Bloomberg: The fast rise of prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants suggest the start of another drug crisis like the opioid epidemic, according to the DEA

The fast rise of prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants suggest the start of another drug crisis like the opioid epidemic, according to the DEA

Adderall Abuse Risks Becoming Another Opioid Crisis, DEA Sayswww.bloomberg.com The fast rise of prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants, along with rampant online treatment and advertising, suggest the start of another drug crisis like the opioid epidemic, a senior Drug ...

I dunno. Abuse is certainly possible but are they conflating abuse with increased awareness and thus diagnoses? I see increased diagnosis with adult females in particular in my practice all the time.

I’m 1 of them. Dx @ age 42. The insane thing is my bro, who is 5 yrs younger, was Dx practically the moment he cld talk yet my parents cont’d 2 ignore my complete inability 2 manage my scarf/mittens/homework/life & on at least 1 occasion, returned from school in a blizzard w/o a coat bc I lost it.🙄

Well into elementary school, my teachers were still PINNING NOTES TO MY CLOTHING so they’d reach my parents.

ADHD is often undiagnosed in girls. Sorry you had to go so long without help!

I have the opposite problem of addiction with my adhd meds. I can easily forget to take them.

No truer a sign of ADHD than that

One time I sat at a Brooklyn kitchen table and 5 friends did just about all the cocaine they wanted. I looked at architecture books and wondered, ‘wow I am usually a fiend, I probably will never get another chance to do free cocaine, I wonder why that seems so uninteresting?’

Super common!

Twinsies.

What have they said about why they didn’t get you an assessment?

@faineg.bsky.social 👀

ADHD boys tend to exhibit hyperactivity more than ADHD girls (possibly because we are hard-socialized to mask right out of the box) so were more readily Dx’ed. Because I’m an ace hyperfocuser, I did great in gradeschool, but EVERYTHING became a greater and greater struggle thereafter :/

It took until I was almost 60, & my life grinding to a narrow, barely-manageable standstill before I realized I had always been deeply hyperactive: except it all happens in my brain, not my body. I finally got my Dx/Rx, but will never know how my life would have gone if it had happened by college :/

Diagnosed at 47 after a lifetime of masking, anxiety, and depression. I unknowingly developed all kinds of coping mechanisms, but they were burning me out. It wasn't until my sister mentioned being diagnosed that a lightbulb went off in my head and I sought help. I grieve all those decades lost.

Me too :( 💚

THIS👆

The way you’ve described your experience is so incredibly similar to what happened in my life, too. Except I’m still not being treated for ADHD bc I have so many other health issues it just never rose to the top of the pile as something IMPORTANT enough to warrant treatment by any of my providers.🤯

You MUST self-advocate! I discussed it at length with my therapist, and she supported me with my psychiatrist before I made my case to HER. I was so relieved when she agreed to prescribe for me!

I used to think I wasn’t hyperactive. Then I realized my hyperactivity is internal. Just thinking non stop n shit. lol

THIS EXACTLY!!! My brain NEVER SHUTS UP 😫 And I used to shake my foot all the time except it bugged people so I quit. I had no idea stimming was even a thing! I still chew the hell out of my cuticles tho. And chew on my tongue/lips. I need to try fidgeting again lol

Never. 😂 you should check out chew necklaces! They are a special material made to chew on for stimming.

Same!!! My bro got the attention & dx (good!!!) but I didn't. ADHD dx in late 20's, then learned I'm autistic in late 30's. SMH. People need this stuff, I think the concern about abuse is a puritanical knee-jerk and/or a a trauma response by a larger community feeling no one should have needs met.

My kid getting diagnosed was what made me, at 46, say “huh.”

I lost so many lunchboxes my mom wouldn’t let me have any more

If people are abusing stimulants, it’s because of work performance standards that exceed normal human abilities, like having back to back night and morning shifts. Stimulant abuse is not coming from normal ADHDers who just want to remember their keys or finish their term papers!

The amount that capitalism has created pathologies is disgusting. There’s theory that neurodivergence is evolutionary from a “pack culture” perspective. But that’s probably not something we will ever need again, thus, making *some* treatment necessary beyond the idiocies of capitalism.

Evolutionary psychology is not worth paying attention to. But one of my pet beliefs that I have no evidence for is that things like the wheel and fish hooks were invented by ADHDers. I also think domesticating plants and animals seems like something an autistic caveman would do.

I agree about capitalism creating pathologies though. It creates environments that are bad environments for some neurotypes and it creates unhealthy environments that cause otherwise neurotypical people to become anxious and/or depressed.

The phenomenon of women with adhd being diagnosed only recently and so much later is directly correlated to the expectation for them to mask “undesirable” traits so much more than their men counterparts. Victims of social engineering.

As a very lazy person I think you don’t give us enough credit. We will invent our way out of work with the fierceness of a hungry wolverine.

Exactly! “You want me to *carry* these large rocks to the cave? No way. I’m gonna have these cylinders do the work instead”

Oh if I’m not hitting the dopamine button it’s not getting done. Sometimes even urgency or hyper-focus (because I can’t direct it) won’t do it.

It’s true. I read it in the historical clan of the cave bear series. Ayla is an autistic icon 🙃

Well, in cultures that don’t pathologize neurodivergence the outcomes are better. It’s called, I believe, the outcomes paradox. It focuses on schizophrenia (which is related to autism, which is related to adhd, turtles all the way down)

That makes complete sense to me. I attribute most of my success in school, not to adderall, but to certain teachers and my parents just letting me be weird. You wanna doodle during lecture? Sure! You’re done reading the assigned book? Here, read this other one, you’ll love it!

Yep. Any time I had any successes it was 100% just people accepting me and letting my brain do its thing. It was super rare in the 80s but I got some support simply for being white and presenting as nerd/intelligent (I don’t think “intelligence” has a good definition so)

With the added bonus of it doesn’t make sense to abuse stimulants if you have adhd because if you take too much or for too long they just make you hella sleepy I have to take breaks on them. The whole thing is shit

Omg yes! I only take it like 3 days a week and take breaks a few times a year. You’re so right they make you sleepy and less productive if you take them for too long.

Yes. Their only evidence is "more scrips so must be abuse". It's the dumbest thing.

Me three. Diagnosed when I was, I think, 41? Then a different therapist tried to rescind the dx because “you did well in school” Fuck of it is, I actually meet criteria for autism much better but that’s an even steeper uphill climb for female-presenting people

I’m AFAB and didn’t get a diagnosis till 35, and I am the most obviously ADHD person anyone has ever met

Abuse by whom? People who have ADHD or shitty rich white kids?

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