Why Does the Shortage of ADHD Medication Matter?

The shortage of drugs for ADHD (like Adderall, Ritalin, and other amphetamine stimulants) has been going on for over a year now. In some areas, people are unable to get their prescriptions filled.  Parents are calling pharmacies checking for availability. Some are going to other states to get the medication if there is no availability in their area.

You can read more about the shortage here.

You may be thinking that shortages of cancer drugs are more serious. That may be so, but don't make the mistake of assuming that ADHD drugs don't save lives, because they do. Teens with untreated ADHD are in four times as many car accidents as teens with treated ADHD and teens without ADHD. Children with untreated ADHD have more injuries and more trips to the emergency room.

While I don't have any stats on it, I would also bet that rate of child abuse is higher in families with a child with untreated ADHD. I can certainly attest to the fact that a child with properly treated ADHD has a saner mom than one who hasn't taken his meds. It was a completely unscientific study, but I think my entire family would swear to its accuracy.

Schools have begun noticing the effect of the shortage, too. They are seeing more classroom disruptions, more fights on the playground, and more impulsive behavior in general.

Adults with ADHD have more car accidents and lose their jobs at a higher rate when they can't take their medication.  The article I linked above includes the story of a college student whose GPA went from 3.2 to 1.9, largely due to his inability to focus without medication.

Not everyone who has ADHD controls it with medication. Some use a behavioral approach alone.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't (as you have probably gathered from previous posts you have read here). But those who need the medication because a behavioral approach alone simply doesn't work really need it to function effectively every day in the world. There are real consequences for them and those around them.

There is some disagreement about what the shortage is all about.  Some say that it is the result of more adults being diagnosed with ADHD and being treated with medication. Others say that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has tightened up its control of the active ingredients. The FDA controls them as a strategy to prevent abuse. Still others argue that the FDA is releasing enough, but with the increase in demand, the drug companies are using their portions to make more of the costlier name brands than the generics that most insurance companies will approve - indicating that there may not really be a shortage of the medication, just a shortage of the medication accessible to most people.

Whatever the cause, it's a serious issue that needs to be addressed and resolved.

The Funnier Side of ADHD

I was browsing through YouTube while I was supposed to be working and I found some cute and funny videos about ADHD.  Enjoy!

OCD and ADD Face Off

I'm sure you have all heard about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  Everybody likes to laugh at characters like Monk who struggle to deal with everyday life with OCD.  You have probably also heard of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I still use the old name for it - ADD - because anyone who knows me would just laugh hysterically at the hyperactivity part.  I deal with the inattentive variety. Anyway, I live my life dealing with these little issues in a completely unmedicated state (Duh!  Isn't that so painfully obvious?).

People are starting to understand OCD, and they are also starting to really get a handle on ADD, but they have no idea about the craziness that ensues when the two face off.

Let me illustrate an example for you:

As you know, I love to read.  I read a lot.  I read books, newspapers (all online now), magazines, blogs.....just about anything that interests me that I can get my hands on.

For a long time, I had my blogs all neatly organized within a generic reader.  Then I discovered Google Reader (which I love!) so I moved all my blog subscriptions there. I have about 250 blogs (give or take) that I monitor. I used to spend an hour or two every night scanning them through Google Reader, giving more attention to the posts that really interested me, and skipping by the ones that didn't.  It was great. Some people relax with a cocktail in the evening.  I read blogs.

Then I started to notice that I was reading some more regularly than others, and I didn't want to wait until the end of the day to read them.  However, if I even opened Google Reader during the day at work, I'd get lost in the reading, unable to stop (Hello, OCD!), and my productivity at work would decline dramatically.  What to do?  What to do?

I had the bright idea that I would subscribe by email to my favorites.  Then I would get an email notification whenever a new post went up for any of those and I could take a few minutes during my day just to read those. I started with about 10 of my favorites.  Then it was 15.  Then 20. Yes, my "little touch of OCD" took over and I couldn't stop doing the email subscriptions.  I liked them all, you see.

Now, my email inbox is overwhelmed with these blog posts. They keep coming. Like locusts. They won't stop. I tried to unsubscribe to some, but it didn't help. And I would re-subscribe to some soon after unsubscribing. Indecisive? Me?

So, I face an inbox overflowing with blog posts, junk mail (spam filter? right...sheesh), Facebook notices (that's a story for another day), and real work-related email.

Here's where my ADD kicks in.  I stare at the list of 2,970 unread messages in my inbox and I am overwhelmed.  I can't focus on any of them, at least not for long.  I try to organize them into folders (Hahahahahah).

My OCD says, "For gosh sake!  Delete as many as you can! You can't live with all those rows of bolded, unread subject lines in your inbox!  You won't be able to focus until every single one is handled."

ADD responds, "Ok, let's start....deleted 10, read 5, filed 6 more.....Oh, look at that hummingbird outside my window!  I need some coffee. I'd better get that contract written. Did I take my vitamins this morning? Why am I staring at my email inbox?"

OCD jumps in, "While you're at it, clean up this office!  I can't stand it!"

ADD replies, "Sure. No problem.  Where do I start? I should call Client ABC first, though. Oh yeah! I really need to get that report written.  That takes precedence over everything..."

Meanwhile, the unread email count is now 3,052. The blog locusts just keep coming.....

It's amazing I get anything done, isn't it?