Most doctors today are constantly driven by money. In a place where they are supposed to take care of people, they are often trained to think like business men and women. The marketplace is intruding on the one place people thought they could trust. Doctors order more testing and prescribe addictive medication that their patient may not be benefitting from. Doctors make money when a patient comes to their office and prescribes an expensive drug, when most patients can get the same over the counter or from a natural remedy. Doctors hide behind drug company data and sales representatives, but they should take equal responsibility. The side effects of these medications aren’t expressed because they are trying to sell the product. Unfortunately, I fell victim to this epidemic and have seen firsthand how easy it is to be prescribed an addictive substance.
Mereidith King / Equinox sTAFF
I started taking Adderall when I was 16. When I got my first prescription, I really did need it. I was going through dark times and was completely stressed out by everything going on around me. I had no ability to focus on anything and couldn’t find a balance between socializing and getting good grades. My grades were either As or Fs, there was no in between; I either put full effort in or none at all. My parents couldn’t figure out why a girl with so much potential barely graduated the eighth grade and continued to struggle in high school.
I’ve been taking Adderall for five years. One appointment, one 30 minute conversation and one prescription of 30 pills is where it all started. Before I took my first pill I was scared and excited. I know most of you are thinking “It’s just Adderall, it’s not like it’s heroin.” However, it didn’t take more than a month for me to become completely dependent on it. On Adderall I was proud of my work and excited to be studying as hard as my best classmates. In college, Adderall made me a better student and allowed me to find opportunities; it seemed like I was riding high on the Adderall advantage. My doctor told me to take it only on weekdays, but on Saturdays I was so tired and I couldn’t get out of bed without taking one. It made me feel like an enhanced version of myself, the person I wish I could be. I couldn’t find the self-motivation I needed without it. It helps you with multitasking by juggling work, relationships and school and I was able to get everything I needed to get done.
It seems as though I was prescribed Adderall too easily only after a few survey questions. Doctors have stopped caring about people and are more concerned with getting paid to prescribe pills. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to function without it and thought I would take it forever. Instead of working on myself, figuring out what was going on inside my head, I would just take another blue pill. It makes sense to some people and for years it made sense to me. But if you find yourself unblinking and trying to read the end of the Internet, or unblinking and agitated with friends and strangers who fail to keep up with your franticly medicated state, it’s probably time to replace your prescription with a whole lot of sleep.
Molly O’rourke can be contacted at morourke@kscequinox.com
