Hacker News Reader

Comment by bubblesnort | Hacker News Reader

The meds are basically speed. Epilepsy patients are told never to use speed, but then another doctor can diagnose AD(H)D and prescribe ritalin. I hope these new treatments work well, reduce side effects, and have less chance of interacting with other treatments.

View on HN

> The meds are basically speed.

There's a number of different stimulants and non-stimulants. "The meds" are not a thing.

Care to elaborate? I've just looked it up to see if things changed, but all I see is Ritalin / Concerta, Strattera, and Dextroamphetamine. There might be others, but they'd either be off-label or aren't reimbursed by insurance. Where in the world are other meds prescribed and covered?

On the non-stimulant side there's also atomoxetine and guanfacine, but they're not commonly used yet. And there's weed which is prescribed in some places. You can also find studies on other things which you can buy without prescription, but they're not officially approved / fully checked for safety.

atomoxetine, while not a direct stimulant, is a norepinepherine reuptake inhibitor. That is, it makes the speed you already have stay around longer.

And Guanfacine is certainly a stimulant. It is an agonist of the α2A-adrenergic receptor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanfacine

Guanfacine is not a stimulant. The Wikipedia page doesn't say it explicitly but hints at that a number of times. It's spelled out here though https://www.nps.org.au/radar/articles/guanfacine-intuniv-for... DEA also doesn't care and https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=1c4... shows no potential for abuse and lethargy as common side effect. Also from experience - it doesn't feel even close to stimulants.

My definition of stimulants is wider than your definition.

The drug antagonizes the adrenaline receptors. Adrenaline stimulates people.

They are selling it as a non-stimulant drug because people are stupid.

All you see where?

Buproprion and clonidine are commonly prescribed for ADHD in the US.

The headband doesn't work. You'll never hear about it again

The "fixes your colorblindness" glasses don't work, and they're still a thing.

You clearly don’t know much about the topic. There’s a huge variety of medications for ADHD. Some are classed as stimulants, but in many people with ADHD, it turns out that many stimulants actually provide a calming effect.

If you take ADHD stimulant meds and get high, you probably don’t have ADHD.

Also, not sure what epilepsy has to do with anything here.

> not sure what epilepsy has to do with anything here.

In general: High generic correlation and interesting drug interaction https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10049646/ (but I'm not sure if that's what OP was thinking of)

People with ADHD and in a low energy state. By taking stimulants we can say it brings them up to a "normal" state. If they too more of the drug it will surly over stimulate the patient.

For me its the oposite, too much makes me sleepy. I actually slept for 24hours because of an ritalin overdose

This is because it also releases serotonin, and the serotonin turns into melatonin, which makes you tired.

I mean doesnt that contradict what my parent said?

No. Because it stimulates sleep or wakefulness, depending on a persons genetics.Most stimulants release all the catecholamines.

And for high blood pressure they sometimes prescribe you actual explosives! For human consumption! Nitroglycerin! How ridiculous. /s

Reply on news.ycombinator.com