ADHD Roller Coaster: "Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?"

To save money, many people with ADHD take generic medications. Most have received assurances from  their physicians that “bioequivalence” with the brand-name version is required and assured. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Increasingly, patients who do notice a significant difference between brand-name and generic are making their voices heard.

The ADHD Roller Coaster covered this topic a few months ago, after I read an outrageous Consumer Reports press release that  even warned consumers away from brand-name medications for ADHD as being too costly and unnecessary.  I countered with this blog post on the potential dangers of generic medications for treating ADHD and co-existing conditions.

With other readers, I left comments at the Consumer Reports blog post (”Parents: Don’t rush Children to Adderall, Concerta, Strattera”).

Today’s New York Times article (”Not All Drugs Are the Same After All”) today backs up my points on generics. Some snippets: Read the rest of this entry »

Dear readers,

Each time you shop at Amazon, Amazon will make a donation to keep this ADHD Roller Coaster blog and The ADHD Partner blog rolling along — at NO extra cost to you!

It’s simple: Just begin all your Amazon shopping expeditions from this link (just book mark it).

http://tinyurl.com/y8wu2st

If you do that, Amazon will send a tiny percentage of all purchases my way.  Books. DVDs. Appliances. You name it!

As most of you know, my ADHD volunteerism  is reaching the decade mark soon. And every little bit helps towards maintaining three blogs, hosting websites, donating copies of the book to those in need, speaking to groups about Adult ADHD, and more.

Thanks so much and happiest of holidays!

Gina

Pressured by Congress to crack down  on performance-enhancing drugs and “false claims of A.D.D.,”  Major League Baseball is pleased to report that the number of exemptions for ADHD medications are tapering off.  Is this really news worth celebrating?  I’m not so sure.

In 2007, the number of players receiving exemptions for ADHD rose to 108, from 28 in 2006.  That figure strikes me as reasonable, not alarming, given increasing public awareness during that time period.

After all, the players receiving exemptions represent about 9 percent of total players, which number  1,200 or so.  Extremely conservative estimates place the percentage of adults with ADHD in the general population at about 4 percent, but experts acknowledge that using more realistic criteria bumps the figure as high as 16 percent.

Yet, as reported in a previous post (“Anti-Doper Doc Dopey about ADHD?”), this spike created quite the rhubarb among sports officials, including non-savvy ADHD physicians. (“This is incredible. This is quite spectacular. There seems to be an epidemic of ADD in major league baseball,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency.)

This recent article in The New York Times article (”Number of M.L.B. Players Given Drug Exemptions Up Slightly“) explains the latest report on all medication exemptions.

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Consider this your personal invitation to join us next weekend (11/14/09) at ADD Resources’ Eighth Annual Fall Conference in Bellevue, Washington.  The theme this year is ADHD: Acceptance is Empowering.

Knowledge is power, too, and this is a wonderfully cost-effective opportunity to both expand your knowledge of ADHD and familiarize yourself with the ADHD community in the Pacific Northwest.

Nationally known ADHD expert and psychologist Ari Tuckman (author of the new book More Attention, Less Deficit) will travel from Pennsylvania to present the morning keynote address: “Control What You Can, Let Go of the Rest.” Judging by the overflow capacity at Dr. Tuckman’s recent presentation at the CHADD conference in Cleveland, you won’t want to miss this candid, practical, and engaging expert! Read the rest of this entry »

This week: A guest post from ADHD coach Cynthia Hammer, founder and former executive director of Seattle-based non-profit ADD Resources (click here to visit her blog, “Pinnacle Coaching”).

I’ve always enjoyed Cynthia’s personal essays (look for more to come), and we both appreciate the thoughtful perspectives of Judith Warner, who writes the “Domestic Disturbances” column for The New York Times.
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Do you ever get discouraged about all the bad and inaccurate press about ADHD? That it is a condition that doesn’t exist? That those of us who have ADHD are seeking the easy way out by taking medicine or that we parents give dangerous medicine to children for a made-up condition?

I just finished reading an article by Judith Warner, a columnist for The New York Times who planned to write a book on these kinds of topics, but she kept putting off writing the book—and she finally realized why. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

By popular demand, the full version of the Ohio Players singing their 1975 hit (and the ADHD Roller Coaster theme song), Love Roller Coaster, and a cover from The Red Hot Chili Peppers (with Beevis and Butthead).

“Your love is like a roller coaster, baby baby. I wanna ride….ooo hoo hoo hoo.” (The headline’s poetic license courtesy of my husband.)

What’s an ADHD Roller Coaster blog without a theme song, especially one you can dance to? Click below to play my top pick: Love Roller Coaster from the Ohio Players. Read the rest of this entry »

I will be joining ADHD specialist Dr. Alan Graham of ADDvisor.com for a free teleconference on “ADHD and Success Strategies for Couples.”

Date: Wednesday, October 14.
Time: 8:30 pm EDT.
To Pre-register: click here.

Only Harry Potter fans have awaited a book as I’ve awaited Dr. Charles Parker’s forthcoming book on ADHD medication treatment strategies. Nothing has frustrated me more in ten years of advocacy than hearing meds-gone-awry stories. A solid getting-the-meds-right guide for patients and clinicians is long overdue.

With the full book still in the editing stage, Dr. Parker has made this abbreviated e-book available free: Predictable Solutions for the 10 Most Common Challenges with ADHD Medications. To download the book, visit this page on Dr. Parker’s Corepsychblog webite.

A sampling of challenges addressed in this booklet:

• Problem #1: Overlooking Targets – Beyond Diagnostic Labels
• Problem #2: Neglecting the Evidence of Metabolic Rate
• Problem #3: Multiple Diagnoses, Emotional Baggage, and ADHD
• Problem #5: Overlooking Bipolar with ADHD
• Problem #7: Overlooking the Therapeutic Window

Read it and reap!