Index is right. Please, these are opinions; these are not to be taken as fact. Most of the issues that pertain to the brain are opinions. It’s a very intricate organ. There’s plenty we don’t understand.

With that said, I raise these theories because after working for a pharmaceutical company I see what the companies have the sales force do in order to try to manipulate physicians into prescribing more of the medication that they are selling. At the time the sales force gave out information to the physician that said ADHD was more prevalent than what they probably believed. This is disturbing because here is a pharmaceutical company trying to, in essence, reeducate a physician. It’s different if it is a newly discovered disease or way to treat one, but to say doctor you must not see enough ADHD because you don’t prescribe enough of the medication. ADHD has been around for a while and there has been very little new information on the diagnosis and treatment of it. Its one issue if it pertains to adults but it’s another when children are the target. Because of this and other factors it’s my strong belief and always will be that ADHD is over diagnosed. What these drugs may or may not do to the human body can be debated forever without any real answer. Currently these medications are all that is available for ADHD and for those that actually do suffer they are Godsends.

Jennita, your issue about side effects is correct, but I feel that it slowly changing. With the current issues pertaining to Celebrex, Vioxx, etc, I believe there is now a heightened awareness of a drug’s side effects in the physician’s eye as well as the patient’s eye even sometimes to a fault. Side effects are at times a necessary evil. Parkinson’s medications are synonymous with side effects. In some disease states it’s a matter of weighing the benefits vs. the adverse events. I’ll let you know as a drug rep it’s not easy to convince a physician of anything. At least most of them. I currently don’t give dinners or gifts to the offices anymore. When I use to, even with all the dinners and gifts, you would see little benefit at all from it. There are a few that can be convinced to use a medication from only what the rep tells them. Once again this is rare. They may be convinced to prescribe more from information they get from a dinner where a physician that is a thought leader of the disease state speaks to them. Where most physicians get their information is the medical journals. What these journals say is important in the physician’s eye. As reps we do present these to doctors. We can discuss them with the physician if we have the time, but the physician does not give us the time nor should he. He has patients to take care of. We usually just give a synopsis of the article to spike enough interest to read it later. Most of them do if it is a viable article from a reputable journal. It’s likely they already read it before we gave it to them anyway. That is if they care about staying on top of what’s new in medicine. Most do from what I’ve learned.

Along the lines of ADHD being a disease at all I’m not totally sure. I had a physician explain it to me and it made sense. This was almost 4 years ago so I can’t remember exactly how he explained it. I do remember that he said it was not as prevalent as we are lead to believe. This particular physician was very intelligent and didn’t prescribe much ADHD medication. He only used it in cases where he felt it was absolutely necessary. Though, Jennita, you could be right in saying it’s just a different type of brain. ADHD has always had a negative stigma, though I feel it’s gotten a lot better since I was a child. It’s definitely more accepted. I do agree also there are many diagnosed with ADHD that are highly intelligent. It’s a matter of focusing your mental abilities in a manner that you are capable of in order to achieve one’s maximum potential. Former president Bill Clinton was said to have ADHD. Like him or not, the guy is a genius. Search the internet and you can find many notable individuals with ADHD. Do they take meds? I don’t know. I don’t think Clinton did. I feel that he just focused it in a way that helped him to achieve his goals. It took me a while, but I feel I have figured out how to focus mine to achieve my goals as well and to where it’s not a hindrance on my life. Take care.

Quote from mack85:

Index is right. Please, these are opinions; these are not to be taken as fact. Most of the issues that pertain to the brain are opinions. It’s a very intricate organ. There’s plenty we don’t understand.

With that said, I raise these theories because after working for a pharmaceutical company I see what the companies have the sales force do in order to try to manipulate physicians into prescribing more of the medication that they are selling. At the time the sales force gave out information to the physician that said ADHD was more prevalent than what they probably believed. This is disturbing because here is a pharmaceutical company trying to, in essence, reeducate a physician. It’s different if it is a newly discovered disease or way to treat one, but to say doctor you must not see enough ADHD because you don’t prescribe enough of the medication. ADHD has been around for a while and there has been very little new information on the diagnosis and treatment of it. Its one issue if it pertains to adults but it’s another when children are the target. Because of this and other factors it’s my strong belief and always will be that ADHD is over diagnosed. What these drugs may or may not do to the human body can be debated forever without any real answer. Currently these medications are all that is available for ADHD and for those that actually do suffer they are Godsends.

Jennita, your issue about side effects is correct, but I feel that it slowly changing. With the current issues pertaining to Celebrex, Vioxx, etc, I believe there is now a heightened awareness of a drug’s side effects in the physician’s eye as well as the patient’s eye even sometimes to a fault. Side effects are at times a necessary evil. Parkinson’s medications are synonymous with side effects. In some disease states it’s a matter of weighing the benefits vs. the adverse events. I’ll let you know as a drug rep it’s not easy to convince a physician of anything. At least most of them. I currently don’t give dinners or gifts to the offices anymore. When I use to, even with all the dinners and gifts, you would see little benefit at all from it. There are a few that can be convinced to use a medication from only what the rep tells them. Once again this is rare. They may be convinced to prescribe more from information they get from a dinner where a physician that is a thought leader of the disease state speaks to them. Where most physicians get their information is the medical journals. What these journals say is important in the physician’s eye. As reps we do present these to doctors. We can discuss them with the physician if we have the time, but the physician does not give us the time nor should he. He has patients to take care of. We usually just give a synopsis of the article to spike enough interest to read it later. Most of them do if it is a viable article from a reputable journal. It’s likely they already read it before we gave it to them anyway. That is if they care about staying on top of what’s new in medicine. Most do from what I’ve learned.

Along the lines of ADHD being a disease at all I’m not totally sure. I had a physician explain it to me and it made sense. This was almost 4 years ago so I can’t remember exactly how he explained it. I do remember that he said it was not as prevalent as we are lead to believe. This particular physician was very intelligent and didn’t prescribe much ADHD medication. He only used it in cases where he felt it was absolutely necessary. Though, Jennita, you could be right in saying it’s just a different type of brain. ADHD has always had a negative stigma, though I feel it’s gotten a lot better since I was a child. It’s definitely more accepted. I do agree also there are many diagnosed with ADHD that are highly intelligent. It’s a matter of focusing your mental abilities in a manner that you are capable of in order to achieve one’s maximum potential. Former president Bill Clinton was said to have ADHD. Like him or not, the guy is a genius. Search the internet and you can find many notable individuals with ADHD. Do they take meds? I don’t know. I don’t think Clinton did. I feel that he just focused it in a way that helped him to achieve his goals. It took me a while, but I feel I have figured out how to focus mine to achieve my goals as well and to where it’s not a hindrance on my life. Take care.

Well, if Clinton had it, that would make sense. He has a high IQ, right? And he learned to channel it. Yes, I agree, the stigma on ADD is getting better. But it wouldn't have been there to start with if psychiatry didn't tell people it was a mental disorder/disease; when a child is pronounce "mental" in any way, theres' the stigma and well, other children can be very cruel. I blame psychiatry for the label itself.

On a side note, I notice that most brain diseases do show physical symptoms and signs like Autism, mental retardation, etc. The body has definate physical problems as a result. So why not ADD, if it is truly a disease I wonder.

Anyway, I'm not pointing fingers at all drug reps, all doctors, etc. I think there are very good people in those lines of work, yourself included as you seem to be very concerned about the drugs you represent. That's unusually moral of you, most people just do the job they are told to do.

And there are alot of good doctors; my family and I have run across a few. And a few bad ones too, unfortuately. Well, such is life.