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The Empty Adderall Factory
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this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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Just in case anyone here was not aware, if you have ADHD and are concerned about not having access to medication like Addreall, there are non-scheduled non-stimulant options which may work. No guarantee, but they do help some people with ADHD and, since they can't be abused, you will not encounter a shortage. I hope it works for whoever might try it.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/best-nonstimulant-adhd-medication-for-adults
(I'm not a doctor so feel free to ignore me.)
Please don't suggest this, but I entirely appreciate you are trying to help. Bouncing around on random medications is a nightmare, especially when you have been on a medication that works for you. I am pretty sure most people who are experiencing shortage issues are abundantly aware that there are "potential" alternatives, but why the hell do we have to be punished in the first place? To make matters worse, certain manufacturers make the drug differently enough to have wildly different side effects. Super not fun. I still don't think I can get the generic I was on before that didn't mess with me.
I got lucky and found that I was able to get name brand a lot easier than generic, and the side effects were way better. I am thankful I can afford it, but a lot of people can't. Getting your medications right, period, is unbelievably stressful, especially when you are on more than one. Things don't always play nice.
I wouldn't suggest bouncing around at all. I would suggest talking to a doctor and seeing if switching permanently might be a good option. If you can live a comfortable life as someone with ADHD without taking an addictive stimulant which is facing scarcity issues, isn't that worth at least exploring?
Addictive? No, not when taken orally in the doses you are supposed to.
Edit, here is one article about it: https://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/therapeutic-use-of-stimulant-meds-for-adhd/
Which is the problem with all scheduled pharmaceuticals. There is a big potential for abuse. And in this case there is a possible alternative. I don't see the problem with consulting a doctor to see if an alternative might make sense.
All I am trying to say is, demonizing simulants is what made this nightmare worse, along with all of the assholes who ruined it for everybody else. I don't treat stimulate vs non as any different. They are both medications, that is all. Those of us with it get tired of being asked to "try something different", like it is that easy. This medication saves my life. If you are on a medication that works well for you, why do you need to switch meds? If your meds are not working for you, then yeah, of course you should try something different, that is a no brainer.
Let me put it this way. I am terrified. If I don't have my meds or the new ones create new problems, it is a matter of me losing my job, hurting myself, being unable to drive, or going into another phase of severe depression or mania. The thought of experimenting, when I shouldn't have to, makes me sick to my stomach.
Politicians?
I did not mean to demonize stimulants if that's what it sounded like. If I didn't say that if Adderall works for you, keep taking it, I should have. I disagreed with you on the addictive part because some people do end up abusing it and that is a risk for some people, especially if they already have addicts in their family, giving them a genetic predisposition to end up addicts themselves.
But I did not intend to make it sound like that means no one should take it. Mainly I was trying to talk about the shortage and that there are other options which there won't be shortages for because they are not scheduled and you can't get addicted to them and they might work for some people if their doctors agree. If that wasn't clear, I apologize.
The reason you're getting pushback is because people diagnosed with ADHD who take a prescribed dose of stimulant medication are not capable of addiction to stimulant medication.
And the reason that this language is harmful is because my doctor had to spend two years convincing me to please, just try the medication, because my mother is a drug addict and a gambling addict and I refused to try anything that might be at all addictive.
That set my treatment back. I had accepted that I had ADHD but refused extremely valuable medication because of the stigma of precisely what you're underlining. You seem like you have good intentions so the best distinction, when talking about addiction with regards to these meds, has nothing to do with predisposition to genetic addiction and everything to do with underscoring the difference between talking to your doctor and actually determining if you have ADHD. An example;
If you're worried about the shortage, and you're currently prescribed stimulant medication, please be aware that there are non-stimulant medications that may work for you.
...and one of the reasons people are so downvote happy over that is because you're right. It's a crapshoot. The ritalin side of stimulant medication doesn't work for me and neither do nonstimulant medications. It's either the adderall family or nothing. And it's terrifying, because without that medication I can't function at all. I was trying to find an alternative for a few months and in those few months I was demoted at work, I left my long-term relationship, and about a billion other things went wrong because I couldn't focus.
It's scary out here. People are afraid. It shouldn't be this way.
Thank you for being able to rationally explain what I couldn't. I broke my rule on responding to people before I had taken my meds, so I was a little excited.
One of those rare times where I wish I could upvote twice. Thanks for putting all that better than I could.
Somehow I had the focus! Had to use it before I lost it! Thanks.
The downvotes don't bother me. I may have put things the wrong way, but I was only trying to let people know they may be able to, if their doctor agrees, find a solution that will make this shortage not a problem for you.
No problem! I am not mad at you, promise. We have entirely had good conversations in the past and I was having a hard time getting my point across without getting frustrated. Flicker explained it far better than I could. It is entirely a matter of framing and I know you were just trying to help.
Due to the laws in my state, if not federal, I have to see my doctor every 3-6 months, have drug tests, and get blood work. The state/fed ultimately decides on whether I am allowed to refill my prescription every month. I know not every state is 100% the same, but the script restrictions pretty much are. I guess my point is, we definitely see our doctors plenty and know there are options.
It has been almost a year since I had issues getting refills, but for about 6-9 months before that it was utter hell. I am still paying for name brand, but honestly the side effects are so much better that I have no desire to go back to generic.
