31–40 of 261 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People with ADHD react to amphetamines differently than people without it (at the correct dosages at least; I've never read anything about what happens to people with ADHD that take more than the correct dosage).
How do they act differently?
So glad that as I was growing up, my ADHD tendencies were seen more as just an individual issue I'd have to learn to control myself rather than a physiological condition in need of medication. Granted, in my street-wise years I've found stimulants and I get along really, really well, but there's a nagging feeling that I simply don't want to be on amphetamines daily. It might turn my writing into delusional drivel lik…
People with ADHD react to amphetamines differently than people without it (at the correct dosages at least; I've never read anything about what happens to people with ADHD that take more than the correct dosage).
Stimulants are useful. I would say upwards of 25% of people I know use/abuse some sort of stimulant on an irregular or regular basis. Everything from adderall to speed paste from the dark net, to the people I know that enjoy a good 3 day long meth binge every few months (yes, there are highly successful and responsible meth users).
Stimulants are also dangerous. They all have varying degrees of what people in the drug community call "more-ishness" -- the urge to redose. Because who the hell wants to come down when being up is so up? Some way more than others (Hi there, meth again!) They certainly tax your system -- I'm sure even the stuent popping two or three adderall to pull an allnighter has felt the next day blah of shitty brain chemicals (pro tip: sleep, eat a lot, exercise, and have sex). As far as long term effects of taking amphetamines every day, especially starting from childhood...well, we're running a population wide experiment on that now
In any case, to reiterate, I believe some people have a lot more trouble than others staying focused. This can help or hinder them, depending on what they are trying to do. No doubt some people find daily amphetamines super indispensable to leading a productive life. But pretending there is some bright line between "normal people" and "people with ADHD" wherein on one side of that line amphetamine use is abuse and other the other side its just a medicine that acts totally differently obscures the murky and muddy truth. And especially keeps us from having a rational discussion about harm reduction, safe stimulant use, etc etc.
And we're just getting started. New stimulants roll onto the streets from pharm labs in China and India nearly every money as research chemicals. Flourinated versions of methamphetamine and methylphenidate, etc etc etc. Some have rather unfortunate dose response curves between stimulation and psychosis for street drugs (see also: flakka) as not too many people carry their milligram scale on them.
In any case, we can keep pretending that stimulants are just good medicine for a vaguely nebulous diagnosis and poison for everyone else, or we can have rational discussions about what stimulants give with one hand, and what they take away with another. Because they do both.
Meanwhile, just out of sight, I assure you there's a lot more people crushing up half an adderall in their bedroom right now that you think.
I think this is a little bit sensationalized at the very least. This excerpt in particular caught me off guard. "Abuse by young professionals is distressingly common—Wall Street traders, software engineers, dentists, nurses, and lawyers, all cracked out of their minds trying to keep up with the competition." Yes, I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and yes I have an Adderall prescription. But I'd hardly call myself…
Agreed. I was struck by the same line, "cracked out of their minds"... very biased. I don't know if "abuse" used to have a coherent meaning, but these days it boils down to "used in a way I don't like". Drug use is certainly a mixed bag but it deserves a balanced treatment, not scare tactics. The article even goes on to list great accomplishments that were made possible (or at least supported) by drug use. Talk about…
So glad that as I was growing up, my ADHD tendencies were seen more as just an individual issue I'd have to learn to control myself rather than a physiological condition in need of medication. Granted, in my street-wise years I've found stimulants and I get along really, really well, but there's a nagging feeling that I simply don't want to be on amphetamines daily. It might turn my writing into delusional drivel lik…
> It might turn my writing into delusional drivel like Ayn Rand, a noted speed addict for decades. Or maybe your writing would start to look like the work of genius Paul Erdős, a noted speed addict for decades.
