Hello Brains, October is ADHD Awareness Month and I thought it would be a good time to talk
about why stimulant medication is typically used to treat ADHD
and hopefully break down some of the stigma surrounding it
Stimulant medication is considered a first-line treatment for ADHD but when people use this
medication to treat their ADHD they often feel an incredible amount of shame.
It was weird for me to even take my medication on camera and it was probably uncomfortable to watch it. Why?
Stigma. According to Cambridge Dictionary "Stigma is a strong feeling of disapproval that most people...
...in a society have about something especially when this is unfair."
And there is an intense stigma against stimulant medication.
In the media and on social media we're bombarded with misleading and shame inducing messages.
When we think about methamphetamine, think about Adderall,
Adderall as the detention deficit disorder drug that a lot of college students take.
Same drug, nobody's talking about-
- It's not the same drug- - It's the exact same drug.
To, "it's the same thing as cocaine."
They can't eat, they can't sleep, and they're not getting better.
Isn't that in itself a symptom of taking all this essentially legal speed?
To, it's a replacement for discipline or parenting.
- Buckley could benefit from a little discipline. - Oh
Don't worry I'm not suggesting actual parenting. I'm talking about medication.
To it turns people into zombies.
To it's a last resort, something to try only after trying everything else.
We get these messages from documentaries, social media posts, TV shows, movies, family and friends.
Some of these messages are intentionally sensationalized to get more views or shares or create moral panic.
There are cardiovascular risks, psychotic episode, you wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy.
What's the cost of that? And is that a cost we're willing to live with?
Some are meant to sell us alternatives.
Today I'm going to share with you in this video the top foods,
supplements, natural treatments, and essential oils in the treatment of ADHD.
Some are just meant to make us laugh.
Any of you guys currently on Adderall and uh you know want to make fifty dollars
And some are genuinely meant to be helpful.
I once had a total stranger walk up to me in a store and tell me how he managed his ADHD without medication and I could too.
As if that's how you win at ADHD by not having to treat it.
We internalized these messages, and the stigma isn't just about the medication.
It's also a downplaying or doubting of the condition itself.
ADD and ADHD are not real things.
What is ADHD? it's just it's impossible.
Are they anemic? And do they just need iron that would do it. Are they just bored? Are they over stimulated with their electronic toys?
ADHD is often portrayed as a moral or parental failing.
Not that big a deal, or as if it doesn't even exist. In other words not deserving of treatment.
Given the sheer amount of research that exists on ADHD at this point. I'd say that's pretty unfair!
It makes sense to be cautious about treatment decisions for any condition.
The problem is that the stigma against stimulant medications is so strong that people end up making treatment decisions based on stigma.
Rather than what the optimal treatment for them or their child would actually be.
There's even been research done on this, parents will often try less effective ways of helping their children with ADHD...
...because of the stigma against stimulants. I asked ADHD twitter to share their own experience with stigma,
their own pharmacist said taking their medication was bad for them.
They've had to hide them. One person's dad used to make them hide the pills around other people.
One person's mom avoided getting her diagnosed at all because they didn't want her to become an addict.
Even though my mom did choose to treat my ADHD, my dad was opposed to it and it created a lot of tension between them.
I had a boyfriend once who warned me about the side effects of stimulant medication,
even though mine were really mild, he made me feel like my ADHD wasn't that big a deal,
so I went off of my meds. And over the course of the next two years I discovered my ADHD very much is a big deal.
and there are more serious side effects to not treating my ADHD but everyone is different.
My personal experience is my personal experience, and I'm not a doctor. But Dr. Carolyn Lentzsch-Parcells is.
She also has ADHD herself and is a pediatrician who treats ADHD.
So I asked her to come share what she shares with her patients about stimulant medication.
Hi everyone, as Jessica said I'm Dr. Carolyn Lentzsch-Parcells.
I'm a board certified pediatrician here with girls to women and young men's health and wellness in fort worth Texas.
So let's address some of the misconceptions, fears, and shame surrounding medication.
I'm well aware of these not only as a physician,
but because to be honest I had some of these myself when I was first diagnosed.
I refused medication initially.
