Questionable Results

[quit-once]

Here is a nice, brief, two page NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/health/adhd-experts-re-evaluate-studys-zeal-for-drugs.html?hp  questioning the widespread use of stimulant drugs for treating ADHD in children.  It helped my understand why they favor drugs over traditional psychotherapy.

 

What is missing is the relative harm these drugs can cause in one's life and the lengthy and difficult recovery process, even for those who "took as prescribed".  Maybe it is different for children.

[Zerokewl]

Nothing I've read documents the difficult recovery process.  Which makes me wonder if it is real sometimes. 

[quit-once]

I used to think I *deserved* the horrible physical side effects while using and the difficult recovery process after quitting because I abused the drug and then became addicted to it.  I am not so sure about that anymore. 

[Cat]

I suspect that this is just the beginning of a new narrative around ADHD medication. The NYT is pretty regularly publishing stories that question whether medication is the appropriate treatment, suggest that it might be overprescribed, suggest that ADHD is overdiagnosed, and expose individual horror stories (like the student who committed suicide after abusing adderall). Adderall has been increasingly prescribed since what, the late 90s? I think, and hope, we'll begin to hear more in the news about the effects and challenges of long term use of medication.

[Jon]

Re-evaluate the study. Kudos to the NYT, even though the truth is only meekly stated by the newspaper. It is very clear to me that this 'research study' was rigged by the pharmaceutical companies.

 

It was stated: The fact that many of the 19 categories measured classic symptoms like forgetfulness and fidgeting — over academic achievement and family and peer interactions — hampered therapy’s performance from the start, several of the study’s co-authors said.

 

The last sentence in the report by one of the study's researchers said "I wish there were fairer tests."

 

[ldmcniel]

I don't think they have studied these medications long enough or on use in adult ADHD.  A doctor told me once that I was" one of the most severe cases of ADHD seen in a girl." , and yet I have abused and misused Adderall more than a lot of people.  I dislike the claims people make that "if you truly have ADHD, you won't become addicted to it." That's bull! I'm proof of that.

[Zerokewl]

The model for drug testing is just so broken.  With software and most products you release versions and get user feed back almost continuously .  We are going to are doctors and saying this drug has been a real issue for me. Where does that data go is it even reported? When my browser crashes it sends anonymous data back to  Google (I use chrome) saying what what happened.   The programmers analyze the  data and if they see a pattern they release a code fix.   

[quit-once]

There are a lot of missing pieces.  For example, I am not aware of ANY study that follows stimulant drug users over the long term - like 5, 10, or 20 years.  I am also not aware of any studies that explore the side effects of abuse at higher dosages.  I don't believe the process of recovering from stimulant drug use has been explored in any meaningful way.  This web site is full of anecdotal stories but none of it is scientific.   It is like we are the pawns of one big uncontrolled experiment and nobody wants to see the results.