#stimulant shortage

[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.

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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.

[freelydeafeningmoon]

💖✨~magic ritual~✨💖

for every like or reblog this post gets, someone affected by the stimulant shortage gets their needed medication

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[selkieflesh]

fuck the stimulant shortage motherfucker where is my vyvanse

[strikethematch18]

All I have to say is Strattera better work for me because these side effects are going to kill me.

I'm nauseous to all hell. Food literally disgusts me; if it's not watermelon or grocery store flan I have the hardest time eating it. And feeling dizzy/light headed is not something i somehow expected. Gods help me, I still have shit to do but my body feels like shit.

(Let me add that I feel weird saying I miss my Adderall because I know it's addictive and no matter how I word it I sounds wrong but I miss it, I missed how it worked)

[yooniesim]

why the fuck is addiction part of a mod for neurodivergent ppl in sims? are we not stigmatized as drug seeking criminals enough for you? on top of that, the poll regarding it is behind a paywall. fuck off

edit: better explanation for what I feel that isn't just an angry reaction here

[chronic-cane]

After reading at least 20 different news articles on the Adderall shortage so far:

ADHD is framed as a child's disorder still. Adults *can* have ADHD, but are usually mentioned along with the increased demand and suspicion of drug misuse or abuse.

Other reasons why the increase in demand happened include things like increased accessibility and decreased stigma/disinformation. The FDA and DEA letter to the public, cited in most news articles, did not mention age or other possible factors in demand increase.

Adults with adhd are rarely cited for information. Parents of adhd kids are cited much more. Doctors are cited a ton as well, but many pediatricians.

Wording that stays away from child/adult stuff uses "patient" and even then there is a huge focus on "students."

Adhd symptoms are usually talked about surrounding productivity and impulsiveness. Relationships are another one, but around how the family functions with their kid. Self-esteem and emotional distress were brought up a few times.

One or two brought up other mental disorders that need the drug (narcolepsy and binge eating disorder). None have shown concern for those with addiction that may turn to less safe ways of finding it.

I have yet to see one that talks about withdrawal symptoms that people could have if they miss a dose.

"Advice" includes pill rationing, coffee, and every other adhd trick neurotypicals use but that rarely work (for me at least). Nothing really for binge eating, narcolepsy, or addiction.

I mean, it's not unexpected, but it is frustrating nonetheless.

[umemiyan]

the good news is that i got my prescription and it should be ready soon but it’ll be too late in the day to take it so i got a cold brew in the meantime to see what happens lmao

[spacedace]

Switched my adhd meds recently due to issues being able to eat on the old ones and holy fuck are these new meds Not It.

Been fucking exhausted like I haven't been since I was dealing with lymn disease with my brain so wrapped in fog I could barely function and it's just been getting worse the longer I've been on them.

Didn't take it today and I'm just *now* coming out of the exhaustion & brain fog ugh

Back to the drawing board I guess 😩

[not-poignant]

omg i have been having issues getting my vyvanse too (germany) i did not expect this to be a global issue 😂😂 but good to know.

*shakes hands in we all miss our meds and this sucks and the last 6 months has not been great for productivity*

[crustywhitedogenthusiast]

i should probably get assessed for adhd but also To What End

[gorillawithautism]

today i love meds

[bloodanddiscoballs]

I neeeeeeed to get more energyyyyyyy

[autisticmiqote]

sitting here incredibly anxious about my two big assignments due tomorrow. clearly watching youtube videos to avoid thinking about this is the best thing to do.

[sunnibits]

having adhd is literally just like hey you know how some days you just feel too tired to do any work. well what if that was all the time lmao.

[thewickerking]

what's a guy gotta do to get his meds around here......

[compo67]

the pharmacy is still out of 60s and 70s of vyvanse due to the shortage

they can't fill my script until the 14th

i am totally out of meds

my doctor's office is closed on friday afternoons

my pcp might be able to help? maybe? but i doubt they'll take another script from another doctor

it's going to be a long weekend -_-