Since the start of the statewide shortage, some patients have claimed that their medication is no longer helping to treat their symptoms. There might, however, be more factors at play.
Videos on TikTok featuring people complaining that their medication isn't working have been very popular lately. In one, a woman rattles the pills with her fist while gripping a prescription bottle. "They're giving us 'fake' Adderall during the shortage," the caption reads. In a video, another person claims that "Adderall isn't adderalling."
Some urge their listeners to report what they believe to be the distribution of a "new" Adderall to the Food and Drug Administration and ask that the drug be subjected to laboratory testing. Videos on TikTok with the subject "adhd meds not working" have amassed more than 15 million views.
Many individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been unable to obtain their medication for nearly six months due to a nationwide shortage. As the FDA initially revealed in October, Adderall is still in short supply. Even while some patients argue that their concerns are not new, medical practitioners are left to respond to the questions of those patients who do discover Adderall. Up to 25% of her patients, according to psychiatric chemist Danielle Stutzman of Children's Hospital Colorado, have complained that their medication seems less effective over the past few years. She thinks that this pattern began at the same time that the coronavirus epidemic broke out.
An FDA representative said in a statement that "the agency has not identified any safety or quality issues with Adderall products, or signals indicating a loss or change in efficacy." A representative from Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest manufacturers of Adderall, said in a statement, "All Teva manufacturing processes and practices are the same (and we continue to distribute the same brand and generic Adderall products)."
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Although chemists and A.D.H.D. specialists could not pinpoint a single, clear explanation for why some patients believe their prescription is "different," they hypothesized that other factors could be at play.
Drug Shortages in the U.S.
An Investigation by Federal Agencies The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services declared that they will investigate the activities of "powerful middlemen" in the supply chain as well as the causes of shortages of generic medications.
Chemotherapies: Due to the disruption in the supply of vital chemotherapy medications, some patients with severe tumors have not been able to obtain the necessary treatment, which has raised the biggest worries for both individuals and the larger healthcare system.
Tolerance buildup
A.D.H.D. medication shortages are causing parents and medical experts to notice a decline in their children's learning and self-esteem.
A Difficult Scarcity Now that thousands of Americans have endured delays in receiving prescription treatments for life-threatening illnesses, patients and their physicians must deal with hard realities.
heightened capacity for tolerance
Dr. Stutzman states that some children and teenagers who take Adderall may eventually grow tolerant to the medication and require higher dosages as they get older. She states that tolerance can develop in both persons who were diagnosed as children and those who are new to the medication, albeit it is less common. Some people may find it challenging to manage their symptoms if they have a tolerance to the A.D.H.D. drug. They might become more fidgety, feel more impulsive and hyperactive, and struggle to concentrate at work or school.
But most people do not develop a tolerance to prescription stimulants, and many people take Adderall continuously for years, says Dr. Frances Levin, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and an expert on A.D.H.D. "It's not like someone takes 20 Adderall and you have to give them 50 or 100 the next year," said the woman. "That simply doesn't occur very often."
Switching medications
According to Dr. Stutzman, patients should get an equivalent degree of relief from Adderall even if they are given the generic version of the medication because the brand name and generic versions of the prescription are pharmacologically equivalent. According to Dr. Anish Dube, chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, a tiny proportion of people may be vulnerable to subtle variations in a drug's production process. He claims that the tablet's coating alone could have an impact on how well your body absorbs the drug.
This suggests that the effects of Adderall may vary if you purchase a generic version of the medication from a different manufacturer. However, the majority of patients wouldn't notice a difference between generics and their original prescription because they are so identical to each other. According to Dr. Dube, "it's not supposed to have drastic differences."
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If Adderall isn't available, prescribers might suggest to a patient to start taking Vyvanse in the meantime; however, bear in mind that different persons may react differently to new prescriptions.
Clinical pharmacy specialist Sandy Mitchell from Virginia Commonwealth University Health stated, "We've noticed that the number of stimulants on the market has increased dramatically in recent years, and they're not all the same."
Ms. Mitchell claims that as long as the scarcity lasts, doctors will increasingly likely give patients alternative prescriptions based on what is available, such as an extended-release version of Adderall for a patient who was previously on a shorter-acting tablet. These variations may cause a patient's mood to alter during the course of the day.
Taking and quitting drugs
Due to shortages, some people have been forced to go weeks or even months without taking Adderall. According to Dr. Dube, the amount and duration of Adderall use typically enhance a patient's chance of developing withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing the drug. Patients may struggle to resume their regular regimen once they resume taking the drug. He claims that persons who resume taking large dosages of the medicine without titrating up from smaller levels may become restless and jittery, and some may even develop heart palpitations.
Unexpected events and additional elements
"ADHD cannot be diagnosed in a vacuum," said Dr. Levin. People with A.D.H.D. may be more vulnerable to life-threatening situations; stress associated with ordinary changes, like relocating or starting a new job, can exacerbate symptoms or cause them to recur. According to Dr. Stutzman, this explains why many A.D.H.D. patients have experienced difficulties during the outbreak. Daily habits may change and symptoms may worsen when more people return to work or spend more time in public areas where masking laws are less strict.
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