5 Myths About ADHD Drugs
Prescription stimulants—like Adderall and Ritalin—have been in the news a lot recently because some high school and college students say they take these drugs to help them study better or party longer. Prescription stimulants are usually prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and misusing them can lead to serious health problems.
Let’s look at 5 myths about prescription stimulants.
Myth #1: Drugs like Ritalin and Adderall can make you smarter.
Fact: While these drugs may help you focus, they don’t help you learn better, and they won’t improve your grades.
Being “smart” is about i...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - December 12, 2013 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Are Vicodin T-Shirts Just Pop Culture Or Tasteless And Harmful?
During an era when the abuse and misuse of prescription painkillers is a troubling and controversial issue, what should we make of shirts that boldly sport the names Vicodin, Adderall and Xanax? Are these drugs so widely accepted that the shirts are merely an ordinary barometer of popular culture? Or are these an inappropriate and tasteless attempt to glorify behavior that trivializes a serious problem?
As part of its argument to protest its Vicodin trademark, AbbVie recently filed a lawsuit against Kitson, a trendy Los Angeles retailer that has been marketing these t-shirts. And the drugmaker argues that the ‘designer d...
Source: Pharmalot - December 11, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning
Hello, everyone, and welcome back from what was a long weekend on this side of the pond. We hope you had a swell time and feel relaxed because, as you know, that ovewhelming routine of meetings and deadlines has now returned. Sobering, is it not? But as you know, one way to fortify yourself is to quaffe a trusty cup of stimulation. So please join us as we indulge. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to get you going. Have a grand day and stay in touch...
Shire Strikes Deal With Sandoz To Supply Generical Adderall XR (Reuters)
Takeda Taps Glaxo Exec As CEO Candidate (Pharma Times)
Merck To Close Plant In Ireland And Cut 570 Jo...
Source: Pharmalot - December 2, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Confessions of a Prosocial Psychopath
Many neuroscientists have been howling about the media coverage surrounding a new book written by UC Irvine Professor Emeritus, Dr. James H. Fallon. This is because unbeknownst to himself for 58 years (or apparently to anyone else, for that matter), he was secretly a psychopath. How did he finally discover this? Did he complete the Psychopathy Checklist and score over 30?No.Instead, he diagnosed himself as a psychopath on the basis of his PET scan.Compared to a control brain (top), neuroscientist James Fallon’s brain (bottom) shows significantly decreased activity in areas of the frontal lobe linked to empathy and mora...
Source: The Neurocritic - November 25, 2013 Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs
Study finds students tweet about Adderall. A lot
A recent study performed at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, examined the tweets of college students across the USA for mentions of the pharmaceutical drug Adderall.Twitter, to most students, is a 140-character social media platform where they can freely express the stresses of college, frustrations and opinions.Yet Twitter also has become a platform for studying the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs among those students.A recent study performed at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, examined the tweets of college students across the USA for mentions of the pharmaceutical drug Adderall.The drug has become inc...
Source: PharmaGossip - November 25, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Kiki kicks ADHD
Kiki posted this interesting comment chronicling her experience with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD (or ADD).
I started researching diet changes because of inattentive-type ADD.
I had always had problems with concentration, even in elementary school. Fortunately, academics have always come easily to me and I never needed to really study. If I had, I doubt I would have made it through high school with my concentration/attention problems!
By the time I got to university, I was immensely frustrated. I knew the ADD was holding me back. I was tired of just sliding by and avoiding challenging work because I co...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 28, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: ADHD Source Type: blogs
F.D.A. Urging a Tighter Rein on Painkillers - NYTimes.com
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, changes that are expected to take place as early as next year.The move, which represents a major policy shift, follows a decade-long debate over whether the widely abused drugs, which contain the narcotic hydrocodone, should be controlled as tightly as more powerful painkillers like OxyContin.The drugs at issue contain a combination of hydrocodone and an over-the-counter painkiller like acetaminophen or aspirin and are sold either as generics or under brand names like Vicodin or Lo...
Source: Psychology of Pain - October 25, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Senior Doctor Raises Concern Over Advertising of Prescription Drugs
Contact: Dr. Sidney Wolfe (202) 588-7735; Sam Jewler (202) 588-7779
A senior doctor today questions a Los Angeles boutique turning shoppers into cheerleaders for serious drugs like Adderall by selling sweatshirts and T-shirts that look like football jerseys and have the products’ names emblazoned on them with descriptions such as, “Pop one on and you’ll feel better. Doctors orders.”
