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As someone with ADHD, I have to disagree with people in this thread who believe it’s easy to get medication. It’s easy to get medication because you don’t have

As someone with ADHD, I have to disagree with people in this thread who believe it’s easy to get medication. It’s easy to get medication because you don’t have ADHD (or are high functioning). The rules that have formed around ADHD medication are designed to prevent abuse, but in reality are one huge ADHD obstacle course that is incredibly difficult to navigate for someone who actually has ADHD. Many of the steps you take to get on medication when you don’t need it seem trivial. To someone with ADHD, each of those steps is a barrier that they have a high chance of failing to clear because they “just forget” or “don’t follow up.” Needing to setup and coordinate appointments amplified by the regular required checkins, the monitoring of “steady use” in filling your prescriptions, on-again off-again potentially impacting your eligibility. Needing to coordinate migrating your entire diagnoses and treatment history over (including childhood) to get a new prescription from a new doctor. Etc. I don’t like being on ADHD medication because of the side-effects and the impact on how I communicate. So I frequently fall off the wagon. As soon as I’m off my prescription, the obstacle course starts over and I have to navigate it to get back on my medication.

version_five 3y ago
This rings true because most forms of assistance seem to be hardest to get for people who actually need them. Disability supports, social assistance, lawsuits, great if you want to game them, less so if you actually need them.
falcolas 3y ago
Yes! If you do have ADHD, getting meds is a bloody nightmare of the most ADHD incompatible procedures that could exist. You can only get three months of scrip ahead of time. You can only get meds once a month. You can only get meds one week prior to the prior month running out. You can't call a pharmacy to see if they have it in stock, you must stop by directly. And that's when you're already medicated. If you've been getting sugar pills (yes, this has been happening to some folks), you'll be trying to do all of this with high emotional disregulation, high executive disfunction, and a severely impaired sense of time. Taxes are bloody easier, since there's a strict date once a year with lots of surprisingly clear written instructions. Plus you can pay someone to do it for you.
ParetoOptimal 3y ago
> As someone with ADHD, I have to disagree with people in this thread who believe it’s easy to get medication. I agree. In fact I have many friends who likely have it that haven't been able to get medication. I was "lucky" because I had a childhood diagnosis which really sped things up for me. > Many of the steps you take to get on medication when you don’t need it seem trivial. To someone with ADHD, each of those steps is a barrier that they have a high chance of failing to clear because they “just forget” or “don’t follow up.” This is truly a profound thought I hadn't thought of. I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to just answer the first question on my ADHD questionnaire. The amount of friction I had at just searching for help was insane. If I compare that to me on medication though, I know that the quasi-"normal" experience of this same thing is "this is easy - just... do it?". In fact it's sometimes quite hard to have compassion for non-medicated me struggling to do a few chores while me on medication does the whole week of chores in a day. > Needing to setup and coordinate appointments amplified by the regular required checkins, the monitoring of “steady use” in filling your prescriptions, on-again off-again potentially impacting your eligibility. Yes, in the periods of time I've forgotten to take my medication I've missed many of these checkin appointments and was warned missing them could affect my eligibility. > I don’t like being on ADHD medication because of the side-effects and the impact on how I communicate. So I frequently fall off the wagon. As soon as I’m off my prescription, the obstacle course starts over and I have to navigate it to get back on my medication. I agree with this. I would give the advice of giving a buffer day where you take your medication because the first day back on for me (and probably others) is things can be quite overwhelming. So one thing I try to do is make sure if I skip meds for Fri/Sat I take it Sun or Mon productivity will be affected by the jarring difference between medicated/not medicated.
- r3trohack3r 3y ago
  I really appreciate your comment and it brought up a bunch of emotions about my ADHD that I hadn’t thought of in a long time. I don’t know if this impacted you in childhood the same way it impacted me, but to pretty much every one of my teachers I was the “smartest kid in the room” who “just didn’t try” and I would “do amazing things if I just applied myself” - and now as an adult I know that’s just my ADHD, it’s a super power and a curse all wrapped up into one. I wouldn’t be “the smartest kid in the room” without it, but I’d also be able to keep a calendar. The buffer day is a fantastic idea. I’m considering getting back on the my medication again. If I do, I’ll give this a try.
teeray 3y ago
It sounds like it should be designed in the opposite manner. Present those requesting meds a complicated process to obtain them, and grant the requests for those who demonstrate ADHD by failing to complete it by forgetting, not following up, etc. Those who complete the process quickly are denied.
- seanp2k2 3y ago
  If only healthcare made actual sense and applied science to the entire UX of healthcare, not just the treatment research.
- lazystar 3y ago
  eh. that wouldn't have helped me out. before I was put on ADHD medication, I couldn't hold down a job or a relationship for longer than 6 months; starting the process for an ADHD diagnosis was something I'd put off doing for years. when I finally made the decision to start the process, i would show up to appointments 2 or 3 hours early and sit in the waiting room on my phone, just to avoid forgetting/being late. getting that diagnosis was life-changing. as a funny side-effect of getting medicated, I've been able to build up a life over the past 8 years. now I have a full time job where I've been for 3 years, a long-term relationship, family + friends, pets, a house to take care of, etc. etc.
annie_muss 3y ago
Absolutely! For me, getting medication required multiple consultations with a doctor and a 3 hour IQ tests. Just scheduling all of those was difficult. And where I live you need a special registration card on top of your health insurance. On top of that, for other medication you can pay the full price and then reclaim the cost if you don't have your health insurance documentation with you but not ADHD meds. Multiple times I've been denied meds because my insurance card was being renewed. Not only that, but after missing meds for a month, getting them prescribed again the pharmacist nearly blocked me because they wanted to titrate up from a lower dose (this is a dose I'd been on for years).

