Coping With the Ongoing Adderall Shortage
If you’ve been prescribed Adderall or its generic equivalent (amphetamine salts) and have been having trouble getting a prescription lately, you’re not alone. Although the Food and Drug Administration does not report a general shortage of the drug , consumers across the country face a different reality at local pharmacies.
So what is causing the deficit? How long can this go on? And, most importantly, what are some strategies for dealing with ADHD while you wait for the drug companies to restock your medications?
Supply, demand and prescription drugs
On a macro level, the reason you can’t get an Adderall prescription comes down to supply and demand. Demand for the drug in the United States has more than doubled over the past decade, with about 19 million prescriptions for Adderall in the United States in 2011 ; by 2021, that number has increased to 41 million. Demand grew even more during the pandemic as more people reported mental health issues and telemedicine companies made it easy for people to get prescriptions, leading to a further spike in usage .
In terms of “supply,” Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the largest U.S. supplier of branded and generic drugs to Adderall, is reporting disruptions due to “lack of packaging capacity” at one of its manufacturing facilities. This has resulted in some (but not all) Adderall dosages across the country being backordered. Both doses of 20 mg and 30 mg are pending.
When will the Adderall drought end?
A Teva spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company’s supply issues are likely to be resolved by mid-August for the Adderall brand. The company plans to ship more 10, 15 and 30 milligram tablets by the middle of the month, and 20 milligram tablets by the end of the month.
You will have to wait a little longer to get the generic form of the drug. Generic Adderall should become more widely available early in the fourth quarter, so pharmacies may not stock unbranded prescription amphetamine salts until early October.
What to do if you can’t get Adderall
If you are having trouble getting Adderall (or any other drug), the first thing you should do is seek the advice of your doctor. If you have a prescription that doesn’t work, your doctor may cancel it and either give you an alternative drug, recommend a non-drug treatment option, or combine the two approaches. They may also refer you to a psychiatrist. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to Adderall.
There are a number of drugs designed to treat ADHD that are not currently in short supply, from stimulants such as Ritalin, Focalin and Vyvanse to non-stimulant pharmaceuticals such as the antidepressants Elavil and Wellbutrin. Figuring out what will work for you and at what dose can take trial and error, so work closely with your doctor or psychiatrist to find the perfect chemical blend for your brain.
If you are not interested in a chemical solution to your ADHD, or want to combine pills with other approaches, talking therapies and other strategies may help. The most common of these is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) , which focuses on changing the thought patterns that often accompany ADHD. Another option is emotional therapy, which will help you better deal with the cycle of ups and downs that ADHD can cause in your life.
You can also try neurofeedback . It’s expensive and not without criticism, but the approach involves wearing a brain-scanning helmet and mentally playing a video game, so it’s at least worth looking into . The idea is that by tracking your brainwaves with an EEG, you will learn to recognize and change their frequency, and eventually learn to encourage frequency patterns associated with focus.