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FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

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Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#281

Post by bradstewart »

spiralx wrote: post #278
bradstewart wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really hits home for me. I didn't even recognize this tendency in myself for years, until my now wife pointed it out to me. One thing that's really helped me is to periodically sit down with a piece of paper in a quiet room and answer the question: "what am I ignoring right now?" The stuff I write down _always_ surprises me. Always.

Another way I look at it is that my brain's filters underperform, meaning all the excess noise from senses and internal thoughts can overwhelm what's supposed to be what you are attending to. I really struggle to sleep if there's light or noise in the background - especially voices such as TV, where your brain has special circuits just to focus on and process them. Ketamine is an anaesthetic and taking it makes me fe…

Yep, definitely experienced that as well. I usually sleep with ear plugs and eye mask.

If you don't mind my asking, how often do you take Ketamine? I have no experience with it or anything like it.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#282

Post by invisible »

nlitened wrote: post #241
iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #174

i am so surprised that, for a community of people that see themselves so rational, there are so many who effectively deny the existence of adhd. i cant help but observe that this might be because it flys in the face of the common western ideal of “anyone can do anything if you just work hard enough” and that many of our identities are tied to that shared belief.

I think prevalent ADHD self-diagnosis (and doctor-assisted over-diagnosis) kind of devalues the sheer amount of hard work most people put in to achieve good things in life. When I hear "it's so easy for you but I cannot concentrate on boring things because I have ADHD", it's REALLY hard to not get viscerally defensive, although I rationally understand that there could really be very rare medical conditions in play.

Maybe you're hung up on what "boring" means? That could be really life fulfilling things like connecting with friends, trying hard at work, financial planning, relaxing, etc.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#283

Post by jukabo »

nerdbaggy wrote: post #17

Seems that lots of people only think ADHD people have a hard time paying attention. If it was that simple I would be so happy. Here are just a few of the things I struggle with. - Will power. People with ADHD struggle sooooo much with will power. It’s a constant struggle with everything in life and really wears you down. - Constantly putting on a fake front pretending you don’t have ADHD. - Rejection sensitivity - Fe…

Sounds like life man, i don’t think you need drugs to fix those issues. Go see a therapist.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#284

Post by okamiueru »

eric4smith wrote: post #230
okamiueru wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boys are intentionally misdiagnosed with ADHD to give medication to alter their behaviour?

No. It's more about people not wanting to bother to deal with the nature of most boys. Rowdy, inquisitive, can't sit still. These are all traits that for the most part -- make one a good person later in life. Now most teachers just can't deal with them and label them as "toxic" that requires medication.

I suppose. I was mostly interested in what the parent post meant, as it was hard to read it as suggesting something other than malice.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#285

Post by aitanabewa »

bobthechef wrote: post #251

Putting to one side the question of whether ADHD in particular exists, it is worth noting a few things. First, psychiatry has a real problem with pathology. In order to determine that something is in fact a disorder, you first need a normative model. But what exactly is psychiatry's normative model, and is it a good one? Not only that, but history has shown that the field is highly vulnerable to political pressure (t…

(sorry for my english) As a psychologist I love your post. The first paragraph it's so relevant to understand, when we are discussing "disorders" and not a disease. Epistemology often view as purely theoretical, it's essential for this kind of discussion.

For anyone interested in this topics, the essay in the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy is pretty good. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-disorder/

A less technical discussion https://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132407384/whats-a-mental-diso...

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#286

Post by majewsky »

esyir wrote: post #156
iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you’re insinuating that adhd (or, executive functions disorders) don’t exist. 1. there is lots of evidence showing that “something” is wrong with lots of peoples executive functions and that this observed problem is hereditary. 2. this is pretty insensitive. everybody does have these symptoms to some extent as you executive functions can’t be running 100% all the time. just like everyone has varying degrees of sight.…

That's a pretty uncharitable take of his view. Rather, he seems to be claiming that it's heavily overdiagnosed. Looking at the numbers, I'm leaning towards that too. 9.4 percent of children are diagnosed with ADHD, and that's just the confirmed cases, nothing about estimated prevalence. Either we're screwing up the diagnostic criteria and overlabelling people (or worse, we're diagnosing them out of convenience), or w…

> we've seriously fucked our own society in ways that aggravate this

My money is on this option. We have so much more things to cope with, and so much more change in these things to cope with, than we would have had 1000 years ago. I can imagine that this constant information overload would push some people over the edge that would have functioned well in an earlier society.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a specialist in psychiatry or anything like that.)

