Wow - watch X-files much?? LOL just kidding.
Sure they might come in and try to push the company line.
I find though us with ADHD are a pretty smart bunch. I know myself I have a natural tendency to not believe the first or even second time I hear a fact. I get the urge to dig deeper and find out for myself first hand when I can.
To play the other side - I know for a fact that scientologists and other anti-med people are on the forum every day - trying to get people to not take meds. I had several messages forwarded WITHOUT my permission to some of the people at an anti-med group (allergies are our problem folks didn't you know that?). I found out during the forward and got into a "dialogue" - which basically was that I was an ignorant "redneck" (her words) that was determined to kill her kids with Ritalin. ugh
Anywhere there is money to be made or religion to toss about, there is going to be posers trying to get your vote. I'm used to it we all have to be.
what if like drug company people join this site to secretly advertise their drugs acting like normal people. wow... wow...OH!and #4... usually their newbies...Usually, we pick up "drug advertisers" very VERY quickly in here. I think it's due to the following factors:
#1....Usually, even the most "discreet" advertisers are just a teeny bit too "pushy"...they say too much about their product, and are a little bit too preoccupied with talking about just how wonderful their product is...
#2.....When the advertisers come in here, and start a conversation about their particular drug, they tend to down the other drugs that the "real" members praise as working well for them personally...y'know? As in, some one says, oh, ritalin works well for me...and then somebody else says, oh, will I really liked dexadrine...and for the "real" posters that is that. But, for an advertiser, they will be like, "oh, well you need to stop taking that drug, because of this reason and that reason and the other...you need to take ritalin like I do. Ritalin is best for blah blah blah...
(That said, I tend to down strattera. Cause I took it before and was unprepared for such constipation!! I generally warn some people about it if they are newly taking the drug. Strattera did not work for me, but I realize that it does work for some, so I encourage them to be ready for the side effects, but still, for them personally, the benifits may be worth it to them....)
#3....WE'RE AD/HDERS!! we notice things that sometimes other people don't notice...we can always tell that their is just "something" about a post that seems "advertisy"...y'know? Sometimes, we can't pick up exactly what it is, but it's just SOMETHING "advertisy" about a post, and we can just tell usually if some one is advertising something.....WE'RE GOOD LIKE THAT!!
sonya_h38560.6929513889We all have to sign up before we can post so they can only post as one person. If they have an agenda, I think most of us would notice it and call them on it right away.
If they posed as a person like us, they would only be one "experience" among the many. I don't think they would get very far here.
Just pay attention to what is posted and I doubt if they could steer you wrong. I have also thought about it and I don't see how they could have much impact here unless a whole group came in at once. We ALL would spot that right off. It would be quite obvious if suddenly a large percentage of newbies started touting the same med or supplement or cure. Or the same terrible side effects.
Even if they do there are people who tell true stories about their experiences with medication. Since medication affects people differently there are plenty of people who have had negative experiences from certain meds.
There are plenty of people willing to take pharmaceuticals w/o any company reps on these rinky-dinky messageboards trying to persuade us! I think they'd get better bang for their buck elsewhere. Not that they're not sneaky and underhanded - I don't have much respect for drug companies as a whole - I just think they'd concentrate their efforts somewhere more effective.