Another update:
The Pharmacy definitely made a mistake and gave my kid the wrong drug. :mad:
I’m considering my next move, dunno if legal action is called for, but it sure seems like it ought to be. This has caused us a bunch of hassle, turmoil, etc., and now my kid doesn’t want to take medicine. He’s not himself due to all this medicine BS. Thank Og this didn’t cause physical harm (that I know of).
My wife & two of my three kids are ADHD. (The other kid is too young to diagnose but he shows the early symptoms).
Drugs take them from distracted, (negatively) impulsive, destructive kids to acting more-or-less like normal kids. I used to be very anti-drug for ADHD, considering ADHD to be a “boutique” diagnosis for parents who didn’t want to be active parents. Having your son bash his head bloody on a wall in his frustration to handle ordinary tasks helps you change your position. I still think ADHD is over-diagnosed but I now also believe it’s a real condition. (It also shows up on brain scans, by the way).
The general thinking now is that a portion of your brain acts as a throttle for the rest of the brain function. In ADD & ADHD kids (and adults), this throttle is sluggish, letting your brain run free. This is not good for some, the brain runs away to do its own thing without limits.
Limits are good.
Anyway, stimulants act to speed the brain’s throttle, actually letting the throttle take more control & allowing the brain to control itself more. Strange but it seems to work. Heck, my wife is the only person I know whom caffeine calms. Have a coke, take a nap. Otherwise, she says, her thoughts are too active, her brain “buzzes” constantly.
By the way, Concerta is basically time-released Ritalin, no current generic.
Ritalin has a generic called methylphenidate.
Adderal XR is time released Adderal. Adderal’s generic is “amphetamine/dextroamphetamine”. Adderal XR has no generic.
My son has been taking various amphetamines for ADHD since preschool (he’s now 17 and taking Concerta), and he’s fine. They certainly have not stunted his growth!!! YMMV, etc. If your sone doesn’t have undesirable side-effects in the short term, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about long term.
Yeah, I’m not too worried about that. I am, however, worried about the pharmacist giving us the wrong dang pills. We’re lucky the mixup was at least confined to the same sort of drug.
Wow. I’m quite surprised that you were given an Adderall generic when prescribed Ritalin. As meds go, Adderall is very tightly controlled. No refills, no call-ins, new prescription every month. Prior doctor authorization is required by almost every insurance company. The pharmacist even has to triple-check and initial the bottle.
I don’t believe litigation should be used to right every wrong, but I’d be piping mad, too, if I were you. I’d at least make a stink about it and see how they react. If their reaction is less than one of full-bore contrition, I’d consider dragging them into court (or at least threatening to). My aunt lost her hearing permanently due to a mis-handled prescription. A pharmacist is trained to fill prescriptions properly and correctly; that’s kinda the whole point of the profession. The person responsible should get more than just a slap on the wrist; it’s not a small thing. I’d equate it to plagiarism on the part of a college professor.
Well, I’ve been taking it for about 13 years with no discernable side effects. You may enjoy this article by Michael Fumento, a so-called conservative journalist who spends a lot of time debunking stuff. He called ADHD “A liberal hoax [that] turns out to be true.” Nothing is going to replace meds; however, your kid will need to learn skills for life—a two-pronged approach is best. I didn’t get diagnosed until I was 23 and I’m a basket case because I’ve no skills for many basic problems. The executive funtion stuff mentioned earlier really seems to encapsulate the problem. And as mentioned by Frontline we’ve seen “sixty years of stimulant use with children demonstrating remarkable physical safety.”
Well - not surprising you found it’s powerful, it’s speed for God’s sake.
I accidentally took one of my son’s Concerta pills one day (had my pills in on hand, his in the other, just popped the wrong hand. Luckily, I stopped short of giving him mine).
Over the next hour I had an increasing sense of alertness, the sensation of being able to discern every leaf on every tree on the way to work. Another hour later and I was sitting at my desk trying to hold still. It’s like I swallowed a dozen cups of coffee at once. Too much going on between my ears.
For the non-ADHD, taking stimulants can be a mistake.
Oh, by the way, thank you very much, kanicbird, for tipping me off to the pharmacist error.
And thanks to all for the interesting links and reassurances.