#adhd medication shortage

[xx-k1tsun3-k1d-xx]

pov: you are the luckiest adhd haver on this whole cursed island after months of trying

[anon-wilford]

YALL. MY ENTIRE COUNTRY IS COMPLETELY FLAT ON ADHD MEDS APPARENTLY AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESTOCK UNTIL SUMMER

3 MONTHS. WITHOUT MEDS.

I HAVE 4 PILLS LEFT 2-1.5 BOTTLES OF A LOWER DOSIS OFTHE MEDS AM ON THATS EXPIRED.

IF ANYONE HAS LIKE... ANY TIPS. WHATSOEVER. ON HOW TF TO MANAGE WITHOUT, I AM OPEN.

ANY ALTERNATIVES, OR- LIKE ANYTHING AT ALL.

[betbiem]

I am not doing well without my medication, give me my god damn ADHD medication! I honestly forgot how bad it was before my medication, it’s debilitating and affects every part of my life. I’m scared of what I will lose if this isn’t sorted out soon.

[toadallybpd]

is it even worth spending the money to try to get an ADHD diagnosis if you can't even afford therapy for your other illnesses and there's an ADHD medication shortage? i am really struggling with symptoms but idk if getting diagnosed will realistically even be worth the money :/

[chaotic-planet]

ok so who else is being absolutely bodyslammed to the concrete by the adhd medication shortage because I really hope I'm not the only one whose life is falling apart because I've called nearly every pharmacy in the state and nobody has Focalin in stock

Like I can't even have very many coherent thoughts anymore

Relationships are falling apart

I'm even starting to speak less coherently

Graaaah please why is this happening just restock it

[meanya]

I love you stimulant meds baby, never leave me again

[haorev]

officially can’t get my ADHD meds and they don’t know when they’ll be able to get them and I have one pill left, so the next how ever long is gonna be rough

i’ve been doing so much better since i got on them back in 2021, like my parents have even noticed that i’ve been even just more well adjusted and coping better than i had before the meds, and i really don’t want to go back to not having them and i’m trying so hard not to cry right now

[chaotic-language-journey]

My hyperfixation has officially hurt my head. I tried to study and my head is literally pounding even trying to attempt to study. I hate ADHD. Just let me do what I want and need to do to not have an existential crisis and like I’m wasting my life because I can’t get anywhere fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

Also doesn’t help I can’t get meds cause all the psychs are full cause of the tiktok trend. I need medication and these losers that believe tiktok trends are making it difficult for people who seriously have issues. It’s not fun or quirky to have a mental illness. It’s life crumbling. I can’t fucking function and it’s killing me.

[fateisnotafactor]

Really frustrating that it took almost 2 weeks for the pharmacy to tell me that I can't get my prescription refilled because it's out of stock. Would have been nice to know that 2 weeks ago so I could have tried getting a refill at another pharmacy.

Not like I need that to actually function or anything. Really looking forward to the lack of impulse control, emotional dysregulation, and everything that comes with that.

[ekho-ekho-ekho]

Flowers, from Algernon

In a 1959 short story by Daniel Keyes, a mentally disabled man, Charlie, undergoes experimental surgery to “increase his intelligence.” His progress is measured against the first successful mouse subject, with whom he develops a sense of kinship. But just as Charlie’s intelligence peaks, the mouse's wanes, and it dies soon after. Charlie can then only watch, horribly aware, as his own faculties drain away bit by bit.

Incidentally, this is how it feels being deprived of ADHD medication.

Enjoy the flowers,

Algernon

—actual note* that I sent to several leading figures in the FDA as well as the Administrator of the DEA — attached to bouquets of paper roses** — while waiting on my prescription this past week***.

* For context, the rate of ADHD diagnoses saw a sharp uptick during Covid, when a bunch of people working outside of a structured environment for the first time in their adult lives found they were having the exact same problems in work as their kids were having in school. Add to that a handful of unscrupulous telehealth apps that pushed through as many stimulant prescriptions as they could (exploiting a short-lived loophole in diagnostic criteria), and in the span of a few short years you’ve got a sudden explosion in demand.

Due to those sketchy business practices, the aforementioned telehealth apps are now in boiling hot water with both the DEA and FDA. But as for what’s to be done about the patients they were treating . . . well, suffice to say, there’s been an Adderall shortage since October 2022 that has now, in February 2023, extended to the regular and generic versions of every alternative on the market, including some of the (generally less effective) non-stimulant options. Case in point, it’s February 14, I’ve been waiting on my prescription since February 3, and I’m not likely to see it filled for at least another three days.

