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ADHD drug treatment and risk of negative events and outcomes

bmj.com

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

#401

Post by alfiedotwtf »

al_borland wrote: post #102
alfiedotwtf wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tom…

Yikes! Yeah no way could I do that without meds. It's amazing hearing of truck drivers driving 13 hours straight... but I guess that's why fighter pilots are on modafinil!

To be honest, now that I'm medicated I think I could at least do 5 hours without stopping. I might need some snacks though - the amount of sugar I've been consuming lately is unnatural

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

#402

Post by arresin »

schlauerfox wrote: post #41

The youtube channel of ADHD science researcher Russell Barkley gave me the push to get diagnosis in my last year of undergrad and It was like lightning to see all my symptoms laid out since childhood in context of the underlying brain science. He does a lot of debunking of bad research too. Great channel.

He has excellent lectures on the science and history (hundreds of years which was surprising to me that it had been studied formally for so long yet is still a weird and new “American disease” in Australia—-even considering how backwards and slow we are down here).

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

#403

Post by LoganDark »

radu_floricica wrote: post #377
LoganDark wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still struggle to see how it's used recreationally. - Adderall keeps you awake. Some people use that to be awake for very long periods of time. Long drives, marathons, etc. - Adderall can make boring tasks seem engaging, so it can be used, for example, to help a student study. Combining that with no need to sleep that night, can become a bit of an unfair advantage. - Adderall can cause a high, even though I've on…

That's not recreationally. That's actually a good, useful drug effect (even if not specifically for ADHD). I'm more than a little pissed that governments don't let us use drugs like this responsibly.

> I'm more than a little pissed that governments don't let us use drugs like this responsibly.

I mean yes. Proper education and harm reduction is vastly superior to this "controlled substances" bullshit.

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

#404

Post by ycombinete »

schlauerfox wrote: post #41

The youtube channel of ADHD science researcher Russell Barkley gave me the push to get diagnosis in my last year of undergrad and It was like lightning to see all my symptoms laid out since childhood in context of the underlying brain science. He does a lot of debunking of bad research too. Great channel.

Just looking now at his channel now. I’m happy to see a critique of Gabor Mate’s ADHD theory in his playlists.

I’ll watch that for sure as I’ve always felt very uneasy, and a little indignant, listening to Mate talk about ADHD; but I’ve never been able to put my finger on why exactly!

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

#405

Post by LoganDark »

hirvi74 wrote: post #392
adastra22 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Adderall keeps you awake For many (not all) ADHD'ers, amphetamine or caffeine makes them sleepy. > Adderall can make boring tasks seem engaging This is true > so it can be used, for example, to help a student study ... can become a bit of an unfair advantage Unfair? This isn't sports. Nobody is being cheated by a study-enhancing drug. > Adderall can cause a high, even though I've only ever experienced that with pur…

> Interesting. FYI ADHD people feel none of that. If anything, the opposite: on stimulants ADHD people feel relaxed and normal, bringing them down from hyperactivity and allowing them to focus on their life. That is common myth. It's a matter of dosage over time. If one takes 120mg of Adderall in one go, then I can assure you they will not be calm nor relaxed. The relaxed feeling comes with a build of tolerance over…

> If one takes 120mg of Adderall in one go, then I can assure you they will not be calm nor relaxed.

If one takes 120mg of Adderall in one go, and they don't have a tolerance, I'd be surprised if their heart doesn't explode.

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

#406

Post by LoganDark »

adastra22 wrote: post #339
LoganDark wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For many (not all) ADHD'ers, amphetamine or caffeine makes them sleepy. You're right, I was mainly speaking about people without ADHD using stimulants. > Unfair? This isn't sports. Nobody is being cheated by a study-enhancing drug. No, but it can lead to bad health effects for the student, and bad habits like dependence. > Interesting. FYI ADHD people feel none of that. I guess my ADHD diagnosis must be mistaken th…

My blanket statement was perhaps too broad. There are less than 10% of ADHD people whom do not demonstrate the paradoxical response to stimulants. That said, the percentage of misdiagnosis is at least that high, which makes one wonder. Mild bipolar is often misdiagnosed as ADHD, for example, and often discovered exactly because stimulants don't work as expected. I missed on first read that you said the stimulants onl…

> You may have the distracted variation rather than hyperactive.

Well, I do have a dissociative disorder. Though I'm fairly sure I would be ADHD combined type, because I do have extremely hyperactive moments.

By the way, "the distracted variation" is called inattentive.

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

#407

Post by pantalaimon »

notfromhere wrote: post #365
shlant wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the euphoric high also happens in those with ADHD but only when they first start taking it. I would assume if you took it recreationally and not consistently you would have the same effect

Eh. When you take it the first time the euphoria is more that you can focus and the mind becomes quieter. It’s not like a party drug

The euphoria from amphetamine (in reasonable doses) is also rather subtle - it's no MDMA where it's very much in your face.

But lifted mood and energy is why it's taken recreationally, the euphoria can then come what you make from that.

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

#408

Post by wnevets »

dodobirdlord wrote: post #258
wnevets wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because doctors fear losing their license like so many did during the pain pill debacle. Which is understandable after the monumental pain and damage oxy caused to families everywhere.

Only if you myopically assume all drugs have equal abuse potential, addiction potential, and negative consequences of abuse. The US federal drug schedule is a clown show.

I'm sure RFK Jr will have wellness farms that everyone can go to instead of using these drugs.

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

#409

Post by kqr »

scns wrote: post #389
Llamamoe wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common belief people have, especially those with mild ADHD or those who wish to be dismissive of the disorder. Unfortunately, in reality while there are some very limited advantages, as a whole ADHD is a whole-brain dysfunction where your neurons are literally incapable of maintaining their level of operation as long as in a healthy person, with ALL of your executive functions - all self-regulation, plannin…

> People also like to claim we'd be better as lookouts or sentries but this isn't true. People with ADHD don't pay more attention to a broader range of things Have to disagree. Noticing every small noise a neurotypical Brain filters out makes you a good canary.

...assuming the person is able to focus on the 30 minutes of nothing that comes before the noise.

The person in my life with ADHD would start scribbling equations in the dirt or braid the loose threads on their clothing after five minutes, and easily fail to notice the noise twenty-ive minutes after that.

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

#410

Post by eep_social »

hinkley wrote: post #107
klipklop wrote: post #77

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 dra…

this is also standard practice with insulin for diabetics. though the regulations are less onerous the risk of running out is a bit worse so the incentives end up about the same.
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