00:00Harriet Torrens had just turned 42 when she was diagnosed with ADHD. As her psychiatrist
00:10said the words, she burst into tears.
00:12You don't expect that in the moment but I think it's been a lifetime of not quite understanding
00:17yourself and I kind of knew when I went in, by the time I went in, that I was probably
00:20going to get a diagnosis. But to have someone actually confirm that was quite a powerful
00:24thing.
00:25Harriet was prescribed medication which eased her symptoms almost immediately.
00:31It's been a very useful tool for me, it just keeps me a little bit even, gets me through
00:34the day a bit more consistently.
00:37For more than two years it worked beautifully. Then in February a boost to her dose was recommended
00:43but it wasn't available. That's when Harriet's GP swung into action.
00:49She contacted me via email and she was clearly very distressed. And her experience of being
00:56unmedicated was, not only was her executive function impaired, but she was starting to
01:04feel like her mental health more generally was affected.
01:08It's a situation many of Dr Chapman's patients are facing. In most cases her only option is
01:15to cobble together a new mix of drugs.
01:18And so then it can get really complicated because you're trying to rotate a patient from a drug
01:25to another version of a drug if it is in stock and available, knowing that we actually don't
01:31know whether or not this is going to be as beneficial for that patient.
01:35The drug shortage is having a devastating impact on children with ADHD. Paediatrician Kim Bland
01:43feels heartbroken watching it play out.
01:46There are families that are not giving it in school holidays and on weekends when they
01:49normally would. And mums and dads are taking the brunt of that challenge with executive function,
01:55memory, focus, concentration and emotional regulation because they want to prioritise their child
02:01being able to regulate while they're at school.
02:04Those families are arguably the lucky ones. Some have run out completely.
02:09At the moment there are two different drugs that are short and some of my families have
02:14just worked their way through the first shortage, transitioned to a new medication, only to be
02:19told that that's now going into shortage. So they really have nowhere else to go.
02:24It's revealed an ugly side of pharmacy as pharmacists stockpile whatever they can get their hands
02:30on, meaning others miss out. It's often described as a Hunger Games effect but we are in a global
02:36economy. We don't manufacture many medications on shore and so when we hear that something is going
02:43to go in short supply, human nature is let's obtain as much as we can to look after our local community.
02:50Australia has been in the grips of an ADHD medication shortage since late last year, with manufacturing
02:57issues, supply chain challenges and an increase in demand globally to blame. As for how long it will last,
03:04the Therapeutic Goods Administration is expecting it to persist until at least December.
03:10Harriet's new prescription is working and in stock for now. But it's not lost on her how different
03:18the experience could have been had her GP not been allowed to switch her medication.
03:24If you're waiting seven months to get into a psychiatrist, what do you do if you're waiting
03:27seven months to get an answer? A question many are likely to be asking.
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