Live data from Hacker News

FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

axios.com

81–90 of 358 posts

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great start. I’ll add some more: - Other common mental health issues like anxiety and depression. I experience both chronically, treating my ADHD is currently the only management I need, nothing else has ever worked. - Sensory sensitivity including overload, confusion, neurological disorders. Hyperacusis and auditory processing disorder are my main issues. I just learned this past weekend that tinnitus may…

Good ones! The sensory overload kills me as well.

I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve had a construction project outside my home the last couple months, and the noise had been bearable until this last week, but I realized I’m at about half my mental capacity since they started using compressors to finish the job.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#82
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken like somebody who doesn’t have ADHD. It sound stupid but it’s the truth. You can’t come close to relating if you don’t have it.

> You can’t come close to relating if you don’t have it. Really? How do you know that? I don’t think you can come close to relating to what a non-ADHD person knows or feels as you have ADHD.

Quite some time ago, I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut that described an effort to “equalize” everyone. The protagonist had a different, exceptionally loud, nose played in his headphones at random intervals. It had the effect of interrupting his thought process completely, to lower his effective IQ.

I’ve always thought it was a decent representation of how ADHD works.

Hyperfocus is harder to simulate, since it requires one to focus on exactly one thing for hours on end. To the point where you don’t even think about things like “do I need a drink? Do I need to pee?”

My wife is fairly nurotypical, and it blows me away sometimes how she can decide she wants to work on something, and then works on that something. For hours on end, while being able to interrupt herself with things like pee breaks and food, while being able to go back to the project after.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#83
post #41

We normalize our children behavior with pills while celebrating diversity in adults. Interesting times...

We don't celebrate those adults. We call them underachievers and have them do menial jobs.

Or we call them “classic absent-minded geniuses” and celebrate their accomplishments in high-level knowledge work, while treating their challenges as cute and endearing.

IQ, co-occurring conditions, and socioeconomic factors have a pretty big impact on which of those (or a number of other) outcomes are realized.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#84

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…

In what way are all these things related to ADHD?

I've previously thought I might have ADHD to some degree (Never been diagnosed though) since pieces like that article felt somewhat familiar to me.

I would say I can relate to most of your list, but they don't really seem to be caused by ADHD to me. Or maybe I do have ADHD and that's why I can relate. I have no clue.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great start. I’ll add some more: - Other common mental health issues like anxiety and depression. I experience both chronically, treating my ADHD is currently the only management I need, nothing else has ever worked. - Sensory sensitivity including overload, confusion, neurological disorders. Hyperacusis and auditory processing disorder are my main issues. I just learned this past weekend that tinnitus may…

How does one treat chronic anxiety? Xanax has a miracle reputation but like all other benzos it is said to only works temporarily as a hotfix, then you build up tolerance and you go back to your baseline Pre Xanax (or worse). What is very frustrating about such explanations is that I can't tell if it exactly put you back to your pre Xanax era or if after tolerance builds up (for a same dose) you are better than befor…

Well, I can’t speak for anyone but myself on this. I know people who are satisfied with their benzos or their SSRIs for chronic anxiety management. For me, like I said, treating my ADHD has been the best. It’s not perfect. I did have a brief period bringing klonopin back into the mix during a high stress period of my life. But that was more acute/as needed.

For me, finding the right stimulant (first ritalin then vyvanse), then the right dosage (currently 60mg per day), then recognizing I need a little more help when the XR wears off (+10mg adderall as needed) has been the best long term management I’ve ever had.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. Change society. The 5% of the population with ADHD will wait. But while we’re waiting, we’ll do what we need to in order to survive in the society we have, not the one we want.

I have lots of friends who've taken Ritalin and Adderall. I've noticed a much higher rate of alcohol dependency among them, I suspect as we age they'll also have a higher rate of heart issues. Many tell me they quickly increase their dose and drink to be able to sleep. To me it seems like medicalizing social issues is a deal with the devil. There's always another issue and another drug to treat that issue.

Like chronic back pain and medications for that? Or MS and the cocktails of steroids which can reduce the pain long term? How about our penchant for using advanced sedation before putting people through surgery, and pain relievers after?

Yeah, it’s a damned shame we medicate people with those things. /s

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we finally have a working medicinal solution that isn’t “whip their ass with a belt until they behave”? There’s an estimated 5% of the population who have debilitating ADHD. The current diagnosis rates of 4% for children, and 2% for adults, says we haven’t gotten everyone yet.

