4 ms·

The fact that everyone is diagnosed with adhd and then given amphetamines is going to be the medical scandal of this century. I have several friends who have be

The fact that everyone is diagnosed with adhd and then given amphetamines is going to be the medical scandal of this century. I have several friends who have become unbearable due to being constantly high, one of them quit their job and is now unemployed and alone, unable to function in crowds. Of course they all report that they feel great on the speed!

rtikulit 4y ago
Everyone is different, and it's unfortunate that your friend's experience is not good, and that you don't know anyone with a healthy relationship with their medication. The truth is that lots of people manage their stimulants just fine. Across everyone I know on stimulants, 8 friends and family, none are as you describe. These are people I physically see on a regular basis. No one is addicted, high, unable to function or experiencing material personality changes. Every single one of them is taking low to moderate doses, as needed, and says their stimulants changed their life for the better, allowing them to function "normally" at work or school.
herbst 4y ago
Ritalin comes with weird side effects. My partner changed quite a bit in a short time until she herself couldn't stand it anymore. Mostly because the libido died and left a thumb feeling. So she switched to better amphetamines (Dextro) and side effects turned away. Leaving only the positive, expected, effects essentially. I took a lot of amphetamines in my life. But Ritalin is the only one I can't stand myself on. It's like a neuroleptic is packaged in (I know it isn't) but it makes so thumb and cold. IMO
dymk 4y ago
They sound like they’re not managing their ADHD well and could use adjusted medication and therapy. Hopefully their friends are supportive of them and not secretly denying the existence of their disease. Because wow, that’d be really abhorrent of those friends.
- rastamutta 4y ago
  That's exactly it, they probably need to adjust their medication. It seems like you are unable to understand that this position comes from a place of trying to be supportive, but thanks for the implication.
cranium 4y ago
Fast acting stimulants are prone to abuse, and people with ADHD are more likely to have addictions (because, you know, deficit of dopamine). A competent psychiatrist follows their patient throughout the treatment to evaluate if the cure is worse than the disease. If that's the case, adapt the treatment: switch to extended release medication, change medication, up/lower the dose, impose weekly sessions to keep the medication to control abuse,... The tool box is clearly not empty. Did you ask your friends how they are doing or did you find them annoying once and decided the problem was their medication?
mial 4y ago
While I agree that stimulant are overprescribed they can however be at least temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control.
- ojkelly 4y ago
  How would we measure if it’s being overprescribed? It’s more likely still under-diagnosed. The pandemic threw such a big spanner in the works that so many of us started to struggle enough to notice it wasn’t normal. This put the mental health system under significant strain. More people than ever have been diagnosed. In the US, an ill-guided rule that limits the manufactured capacity of stimulants, not by demand, but by an arbitrary number, impact people recently. They couldn’t refill their scripts. Supply effectively ran out. > temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control. A wheelchair is temporarily helpful, so are reading glasses. They could help someone to get their life in order, and make meaningful lifestyle changes to get their symptoms under control. Somehow I think we’d both agree even after that you wouldn’t take someone’s wheelchair or reading glasses from them?
Eumenes 4y ago
Seriously. There are "doctors" offices in NYC that operate in 5 minute appointment intervals. The entire waiting room is full of white collar professionals or college students with this terrible disease, ADHD. Anyone who wants it can get it, you just gotta find a pill mill. You self diagnose by saying "I can't concentrate" or "I get distracted" and the shrink writes you a legal script for speed. Some places may have you answer a questionnaire, which is self fulfilling prophecy. Seriously, look at these questions, its laughable this qualifies you for legal meth - https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnaire-ASRS111.pdf https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnair...
- rtikulit 4y ago
  ADHD is real, it deeply damages people's lives and it is usually treatable with stimulants, with an unusual degree of effectiveness. My psychiatrist told me up front that his diagnostic process was not directed towards ADHD and that he might end up with some other diagnosis or none at all. In the end he diagnosed me with ADHD after a process of interviews, tests, evaluation of historical evidence, and submissions by my family regarding my life and behaviour. I have a fat file of the documentation involved. You are talking about greedy irresponsible doctors and bad faith "patients". These are not the same thing.
  - Eumenes 4y ago
    Stimulant's are effective at improving mood and productivity. There is no question there. I'm highly skeptical of a "disease" or "disorder". Having worked in investment banks where the majority of people were on adhd meds, college where most students were on adhd meds, and seeing all these mid-life diagnoses - is troubling, esp. when prescribing these drugs to children. Its becoming normalized, and even celebrated. Sitting in a classroom for hours everyday, glued to your seat, demanded to shut up and pay attention, is not an ideal environment for kids. If you deviate from that, you could be a candidate for adhd. Once you start these drugs, its difficult to stop and you develop a dependence. I took them for years in my youth and deeply regret it, because it was simply a bandage for addressing areas of self improvement that I ignored. I wish I had someone around back then to play devils advocate.