“So why don’t the pharmaceutical companies just make more pills to meet demand?” you might ask? Well, some claims have been made about labor and supply shortages, but a big part of the problem is that stimulants are a controlled substance, meaning the FDA/DEA restrict how much may be produced at a given time. And despite the massive surge in demand, these organizations have refused, point-blank, to raise the production cap for 2023.

The FDA and DEA have also refused to give adequate explanation for this decision, despite inquiries by everyone from The Guardian to state legislators. I can only assume this strategy is meant to weed out the “drug seekers” by testing everyone’s goddamn patience till they snap or give up. After all, those of us who were diagnosed through “legitimate” channels already know how to wait months on end for treatment! (Not that the nine-month diagnostic process could possibly be what drove so many people to those apps in the first place. Nah, surely they all just wanted uppers =_= )

** The more politically savvy among you might be thinking, Bluh bluh that’s pointless you know, flowers are expensive and federal officials aren’t allowed to accept gifts valued at over $20.

This is true! But scroll up and reread what I actually said, and you’ll see they were PAPER flowers. You chump. You rube. Nothing I sent cost more than $15 total.

(also if anyone’s curious, the company is called Lovepop; great alternative to real flowers if you’re a broke bitch but still want to spread the love. or annoy a government official.)

*** There was a word count limit on the note, so I wasn’t able to write out the most detailed summary.

(Flowers for Algernon was later adapted into a novel, but a PDF of the original short story can be found here. Reminder that it’s from the 50s and as such doesn’t utilize the most up-to-date language or understanding of psychology. But the sudden upswing in ability — and the gradual, horrifyingly conscious decline — is intimately familiar in my present situation.

[r0-boat]

Whb!Beel with ADHD from a person with ADHD:

Cw: ADHD drug being used in a not so ADHD way...

Beelzebub both feels like an over exaggeration of ADHD and a personal call out so I'm making this out of fun.

Whb Beelzebub not actually knowing or remembering that he has ADHD amd He's at a party where one of the devils provide Adderall to make them all go crazy...

And there he is the king of gluttony sitting politely hyperfocused and calm on the couch why the other demons enjoy their drugs in confusion on why it's not working...

Or The rare moments when he's trying to actually get work done He chugs and energy drink thinking that will work only for him to be past the fuck out on the couch.

Beelzebub randomly getting a hyper fixation on kinds of drugs and drug use and recreational drugs. Bael being forced to listen to all his random facts from human world sharks. Wondering if he could somehow channel this energy into actual paperwork.

Beel walking into a room and turning right back around.

Beel hitting his knees on everything in sight where he has bruises everywhere.

Beel turning a conversation faster than you can say 'I have ADHD'

Beel 'The Man of many talents' because over a thousand years he has dabbled in quite a lot of hyper fixations.

Beel spending his money on something completely fucking useless because it was cool.

Beel spending literally days on TikTok.

Beelzebub demon of gluttony Lord of the flies really likes cinnamon roll from hello Kitty (personal headcanon)

[twosides--samecoin]

Y'ALL I GOT MY MEDS WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK

[bisquid]

I have been off my ADHD meds for like two days and already my life is starting to disintegrate around me

[capricandoitall]

ADHD Tip:

I have a "missed Rx" bottle. Any time I forget to take my meds (and realize it), I put the pills I should have taken into this bottle. I treat these like they don't exist, which is why I don't leave them in the original bottle (yay for adhd object impermanence). This helps prompt me to get my refills on time.

THIS IS NOW MY EMERGENCY STOCKPILE of medication - particularly for my Adderrall.

If I don't/can't get my refill in time, if there's a shortage, if there's some kind of weather event or other emergency that prevents me from accessing a refill, etc, I have this. For controlled substances prescriptions, there's no other way to have a backup that I know of.

I occasionally swap the "forgotten" pills out 1:1 with new pills so they don't expire - I try to do it when I pick up my new prescription.

----------------

The rest of this became my personal manifesto regarding access to ADHD stimulant medications. Sorry, not sorry.

Anyone with ADHD who is lucky enough to be medicated knows that suddenly being unmedicated can be life destroying. And that's not an exaggeration - life-threatening accidents go up, risk of being fired for ADHD-related performance issues go up, interpersonal/telationship conflicts increase, etc, not to mention the increase in anxiety and depression for many while it feels like the very structure of our lives is decaying, and it's ALL OUR FAULT.

So, needless to say, med compliance is really important for stability. But getting med refills can be a chronic problem for people with ADHD.