version_five 3y ago

This rings true because most forms of assistance seem to be hardest to get for people who actually need them. Disability supports, social assistance, lawsuits, great if you want to game them, less so if you actually need them.

falcolas 3y ago

Yes! If you do have ADHD, getting meds is a bloody nightmare of the most ADHD incompatible procedures that could exist. You can only get three months of scrip ahead of time. You can only get meds once a month. You can only get meds one week prior to the prior month running out. You can't call a pharmacy to see if they have it in stock, you must stop by directly. And that's when you're already medicated. If you've been getting sugar pills (yes, this has been happening to some folks), you'll be trying to do all of this with high emotional disregulation, high executive disfunction, and a severely impaired sense of time. Taxes are bloody easier, since there's a strict date once a year with lots of surprisingly clear written instructions. Plus you can pay someone to do it for you.

ParetoOptimal 3y ago

> As someone with ADHD, I have to disagree with people in this thread who believe it’s easy to get medication. I agree. In fact I have many friends who likely have it that haven't been able to get medication. I was "lucky" because I had a childhood diagnosis which really sped things up for me. > Many of the steps you take to get on medication when you don’t need it seem trivial. To someone with ADHD, each of those steps is a barrier that they have a high chance of failing to clear because they “just forget” or “don’t follow up.” This is truly a profound thought I hadn't thought of. I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to just answer the first question on my ADHD questionnaire. The amount of friction I had at just searching for help was insane. If I compare that to me on medication though, I know that the quasi-"normal" experience of this same thing is "this is easy - just... do it?". In fact it's sometimes quite hard to have compassion for non-medicated me struggling to do a few chores while me on medication does the whole week of chores in a day. > Needing to setup and coordinate appointments amplified by the regular required checkins, the monitoring of “steady use” in filling your prescriptions, on-again off-again potentially impacting your eligibility. Yes, in the periods of time I've forgotten to take my medication I've missed many of these checkin appointments and was warned missing them could affect my eligibility. > I don’t like being on ADHD medication because of the side-effects and the impact on how I communicate. So I frequently fall off the wagon. As soon as I’m off my prescription, the obstacle course starts over and I have to navigate it to get back on my medication. I agree with this. I would give the advice of giving a buffer day where you take your medication because the first day back on for me (and probably others) is things can be quite overwhelming. So one thing I try to do is make sure if I skip meds for Fri/Sat I take it Sun or Mon productivity will be affected by the jarring difference between medicated/not medicated.

r3trohack3r 3y ago
I really appreciate your comment and it brought up a bunch of emotions about my ADHD that I hadn’t thought of in a long time. I don’t know if this impacted you in childhood the same way it impacted me, but to pretty much every one of my teachers I was the “smartest kid in the room” who “just didn’t try” and I would “do amazing things if I just applied myself” - and now as an adult I know that’s just my ADHD, it’s a super power and a curse all wrapped up into one. I wouldn’t be “the smartest kid in the room” without it, but I’d also be able to keep a calendar. The buffer day is a fantastic idea. I’m considering getting back on the my medication again. If I do, I’ll give this a try.

teeray 3y ago

It sounds like it should be designed in the opposite manner. Present those requesting meds a complicated process to obtain them, and grant the requests for those who demonstrate ADHD by failing to complete it by forgetting, not following up, etc. Those who complete the process quickly are denied.

seanp2k2 3y ago
If only healthcare made actual sense and applied science to the entire UX of healthcare, not just the treatment research.
lazystar 3y ago
eh. that wouldn't have helped me out. before I was put on ADHD medication, I couldn't hold down a job or a relationship for longer than 6 months; starting the process for an ADHD diagnosis was something I'd put off doing for years. when I finally made the decision to start the process, i would show up to appointments 2 or 3 hours early and sit in the waiting room on my phone, just to avoid forgetting/being late. getting that diagnosis was life-changing. as a funny side-effect of getting medicated, I've been able to build up a life over the past 8 years. now I have a full time job where I've been for 3 years, a long-term relationship, family + friends, pets, a house to take care of, etc. etc.

annie_muss 3y ago

Absolutely! For me, getting medication required multiple consultations with a doctor and a 3 hour IQ tests. Just scheduling all of those was difficult. And where I live you need a special registration card on top of your health insurance. On top of that, for other medication you can pay the full price and then reclaim the cost if you don't have your health insurance documentation with you but not ADHD meds. Multiple times I've been denied meds because my insurance card was being renewed. Not only that, but after missing meds for a month, getting them prescribed again the pharmacist nearly blocked me because they wanted to titrate up from a lower dose (this is a dose I'd been on for years).