To start the video, just click the button below:

For iPhone/iPad video, click here.

Please feel free to share this video with others who may want to know this information, and please share your thoughts and comments below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD Medication, Ritalin Gone Wrong

In this short video (taken from a presentation I did), I share with you the way to decide if you will take ADD/ADHD medication or not. And this applies whether you are dealing with child/teen ADD/ADHD, or Adult ADD/ADHD.

Please watch this short video, share your comments/thoughts below (and also forward it to friends/family who may appreciate it!).

What do you think? Do you agree with the message of this video?
Best,
Dr. Kenny

p.s. To learn a whole lot more about the safe and effective use of ADD/ADHD medication – take advantage of the special discount on the Medication Mastery Course (special ends on Monday December 5th at 11:59 pm Eastern time) [hyperlink family="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif" size="20" color="1A12FF" textshadow="1" alignment="center" weight="bold" style="normal" lineheight="110" linkurl="http://medicationmastery.com" linkwindow="_blank"]Click Here To Take Advantage Of The Special Offer[/hyperlink]

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD Medication, Adderall, Adult ADD, Concerta, Medication, Vyvanse

While there are many studies showing that the ADHD symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity improve with the medicine, and cause short term academic improvements, there has been a lack of research to show long term academic benefits.

The studies summarized here clearly document that ADHD stimulant medication helps with long term academic success.

In this research, the research team followed 5700 children from birth until 18 years old. In that group, 277 boys and 93 girls were diagnosed with ADHD. Of those with the diagnosis, some decided to use medication, and some did not. When kids took ADHD medication, they generally started in elementary school, and took it for (on average) 30 months (i.e. just under 3 years).

Of the ADHD kids who were taking medication, by 13 years old, the medication children had improved reading scores compared to the kids with ADHD who had not taken medication. Children taking medication were more likely to attend school (i.e. less absenteeism), and they were 1.8 times less likely to be held back a year at school.

The lead researcher, Dr. Barbaresi was quoted as saying: “We can’t simply focus on the symptoms of ADHD,” Barbaresi said. “We really need to be focusing on the risk for poor outcomes in school and in other aspects of the child’s life,” he said. “That’s why we have to recognize these children and make sure they get appropriate treatment.”

To read more about these studies, click here.

What do you think? Has ADHD medication helped your child (or yourself) over the long term? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: Academics, ADD, ADHD, Medication, School

These three doctors: Dr. Biederman, Dr. Wilens and Dr. Spencer are very well published, very intelligent, and they make huge scientific contributions to the field of ADHD, as well as children’s mental health as a whole. I have personally attended several continuing medical education events where they have spoken, and I have found their material to have been of top quality and very helpful. Was it biased? In my experience – no. I found these doctors presented the science (which included their own research, as well as summarizing the research of many other doctors as well) in a balanced and useful way.

Apparently, the doctors wrote a ‘dear colleagues’ letter. It is quoted as saying:

“Our mistakes were honest ones. We always believed that we were complying in good faith with institutional policies. We now recognize that we should have devoted more time and attention to the detailed requirements of these policies and to their underlying objectives.”

While this is an unfortunate series of events – I still do hold these doctors in high esteem. They have contributed a lot of science to the field. The reality at this time is that the pharmaceutical companies fund research, and they support educational events. Although some may aspire to not have them support these events (to avoid biases), there are many ‘checks and balances’ in place, and the reality is that there are few other sources of funding to support major conferences and educational events.

Will I disregard the doctors’ research because of this?

Absolutely not.

Their research stands on its own merit. These doctors were not disciplined on any academic issues – rather on reporting funding.

I am sorry to hear that Drs. Biederman, Spencer and Wilens have had this trouble. I wish them well, and I look forward to reading their future research.

Are you concerned with pharma company’s influence on doctors, research and healthcare as a whole?

Please comment below.

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD, Harvard, MGH, Pharmaceutical companies

I’m pleased to announce that as of June 8, 2011, Vyvanse will be covered by the Ontario Drug Plan. This means that if a family has an Ontario drug card (from being on OW, or ODSP, or a child disability, or even the Trillium Drug Plan), then Vyvanse will be covered.

