a mood disorder. If people were not ignorant enough to ignore all the nutritional facts that go around the production of catecholamines there would be no need for medication. Your doctors are probably doing more harm than good…

This is prime kook right here. You don’t see it every day. Most psychiatric problems are not due to a nutritional deficiency. My B6 levels aren’t causing my adhd.

Kook huh? Nice.

Is that why I’ve been able to get off all of my medications? Because I’m a kook and I don’t know anything about neurobiology? Or anything about immunology? Or genetics?

You say your B6 levels are not causing your ADHD, but have you ever had them tested?

Yeah it’s so "kooky" that they keep finding B6 defieicny over and over in children with ADHD.

https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/303406

And heck, you might try to take it with your meds, it might help: http://sjh.umsha.ac.ir/download.php?mod=a_atch&atch_id=253&a...

And I suppose it is nothing that polymorphisms in a gene that makes dopamine (DDC) is implicated in ADHD and also needs B6 as a cofactor.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946061/

But I am the kook I guess. No, it’s not crazy at all to take an amphetamine. It’s not crazy to never wonder why they don’t try to find out why you’re not producing enough amphetamines on your own. It's not crazy we give these drugs endlessly yet ADHD keeps rising.

My Schizoaffective Bipolar Disorder is caused by nutrition. Ask me how!

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

#255

Post by slingnow »

tjridesbikes wrote: post #135

Anecdata, but I've been on methylphenidate (Concerta) since age 7, and holy cow has it impacted my life in an insanely positive way. 21 years later, I'm still on Concerta, but excelling in my career, spending meaningful time with friends, family, and hobbies, and generally pretty happy with myself. When I tried dropping the meds in college, my life basically fell apart in a matter of months. My then-girlfriend now-wi…

Have you considered that you're an outlier and that policy and approaches shouldn't be based on your outcome?

It's clear you're an evangelist for this approach, but your complete dismissal of people who have issues with drugging children doesn't add anything to the discussion.

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

#256

Post by PartiallyTyped »

robonerd wrote: post #45
falcolas wrote: post #19

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.

Anecdata: I never considered the case that I have adhd until I chatted with a friend who was diagnosed with it and our experiences and patterns of behaviour were alike.

I'd go as far as to argue that a diagnosis opens the door to solutions even non medical ones.

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

#257

Post by comprev »

immacoward2022 wrote: post #116
eyelidlessness wrote: post #100

It’s worth mentioning that ADHD also increases the risk of depression. Along with anxiety, depression is one of the most common comorbidities particularly in people with undiagnosed ADHD. I didn’t take ADHD meds as a kid, so I can’t speak to their effect on me. But when diagnosed as an adult, I had suffered nearly my whole life with chronic depression and anxiety. Both reached a crisis level a few years back, which w…

throwaway account ---- - ('if You Have ADHD, You Are Likely To Be depressed'): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXpcs_an80 - ('why does your adhd make things so hard'): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svD71EJWOBU I'm a "closet'ed" adhd person and these books have helped: - Anxiety and Panic: How to Reshape Your Anxious Mind and Brain by Harry Barry - ADHD 2.0 by Edward M. Hallowell M.D. & John J. Ratey M.D.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've ordered the Barry book for a friend who suffers greatly from anxiety.

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

#258

Post by thescriptkiddie »

anon291 wrote: post #245

ADHD is not a disease. Expecting children to pay attention to boring adults is. A good portion of teachers are incredibly unanimated and boring. They should not be teaching ADHD kids. Look, my mother has ADHD (or something like it), and she had no problem teaching the (mostly boys) in her class with ADHD. A few even went off their meds in her class. Unfortunately, the next year, they were put right back on with a new…

ADHD (and associated things like autism) is not just a problem for children in school, but also for adults at work and in their personal lives. I would argue that society should be changed to better accommodate neurodivergent people, but until then medication is really helpful for most people.

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

#259

Post by Deritio »

stainablesteel wrote: post #249
tjridesbikes wrote: post #135

Anecdata, but I've been on methylphenidate (Concerta) since age 7, and holy cow has it impacted my life in an insanely positive way. 21 years later, I'm still on Concerta, but excelling in my career, spending meaningful time with friends, family, and hobbies, and generally pretty happy with myself. When I tried dropping the meds in college, my life basically fell apart in a matter of months. My then-girlfriend now-wi…

What worries me more for lifetime-use like this are epigenetic effects (generational-level adaptations to DNA via methylation) that will be felt by anyone inheriting the outcome of their parents behavior. Epigenetic mechanisms are what turn pigs into boars when released into the wild. In humans, if someone undergoes drastic starvation in their childhood, their children will often be fat. Their bodies hold onto fat mo…

Good for you not needing meds...

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

#260

Post by danShumway »

engineeringwoke wrote: post #246
danShumway wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concerta is a long-release drug that's designed to produce a (roughly) steady effect throughout the day rather than a single "high".

So, a "high" for the whole day then?

No, speaking personally I don't consciously notice the effects of Concerta. Far from being a high that I crave, I actually have to set myself reminders in the morning and make a ritual/checklist, and I set my medication out on a visible shelf in the bathroom, otherwise I'll forget to take it.

I'm not sure how many people with addictions are regularly forgetting to take their drugs without a phone reminder.

The point of the delay release is that you don't have the same kind of ramp up to extreme effects and then come-down. Instead the goal is to get a (roughly) consistent dose that helps with executive dysfunction, and doesn't do much else. As always, that's something you work out with the help of a psychiatrist, not everyone reacts to methylphenidate the same way.

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