I have ADHD as well as my T1D. My Drs won’t put me on medication for it and I think it may be because they think it’ll counteract my insulin. Has anyone ever had this problem?
@AAT1D hi Amanda,
most ADHD medicines are in a class called “stimulants”, and most stimulants raise blood pressure. Anything that raises blood pressure will carry a caution for people with “diabetes”. as a class, people with “diabetes” are at risk for kidney disease, and high blood pressure is bad for people who are at risk for kidney disease. Your doctor has to look at the potential “good” things that happen when you take a drug, and weigh it carefully against all “bad” things that can happen. When the risk is too much, the doctor will not prescribe because they typically try really hard not to hurt their patients.
A secondary affect of stimulants is they may cause slightly higher levels of insulin resistance. If you take adderall for example, you might need a little bit more insulin at meal time and a little bit more for your long acting.
Oh. OK. That makes since why they aren’t giving me anything for my ADHD then. Thanks Joe! 
Amanda,
I am not a doctor, however I am a mother (and wife). My ex husband and my 2 daughters are ADHD.
3 things could potentially help
- natural supplement, I forgot the name of it, but I used to buy it at whole food. it was amazing. its a dropper that had several different herbs. If I can find it again, I will let you know. but you could go to a natural health food store and look at what they have there (or if you have a whole food near you)
- Omega 3s (either by eating Salmon, taking a fish supplement or an omega 3 algae supplement or even just increasing your walnut/chia/flax seed consumption (a handful, not a bagful though)
and finally, - Physical exercise, which I highly recommend for both ADHD and Diabetes
Their father did great on the supplements, it was a whole game changer for him.
my oldest, O3’s were very helpful and for my youngest, exercise (she’s 6) just walking to and from school makes such a huge difference for her.
there are also books written by Edward Hallowell on ADHD. In either Driven to Distraction or Delivered from Distraction, he gives a lot of tools to help you get a better handle on your ADHD. He’s if famous to give the example that ADHD’s minds are like Ferraris but with just very weak breaks. I am sure your library has some of his books.
Again, those are things that helped my family tremendously, hopefully it will help you too.
all the best!
E’
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I was just researching this last week. It said online that the meds are appetite suppressants, which may cause low blood sugar. Seems like lowering insulin would fix that though.
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How do you manage your diabetes with having adhd? There is so much to remember. My son has adhd and diabetes. He frequently forgets to take his morning bs. This morning, he took his bs and forgot to take his adderall. Interesting about Adderall causing insulin resistance. I’ll ask his endo about it when we see him on Monday.
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Hi Tina @tlj, keep in mind that Adderall is a steroid. As you may know, and his doctor should tell you this, steroids cause havoc with BG readings and management.
His endocrinologist should be able to provide management tips on this. I only recently began managing steroids with eye dropr I began using last month.
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Hi! I also have ADHD and I’ve been prescribed stimulants for the past few years. I’ve always wondered if it was “ok” for me to take the medication as a T1D, so the last time I went to my endo. I brought it up. She didn’t seem to have an issue with it and in my experience, I haven’t had any issues being prescribed the medication.
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This is very enlightening. I just read this on a similar post. My primary care doctor did not mention it nor did my nurse practitioner during our last visit. We have a checkup with endo on Monday. I have a few questions. Self advocacy is so important. Thank you.
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