46. ADHD Medication: ‘You Want to Give Him Speed?’ He Read the Label Out Loud at the Kitchen Bench

The script sat in your handbag for three weeks. Not because you’d changed your mind, but because you didn’t know what you’d say when he found it.

Then you told him over the dishes, and he didn’t even turn around. ‘I’m not giving a seven-year-old drugs.’ He asked what was actually in it, and you couldn’t answer. Argument over.

If you’re weighing up ADHD medication for your child, and someone at home has read ‘amphetamine’ off the label, this one’s for you. A listener sent me this exact voice memo, and I see versions of it in our group all the time.

More on ADHD medication: the medication collection

https://tr.ee/medication

Mentioned in this episode: Expectation Creep Explained

https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-feels-too-much-too-early-expectation-creep-explained/

If you want the plain-English version to hand to whoever’s asking the questions, A Guide to ADHD Medication is the one I wish I’d had at the kitchen bench.

https://adhdmums.com.au/product/a-guide-to-adhd-medication/

References

Volkow, N. D. & Swanson, J. M. (2003). Variables that affect the clinical use and abuse of methylphenidate in the treatment of ADHD. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(11), 1909–1918.

Shaw, P. et al. (2007). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is characterized by a delay in cortical maturation. PNAS, 104(49), 19649–19654.