“Don’t let them drug you.” That was the first thing my dad said to me when I told him I was diagnosed with ADHD.
ADHD stands for attention deficit hyper- activity disorder. This disorder is extremely common in teens and can be somewhat treated through therapy, but is most com- monly treated with medications such as Adderall, Vyvanse or Ritalin.
When you type the words “Adderall” and “teens” into a Google search bar, the full first page of search results all include the word “abuse” in the title. This large generalization of teens misusing Adderall, along with how the medication will affect growing minds, is the main reason for people’s negative reaction to treating teens and kids with disorders such as ADHD by using medications like Adderall.
Another thing I’ve heard from multiple people is that as soon as a kid gets a bad grade or can’t focus for a day they are prescribed Adderall. Many family members told me this and said I just needed to “try harder” or “apply myself.” None of them truly knew how much I wished the fix was just that simple. I remember sitting in Hon- ors Biology and watching how everyone around me was independently working so hard, but for me no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to focus. It got to the point where I could not understand why it was so hard for me and easy for others. A couple of my teachers put me in the category of their “lazy students,” but what many of those teachers didn’t know was that I really was trying my hardest. Some nights I would stay up until three to four in the morning trying to do homework and I simply could not do it, and not because I didn’t understand the subject, but because I couldn’t keep my focus long enough to finish a ten minute worksheet. I would go home and spend hours doing an assignment I completely understood, while someone else could jot down the answers in just ten minutes when they got home.
Getting medicated for ADHD is not something you take lightly; the doctor lists all the possible side effects such as an irregular heartbeat, stomach pains, nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth, insomnia, anxiety, mood swings, depression, severe headaches and a reduced seizure threshold. And while most people reading this pull out the scarier symp- toms, the every day common ones are the ones Adderall users hate the most. Constantly needing to drink water, and never wanting to eat, then getting headaches and stomachaches when you don’t eat. It’s not the ideal situation by any means, but it’s the trade-off we have to accept if we want to concentrate.
Adderall isn’t something to take lightly or start popping in your mouth on a quiz day; it’s a serious drug that has serious side ef- fects and can honestly cause addiction. The FDA deems Adderall as a class II stimulant, along with Ritalin, Vyvanse, methamphet- amines, coca leaves and cocaine. I didn’t start taking Adderall lightly or because of one bad grade; I struggled until I couldn’t anymore and then I got diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder of ADHD. Adderall isn’t a magical pill; it takes trial and lots of error with dosing, it’s not something fun to take that magically fixes your grades or makes you start caring about school. It is a stimulant drug that aids in focus for kids who lack it.
– By Jessica Kolomichuk