In his latest regular column in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, founder and senior adviser for Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, explores the contradictions between the medication’s manufacturer Shire protesti...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 18, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Who is right? US or EU?
ADHD Pill Faces High Hurdle in Europe as Stigma PersistsThe European debut of a pill to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder faces a major hurdle: convincing people the condition exists.Shire Plc (SHP), the world’s biggest seller of ADHD drugs, has been rolling out the pill, Vyvanse, in eight countries while discussing the prevalence of the illness with doctors at psychiatry conferences around Europe. More than 90 percent of the Dublin-based company’s sales of ADHD drugs come from the U.S., where the illness is diagnosed about 25 times more frequently than in the U.K.While attitudes va...
Source: PharmaGossip - October 2, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Is the Economic Disincentives Model too conservative? (by Veljko Dubljevic)
In my previous post, I analyzed the dangers of using Adderall and Ritalin for cognitive enhancement (CE). I concluded that anything beyond the prescribed therapeutic use of any form of Amphetamine, including Adderall, needs to be prohibited, while the economic... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog)
Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog - September 27, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Veljko Dubljevic Tags: Current Affairs Recent Scholarship Source Type: blogs
How to regulate Ritalin and Adderall (by Veljko Dubljevic)
In my previous post, I presented an analysis of different regulatory environments. The economic disincentives model (EDM) proved to be the most efficient option for public policy on cognitive enhancement (CE). As with smoking regulation, the EDM provides a framework... (Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog)
Source: Neuroethics and Law Blog - September 23, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Veljko Dubljevic Tags: Current Affairs Recent Scholarship Source Type: blogs
Pill Pop Culture - Big Pharma might sue over Tee Shirts
The Xanax, Adderall and Vicodin shirts are a ‘parody of pop culture,’ designer Brian Lichtenberg said in a release.
These shirts are not what the doctor ordered.
T-shirts being sold at Kitson, a Los Angeles-based fashion chain, have sparked outrage among consumers and drug companies alike, and some are considering taking legal action.
Designer Brian Lichtenberg's line of black and white tees have the words "Xanax," "Adderall" and "Vicodin" written across the back in block letters resembling the last name on a football jersey. While Lichtenberg said the “designer drug collection” reflects what he sees in soci...
Source: PharmaGossip - August 30, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Are We Medicating Normalcy?
You’ve heard it all at dinner parties, graduations, school fundraisers, and family cookouts… At least, I have, and it goes something like this:
“Psychiatry is a business that is medicating every normal syndrome out there: Too shy to ask a girl to prom? Take Zoloft for Social Anxiety Disorder…. Grieving the loss of a spouse a year after he passed away? Try Prozac for Major Depressive Disorder…. Feeling a little hyper and can’t concentrate? You need Adderall for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
“Doctors are greedy experts that are too lazy to get to the core problem and will medica...
Source: World of Psychology - August 25, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Depression Disorders General Medications Mental Health and Wellness Policy and Advocacy Psychiatry Treatment Adderall Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Cereal Bowl Core Problem Depressive Disorder Dinner Parties Elderly Source Type: blogs
Semantics
A 17 year old patient comes in by ambulance for chest pain and tachycardia. His heart rate was in the 130s. He was hypertensive. He was sweating. He had a history of ADHD and was on Adderall. No other medications. No alcohol or drugs.
His exam was unimpressive and all the testing came back negative, but the patient still remained tachycardic. So we gave him a couple doses of Ativan, thinking he may have taken a little too much Adderall. Still no better. Then we started doing some additional tests to rule out the less common reasons for his symptoms. D-dimer normal. He denied alcohol or drugs, but we checked for them anyway...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - August 13, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Patient Encounters Source Type: blogs
Pharma Marketers Should Hire the Directors of the Documentary Off Label to Do "Real Patient DTC" Ads
Coming soon (August 8 or 9) to a theater that may be near you - if you live in Missoula, MT (or in a few other lesser or greater cities) - is the documentary Off Label, which asks the question: "What's in your medicine cabinet?"If your medicine cabinet contains psychotropic drugs such as Adderall, Ambien, Zoloft, and Prozac, you may want to see this movie. "Often these drugs are combined in polypharmacy cocktails or are given out for unapproved or untested indications, leading to abuse, dangerous side effects, and heavy dependence," says the movie synopsis (here).The movie premiered last year in East and West Coast Intern...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 31, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: off-label promotion FDA social media DTC Advertising Chantix movie Source Type: blogs