rtikulit 4y ago

Everyone is different, and it's unfortunate that your friend's experience is not good, and that you don't know anyone with a healthy relationship with their medication. The truth is that lots of people manage their stimulants just fine. Across everyone I know on stimulants, 8 friends and family, none are as you describe. These are people I physically see on a regular basis. No one is addicted, high, unable to function or experiencing material personality changes. Every single one of them is taking low to moderate doses, as needed, and says their stimulants changed their life for the better, allowing them to function "normally" at work or school.

herbst 4y ago

Ritalin comes with weird side effects. My partner changed quite a bit in a short time until she herself couldn't stand it anymore. Mostly because the libido died and left a thumb feeling. So she switched to better amphetamines (Dextro) and side effects turned away. Leaving only the positive, expected, effects essentially. I took a lot of amphetamines in my life. But Ritalin is the only one I can't stand myself on. It's like a neuroleptic is packaged in (I know it isn't) but it makes so thumb and cold. IMO

dymk 4y ago

They sound like they’re not managing their ADHD well and could use adjusted medication and therapy. Hopefully their friends are supportive of them and not secretly denying the existence of their disease. Because wow, that’d be really abhorrent of those friends.

rastamutta 4y ago
That's exactly it, they probably need to adjust their medication. It seems like you are unable to understand that this position comes from a place of trying to be supportive, but thanks for the implication.

cranium 4y ago

Fast acting stimulants are prone to abuse, and people with ADHD are more likely to have addictions (because, you know, deficit of dopamine). A competent psychiatrist follows their patient throughout the treatment to evaluate if the cure is worse than the disease. If that's the case, adapt the treatment: switch to extended release medication, change medication, up/lower the dose, impose weekly sessions to keep the medication to control abuse,... The tool box is clearly not empty. Did you ask your friends how they are doing or did you find them annoying once and decided the problem was their medication?

mial 4y ago

While I agree that stimulant are overprescribed they can however be at least temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control.

ojkelly 4y ago
How would we measure if it’s being overprescribed? It’s more likely still under-diagnosed. The pandemic threw such a big spanner in the works that so many of us started to struggle enough to notice it wasn’t normal. This put the mental health system under significant strain. More people than ever have been diagnosed. In the US, an ill-guided rule that limits the manufactured capacity of stimulants, not by demand, but by an arbitrary number, impact people recently. They couldn’t refill their scripts. Supply effectively ran out. > temporarily helpful to help someone with ADHD get their life in order and make meaningful lifestyle changes in order to get the symptoms under control. A wheelchair is temporarily helpful, so are reading glasses. They could help someone to get their life in order, and make meaningful lifestyle changes to get their symptoms under control. Somehow I think we’d both agree even after that you wouldn’t take someone’s wheelchair or reading glasses from them?

Eumenes 4y ago

Seriously. There are "doctors" offices in NYC that operate in 5 minute appointment intervals. The entire waiting room is full of white collar professionals or college students with this terrible disease, ADHD. Anyone who wants it can get it, you just gotta find a pill mill. You self diagnose by saying "I can't concentrate" or "I get distracted" and the shrink writes you a legal script for speed. Some places may have you answer a questionnaire, which is self fulfilling prophecy. Seriously, look at these questions, its laughable this qualifies you for legal meth - https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnaire-ASRS111.pdf https://add.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/adhd-questionnair...

rtikulit 4y ago
ADHD is real, it deeply damages people's lives and it is usually treatable with stimulants, with an unusual degree of effectiveness. My psychiatrist told me up front that his diagnostic process was not directed towards ADHD and that he might end up with some other diagnosis or none at all. In the end he diagnosed me with ADHD after a process of interviews, tests, evaluation of historical evidence, and submissions by my family regarding my life and behaviour. I have a fat file of the documentation involved. You are talking about greedy irresponsible doctors and bad faith "patients". These are not the same thing.
- Eumenes 4y ago
  Stimulant's are effective at improving mood and productivity. There is no question there. I'm highly skeptical of a "disease" or "disorder". Having worked in investment banks where the majority of people were on adhd meds, college where most students were on adhd meds, and seeing all these mid-life diagnoses - is troubling, esp. when prescribing these drugs to children. Its becoming normalized, and even celebrated. Sitting in a classroom for hours everyday, glued to your seat, demanded to shut up and pay attention, is not an ideal environment for kids. If you deviate from that, you could be a candidate for adhd. Once you start these drugs, its difficult to stop and you develop a dependence. I took them for years in my youth and deeply regret it, because it was simply a bandage for addressing areas of self improvement that I ignored. I wish I had someone around back then to play devils advocate.