Over the years, several clients have independently described their medication for ADHD as:
“It’s like putting on glasses.”
Some of them come to me after years of struggling. Often, they’ve fashioned wonderful systems of computer, phone, pen, and paper to help them throughout their days, but things continue to slip. Frustrations, upsets, or another collapse of a relationship prompts them to call me.
Sometimes they only discover the diagnosis in their later years.
Treated, they suddenly have a new way to function. Shortly thereafter, they often review their lives, thinking:
“What could have been?”
Medications don’t do everything. You could say that their main function is in managing distraction. But that seemingly small matter builds from their moment-to-moment functioning into their days and throughout their emotional and interpersonal worlds.
## A Vital Shortage
There is currently a shortage of medications for ADHD. As a practicing psychiatrist, my clients and myself are all concerned.
One pharmacy is out. They call another, who are themselves out.
Now, clients must either go without the medication or change their fine-tuned regimens to another drug, exposing themselves to other potential adverse effects and without a guarantee that another shortage won’t be around the bend.
They are forced to function again “without glasses”.
Many discount ADHD, saying, “well, I’m a little ADHD myself”.
Maybe you are. I certainly believe that the troubles are not a sharply demarcated thing. We all have wandering minds to one extent or another.
But beyond a certain threshold and always mixed in with the nuances of an individual, the struggles of a wandering mind in current day society can be terribly taxing, if not devastating.
You might ask them,
“How can I help?”
And they might not know the answer. That’s fine. They’ve been seeking the answer their entire lives, often with feelings of shame already following in their wakes.
Please just know, if you have someone in your life with ADHD–a family member, a coworker, a friend–this may be a particularly difficult time.
Things may take longer. Things might get lost or dropped.
But they are trying.
– Kourosh
PS To learn more about ADHD consider one of the following resources:
– AACAP on ADHD
– Mayo Clinic on adult ADHD
PPS I created an Instagram of me reading the above here.