A lot of us feel like we should be able to function without medication, learn all of our skills and use all of our skills
and do the behavioral interventions. And all of that first before we turn to medication.
And in some circumstances that may be the right choice but that's not always the right choice.
And whether it's for ourselves or whether it's for our children, medication can be a critical piece of the treatment plan.
So why do we use medication as part of the treatment plan for ADHD?
Well we're still learning about ADHD, but from what we know so far we know that dopamine and norepinephrine
two of the neurotransmitters in our brain play a pretty large role in the challenges we face with ADHD.
And while pills don't build skills, and we still need to be building those skills,
skills don't change the dopamine in our brain and the way our brains work,
the difficulty we have with impulsivity, inattention, focus make it not only a little more difficult to learn those skills
but it makes it a lot more difficult to access those skills when we need to.
So the medication helps increase the dopamine levels in our brain so that our brain can function better,
our neurons can communicate with each other better, we can decrease the impulsivity, decrease the inattention, focus,
stay on task better, so that we can better access and utilize those skills.
They're our gifts to the way our brains work. We see details that other people don't see.
We see solutions to problems other people don't see. it shouldn't take those gifts away.
It shouldn't change who you are, it shouldn't change your personality, it should help you to have control
over those gifts so that you can utilize when you use them and when you don't.
One of the other misconceptions I hear a lot is that these medicines are addictive or habit-forming.
To be clear, "when stimulant medications are used properly and under the guidance of a medical professional
the risk of addiction and habit formation is very low."
On the other hand, people with ADHD do have a higher risk of addiction.
The research shows us that people with ADHD, whose ADHD goes untreated, or sub-optimally treated are at significantly higher risk
for drug use, drug abuse, and drug dependence.
What I see in my own clinic is young people coming to me vaping nicotine, smoking weed or vaping THC in particular.
To self-medicate for their ADHD but also to self-medicate for the depression
and the anxiety that is developed from their ADHD either going untreated or not being ideally treated.
And I've got to tell you, trying to help them trying to get them off of those substances,
so that we can best manage their ADHD is really hard. We now have reams of data and research that show us
that optimal treatment of ADHD includes medication. And medication along with behavioral interventions,
coaching, accommodations in school, leads to: improved performance at work, relationships,
decreased accidents, decreased rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues
and now we even have research that shows that optimal treatment of our ADHD improves our physical health,
not just our mental health. Treating our ADHD helps us to then take better care of ourselves
keep up with our doctor's appointments, take our medicines, do those things that keep us healthy.
Of course we want what's best for our kids there's the fear of if i do give them medicine
is it gonna harm them in the long run? Is it the right choice for them? Am I making that choice
for them or am I making that choice for me? Is it because I can't handle it?
Or is it because I'm not a good enough parent? If I could just parent them better, because let's be honest that's what we hear.
The other thing that I think a lot of people don't understand about ADHD is parenting a
child with ADHD is different than parenting a neurotypical child.
But there's this sense that we shouldn't need medication or that medication is failure there are always going to be those voices
that judge whatever decisions we make those voices aren't going away, but it is not failure!
Asking for what you need, asking for what your child needs, advocating for yourself or your child or your client or your patient is never failure.
It's taking care of ourselves and it's taking care of them.
And you should never be ashamed for that.
I personally believe that people should do what makes sense for them and their situation.
A lot of people in the ADHD community don't use medication
some take non-stimulant medication but before making treatment decisions for yourself or others
or adding to the stigma. I encourage you to educate yourself on what ADHD treatment actually entails
I'm grateful that my mom made the decision to put me on stimulant medication.
It made a huge difference and I'm grateful to Dr. Carolyn Lentzsch-Parcells for coming to talk with everyone.
I lost my mom recently and I'm making this video in the hope that it will reduce some of the stigma
that she had to face. If you want to help break the stigma of not treating ADHD however you treat it,
please share this video or your own story on social media using the hashtag I treat my ADHD because
because I think it's important that we hear those stories too.
If you want to learn more about parenting complex kids next week we'll be doing a live stream with an expert who literally wrote the book on it.
Thank you to my brain advocates and all my patreon brains for helping this channel grow
we've been able to bring on more people because of you and will be able to
produce more content and do more advocacy work because of you.
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do