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#288

Post by eric4smith »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #249
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.

Where is your evidence of this overstated claim? "The very worst problem...overwhelmingly used to 'treat' normal behavior"...I studied ADHD pharmacology in graduate school and I saw no evidence of this in the dozens of articles I read. I think you lack a scientific understanding of ADHD. Do you know WHY boys are more likely to be diagnosed as "combined type" ADHD and treated than girls? It is primarily because their…

I suppose the question is what is “raising them right” mean to you?

As a boy I was raised to be inquisitive, open, masculine, physical and explorative.

I was also raised to be gentle and tolerant of those around me.

Those are not traits that are welcome in most schools for maybe the past 20 years. So more and more boys are indeed given medications to “calm down” what are really natural traits of masculinity.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#289

Post by mLuby »

nlitened wrote: post #241
iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #174

i am so surprised that, for a community of people that see themselves so rational, there are so many who effectively deny the existence of adhd. i cant help but observe that this might be because it flys in the face of the common western ideal of “anyone can do anything if you just work hard enough” and that many of our identities are tied to that shared belief.

I think prevalent ADHD self-diagnosis (and doctor-assisted over-diagnosis) kind of devalues the sheer amount of hard work most people put in to achieve good things in life. When I hear "it's so easy for you but I cannot concentrate on boring things because I have ADHD", it's REALLY hard to not get viscerally defensive, although I rationally understand that there could really be very rare medical conditions in play.

I've found that visceral defensiveness is a reliable signal to introspect more deeply, since the surface trigger is rarely the same as the reaction's root cause.

I don't think people using motorized wheelchairs devalues the hard work I do walking around, and I think it's only fair to ensure there are ramps and elevators where necessary, even if I take the stairs.

And sure, I've seen some able-bodied teens goofing off with motorized wheelchairs before. But notice that we don't see everyone using motorized wheelchairs, only those who really need them.

Don't be the person judging the motorized wheelchair user to "just use their limbs like the rest of us." How monstrous would it be to take the motorized wheelchair away and make them crawl through life?

Regarding child development: Tiny Tim isn't walking like the other kids his age, so a doctor gives him a motorized wheelchair. Maybe his disability is permanent and he needs the wheelchair. Maybe he literally grows out of it. Maybe using the wheelchair so early in life atrophies his legs to the point where he now needs the wheelchair? I'm not convinced that happens without both bad parenting and bad doctoring. In any case, we should be supporting Tiny Tim, not wagging our collective finger at him as we take away his wheelchair and tell him to walk.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#290

Post by eyelidlessness »

runawaybottle wrote: post #235
eyelidlessness wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

What you may not believe is that you are no longer in control of wanting to get more. That’s the reality of a drug. Anyway, have the paranoid episodes hit you yet? Give it some time, I see the anxiety is already consistent. Just be sure to manage your drug holidays and control tolerance.

> What you may not believe is that you are no longer in control of wanting to get more. That’s the reality of a drug.

Really? I’ve repeatedly asked to stay at the same dose even though my doctor and I both agree it may be too low, because the next step up could be too high and disrupt my life.

> Anyway, have the paranoid episodes hit you yet?

When I was drinking way too much to self medicate? Yeah. Not so much since.

> Give it some time, I see the anxiety is already consistent.

I sought treatment for ADHD to manage my anxiety, it’s been consistent my whole life.

> Just be sure to manage your drug holidays and control tolerance.

What holidays? I take my medications as prescribed, I’ve never taken more than prescribed, I’ve never wanted to, and I have a fair bit left over which I haven’t needed and keep only in case I have a lapse in care.

Look, I get that you’re coming from the perspective of personal substance abuse history. I understand the difference between medical treatment and abuse, and I understand also from experience. I’ve had an on and off unhealthy relationship with alcohol. I can relate. But I do not appreciate you projecting that onto my healthy treatment for a condition that impairs my life and mental health, and without which I was suffering from substance abuse problems.

Learn to hear people’s experiences. It’s a matter of basic respect.

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