Day 70 — Christina Schwarzenegger has ADHD.

That’s not to say I won’t give them credit where credit is due. My response video will acknowledge the important points they brought up. But it will also highlight just how biased the film was against ADHD medication (as opposed to simply the abuse of it)

How to ADHD

Also, the editing/music was really biased even — when they were talking about using ADHD medication to treat ADHD they used grimace emojis, weird push-ins, ominous music...when they started talking about microdosing LSD suddenly the music is uplifting, there are trees blooming with flowers.

How to ADHD

And the argument of the movie seemed to be that we live in a society where we feel we HAVE to take these meds and wouldn’t it be so much better if we didn’t. Let’s be our natural selves so we can have the full human experience (the movie literally ends with this)

How to ADHD

You and I have a very different take on this film. What I saw was non-ADHD people using the drug as a performance enhancer and ADHDers taking it despite not liking how it made them feel because their grades were more important, and looking forward to getting off the meds. I didn’t see a single person who was using it for their ADHD who said “this works for me, I don’t have any negative side effects and I’m cool with taking it.”

How to ADHD

I agree, you have to weigh the pro's and con's of being diagnosed sooner and taking medication, I would take getting diagnosed early in life and take the meds. School was a nightmare for me socially, and taking night classes later in life were horrible trying to focus on doing reading and assignments at home with online classes. Both sides should be equally addressed with a focus on working with your doctors. Working with doctors can be a challenge too, but like finding the right dosage or combination is true with a doctor that knows what they are doing.

In the movie most of the adults with adhd are taking it and were happy with the results though

Positively Udo

And I talked to a psychiatrist — said it’s highly unlikely she had problems with her liver enzymes being that high due to the medication alone/ w/o other lifestyle factors. Not saying it’s impossible, just unlikely

How to ADHD

You’re right, but it *would* be the same as me showing the dangers of not taking ADHD medication, and showing a bunch of stories of people not taking it, and playing ominous music etc etc. to essentially manipulate people into feeling like they should take it.

How to ADHD

I mean, #1 - she doesn't say "ADHD people STOP TAKING YOUR MEDS" so its not the same as you making a vid to tell everyone to take them and #2 - everything has a level of toxicity, but if you take water as recommended you don't get problems. She sounds like she may have had problems taking her meds as recommended. But given her experiences, it sounds like all the laziness of the film was fine by her since she didn't like her meds.

Positively Udo

Any medication may or may not have side effects or cause issues. I know with some medications you need a blood test every year to check on things. My opinion is that everyone has a different blood chemistry and can react to either medication or the binding agent used for any medication. I was treated for depression before getting diagnosed for ADHD. I have used or tried almost every medication out there to a certain degree. When I went on a ADHD specific medication it took about 4-5 months to find the correct dosage. Prior to accepting the ADHD diagnoses I was on 2 medications for depression and was at the maximum dosage on both of them. I worked with my doctor (*NOTE - worded with my doctor) to step down the dosages to get me off them. It was not working at all and stepping the dosage down was not working. I finally decided to do it cold turkey. Needless to say it was the worse 30 days of my life. It was a horrible month but I managed to get through it. Like the one person said they finally read the paperwork that comes with the medication. I do this with any new medication and review what I am continuously taking to refresh myself. I know someone that had pain issues. The doctor gave this person a new medicine for the pain. This person was the 5% of the bell curve that had reactions to medications. They took the medication and this persons tongue was numb for 3 days. I would tell the person (since they where sensitive to any medication) to ask the doctor for the lowest dosage they make and see if there are going to be issues. If there are no issues, and the medication is not helping, try to step up the medication level. My tolerance for medication is on the high side. I had to have dental work done and it 2 hours of shots to get the local get me numb enough to do the work. The dentist said that I probably would not feel that side of my mouth till the afternoon. I pulled out of the parking lot and felt the tingling sensation of the local wearing off. The dentist concluded when I saw him again, that my body was very efficient at processing the local. The message is that everyone is different and may or may not react differently to the same medication. In my opinion, If you are going on or off any medication it should be done while working with the doctor. You should also see a doctor on a regular basis to make sure things everything is alright with your body.

(I ran out of thought-power on that last paragraph a few hours ago, and just now remembered what I wanted to put in, because I DID forget to take my medication this morning :/ I guess I have to do what the doctor recommended, and keep an emergency stash with me.)

