Stimulants
A fellow blogger at Psychology Today wrote a post on Michael Phelps' ADHD not being a true disorder, and stating that stimulant medication for ADHD is a "crutch". Here is my response. One of the greatest disservices to children and adults with mental health issues is marginalizing those who need medication. In Marilyn Wedge's blog post [...]
The FDA says there's a shortage of ADHD medications. They've put stimulant medications on their official shortage list. The DEA says there's no shortage. I've been taking Adderall since I was 23. I'm now, um, considerably older. I tried to get my Adderall prescription filled a couple of months ago. For the first time, I was [...]
A WebMD article states: Researchers found calls to poison control centers for adolescent ADHD prescription drug abuse increased out of proportion to other poison center calls in recent years, which suggests a growing problem with abuse of these stimulant drugs. The article also goes on to state that the study found that there was an increase [...]
I never realized that the Federal Aviation Administration could decline someone from becoming certified if they took certain psychiatric medications - even antidepressants and/or medications for ADHD, or if they had a psychiatric diagnosis such as depression or ADHD. If you have or have had a psychiatric diagnosis or are taking medication, you are required to [...]
Stimulant medication reduced sleep latency (the amount of time between going to bed and falling asleep), and reduced the amount of times people awoke in the middle of the night. Study participants also reported improvement with their sleep pattern. They felt they were more refreshed upon awakening. Study subjects took methylphenidate twice a day. It could [...]
In a 10-year study by Biederman, et al. (2008), it was found that people with ADHD who took stimulant medication had neither a decreased or increased risk of substance abuse. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18316421 Biederman, J., Monuteaux, M.C., Spencer, T., Wilens, T.E., et al. (2008). Stimulant therapy and risk for subsequent substance use disorders in male adults With ADHD: [...]
In the March 2006 issue of Pediatrics, a study led by Dr. Tim Wilens found that people with ADHD were more likely to abuse their stimulant medication than people without ADHD. (One could argue that it could be due to the fact that the medication is much more easily accessed by people with ADHD.) Eleven percent [...]
So I read the headline on msnbc.com - "ADHD drugs may boost ER visits". And I immediately wonder what the story is really about. The medical data of over 50,000 children was reviewed to see if there were more heart-related symptoms reported, such as a rapid heartbeat. Children who used stimulants were 20% more likely to [...]
