4 ms·

So, it's easy to get ADHD drugs if you act like you have ADHD in the UK.

Eumenes 3y ago
Its insanely easy in the US too. I abused it early in my career (have talked about it in previous posts). "Doctor" offices all over NYC and SF have 5 minute appointment blocks where you utter "I can't concentrate at work or school", and by the time you walk to Walgreens, your RX is filled. Its even easier now with the websites that do it.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  As someone with ADHD (but not in a major city), it's been hard for me. Every psychiatrist won't prescribe them unless I'm seeing a therapist that they personally know. The pharmacies often can't fill the prescription, and insurance requires significant pestering to pay for it.
  - seanp2k2 3y ago
    As others have stated, it’s all extra ironic when those are the exact types of things that folks who need these medications really struggle with.
- bluepod4 3y ago
  “Its even easier now with the websites that do it.” Ha. I just tried this and was told I didn’t score high enough on their assessment, mainly due to not having issues as a child in school. For some reason, saying “school was easy for me because I was two to three levels ahead of the rest of the kids and I never had to do any real work” wasn’t a reasonable excuse. Also, I talked about concentration issues at work but then was asked if I make careless mistakes. I explained it’s not really possible to make mistakes due to the nature of the job. This also meant that I don’t have ADHD, I guess.
  - jfk13 3y ago
    Sounds like you know why you "failed", so you could easily adjust your responses to "pass" if you wished.
    - bluepod4 3y ago
      Yep
- iamdbtoo 3y ago
  This is completely untrue in modern times.
- waboremo 3y ago
  Doctors avoid the "I can't concentrate" metric these days and care far more about your upbringing and the effects in your daily life beyond study/work. I also believe that those that abused drugs to advance in their careers need help as well, just not ADHD meds, and so the stigma can be reduced both ways.
  - seba_dos1 3y ago
    "I can't concentrate" is a very shitty metric in the first place. I can concentrate perfectly well, probably even better than most people, thank you. What I can't control is when and what I concentrate on. If I was diagnosing someone, hearing "I can't concentrate" with no additional qualifiers would be a significant yellow flag for me.
- ParetoOptimal 3y ago
  > "Doctor" offices all over NYC and SF It's very regional and the regions you mention it being easy in make me suspect political. In say Missisippi or Florida, I've seen many accounts of challenges.
- yamtaddle 3y ago
  > Its even easier now with the websites that do it. Wait, as someone who super-duper probably has ADHD but is nearing 40 without having ever gotten a diagnosis or meds, despite getting partway there a couple times, because [list of reasons in other posts here complaining about how hard it is to navigate the ADHD medication dance when you have ADHD]... they've got what now? Is there like an ADHD version of the easy, fake-but-gets-the-job-done online medical screenings for medical weed cards? Because if so I'm doing that today (um, haha, maybe).
  - Eumenes 3y ago
    Here, is EZ - https://old.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/qccdlm/done_first_gave_me_meds_in_15_mins/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/qccdlm/done_first_gav... Go get 'em tiger ;)
ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
This is inevitable because there's no physiological test for ADHD; the only diagnostic criteria are how you behave and how you describe your experience. If you couldn't get treated with a convincing lie, you also couldn't get treated if you needed it.
- grumpy-de-sre 3y ago
  > there's no physiological test for ADHD Actually some of the modern computerized continuous performance tests are getting pretty good (a friend of mine in Germany had to undergo one prior to a diagnosis). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_performance_task https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_performance_task https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31364437/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31364437/

Its insanely easy in the US too. I abused it early in my career (have talked about it in previous posts). "Doctor" offices all over NYC and SF have 5 minute appointment blocks where you utter "I can't concentrate at work or school", and by the time you walk to Walgreens, your RX is filled. Its even easier now with the websites that do it.

aidenn0 3y ago
As someone with ADHD (but not in a major city), it's been hard for me. Every psychiatrist won't prescribe them unless I'm seeing a therapist that they personally know. The pharmacies often can't fill the prescription, and insurance requires significant pestering to pay for it.
- seanp2k2 3y ago
  As others have stated, it’s all extra ironic when those are the exact types of things that folks who need these medications really struggle with.
bluepod4 3y ago
“Its even easier now with the websites that do it.” Ha. I just tried this and was told I didn’t score high enough on their assessment, mainly due to not having issues as a child in school. For some reason, saying “school was easy for me because I was two to three levels ahead of the rest of the kids and I never had to do any real work” wasn’t a reasonable excuse. Also, I talked about concentration issues at work but then was asked if I make careless mistakes. I explained it’s not really possible to make mistakes due to the nature of the job. This also meant that I don’t have ADHD, I guess.
- jfk13 3y ago
  Sounds like you know why you "failed", so you could easily adjust your responses to "pass" if you wished.
  - bluepod4 3y ago
    Yep
iamdbtoo 3y ago
This is completely untrue in modern times.
waboremo 3y ago
Doctors avoid the "I can't concentrate" metric these days and care far more about your upbringing and the effects in your daily life beyond study/work. I also believe that those that abused drugs to advance in their careers need help as well, just not ADHD meds, and so the stigma can be reduced both ways.
- seba_dos1 3y ago
  "I can't concentrate" is a very shitty metric in the first place. I can concentrate perfectly well, probably even better than most people, thank you. What I can't control is when and what I concentrate on. If I was diagnosing someone, hearing "I can't concentrate" with no additional qualifiers would be a significant yellow flag for me.
ParetoOptimal 3y ago
> "Doctor" offices all over NYC and SF It's very regional and the regions you mention it being easy in make me suspect political. In say Missisippi or Florida, I've seen many accounts of challenges.
yamtaddle 3y ago
> Its even easier now with the websites that do it. Wait, as someone who super-duper probably has ADHD but is nearing 40 without having ever gotten a diagnosis or meds, despite getting partway there a couple times, because [list of reasons in other posts here complaining about how hard it is to navigate the ADHD medication dance when you have ADHD]... they've got what now? Is there like an ADHD version of the easy, fake-but-gets-the-job-done online medical screenings for medical weed cards? Because if so I'm doing that today (um, haha, maybe).
- Eumenes 3y ago
  Here, is EZ - https://old.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/qccdlm/done_first_gave_me_meds_in_15_mins/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/qccdlm/done_first_gav... Go get 'em tiger ;)

ToValueFunfetti 3y ago

This is inevitable because there's no physiological test for ADHD; the only diagnostic criteria are how you behave and how you describe your experience. If you couldn't get treated with a convincing lie, you also couldn't get treated if you needed it.

grumpy-de-sre 3y ago
> there's no physiological test for ADHD Actually some of the modern computerized continuous performance tests are getting pretty good (a friend of mine in Germany had to undergo one prior to a diagnosis). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_performance_task https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_performance_task https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31364437/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31364437/