Frustrated. That is the word Texas Tech Student Camilla Hedlund used over and over when describing her experience with the Adderall shortage.
She drives from pharmacy to pharmacy, hoping that one will provide her with the medication she needs to focus on school, work and daily life.
“It’s just frustrating to need medicine to have your brain basically turn on, so that is frustrating enough,” Hedlund said. “And then when you have that medicine not available, you literally just feel numb. Like, nothing can get you to do anything.”
The shortage comes from manufacturing and production issues and a need for more supply to meet the high demand for the medicine. People who struggle with ADHD, a chronic condition that can lead to attention difficulty, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness, have had to resort to alternative medications, such as Ritalin, Vyvanse and Focalin. These medications are short-acting stimulants, mimicking the effects of Adderall.
Although Hedlund opted out of alternative medications, Lubbock ClaRx Pharmacist Kortney Duffy said she works with physicians to prescribe patients these alternative medications to Adderall.
“We’re gonna work with their physician, we’re gonna work with them,” Duffy said. “We’ll just try and coordinate with them and their physician the best we can to make sure that they’re taken care of.”
But for Hedlund, these alternative medications don’t do the job. So, she continues her search for the medication that turns her brain on.
“To try and find somewhere that has Adderall is a long process,” she said. “You have to call the pharmacy before you call your doctor and then they send it over, and then actually they ran out, so you have to call a different pharmacy to ask them. It’s a whole thing and it’s really frustrating.”
Duffy said this shortage has been hard on everyone, but they continue to work with patients and physicians to find the best option.