I think most of these kids just need a lot more personalized attention. I think medicating them is a convenient short term solution that will cost society more over the long term in alcohol dependency, heart issues, and other medical conditions related to the use of stimulants.

Do you think the same thing about children with MS who receive pain relievers?

Or is it different when you can see the symptoms?

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. Change society. The 5% of the population with ADHD will wait. But while we’re waiting, we’ll do what we need to in order to survive in the society we have, not the one we want.

I have lots of friends who've taken Ritalin and Adderall. I've noticed a much higher rate of alcohol dependency among them, I suspect as we age they'll also have a higher rate of heart issues. Many tell me they quickly increase their dose and drink to be able to sleep. To me it seems like medicalizing social issues is a deal with the devil. There's always another issue and another drug to treat that issue.

Over prescription of pain relievers is widely regarded as what caused the opioid epidemic. Sedation causes lots of deaths every year. Back pain is highly avoidable with basic lifestyle changes. I don't know much about MS.

My grandma took a weight loss drug called Fen-Phen and had heart issues late in life because of it. It was a low-grade form of speed used by house wives in the 70s for appetite suppression and increased energy.

US history leans overly medicalized and drugged IMO.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great start. I’ll add some more: - Other common mental health issues like anxiety and depression. I experience both chronically, treating my ADHD is currently the only management I need, nothing else has ever worked. - Sensory sensitivity including overload, confusion, neurological disorders. Hyperacusis and auditory processing disorder are my main issues. I just learned this past weekend that tinnitus may…

How does one treat chronic anxiety? Xanax has a miracle reputation but like all other benzos it is said to only works temporarily as a hotfix, then you build up tolerance and you go back to your baseline Pre Xanax (or worse). What is very frustrating about such explanations is that I can't tell if it exactly put you back to your pre Xanax era or if after tolerance builds up (for a same dose) you are better than befor…

I don't think there's any drug that'll "Fix" your anxiety. The problem with benzos and anxiolytics is that they work short term but the tolerance is going to be bad and the rebound effect is going to be worse and last forever.

The right anti-depressant or ssri Might help, even if depression isn't the exact thing you're trying to resolve. As far as I understand, benzos or anxiolytics help manage the Really Bad Moments, the Peaks so to speak. But you cannot rely on them indefinitely. SSRIs and antidepressants are kinda poorly understood. We generally know "okay this drugs tends to hekp helps" and "this drug does x to your brain" but not "this is how doing x to your brain maps to y behavior" (the latter is all theorizing based on empirical testing, but lacks the underlying explanatory rigor physics has).

Anyways, the most useful thing I've found both in my own life and in the experience of friends is: therapy. Often times therapy +some drug to help manage things, but I think therapy forms the basis of any mental health treatment. And it has to be a good therapist who Cares and knows you well (this latter point being something you can develop over time). I think the main battle with mental health is "changing how you think" and that's what therapy + medication is good for. Therapy helps reveal limiting beliefs, shines a light on the corners of your mind that you might be overlooking, and medication helps with implementing what you learn.

I'm not a doctor, and I'm not Your doctor, so grain of salt and all.

Re: FDA approves new ADHD drug for children

#90

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…

In what way are all these things related to ADHD? I've previously thought I might have ADHD to some degree (Never been diagnosed though) since pieces like that article felt somewhat familiar to me. I would say I can relate to most of your list, but they don't really seem to be caused by ADHD to me. Or maybe I do have ADHD and that's why I can relate. I have no clue.

They’re basically all related to having deficient or broken reward reactions, the primary emotional reaction to dopamine. Willpower is hard to achieve if you expect to be disappointed. Pretending is a social necessity to avoid disappointing others, and the rejection that you could expect from that. Failing to muster willpower or follow through manifests that disappointment. Emotions swing when the little burst of reward that might sustain someone else is gone, and then you scrutinize your ability to even appreciate what you do have. Maintaining friendships is hard if you need to tend to yourself, and then again if you feel guilty for neglecting your friends. It compounds if your guilt makes it harder to reach out after some time being a “bad” friend. People questioning your reality makes you question it too. Now it’s your fault, in your mind. But if you’re incapable of fixing it you’re just... at odds with everything. If you are medicated... those other waking hours you’re dealing with all of this not only without the chemical benefits but with the crash that comes after which can amplify everything else.
Post reply on HN