On ADHD Meds…

There’s been a shortage in the UK of ADHD meds for, I don’t know, at least the last 12 months and up till recently I was quite lucky that it didn’t affect me, in the sense that I’ve been able to get my meds and not had a problem. I know that even locally people were having problems depending on the type of meds that they take, and that’s pharmacies getting them from their wholesale suppliers.

And yeah, it’s finally hit. Since April, it’s been a right challenge and I don’t know what’s going forward with that. I don’t know if this is something that’s a short-term thing or a long-term thing. I’ve got some meds at the moment. But I know the pharmacy was clear that they didn’t know when they were getting any more in, which is quite hard to hear.

And so this means that I’m not only not on my regular meds that I’ve been on for three years, I was off meds completely for two weeks, and then now I’m on meds but they’re not exactly what I was on before. There’s slight variation for all the ADHDers out there. I’m on full-strength Concerta, as opposed to Xenidate that I’ve been on for the last three years. And I know we always say something’s better than nothing, but we all know that side effects creep in with all of these meds. I have had these briefly in the past and I’ve had Zygotene as well. So I’ve had variations within methylphenidate and it should obviously all sort of do the same thing.

But anybody that’s on long-term medication knows that any slight variation in it can have significant effects. So yeah, it’s been hard. Life’s been hard. And you know, work-wise, there has been a load of successes in spite of those challenges. My three o’clock kind of lull is now more three o’clock crash. And some of the other side effects are hard to take. But we keep on trucking. I don’t want this to just be for all of you ADHDers out there, because I know that we’re all facing this at times. I’ve heard rumours of people that haven’t had any meds for 12 months. And I mean, the effects on family life must be really hard. I know that my wife’s already spotted how different I’m reacting in situations having only been off for two weeks and on something different now.

So I suppose this is a shout out to all the ADHDers out there. There is a tribe out there and we can talk about it. I know I’m quite open about my diagnosis and my meds and things. I don’t necessarily go to the challenges too much on here, because it’s a business platform and it’s more about the business. I know how my brain works, but I certainly need permission now and again to talk about certain things or do certain things. So if you’re an ADHDer and you are struggling, you know, I’ll happily have a chat with you or I’ll be a shoulder to voice things on. And that’s not in a mentoring or coaching capacity or anything like that. It’s just if you want to clear your head. I know sometimes you just need a bit of time and a bit of permission to clear your head.

So if you ever need to clear your head, fire away and send me voice notes and all that sort of gear, because I’m one of those annoying people that really like voice notes! So if that is one of the things in your head and it helps you, fire them over. I’ll happily listen and reply.

So for the ADHDers, hope you are doing all right. Hope you are getting the meds if you require and you’re on them. If you’re not and you need any other support, I’ve got a few places I could signpost you to, ahem Nic! But that’s very much in a friendly supportive manner, not anything more in structured capacity. There’s fantastic coaches out there and fantastic support groups out there and I’m certainly not offering that. I’m just offering my cheery face and my cheery words, if they can be helpful.

And to the non-ADHDers, I think it’s a bit of a shout out just to cut us some slack. I know the vast majority of ADHDers are in roles that allow them to be themselves. But if one of your staff is struggling and if they haven’t mentioned it or anything like that, there are these shortages out there and they will be affecting people’s lives, sort of in work and out of work. And then work affecting out of work and out of work affecting in work because of the way their brains are working. So if some of your staff are just changing or you feel like your staff aren’t in the place that they were previously, just be nice about it all. Check in, see if they’re ‘alreet’, because we all deserve to be ‘alreet’.
And if somebody’s struggling, give them a little bit of slack because you never know, they may be stuck in the midst of a medication shortage or any sort, not just necessarily ADHD meds. Being supportive is way better than being a knobhead. And I think all of us across the board, ND and not-ND have been in workplaces where knobheadness doesn’t help. But yeah, that’s just an offer of help and support.