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Funny how my ADHD never lets me forget my three energy drinks a day.
If we’re talking Adderall/amphetamine salts, I personally don’t understand why it’s called “addictive.” When my insurance has lapsed, and I can’t get to a doctor to write the next month’s prescription, I have stopped cold turkey to preserve what I have for days I might really need to be on the ball (think job interviews or similar) with no symptoms of any kind of withdrawal (outside of being more lethargic/unmotivated and easily distracted as is my natural state).
I can understand considering it a problem that the effect weakens - requiring more of it to have as strong an effect as when you first took it, but that’s NOT the same as an “addiction” as far as I’m concerned - I have no overwhelming need for it, which is probably why people can forget to take them. I do find that being off of it for a while gives the first few times back on it a slightly stronger effect than it had been having when I stopped, although nothing is ever “as good as the first time.”
We’re missing a key component of the discussion: dose. Therapeutic doses and recreational doses are vastly different things. A drug that’s addictive at recreational doses isn’t necessarily an issue at therapeutic doses.
Therapeutic Adderall doses typically start at 5mg whereas recreational users may be using 30-60mg or more. That’s an order of magnitude difference! Now, a long term patient taking prescription Adderall may eventually have their dose up to 40mg but they will have developed significant tolerance to the drug so that it doesn’t affect them nearly as strongly as a recreational user would experience popping 40mg out of the blue at some club.
I’ve found it takes a couple of weeks to completely reset my therapeutic baseline in terms of how it feels.
If I forget that I took it before it kicks in and take another just a couple of times it fucks all that up and I have to do that. I really fucking hate this disorder sometimes.
Advanced Disorder & Dragons
Advanced Disorder Hand Dragons
Awesome Dragons Have Disorders
I’m stealing this one.
Doc can’t CURE you because pharma only invests in drugs to MANAGE illness.* Because that gets them paid forever, not just once.
- I’m speaking of cure and illness generally, not necessarily calling ADHD an illness rather than a brain type that’s out of sync with modern society.
Extremely lazy conspiracy theory
The USA capitalist system effectively worships money more than God. It’s not a conspiracy theory so much as a not unwarranted suspicion about for-profit drug companies’ likely motivations and priorities. The only thing potentially keeping that at bay is the threat of someone else disrupting their cash flow with an actual cure - although that doesn’t prevent them from burying cures they find themselves unless it benefits them, or significantly disadvantages a major competitor.
Where would this be? Canada? In the US they’d charge you at least $5000.
My experience in the US is like this meme. I gotta show up every 3 months just to be like ‘hey’. And then they’re like ‘hey. Any changes?’ ‘Nope.’ 'Cool. Here are your ‘scrips.’
It depends on what the medication is. I used to take generic adderall for ~$30/month. When I switched to vyvanse, there was no generic and I had to pay ~$300/ month. I suspect vyvanse is cheaper now, but it’s been a few years since I lived in the US.
The real killer was that I had to meet with the prescriber and get a drug test every month, which cost an extra ~$200/every prescription. Not every doctor requires that, but I went to a budget clinic and IME, those tend to be more restrictive (because fuck the poor)
The drug testing and having to call for renewed prescriptions every month were too much of a barrier to me, so I’m back to being unmedicated. I just don’t have it in me to make appointments every month that feel like a gigantic waste of time.
“Yep, still have adhd” “Ok we’ll renew it, come by next week for a drug test”
Cool, yeah, I can definitely totally remember to do that every single month forever with ‘my can’t remember to function until it’s a catastrophe’ disorder, even though it’s nonsense. Not problematic gatekeeping at all.
I’ve been on adderall for 10 years and not once have I ever had to do a drug test… I’m curious where you live? At least in the US, drug testing isn’t federally mandated for ADHD meds, it just depends on how much your psychiatrist trusts you basically. If you wanted to get back on meds so you only need to do a monthly phone call to renew your prescription (plus a normal follow up appointment every 3 months), I’d recommend finding a better psychiatrist.
but I’ll concede that even just a monthly phone call is hard to keep up with, with ADHD. I most often forget until I’m about to run out so there have been many occasions that I have to go without meds for a few days…
There is generic vyvanse now
Looks like a specialist copay on private health insurance
In Canada we just walk in and out. I’ve never even seem a debit card machine in my doctors office before
Open market cost of psychologist without insurance ranges, but I’ve never paid more than $200 for a consult, and that’s really pushing it.same for a psychiatrist (MD that prescribes meds).
With insurance as little as nothing, but usually the usual copay.
I say this having lived in multiple states, with multiple insurance companies.
Frankly you’re pulling that 5k out of your ass - that’s surgery level charges, pretty serious surgery at that, something requiring general anesthesia.
I’ve seen $50k in charges covered by a $500 copay.