There was one particular manufacturer of generic, Actavis, that was so bad I went back to the pharmacy in tears after about a week ish, begging them to take the pills back. There was nothing they could do other than put a note to never give it to me. I had to go without until I was legally allowed a refill again and hope they could get something different. I asked about it, and apparently I am not the only one who has problems with that manufacturer. These are the kinds of experiences I am trying to avoid, especially when the consequences to my mental health are so costly.
Anyways, good health to you and your daughter. Take care.
I didn't think you were mad at me. Clarification is always important.
And although I am not in good health, I do wish good health to you and yours.
Not just that it's a crapshoot, if you are taking other medications some meds are not possible because of potential drug interactions.
The non stimulants aren't going to put you in what it sounds suspiciously like an addict going through a drug withdrawal, as you described it.
Long term, the drug is only going to become more difficult to continue getting legally. I hope you consider at least being open to look into the process of switching.
I'm saying this out of a place of wanting to encourage better understanding. Your statement comes across as extremely insensitive and judgemental towards people who are impacted by mental illnesses. ADHD is a very real condition that impacts people of all ages and is one of the most studied and neurobiologically understood forms of mental illness that there is. But despite this, people afflicted by it are regularly dismissed or treated like drug addicts for simply trying to fill a prescription for a medication scientifically proven as effective in treating their condition. As someone diagnosed in my 30s, I have experienced this first hand and it only got worse with this shortage.
Getting therapy and medication was life-changing and life-saving.
To someone who lived most of their childhood and adult life struggling to do things that should be easy like turning in homework, not overlooking minor details on important tests that one knows the answers to, losing jobs and relationships, being incapable of readily quantifying or describing one's emotions, and being consumed by anxiety, shame, and depression because of this and having no idea why it's all so hard until being diagnosed and receiving treatment, this statement comes across like Immortan Joe warning of the dangers of becoming addicted to water.
The non-stimulant meds are significantly worse for most in terms of efficacy. Just to be clear we're talking about over 80% efficacy rate in stimulants vs closer to 60% or lower for non-stimulants. Pushing people off of effective medications and all but outright calling them junkies is pretty offensive. It's certainly neither kind nor helpful, nor is it coming from a place that is supported by data.
If you didn't mean to come across that way, I might suggest taking a step back and considering it. Would you feel good about telling a cancer patient that they need to use a medication that is less effective and might not improve their chances of survival because some well-off college students might abuse the medication that works to get high?
The statement you are referring to was written by a person with ADHD.
Not everyone has the same combination, comorbidities, or severity.
Is it still a drug withdrawal if that’s how someone was before they started the drug? Because people with severe adhd are just like that.
Thankfully severe cases are the minority.
But even in severe cases, I think Now that we have the option to work our way up the ladder to adderall and dysoxin(?), we should have all future diagnoses go up that ladder.
Obviously people who have been on adderall for decades are probably going to have a bad time if they are switched to bupropion immediately, but adderall shouldn't be the default that children have to offramp from.
Thankfully you aren’t in charge of others medical decisions. What is most likely to be effective should be the default.
The medical industry has essentially done exactly what I have said over the last 10 years.
I think it’s good to speak to a doctor because of the shortage. But there is such a significant difference in expectedl effectiveness that children aren’t required to start with the unscheduled version. For all the restrictions on these drugs, which are massive at the best of times, we still default to stimulants because they’re just that much more likely to work that much better.
People without adhd scare mongering about medication that for some of us is lifesaving (without Adderall I’d definitely have died of some preventable accident by now, and strattera was real bad for me) isn’t helpful.
I absolutely was not intending to scaremonger and I apologize if that was how you interpreted what I said. It was most certainly my fault.
It’s cool and I get why people who don’t need stimulants to function can be uncomfortable with them. It’s a really weird phenomenon. I don’t know of any other medication that does one thing for most people and the opposite for another group, much less when it primarily acts as a recreational and addictive drug for the first group and for the second it functions as a drug that we can forget we took until we notice that our symptoms are back in full force.
I won’t claim that I’ve never gotten withdrawal after having to go off my stimulants but I will say that I’ve never noticed it when compared to my adhd being back in full force.
I voluntarily switched to atomoxetine for personal reasons and it's actually been decent.
It is not addictive to those with ADHD. Our brains don’t process it that way. That is why I can so easily forget my dose (when I have it). And when someone finally finds something that actually works, it is like torture to have it restricted the way that it has been.
-someone who has tried all the non-stimulants
That is not true. Over 50℅ of people in jail for methamphetamines are diagnosed with ADHD.
These claims of adderall not being addictive to people who truly have it was never true (especially for non attentives) and the only reason that line got pushed so hard was to escape legal and moral culpability for turning 10 year old children into drug addicts.
Methamphetamine and amphetamine are quite different things. The extra methyl group, while a tiny change, causes significant alterations in how it interacts with the brain's dopamine signaling. This is also hypothesized to be involved in the greater likelihood of addiction seen in meth.
If we assume that people with ADHD are impervious to amphetamine addiction (as we were told) but have higher rates of methyl addiction, as I think you are insinuating, that's actually a very great argument for not introducing amphetamines to people with ADHD.
I'm not saying some of us don't benefit from ADHD, I just think there are other options now in the market that aren't turning 11 year old children into bona fide drug addicts.
Bad news for ya, straterra was having shortages as well.
Yeah if you’ve never tried them please do. They wrecked my shit, so I’d appreciate it if the amphetamines could be left for folks like me