Advanced Psychopharmacology

Greg Case Study Video Transcript

Off Camera: Hi, nice to meet you.

Greg: Hi, uh, doc.

Off Camera: How can I help you today?

Greg: Well I need some Dexedrine for my ADHD.

Off Camera: Uh-huh, have you been prescribed Dexedrine in the past?

Greg: Since I was little, but I’ve been off it for a while. I need to get back to it.

Off Camera: What kind of difficulties are you having?

Greg: Uh, poor concentration, poor focusing, getting distracted, forgetting things, I’ve been feeling hyper all the time. I just, I can’t sit still. But when I was on Dexedrine, it worked great though.

Off Camera: Are all of these difficulties you had previously?

Greg: Since I was five or six. I was always out of control, driving my parents up the wall.

Off Camera: Mm-hmm, how did the medications help?

Greg: Well, it controlled it all. Um, all the symptoms vanished.

Off Camera: Did you have any side effects?

Greg: No, no, no side effects.

Off Camera: Such as decrease in your appetite?

Greg: No, I don’t think so.

Off Camera: Uh-huh, trouble going to sleep?

Greg: No, I sleep well. Yeah, sleep’s good.

Off Camera: I mean, um, sleep difficulties when you took medications for ADHD.

Greg: Oh no, no, I slept good, too.

Off Camera: Mm-hmm, what age did you start the medications?

Greg: Five or six.

Off Camera: So you were very young.

Greg: I don’t know, I don’t know what age children normally start. Is five or six young?

Off Camera: Uh-huh, fairly young. But children that age sometimes are started on medications. And did you try any other ADHD medications, other than the Dexedrine?

Greg: No, no, Dexedrine worked really good, so I just, I stuck with that.

Off Camera: And when did you stop taking it?

(patient exhales)

Greg: About a year ago, yeah a year.

Off Camera: What did you notice after you stopped taking the medication?

Greg: Well all my symptoms just, they came right back.

Off Camera: Did that impact your studies here at the university?

Greg: A lot, actually.

Off Camera: How are your grades?

Greg: They’re terrible. Um, I’m getting B’s and C’s, and I really need to be getting A’s, at the very least B’s.

Off Camera: What made you decide to come in at this very moment in time to restart the medication?

Greg: I’m just, I’m struggling. And um, I wanna get back on track. I’m tired of not doing well.

Off Camera: Do you have any friends taking ADHD medications?

Greg: I mean, half the campus is on some kind of medication. I don’t know if that’s
good, or if it’s bad, but I don’t know, I just know it works for me.

Off Camera: Would we be able to get you to sign a release so we can get your old medical records?

Greg: I have to ask my parents, um, cuz I think the doctor I actually used to go to died, or moved.

Off Camera: Uh-huh, what was your doctor’s name?

Greg: The doctor who prescribed the Dexedrine?

Off Camera: Yeah, uh-huh.

Greg: He wasn’t like my family physician. He was a child specialist, like a shrink that my mom brought in. I’d have to ask my mom.

Off Camera: Uh, could you do that? Uh, ask your mother and then sign a release so we can get your records? It’d be really helpful.

Greg: My mother and I aren’t really seeing eye-to-eye on anything right now.

Off Camera: Oh.

Greg: So if I could not have to involve her, I’d rather do that.

Off Camera: Uh-huh, well do you remember the name of the clinic? Then we could maybe track your records that way.

Greg: This is exactly what I need Dexedrine for! I can’t remember shit. I’m, sorry, is there any way that I could maybe do like a trial of Dexedrine? That way you could see if I have any symptoms. I know I’m not going to, but you know, for your sake. Um, I would know, you would know, you know, could we do something along those lines?