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Invisible5-HT2A
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Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants
    #14358766 - 04/26/11 11:31 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42710178/ns/health-addictions/

Amid what some claim is a growing epidemic of ADHD diagnoses, a study finds that almost one in four adults who show up in doctors' offices seeking treatment may be exaggerating — or even faking — their symptoms.

Twenty-two percent of adults in the study who claimed they suffered from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder tried to skew test results to make their symptoms look worse, according to a new report based on the medical records of 268 patients and published in the journal The Clinical Neuropsychologist.

Some of those who exaggerated their symptoms actually had ADHD, but embellished their reports to ensure they got diagnosed, said the study's lead author, Paul Marshall, a clinical neuropsychologist with Hennepin Faculty Associates, a medical group that provides services at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.Others didn't have the disorder at all, but were having a tough time dealing with their workloads and lives.

"A lot of people think they have it because they are struggling, but it's not because of ADHD," Marshall said. "Often times, it's simply depression, anxiety or lack of sleep."

Other patients may have been faking symptoms to get access to stimulant medications, Marshall said. In some cases, college and graduate school students want to be diagnosed with ADHD in hopes of gaining access to medications that boost concentration and focus, as well as accommodations such as longer times for tests, he added.

And some just want the meds for an inexpensive high, Marshall said.

In poll, doctors suspect faking
Marshall's findings dovetail with an informal poll of 100 primary care physicians conducted by the group Truth On Call for msnbc.com.

Responding to the text message survey, 38 percent of doctors said they suspected a patient of exaggerating or faking symptoms to get a prescription for ADHD drugs.

Some said that a red flag would go up when patients got the symptoms right, but seemed to be exaggerating their severity.

“I had a patient who was prescribed Adderall by another doctor,” one physician wrote. “I asked her [for] her medical history pertaining to ADD. She explained how she had difficulty concentrating at home and how the meds had helped her maintain the A grades she had been having all along.”
Story: Shortage of ADHD drugs sends parents scrambling

In the United States, between 2 percent and 4 percent of the adult population is estimated to have ADHD, or 4 million to 8 million people, health experts say. Many adults are first diagnosed as children, with up to 60 percent continuing symptoms into later life. About 5.4 million children ages 4 to 17 have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But because there is no real test for ADHD, it can be tricky to diagnose the condition in adults, said Dr. L. Eugene Arnold, an ADHD expert unaffiliated with the new report and a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Ohio State University. When it comes to children you have to have two sources — generally parents and teachers — to make a diagnosis. In adults, you just have the patient’s word, he said.

Questionnaires reveal exaggeration
To get an idea of how many people might be trying to game the system to get drugs and other benefits, Marshall and his colleagues scrutinized patient interviews and questionnaires. The questionnaires came with an extra bit of information. Embedded throughout were little tests designed to ferret out people who might be cheating or exaggerating their symptoms.

Ultimately, Marshall and his colleagues found patients who not only exaggerated their symptoms but also scored much more poorly on the embedded tests than people with actual ADHD symptoms would have.

A doctor in the Truth On Call poll summarized the fakers like this:

“Patients try to describe typical symptoms with a request for specific ADHD drugs. With standard symptom questionnaires, they will push the responses to the extreme and try to request specific medications when prescribed alternatives.”

Why would someone want ADHD medications so badly?

“There are big cultural pressures to get these drugs,” said Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s because everyone is in an arms race of accomplishment.”

People want the drugs to get an extra edge, Chatterjee said. Just as athletes have sought out steroids, students — especially those at competitive colleges and graduate schools — try to enhance academic performance with drugs like Ritalin and Adderall.

The medications appear to work by stimulating the brain, boosting levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, chemicals associated with attention and behavior, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In people with ADHD, these drugs have a calming effect. However, in people without the disorder, the drugs can be dangerous.

Chatterjee and others are at the forefront of a new field called cosmetic pharmacology, which studies people who take medications not to treat illness, but rather to improve performance.

“As best as we can tell from survey data, there’s a fairly large number of students who are getting Ritalin and Adderall from underground markets at college campuses,” Chatterjee said. 