LadyGrndr(Lacey S)

While I'm new to the whole ADHD medication thing, I've had bad experiences with prescription drugs in the past. I was told the side effects up front and if she wasn't, she should have asked. Her mother should have asked. This is on them, not the meds. To jump from "I had a bad experience" to "all medications are evil" seems not just dumb but harmful. I'm thirty-nine and was just diagnosed last month because I had the mentality that taking meds to help with my ADHD was laziness. I just wasn't trying hard enough. My mother knew when I was little I had this and refused to have me diagnosed because they'd "just get me hooked on drugs." How many people are going to watch this documentary and do the same thing to THEIR child. My mom actually said when I told her I was getting medication "So you've given up completely?" Just the opposite, Mom. I'm finally really trying.

Donna Dull

Netflix may have been more interested in raising controversy and piggy-backing on the "Opioid Epidemic" awareness, than in indulging the daughter of famous parents. Kitty on the patreon posted that: "There is some research on methylphenidate-related hepatitis in post-transplant patients, and one case study on a patient who was using methylphenidate both orally and rectally at approximately 4000-6000mg per day." Indicating that liver damage is both very rare, and only seen in people who are at risk or are possibly abusing the medication. I know that with my own medication (Adderall XR) that liver damage is NOT on the list of possible side effects, although there is the disclaimer "This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects." From working with the FDA, I know that Pharmaceutical companies in the US are required to report all side effects which have potentially life threatening or life-impairing effects, as well as the most common ones, EVEN if the "side effects" were known to not be directly related to the medication but just happened to a patient in the trial. So if liver damage was seen in the clinical trial or reported by a patient afterwards, it would be mentioned. With Adderall I DO or HAVE experienced several of the listed side effects, including loss of appetite, dizziness, nausea, headaches (nearly every day :/), heart palpitations and insomnia. I also paid for a heart echocardiogram to confirm that there were no pre-existing conditions, because this medication is known to cause heart failure and my family has had several heart-related deaths and known issues. (It's fine by the way). I don't know what medication she was taking, or if liver damage is listed as a possible side effect. But I do know that the benefits I am getting from Adderall right now FAR outweigh the side effects (now that I know I'm not going to die from cardiac failure). I am going to try the non-XR version next time to see if that helps with the headaches, but at this point I don't want to try going without again, because the days of pray for enough energy, clarity and focus to do ANYTHING were horrible :(

LadyGrndr(Lacey S)

you are exactly right your are responsible and accountable for what you put out here and the good or bad it does. Allot of people believe everything in a documentary simply because its a documentary.I believe Documentary should bee peer reviewed to ensure facts are accurate and accurately portrayed and representing all sides of the issue.

TLora

The actually brave thing for them to do would have been to get in front of the camera and actually tell her story. To actually talk about ADHD and present both sides of the story.

Lisa Williams

I went back and watched the Facebook interview again when I was less angry. I noticed something familiar about Christina, but wasn’t ready to say; yes, this is it. Also, her mother seemed overly proud of her daughter for doing this and seemed particularly protective.

Lisa Williams

I'm sorry, but I can't stand this interview... it makes me angry also. This girl has NO IDEA...

Carsten Bauer

It definitely confuses me why somebody who had such a good experience with a medication, despite some side effects, would take to making such an over-exaggerated documentary about it. I feel like the average reaction to a negative side effect, from the average person, would be something along the lines of, "This medication is making me feel great, but now I have this problem. Maybe it's my current ADHD medication and maybe I should try another medication?" I feel like it would be like that with any other medication. For example, I take a medication for another medical problem that can occasionally cause mouth sores. Yes, that stinks, but for me, it doesn't outweigh the amazing job that medication does at staving off the symptoms I originally started taking the medication for. If the mouth sores did cause a huge problem in my life, I would talking to my doctor about another medication option. I hope that I am making sense, because it feels like I may just be rambling. I think what I'm trying to say is that making a hurtful generalizing documentary based on your own personal experience, essentially judging others, doesn't make much sense to me.

Kayla Groth

You are right! I watched a video on her and her mom talking about the movie and the"WHY" behind her making the documentary. To me, it's just another privileged person using their privilege to influence others!

Tequilla Perry

It makes no sense to me at all. Meds = toxic, sure whatever you believe, but there was so so little in there about what the meds ACTUALLY do. I watched and felt it was saying that they were evil cheat pills. I watched with my daughter and explained that the sensations the people were describing were NOT what I experienced, based on the brain chemistry. I don't know if she was just bitter and decided to rip things apart, and the best way to do that is to discredit the meds and what they are for? All this is not getting my Stephen King essay written though... I'm not sure I can convince my lecturer that this is more important. It has given me a subject for my media one though...

Flamesparrow

But yeah agreed, it’s really easy for people in privileged situations to say it’s not worth the risk because the side effects of not taking them aren’t as severe for them.

How to ADHD

Yeah, we get those warning pamphlets in the US too. Guess she didn’t read it or decided it wasn’t enough?

How to ADHD