Jane McFadden

Hello and welcome to ADHD Mums. This is your quick reset for the week. No meds, no plan, but no help.

And yet they’re still calling us undiagnosed. What do ADHD mums need to know about the medication shortage? So your child’s ADHD meds are out of stock. But the pharmacist just shrugs. Your GP’s booked out till August, the paediatrician’s booked out till September, but yet somehow you’re still expected to function and not yell at anyone.

If you’ve been forced to ration doses, share prescriptions, or explain to a school why your nine-year-old is climbing the classroom walls again, you are definitely not alone. And no, this isn’t just a supply chain issue — it is a structural failure.

And ADHD families are the ones that are holding the cost. I remember a situation a while ago where I had been ringing pharmacies around for about four hours and I finally found a pharmacy that had stock and they wouldn’t hold it for me. So I had to pick up the kids and then drive to the pharmacy to pick up the medication — or so I thought.

When I turned up, they had already given that medication to somebody else, and I totally understand why they can’t hold medication for people. So I had to drive around to some other pharmacies that I thought might have some. And on the fourth pharmacy, they said, oh, we actually have one bottle of that left.

And I was like, oh my God, yes, thank you. Yes, I need that. And as I went to show them the script, I realised that there was an error in the e-script and I had actually got an old script that I’d saved on my phone.

Has that not happened to every ADHD mum in the world? So as I’m trying to email the GP to find the latest script — because I’ve had so many changes to doses trying to get the right medication — as I’m doing that, another man comes to the counter and says, I need this particular medication at this milligram. And the pharmacist said, oh, we had one bottle, but that lady over there is just checking her script and she’s about to purchase it.

And I’m like waving over from a distance, like, no, no, trust me, I’m going to make this happen. It’s all good. As I’m doing that, I’m trying to call the GP, trying to get them to email the script, text the script, get the script to me.

My husband is calling, asking me what we’re having for dinner and whether he needs to go to the shops. I’m trying to say to him on the phone, I’m in an emergency situation. I need to hang up.

And as I’m doing that, my hyperactive boys are running around the pharmacy in circles and systematically pulling every single thing off the shelves. As I’m trying to deal with the kids, I’ve got my husband, I’ve got the GP on the phone. I can hear the man saying to the pharmacist, look, she doesn’t even have her script.

I’ve driven around to a couple of pharmacies already. I need this. I cannot go home without this medication. My wife will kill me. You need to give me that bottle. I’m here right now. She’s not ready.

And I was yelling from the sidelines going, no, I was here first, I’m getting it! And to be honest, I’m kind of embarrassed to say this, but I was also yelling, look at my boys, they’re destroying the pharmacy. I’m telling you, I need this medication. Do not give it away.

And this poor pharmacist is looking at us both completely torn, having absolutely no idea what to do. And he’s going, I’m not leaving without that medication. And I was saying, and neither am I.

I couldn’t believe that I was going to fight another dad in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for one bottle of medication. And this is one of the reasons why I’m so passionate about the ADHD medication shortage. Because this isn’t just about relying on a pill — it’s actually about access to basic treatment.

For a neurodevelopmental condition that already makes your life harder. You’ve probably already tried the diet changes, the lifestyle changes, the therapy changes. You may have spent thousands of dollars, waited years to get a diagnosis and medication.

You may have already done the visuals, the reward charts, bought about three different apps and none of them have worked. You didn’t land on medication by accident. You probably had to fight tooth and nail to get it for yourself and for your child.

You may have landed on the right medication and it has absolutely changed your life after years of fighting. And now they’re out of stock. I’m out of patience and I’m also out of excuses for a system that will not fix itself.

So let’s have a look at why. Why is this happening? The first major reason is the global production limits. Now, ADHD medications are stimulants. And in the US, the DEA caps annual production. So when Australia tries to order more, it’s often too late, and the quotas are already maxed out.

This means that supply is fixed. There is only a certain amount of medication, no matter what the demand is. If the demand triples, the supply of the medication is the same.

Number two, demand for ADHD medication is exploding. And it is exploding without infrastructure behind it and no long-term plan. ADHD diagnoses in Australia have doubled in the last five years. But yet we still rely on 90% imported medications and only a handful of companies produce the active ingredients that we need.

There is no national manufacturing safety net. There is no contingency of stock. There is no PBS plan for crisis sourcing. Number three, we have already seen three states start to move to GP diagnosis and assessment.

Now, I love this and I’m all about accessibility for everybody, absolutely. However, short term-wise, I’m so concerned about what will happen to the people that are already in shortage of the ADHD medication. Because from what I can see, all we are going to do is increase demand, but yet we will have the same supply.

And this could mean that this ADHD medication shortage could actually get worse in the short run until there is a long-term plan. There are currently many ADHD medications in shortage. However, the main ones that people know about that are often used and are in shortage until December 2025 are Concerta, long-acting Ritalin, and short-release Ritalin.

If you would like more information about specifically what milligrams and what medication, please check out my free resource on the website, which is called ‘The Truth About ADHD Medication Shortage and What No One Is Telling Parents.’ The link to that is going to be in the show notes.

At the moment, there are emergency systems being advertised as options for families. However, those medications are often not subsidised. They don’t have PBS, so everyday families find them really expensive. They can be incredibly delayed in arrival, and they can also really lack that paediatric data around them, which can be really off-putting.

