The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
-
Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
-
Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
-
Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
-
Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
How difficult was it to get methylphenidate(ritalin) prescribed in India?
Not particularly. I saw a pretty famous psychiatrist, and he largely took me at my word since I was a med student and read up on it, I was already taking modafinil, and he ended up agreeing that I should try Ritalin.
I recently spoke to another doctor with ADHD from the other side of India, and she said she has issues with the doctors there being much more leery about prescribing it, which is retarded IMO. It obviously has abuse potential, but I think the benefits of giving the millions of underdiagnosed people with the disease here their meds outweighs the small risk that some of them will abuse it.
I would say most psychiatrists aren't particularly gatekeepy about it, and worst case you can shop around. I know my diagnosis was legitimate, I'd have failed many of my exams in med school if I wasn't able to take it to study, and thankfully that never happened.
I live in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria) and I've had a VERY different experience. I've talked to about 4 different doctors up to this point. One didn't even know what ADHD is, another didn't believe it's a "real" thing, the third told me I can't possibly have it because I finished highschool. The fourth told me that I do indeed have ADHD (after a year of insisting my real problem is depression) but she doesn't feel comfortable being a "legal narcotics dealer".
I've talked to my fellow countrymen on forums and the consensus is overwhelmingly the same: doctors here won't prescribe methylphenidate and pharmacies don't stock it. It's wild to me that India of all places has a more functional medical institution in this regard. I am quite envious of your situation.
My condolences, but it could be even worse. For example, while ADHD is known to be an actual disease in Japan, all stimulants worth a shit are banned, so I guess I know which country I never intend to do more than visit.
Do you have the option of telemedicine and getting it delivered from a country more understanding? Or just driving/traveling over in person?
I've got a list of 6 psychiatrists I've yet to talk to, at least one of them will probably prescribe it and I think I can find a pharmacy willing to stock it if I order a box. It's just been a very miserable experience, that's all.
In that case, make sure you stock up. I understand it's a pain, made all the worse because of the extra headache you're experiencing as someone with ADHD. Absolutely the last diagnosis worth gatekeeping, if you're making people jump through this many hoops, well, you're probably selecting out a lot of people who need the meds the most.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link