‘Brain fog’: Major change about to make life easier for ADHD sufferers

It wasn’t the advice Shayne O’Sullivan expected to hear from a doctor.

The father of three was running low on his ADHD medication after relocating from Sydney to Perth.

Shayne O’Sullivan struggled to fill his ADHD prescription after moving to Perth.Credit: 9News Perth

Complications related to his untreated ADHD played a major role in ending his 21-year career in the Navy. He was medically retired in 2023. The 39-year-old said living with the condition was hard, and being without medication was debilitating.

“It’s a bit like I’m trying to hold absolutely everything that I need to think of and do in active thoughts, and it’s a real jumble, but if I don’t hold on to them then, I’ll forget them, and they don’t exist, and I’ve got that brain fog,” he said.

But the scripts to refill his dexamphetamine and Vyvanse were prescribed by his psychiatrist in Liverpool and couldn’t be legally filled by a WA chemist.

“The doctor in New South Wales had said, ‘Get someone to draw them here on your behalf’, do the legal process to get someone else to collect my script and then mail it to me,” O’Sullivan said.

“I’m pretty sure there’s also legislation about schedule 8 substances and Australia Post, so I don’t see how that’s a realistic answer.”

ADHD WA hoped a little-known rule change will put an end to the “pills in the mail” practice which, anecdotally, has become a shortcut for ADHD patients and parents who suffer for months on WA’s bloated waiting lists.

Restrictions to WA’s schedule 8 prescribing code were updated on December 13 to allow doctors in other states to prescribe stimulants to WA patients via telehealth.

However, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s WA Branch says chemists weren’t clearly informed with anecdotal reports of patients still having such scripts denied.

ADHD WA said it wasn’t informed of the change which the organisation believes will reduce waiting times that current sit between six and 12 months for adults trying to see a specialist and one to two years for children.

“It wasn’t clearly communicated at all from the Health Department,” ADHD WA management board chair Dr Michele Toner said.

“In fact, doctors who are very active in the treatment of ADHD found out from their interstate colleagues,” she said.

ADHD WA management board chair Dr Michele Toner.Credit: 9News Perth

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said, to date, the communication from the WA Health Department had been unclear.

“At the moment there is a bit of confusion out there so we would like some real clarification to make this really clear for everyone,” WA branch president Andrew Ngeow said.

“We’ve had several queries from our members around what the changes actually mean so we would have liked the changes to be a lot clearer.”

The code change allows adults and children living in WA to use interstate telehealth appointments to both diagnosis and prescribe schedule 8 medications like dexamphetamine, lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) and methylphenidate (Ritalin).

Interstate practitioners must have registered with WA’s Health Department. So far more than 40 have.

WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has addressed the communication issue was focusing on the benefits the updated prescribing code will have for patients.

“We’ll certainly work with the department to improve their communications on that,” she said.

“We’ll certainly do everything we can to ensure that the community and the public know that this is available.

“The public health team has been working with the stakeholder network, ADHD WA for example and a lot of the forums people are on, the Facebook forums and the websites that are run to support families.”

O’Sullivan saw value in a public awareness campaign to promote the updated availability of interstate telehealth in diagnosing and treating ADHD.

“This information needs to be put out there in the public space,” he said.

“Neither my psychiatrist or my pharmacist knew it had changed.

“Why do the doctors not know? Why do the patients have no idea?”

9 News Perth

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