Symptoms of ADHD described by the literature (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thinking back to our childhood school friends…

Do you ever wonder whatever became of a childhood school friend who always seemed to be getting into trouble for not paying attention in class? Recently a colleague mentioned that there was one little boy in her grammar school class who always seemed distracted and inattentive; and, as a result, the well intentioned teachers often physically punished him for his behavior. It wasn’t always easy to witness the exchanges between the little boy and the teachers, but time went by and after the 8th grade promotion she lost track of this young classmate. Out of curiosity, now 50 years later, this colleague decided to Google the name of her classmate. This was an easy search; the young boy had an unusual name and as luck would have it he had never moved away from their hometown area. Guess what? The little boy, who by today’s standards probably exhibited symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a successful dentist for more than 35 years!

ADHD and Adderall in the news again

Adderall is a psychostimulant medication which contains amphetamine. It comes in an instant release (IR) formula and an extended release (XR) release formula; however, the IR formula is used for both ADHD and narcolepsy and the XR formula is to be used only for ADHD.

Cottonwood Tucson’s clinical staff often treats patients who have been diagnosed with ADHD, as well as patients who have become addicted to prescription drugs like the stimulant Adderall. Additionally, we have published posts about ADHD over the past few years.

On February 2, 2012, Alan Schwarz, of The New York Times,  published the story of Richard Fee who ultimately committed suicide in November 2011 as a result to his addiction to Adderall.

Meet Rick and Kathy Fee with Matt Lauer, NBC’s Today Show

This past week, February 7th, Matt Lauer, of NBC’s Today Show sat down with Richard Fee’s parents, Rick and Kathy Fee, along with Richard’s sister, Ryan, and Dr. Nancy Snyderman to discuss Richard’s story and the use and abuse of Adderall.  

If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can watch it here.

Learning more about Adderall addiction

To assist you in learning more about ADHD and Adderall addiction we have included related articles below. As we learned more about Richard Fee a couple of remarks from Richard’s parents and Alan Schwarz caught our attention.

• According to Rick Fee: Richard had never shown any A.D.H.D. symptoms his entire life, from
  nursery school through high school, when he was awarded a full academic
  scholarship to Greensboro College in North Carolina. 
• Alan Schwarz stated in recent television interview: Richard’s story is not “how it ended, but how it evolved!”

Richard graduated with honors from college in 2008 and he planned to go to medical school.