The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning those who take medication for ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, could face a disruption in accessing care after two executives were arrested for a $100 million fraud scheme.
The CDC issued a health advisory to inform public health officials, clinicians and patients about the potential for medication distribution to be affected.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released information Thursday on the arrests of a California-based digital health company’s CEO and clinical president.
The duo was arrested for their alleged participation in attempting to distribute Adderall over the internet, commit health care fraud by submitting false claims for reimbursement for the drug, and obstructing justice, the DOJ’s release said.
Shit like this is why I haven’t bothered trying to get a diagnosis as an adult. Even if I get it, and get prescribed anything, there’s no point if you can’t reliably get meds to take consistently.
The news would lose their shit if it was drugs for diabetes, but fuck people with ADHD I guess, jump through the flaming hoop and juggle pharmacies.
For a condition whose primary symptom is [checks notes] reduced capacity for things like jumping through bureaucratic hoops, no less!
It’s sadistic.
Here’s a list of 10 pharmacies in your area you can try having your prescription sent to, get there, and find out they don’t have it (a tale I’ve heard many times…), WHILE you don’t have the meds that makes that not a monumental task! While being judged by every pharmacist for daring to need a CoNtrOlLed SUUUUUUBSTAAAAANCE.
For those with ADHD having issues pharmacies: I recommend understanding what the rules are for schedule ii medications and print them out to show the pharmacist because a lot of pharmacists do not know what is allowed and what isn’t. Here are the two big ones you need to know of and keep in mind your state laws may supersede them.
A pharmacy may partially fill a schedule II prescription if they are unable to fill the full quantity. The remaining portion must be filled within 72 hours from the partial filling. If the remaining portion cannot be filled within 72 hours a new script must be sent in before the remaining portion may be filled. [21 CFR 1306.13(a)] A prescribing practitioner or patient may request a partial filling [21 CFR 1306.13(b)]
The transfer for initial dispensing of an electronic prescription for a controlled substance in Schedule II is permissible between retail pharmacies, upon request from the patient, on a one-time basis only. [21 CFR 1306.08(e)] (this means you do NOT have to call to your doctor to have them void your script and send in a new script to a different pharmacy however the script may only be transferred ONCE so you will have to ensure the receiving pharmacy has your medication or else you will have to either wait or get a new script sent in)
There are non stimulants that aren’t in a shortage, like strattera.
Ahhh, Strattera. I remember being on that as a kid. Made me noxious and suppressed my appetite (apparently you’re supposed to eat before taking it?) but from what I remember worked pretty well.
The appetite suppression is why my parents took me off of it and replaced it with
checks notes
Absolutely nothing. And didn’t keep records of my medical history. And made no attempts to have me treated for it after the age of 10.
And those are getting harder to acquire because of the difficulty in getting the regular stimulant meds like adderall. People are switching meds to avoid the issues, but now that’s creating the same problems with some of the alternatives.
I mean… it doesn’t need time to build in your system. ADHD meds work from after you take them until they wear off (the extended release is about 7 and a half hours for me) so even if you can only get them sporadically, some help is better than none.
Yeah, but most people would like to consistently be a functioning adult, not “when they can be on their meds”.
Still, I should. I’ve got a long list of things to talk to a doctor about (when I get to it. Eventually.)
Obviously that’s the case. I didn’t make a statement contrary to it. My point was “even if it’s not guaranteed, some is better than none,” not, “be happy to get anything at all.”
We should be pissed we don’t have guaranteed access to the meds that make us function! It’s our entire lives in jeopardy! But the person I’m replying to doesn’t yet know that they can have at least some help, and that was the point I was making.
If this seems aggressive it’s because I’m constantly being attacked on the internet for saying something I didn’t say.
(I’m the person you were replying to 😜) i looked into it plenty like 4 months ago and got a doctor in mind to go to for diagnosis, definitely worth a try when the brain go brrr BRRR (again, amongst the ever growing pile of "oh hey my family has a history of _____ i should look into that sooner rather than later)
I read like 3 chapters of a “PowerShell in a Month of Lunches” the other day and was surprised at myself. I’ve had the book for almost a year now, got about halfway through it, and it’s been living in my work backpack directly next to my work laptop ever since 🙃
FWIW the main meds can be started/stopped at will. They aren’t like the drugs that mess directly with neurotransmitter chemical reactions directly.
It is, however, very upsetting to go from functional to dysfunctional for reasons outside of your control. Experienced that a lot with the last shortage.
As a farmer, especially during something like seeding or harvest where focus and not making mistakes are critical.
Fortunately I got my doc to prescribe me XR dexadrine + IR to use as a top up/enhancer. I rarely take the IR or just add a half pill on long days, but always fill the prescription as if I take it every day, giving me a large supply to ride through shortages.
Very fair point.
That’s also exactly how an addict of any drug feels. Speaking as a former opiate addict because I was young and doctors shoved it at me in the early 2000s after a knee injury, when they decided they fucked up they just stopped giving it to me but it was already too late. Which lead to 15 years of drug problems that devastated my life and permanently fucked me up. It was more than upsetting, it was outright hell. But they came out with a great new drug that would “get me off the opiates” and addicted to an even more addictive alternative that’s almost harder to get prescribed. They should just keep making the damn things in abundance because people die every day because street drugs are questionable but addiction doesn’t care and will take that chance. One fake pill with fentanyl in it will kill you if not made properly and addiction to regulated accessible drugs will not (but night make you wish they would). Sorry for the rant, I’m not bitching at you, just the situation.
To clarify why you’re getting downvoted:
ADHD is among the most studied of psychological disorders. It is caused by physiological differences in the prefrontal cortex. You come across as ableist, dismissing this very real and frequently debilitating psychological disorder that people are born with. Like telling someone with recurrent major depressive disorder to “just cheer up” or someone with a compound fracture to “walk it off”.
Would you tell someone with a black mamba bite that was begging for antivenin that they sounded like an addict due to their desire for medicine to treat their medical condition?
Uh, I’m not talking about withdrawals. I’m saying that after 20 years of being a failure and “slacker”, I finally got my life together. Heck, I could make goals and achieve them. And then to go back to what it was. Fucking hurts.
So it sounds like it was different then lmfao
There’s another side of the coin due to that: when faced with scarcity some people tend to adjust their medication, taking half dosage in order to ration for example, and given the addictive qualities, probably not good for some of those people to wind up with a lack of structure in regard to adhering to the dosage and a surplus of amphetamines.
It’d be interesting to see some studies come out looking into any correlation between disruptions in supply and negative outcomes due to addiction
This has made me wonder how difficult it is to make the drug and if NileRed could make a video on how to do it. 🤔