Worrisome trend, experts say
There are several downsides to the trend, not the least of which is that people who actually do have ADHD may encounter difficulty finding treatment as doctors become increasingly suspicious, Arnold said.

Another important issue is the possibility of addiction, said Dr. Karen Miotto, director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Alcoholism and Addiction Medicine Service.

“I see the most tragic cases,” Miotto said. “For example, there was a woman I saw who had been in medical school. She started misusing Adderall, and then she started needing more and more. Then she started doctor-shopping to get more medication.”

Eventually the woman became dependent on the drugs and flunked out of med school.

“She said she was just trying to do better in school,” Miotto said. “Just trying to keep up. There’s a point in time where you need to come to terms with things. I said, ‘Honey, this isn’t about medical school anymore. Now you have a serious illness — it’s called addiction.'''


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InvisibleDoc_T
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: 5-HT2A] * 1
    #14358793 - 04/26/11 11:37 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

I read the headline and thought, "well, duh", but then it's an interesting article. :thumbup:


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Offlinemexicanjewlucas
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Doc_T]
    #14358933 - 04/27/11 12:07 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

$3.50 from the pharmacy, $350 on the street. that was my main reason.


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"We can get 2 birds stoned at once."


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Invisible5-HT2A
Registered: 01/30/10 Happy 14th Shroomiversary!
Posts: 1,794
Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: mexicanjewlucas]
    #14359075 - 04/27/11 12:39 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

mexicanjewlucas said:
$3.50 from the pharmacy, $350 on the street. that was my main reason.




Ya a lot of people do that sort of thing, and why wouldn't they it's easy money. Speed in all its forms is so cheap. As Bill Maher says,
Quote:

speed is good for the prime directive: greed.




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InvisibleDutchie3k
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: 5-HT2A]
    #14359622 - 04/27/11 05:30 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

And such icky drugs,too...

It's a suprise but I have so far passed up meth so I can't speak for that,  but speed in general in my experience is such a dirty, unpleasant feeling start to finish.

I'm prescribed stimulants for mild narcolepsy and won't but rarely touch them, for fun or otherwise.  But boy is there a market, as I remember.


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"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.  The others - the living - are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later"


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InvisibleGzaajhom
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Dutchie3k]
    #14360165 - 04/27/11 09:15 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

I agree with the article that its all about an "arms race of accomplishment." That's where the whole market for Adderall comes from, college students. In westernized societies where worth/value is based on personal success, people will be willing to do anything to obtain a high GPA, especially in this economy where simply having a bachelor's degree means absolutely nothing.


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Don't hate the player; hate the game. -Abraham Lincoln


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Offlinemr_minds_eye
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Gzaajhom]
    #14360447 - 04/27/11 10:30 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Whenever you go into a Dr's office, if you know what you are after you are labeled as a druggie it seems like. I do have ADHD but dexadrine is the only chemical in that class that does anything for me. Ritalin causes horrible mood swings for me and adderol doesnt help me focus on anything that I wouldn't otherwise be able to focus on. Its the same with anxiety meds. If you don't want xanax which seems to be their go to. Then they try to prescribe you some other weird shit like an antidepressant or some other class that might have some effect on anxiety. What works for me is clonazepam or lorazepam. If I went to a Dr and asked once again theyd look at me like a junkie. They hold the keys to the gates and get pissy when people want to be let in. Why is it so bad if an adult wants amphetamines? Better that then crystal meth.


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Our quest for discovery fuels our creativity in all fields, not just science. If we reached the end of the line, the human spirit would shrivel and die. But I don't think we will ever stand still: we shall increase in complexity, if not in depth, and shall always be the center on an expanding horizon of possibilities.
-Stephen Hawking


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OfflineWeltall
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: mr_minds_eye]
    #14360590 - 04/27/11 11:10 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

I just don't don't know why anybody would take these things for fun? But I guess the effects are completely different for some one who does have ADHD?


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SICUS PACUS PARABELLUM


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OfflineValafar
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: mr_minds_eye]
    #14360600 - 04/27/11 11:13 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

mr_minds_eye said:
Why is it so bad if an adult wants amphetamines? Better that then crystal meth.