Most ADHD medications are controlled substances, so we need a new script every month. For various regulatory, legal and ethical reasons, the onus is on the patient to initiate a refill with their doctor rather than the doctor's office being able to provide any kind of proactive support. In a lot of cases, we need an appointment every month, and at a minimum we have to remember to contact our prescriber to ask them for the refill. It's hard to remember to do that, especially to do it in advance so that they can submit the refill in time so we do not miss days. It's particularly hard to do it in advance vbecause we can't request the refill too soon because they're on guard to ensure we only have exactly the number of pills we need and not a single one more. Because we all must be abusing our medication.

In addition, pharmacists can only fill our new prescription the date they show we will run out based on the pick-up date and not a minute earlier. Sometimes a day in advance if we're lucky. Because, again, thw system assumes we must be abusing these medications.

To say the least, the timing of getting a refill is very exacting - for people who literally struggle with exactly this kind of challenge.

On top of all of this, there have been amphetamine supply shortages over the last few years. This is because the DEA restricts the amphetamine market for pharmaceutical companies, but does it in a way that leads to hoarding, exporting, and other market inefficiencies. The DEA will determine that there's enough of the ingredient available to meet patient demands, and won't give pharmaceutical companies additional allotments, even though the companies actually manufacturing the medications don't have the ingredient they need to meet demand. While this has improved since The Year We All Ran out of Pills, the issue is chronic and systemic so shortages still pop up occasionally.

Thus, even if we do everything perfectly to get the prescription, our pharmacy may not be able to fill it when it's time. This can often happen the day before we're going to run out (see above re timing of refills), often the evening before, in fact, because a large number of folks pick up their meds after work.

This then means people with executive dysfunction need to call around for a pharmacy with available pills, and we have to do it RIGHT AWAY because we are going to run out of pills today/tomorrow. Quite often, though, we have to do this while unmedicated, because in the moment we may not have time for the process (and it takes time - I've spent an hour on the phone with pharmacies before) or the pharmacies may not be open. And that assumes we're lucky enough to have access to an alternate pharmacy. Then, even if/when we can find a pharmacy that can help, there's another hurdle: pharmacies often can't transfer prescriptions for controlled substances (even from store to store within the same chain/company), so now we have to coordinate getting a NEW refill from our doctor (and don't get me started on the mess that is partial refills of controlled substances). Fingers crossed that it's our doctor's office's business hours (it never is).

Because forgeting tasks and difficulty with motivation due to executive disfunction are KEY SYMPTOMS of ADHD, this can trigger a (sometimes long) period of without medication, which can be dangerous (see above). AND SO, I have my baby emergency stockpile of pills.

There's not a lot of sympathy for the problems this causes for people with ADHD, which means getting support through this process is challenging. In fact, there's still a lot of stigma. I've personally been treated with suspicion and doubt by a pharmacy assistant while panic-crying because I couldn't get a refill. I've heard comments about how people trying to get refills act like drug addicts. I have thick skin and a supportive community, so those experiences didn't stop me from pushing for what i needed, but I know there are people who would give up after an encounter like that.

There is no political will to improve the system. In fact, there's more political will behind increasing restrictions on and further limiting access to stimulant medications. This comes from the narratives that 1) ADHD isn't real ("everyone forgets things" "everyone gets distracted" "it's trendy to have adhd" "stop making excuses"), 2) ADHD is overdiagnosed and/or overmedicated ("you should just try harder" "why are you so lazy" "have you tried using a planner" "o knew someone who..."), and 3) ADHD medications are being widely abused recreationally.

During the pandemic, the FDA started allowing doctors to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine, which has increased access to treatment and improved patient ability to actually attend appointments (from decreased time commitment, lack of need for transportation, lack of need for much advance planning/remebering, etc). Add to this the increase in adult diagnoses, particularly for women who went undiagnosed/untreated as a result of systemic social issues when we were children, and the result is a general and not insignificant increase in patients being effectively treated for ADHD, including being prescribed ADHD medication. However, if you doubt ADHD or the effectiveness/importance of medication in treating ADHD to begin with, the increase in stimulant prescriptions is an indication of drug abuse, over diagnosis and over medication, NOT better access to care and decrease in missed diagnoses due to bias. Nevermind pretty solid science around the prevalence of untreated ADHD, medication being the single most effective and life-improving treatment for ADHD, and the very reasonable conclusion that telemedicine improved both access to healthcare as well as ADHD patient appointment attendance.

Which is to say, the FDA keeps pushing to revive the requirement for in person appointments in order to received prescriptions for controlled substances, like stimulants.

[haorev]

I might be able to get my Ritalin later this week 🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿

[llatimeria]

just doing some thinking about the adderall shortage