I’ve tried to access these before. I have never successfully received any medication from any of these emergency systems that are being advertised. Not to say that it’s impossible, but I have given it a red-hot crack and I have not received anything so far.

So what are families actually experiencing? I have got a jot form out there at the moment, and I have hundreds and hundreds of people that have responded, telling me their stories around how the ADHD medication shortage is impacting them.

Ainsley from Western Australia, she’s a mum and an ADHD adult. She’s been rationing her own Vyvanse so her own child can stay regulated for school. She said on unmedicated days, quote, ‘I’m a terrible mum. I know that I’m not really, but I can’t function. I feel horrible.’

Kelly from Victoria said that she drove two hours in every direction in Melbourne. There was no medication. There was no psychiatrist left. There was no more scripts, no GPs, no options. She said at this point, she has given up trying.

This is a quote from her: ‘I was told once I had a diagnosis, I’d be supported, but it was all a lie. $4,000 later, I’m left with nothing.’

There are so many more stories like this — mums skipping doses, switching meds midterm, relapsing into burnout, regression, shutdown, depression. I find for me, not being medicated, I just become so reactive to everything around me. I have no food, no meal plans.

I don’t know when my appointments are. I send the kids to school without lunchboxes. It is chaos wherever I go. I basically slip right back into where I was two years ago, where every single thing feels like a complete struggle.

And my phone rings all day with people saying to me, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to be here, where are you?’ Because I can’t enter any of my appointments into my calendar properly.

So what are the objections around the ADHD medication shortage? Why is nobody doing anything? Why is the government not stepping in? I believe there is a belief out in the media which says, shouldn’t we be careful about overprescribing?

My take on this is, yes, we should be careful about overprescribing — and we are. Australia has one of the most tightly regulated stimulant frameworks globally. We are careful about overprescribing, so the people that have a prescribed ADHD medication have ADHD and are unmedicated. This is not an overprescribing issue.

There’s also the belief that GP prescribing will flood the system. Now, short term, possibly, possibly that would make the ADHD medication shortage worse because we would have more demand and the same supply. However, long term, GP prescribing will help the system and it will help everybody.

It will make it more equal. People in rural and low-income areas cannot afford to wait 18 months and pay $3,000 for a private psychiatrist. GP prescribing will impact the system positively. We just need to look at the ADHD medication shortage at the same time.

Another objection that I hear a lot is that kids rely too much on meds. They shouldn’t need them, so we don’t need to worry too much about the shortage. Now, medication does not erase skills. It actually creates neurological buffers to learn skills, maintain them, and implement them in their life.

I believe people that think that have the very, very great privilege of having absolutely no idea what ADHD is. So then my question to them would be, why are you commenting? If you don’t have ADHD, you don’t have ADHD kids, you don’t know anyone with ADHD — maybe it’s not the moment to add your opinion.

I also want to highlight Dr. Russell Barkley in this because he explains that ADHD isn’t about knowing what to do, it’s about accessing that knowledge in the moment, and that can be incredibly difficult without executive function.

Now, medication enables executive function access, not ability. So you can know what to do — like I know how to enter an appointment into my calendar — but I may not be able to access that in the moment that I need to. And that’s why I rely on ADHD medication for the executive function.

So what can you do right now? Number one, go across to my website. In the show notes, there is a free resource and that is called ‘The Truth About ADHD Medication Shortage and What No One Is Telling Parents.’ This is a downloadable guide.

It’s completely free, which highlights everything that is in this podcast and more. You can also ask your GP about bridging options, ask your psychiatrist about other options. Changing medications can be expensive, time consuming, and you could end up trying a medication that doesn’t suit you.

However, if you are waiting for Ritalin, Concerta or something that is out until December, it’s really a decision as to whether you go and get another script and try something else. You also need to report the shortage on the TGA’s Medicine Shortage Portal. That will be in the show notes as well.

You also need to write to your GP and let them know this isn’t inconvenient — it’s actually disabling. It is affecting the productivity in this country. ADHD people want to work. The ADHD kids want to be at school.

We are putting unnecessary stress on the system by not just helping the group of people that actually really want to contribute. Go on to the show notes. In there, there will be a downloadable MP letter template that you can just copy and paste and send on email to your local MP.

You can also share this podcast with anyone else who may be impacted by the shortage. We need to keep extending the message and keep the pressure on the government.

Now, this is not about being ungrateful. This is not about being dramatic. And you are definitely not demanding. But you are parenting without access to one of the only tools that work. Would we tell a diabetic to just meditate instead of having access to insulin? Of course we wouldn’t.

So let’s stop saying to ADHD families, ‘just hang in there’ — because that’s crap. This is your quick reset. And you’ve already started just by listening. You don’t need to push harder, but you need to feel safer.

You don’t have to perform to be worthy. You’re allowed to be a work in progress and you can still be powerful. You are doing better than you think.

And I’ll be right here next time you need a reset. Thank you so much for listening. Please go into the show notes and download my blog. Download the MP letter. Share this episode. Follow the podcast. Or check me out on Instagram and Facebook.

And keep sharing the message. Because ADHD is real and we deserve to be helped. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for listening.