re: ADHD Meds are going out of stock everywhere

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my sister and i both went through a traumatic event when i was 9 and she was 12. since she was older, my dad (mom was in a coma) put her on ritalin and held off for me. she immediately began weight gain and antisocial behavior. i was a bit messed up about my mom but had a normal childhood and teenage years with sports and social skills. she languished and to this day is now a 4'11 250 communist lesbian. i know my dad was trying to help, but i credit those meds with her downward spiral

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That’s the thing I’m sorry you had to go through that trauma. But you got through it and you learned life lessons from it, namely how to deal with adversity and trauma. Those are important lessons to learn for later on in life. We all will face them. And putting kids on pills to deal with them robs them of the chance to learn to deal with, well, life.

I know all about trauma. And I’m sure I’m not alone or even have the saddest story. lost both parents two weeks after my first birthday, raised by my grandmother until she died when I was 14, abused by a grown woman (not my grandmother) when I was 12, from midway though 9th grade to graduation I lived with four different family members (none of which I knew) in three different states, changed schools seven times, and even spent part of my senior year living in a friend’s travel trailer in their back yard because I had nowhere else to live. I went from being well off and having everything I ever wanted for the first 14 years to living in abject poverty, being unwanted, and alone. My teen years were hell. But I made it though. And that adversity and struggle made me who I am today. It gave me a toughness to make it though hard times and gave me an appreciation for what is actually important in life. If I had spent that time medicated to keep me from feeling the pain, I’d have never progressed past it and would probably be no better off than your sister.