The rules for Vyvanse coverage are written as follows:

Notes: Patients > 6 years of age diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-IV criteria and where symptoms are not due to
other medical conditions which affect concentration, and who require 12-hour continuous coverage due to academic and/or
psychosocial needs, and who meet the following:
1) Patients who demonstrate significant and problematic disruptive behaviour or who have problems with
inattention that interfere with learning; AND
2) Prescribed by or in consultation with a specialist in pediatric psychiatry, pediatrics or a general practitioner
with expertise in ADHD; AND
3) Have been tried on methylphenidate immediate release (IR) or methylphenidate slow release (SR) or
Dexedrine IR or Dexedrine SR (Spansules), and have experienced unsatisfactory results due to poor
symptom control, side effects, administrative barriers, or societal barriers.
Administrative barriers include:
. inability of a school to dose the child at lunch;
. the school lunch hour does not coincide with the dosing schedule;
. poor compliance with noon or afternoon doses;
. the patient is unable to swallow tablets.
Societal barriers include:
. the patient or patient’s caregiver(s) has(have) a history of substance abuse or diversion of listed
immediate-release alternatives;
. the patient or patient’s caregiver(s) is/are at risk of substance abuse or diversion of listed
immediate-release alternatives.

From a practical perspective, the doctor does not have to complete a form, or get formal approval, so it will be up to your doctor to decide when he or she will begin using Vyvanse with you.

This is very good news for ADHD patients in Ontario. I know that a lot of advocacy work went on, spearheaded by CADDAC. I know that I spoke to my MPP and got him to write a letter of support, and many other doctors and patients did the same. I hope that this precedent will help to get coverage in the other provinces too.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD Medication, Vyvanse

This was a large study – observing 214,417 ADHD patients taking medication, and 965,668 control kids – not taking ADHD medications. They were observed over a period of 135 days for ADHD medication users, and 609 days in non-users. The specific outcomes which were being observed included sudden cardiac death, myocardial infarction (a ‘heart attack’), stroke, and cardiac arrhythmias (i.e. irregular heartbeats).

During the observational period – the rate of these events were very low in both groups.

In the group taking ADHD medication, there were 28 deaths (incidence 1.79 per 10,000 person-years) and 607 deaths in the control group (incidence 3.00 per 10,000 person-years). There were no validated cases of MI (heart attack) or stroke in the medication group and 11 cases in the group which wasn’t on medication.

This research supports previous studies which showed that kids and teens taking ADHD medications are not at increased risk for cardiac death. The sad reality is that there will be a small number of kids/teens who pass away from cardiac issues (i.e. a heart problem that no one knew about), and ADHD medications don’t seem to worsen that rate.

There is still a warning on ADHD medications – for individuals with structural heart abnormalities (i.e. ‘holes’ in the heart like an ASD or VSD), arrhythmias, or adults with unstable coronary artery disease. If you are concerned about this – by all means talk to the doctor, and a specialist if needed as well (like a cardiologist, or pediatric cardiologist).

Hopefully this study helps to reassure some people with ADD/ADHD who are concerned about this very serious side effect.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

p.s. this study applies to ALL ADHD medications – including: Adderall, Vyvanse, Concerta, Ritalin, Metadate, Biphentin, Strattera, Daytrana, etc.

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD Medication, Cardiac, Death

You can read a summary of the study here.

This suggests that in this age range, Strattera is not a great treatment for ADHD.

That said, if your child is 5 or 6, talk to your doctor about the treatment options which may help.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADHD, Atomoxetine, Strattera

Right now, there is a real ADHD medication shortage in the USA. It is not really clear to me what the cause of this is. Researching online has led me to some interesting theories.

Blogger/Reporter Jim Edwards from The CBS Interactive Business Network recently wrote an article called: How a “Shortage” of Adderall Actually Increased Sales of the ADHD Drug. In this article, he documents that the sales by Shire of Adderall XR have actually increased during this time frame. I must admit – that as a doctor (and not having ever taken a business course in my life), a lot of this article goes over my head.