I think this is a little bit sensationalized at the very least. This excerpt in particular caught me off guard. "Abuse by young professionals is distressingly common—Wall Street traders, software engineers, dentists, nurses, and lawyers, all cracked out of their minds trying to keep up with the competition." Yes, I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and yes I have an Adderall prescription. But I'd hardly call myself…
>bit sensationalized...This excerpt..."Abuse by young professionals" I don't think so. I'm in one of those environments where long hours are common and it definitely does happen. There are also people using a mix of uppers & downers (need the uppers to be wide awake but then can't sleep when at home hence downers). Hell I'm doing a vaguely similar thing (just with coffee and melatonin). Add a bit of anti-depressants…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People with ADHD react to amphetamines differently than people without it (at the correct dosages at least; I've never read anything about what happens to people with ADHD that take more than the correct dosage).
I'd love to see some sort of double-blind study that bears this out, as I have serious doubts as to its veracity as ADHD is a huge spectrum of ambiguous symptoms. No doubt there are some people that have a lot harder time focusing than others, and there's no doubt stimulants help you focus, so in that case someone that has a harder time focusing might find them more beneficial, but the oft-repeated canard that stimul…
I'm actually genuinely appreciative because while I have a testable, physiological medical condition, I think the ADHD 'testing' without a biological marker that can be seen in a petri dish (so to speak) is wishy-washy. Yes, this goes for Autism too. Yes, I understand these views probably aren't popular, and, in closing, I do feel fine holding this definition distinction in light of people wanting to argue their fuzzy feelings about "What's real" in medical science.
>well, we're running a population wide experiment on that now
I suspect I also get hositility from pointing out a lot of people think their medication is helping them but they really don't know about long term effects, but don't want to hear that they might be, you know, bad.
This article is pretty poorly written. First off, methylphenidate is a phenethylamine - not an amphetamine. Its chemical structure doesn't resemble amphetamine. Secondly, Adderall is not simply dextroamphetamine, it is a racemic mixture of both amphetamine salts. There have been studies showing that amphetamine leads to definitive cognitive improvement in the general population. Why restrict it? Human beings have a s…
Note -- I'm a staunch anti-prohibitionist and I agree that stimulants are useful tools, but they are also dangerous tools with a high potential for abuse and some pretty wicked effects if you push them too far (stimulant psychosis in the short term, pretty nasty anhedonia as well as a bunch of other health effects in the long term)
So yes, of course let's decriminalize and legalize - and let's start by acknowledging that lots of well rounded people use amphetamines mostly safely and responsibly (the occasional binge seems inevitable) - but let's also have a rational harm reduction talk about the dangers of stimulant abuse. More than any class of drugs, I think they give with one hand and take away with the other. What goes up must come down after all.
This article is pretty poorly written. First off, methylphenidate is a phenethylamine - not an amphetamine. Its chemical structure doesn't resemble amphetamine. Secondly, Adderall is not simply dextroamphetamine, it is a racemic mixture of both amphetamine salts. There have been studies showing that amphetamine leads to definitive cognitive improvement in the general population. Why restrict it? Human beings have a s…
This article is pretty poorly written. First off, methylphenidate is a phenethylamine - not an amphetamine. Its chemical structure doesn't resemble amphetamine. Secondly, Adderall is not simply dextroamphetamine, it is a racemic mixture of both amphetamine salts. There have been studies showing that amphetamine leads to definitive cognitive improvement in the general population. Why restrict it? Human beings have a s…
Get back to me about the cognitive improvements after you are curled up in bed with hot and cold sweats, feeling like life will never be normal again, with a bone crushing fatigue that won't quit. Note -- I'm a staunch anti-prohibitionist and I agree that stimulants are useful tools, but they are also dangerous tools with a high potential for abuse and some pretty wicked effects if you push them too far (stimulant ps…
Also there have been studies that show that people on low-dose therapeutic amphetamines are less likely to abuse drugs, including stimulants.
This article is pretty poorly written. First off, methylphenidate is a phenethylamine - not an amphetamine. Its chemical structure doesn't resemble amphetamine. Secondly, Adderall is not simply dextroamphetamine, it is a racemic mixture of both amphetamine salts. There have been studies showing that amphetamine leads to definitive cognitive improvement in the general population. Why restrict it? Human beings have a s…
Actually Adderall is not racemic, since that would mean a 50/50 mix of the dextrorotatory and levorotatory enantiomers. Adderall is 75% dextroamphetamine and 25% levoamphetamine in four different salts.