There pretty much the same and some adhd pills are crystal meth. From the methamphetamine wiki page "Methamphetamine is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHD and exogenous obesity, dispensed in the USA under the trademark name Desoxyn."


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"Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
And for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing"


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OfflinePMATL
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Valafar]
    #14360701 - 04/27/11 11:39 AM (12 years, 9 months ago)

I've been meaning to go to the University Health Center and try to fake my way into an adderall prescription. I have to pay $5 a pill to get them now and no one has them during exams when I really need them.

But I think ADHD is a bullshit disease. Nobody enjoys concentrating on schoolwork. There are a million other things I'd rather be focusing on. It's just an excercise in willpower. Those kids with "ADHD" (most of them faked it for a scrip anyway) are just pussies without the self control to do it on their own.


--------------------
It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone.

It's legs to walk and thoughts to fly
Eyes that laugh and lips that cry
A restless tongue to classify,
All born to grow and grown to die


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Invisiblebonnahoo
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Dutchie3k]
    #14361586 - 04/27/11 03:01 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

Dutchie3k said:
And such icky drugs,too...

It's a suprise but I have so far passed up meth so I can't speak for that,  but speed in general in my experience is such a dirty, unpleasant feeling start to finish.

I'm prescribed stimulants for mild narcolepsy and won't but rarely touch them, for fun or otherwise.  But boy is there a market, as I remember.




I agree, I hate these drugs. I have ADD and am prescribed Adderall but I rarely take it, only when I really have to. Makes me feel so shitty, it does help with concentration and getting shit done but unless I have a huge project I need to do it's not worth taking. The last script I got was for 30 days and filled last august... I just now ran out and had to get more.


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OfflineMushie23
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: bonnahoo]
    #14361633 - 04/27/11 03:14 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

I have ADHD, but refuse to take medication.  I took an aderol a while back and it made me a zombie, no sense of human emotion... it sucks.  So, i just smoke a ton of weed and it works well.


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Eat Mushrooms----plug into life and nature.


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OfflineNewfound_wonder
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Valafar]
    #14362003 - 04/27/11 04:15 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

Valafar said:
Quote:

mr_minds_eye said:
Why is it so bad if an adult wants amphetamines? Better that then crystal meth.




There pretty much the same and some adhd pills are crystal meth. From the methamphetamine wiki page "Methamphetamine is FDA approved for the treatment of ADHD and exogenous obesity, dispensed in the USA under the trademark name Desoxyn."




That's like saying methanol is pretty much the same as ethanol.  Sure, you can treat ADHD with meth, but you can also treat ADHD without the use of drugs.  However, the effects of amphetamine aren't nearly as drastic as meth, which makes it more suitable for the common worker.  People on amphetamines aren't nearly as aggressive or unruly as tweakers.  It's much easier to deal with an addied-out worker than a methed-out worker.  IMO, as long as people can benefit from amphetamines while proving that they won't do anything stupid while on them, I don't see why they shouldn't have access.


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OfflineJoolz
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Newfound_wonder]
    #14362121 - 04/27/11 04:34 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

My friend's brother gets ADHD that is straight up meth. The box says "M-amphetamine salt" on it. I swear, I take two of those and I'm straight up tweeking.

If I was to do it every day I'd probably grind my teeth into nothing though. I need to get over that habit, but its so hard.


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Prohibition didn't work for God; Eve ate the fruit.


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OfflinePMATL
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Re: Adults who claim to have ADHD? 1 in 4 may be faking it to gain access to stimulants [Re: Joolz]
    #14368282 - 04/28/11 05:29 PM (12 years, 9 months ago)

Nah man thats just regular adderall. It's chemically similar to meth but isn't straight meth. That kinda freaked me out too first time I took em but I think the only one that is actual meth is Deoxsyn or whatever its called


--------------------
It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone.

It's legs to walk and thoughts to fly
Eyes that laugh and lips that cry
A restless tongue to classify,
All born to grow and grown to die


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