But it leaves me with the question: What’s really going on here? There seems to be an issue with the supply of the ingredients from the DEA. There also seem to be disputes between Shire and the companies which manufacture the generic medications (i.e. Teva and Impax). The legal references in the article referenced above don’t help to clarify the issue for me (I’m not a lawyer either…).

I urge all involved to remember this: when you are impacting the supply of patient’s medication for ADHD, you are seriously impacting their lives – for the worse.

I support medication treatment for ADHD, as it works quite well and helps many people. I also support pharma companies profiting from the creation and distribution of medication. If there weren’t profit involved – there would be no innovation, and new treatments would never be developed. I also support win-win situations – i.e. patients get great treatment options, and pharma earns a profit by helping people to get better treatment.

I don’t support when the regulators and/or the companies interfere with the supply of needed treatment. This is NOT win-win.

My hope is that for all of the patients involved – that this can be resolved quickly and efficiently.

Please share your thoughts below.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD Medication Shortage, Adderall XR, ADHD Medication Shortage, Generic, Impax, Shire, Teva

In this article, it is explained that the shortage is related in part to the increased demand for ADHD medication, as well as the DEA controlling the amount of the active ingredient forwarded to the pharma companies to allow them to produce the medication.

It seems that the medications impacted are: Adderall XR, as well as generic Adderall, and generic methylphenidate.

The article referenced above has a quote from the director of the FDA drug shortages program. It’s interesting to me that the FDA has a program for drug shortages. It makes sense… and then the question is – what are they doing about this?

And why is it that it is predominantly the generic medications (which are cheaper and have less profit involved) which are having trouble with supply?

I’m really interested to hear what is happening on the ground out there. Please share your comments and experiences in the comments below:

• Are you impacted by this shortage?
• Have you been struggling to get the prescribed medication for yourself or your family member?
• What have you done about it?
• Have you had to purchase a much more expensive brand name product?
• Have you taken less medication to ‘make your prescription last’?

Thanks for sharing your experiences. By sharing here, you can let people know what is happening – without it being ‘filtered’ by mainstream media.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, Adderall, Adderall XR, ADHD, ADHD Medication Shortage, Methylphenidate

A recent new report shows that Watson Pharmaceuticals is cleared to create a generic form of Concerta for the US. A recent court of appeal decision is reported to have said that the patent on Concerta is invalid and that Watson is cleared to make their own version of the drug. Johnson and Johnson, the parent company which makes Concerta, had worldwide sales of $1.33 billion of Concerta last year.

Update:

According to this report, Watson is now authorized to sell a generic version of Concerta. This report shares the fact that the sales of Concerta totaled $1.5 billion in the year ending Feb 28, 2011 (it is unclear if that is worldwide or US data).

The report says:

Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical unit is making and supplying the drug, and it will receive a share of the revenue from sales. Watson will market and distribute the generic.

The agreement lasts until the end of 2014. Watson can launch its own generic version when the deal ends.

What does this mean for you?

If you take Concerta (and you are in the USA), then it appears that you will be able to get a generic version of the drug which is sold by Watson, and manufactured by Ortho-McNeil. In other words – this should be the exact same medicine. This will last until 2014 – at which time this deal ends, and Watson will be creating its own version of generic Concerta.

This is quite a different circumstance than what is going on in Canada.
My experience in Canada is that the new generic Concerta which has surfaced in Canada is quite an inferior drug, and falls short of Concerta in many ways. That didn’t stop Health Canada from approving the medicine, and deeming it interchangeable – which allows pharmacists to automatically substitute the medicine to people, even if they come in with a prescription requesting Concerta. To read more about this, please refer to my article on Generic Concerta in Canada.

As always – the power of this blog comes from the discussion -and from you sharing your experiences and providing real feedback as to what is going on. As your prescription shifts from the ‘brand name’ Concerta to the Generic Concerta (from Watson), please take a moment and let us know if it is working well and if it seems the same to you.

Best,

Dr. Kenny

©2012 ADD ADHD Blog.com. All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: ADD, ADHD, ADHD Medication, Concerta, Generic Concerta, Shire, Watson