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Amphetamine use in America's workforce
131–140 of 261 posts
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of antidepressants are nowhere near as abusable as amphetamine and its salts are. SSRIs, for example, take weeks to have an effect. I take Remeron (mirtazapine) and it was nearly a month before I started to feel better. Amphetamines work much faster.
>SSRIs, for example, take weeks to have an effect. I am not sure that the time it takes to have an effect is a good metric for whether or not something has potential for abuse. Sure SSRIs take a few weeks to have a noticeably effect but they also takes weeks to tail off. The area under the curve is not necessarily different.
Actually, time-to-action is exactly what separates addictive drugs from non-addictive alternatives. The brain cannot abstract pleasure from what are extremely subtle mechanisms.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#133Comments on this thread are insightful, people on amphetamine defending their way of life.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a myth, the effects are the same regardless of whether or not you have ADHD otherwise we'd be able to test for ADHD by simply giving someone amphetamines and seeing how they respond. Almost anyone who takes low-dose amphetamines will experience enhanced cognition. It just happens that this enhancement also alleviates symptoms of ADHD. As you pointed out the problem with the article is that it makes no distinc…
Not sure I'm ready to accept that this is a myth. From "Prescription stimulants in individuals with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: misuse, cognitive impact, and adverse effects", published in Brain and Behaviour (2012): "In sum, the evidence concerning stimulant effects on working memory is mixed, with some findings of enhancement and some null results, although no findings of overall performan…
Unfortunately you can pretty much nanny-pick a study that supports your view for just about any purported topic and view relating to drug use.
Secondly, that study is flawed because it fails to acknowledge what is known as the 30%-30%-30% jump. The difference in intelligence between a retard and a normal person is the same difference of intelligence between a normal person and a genius. Different boosts account for different corrections in deficits depending on the IQ range that is being operated on. This is a known quirk of intellect. Being why Einstein sent a letter to his son telling him that intelligence was not the reason he was successful, "working hard" was, and urging him to do the same.
Amphetamines are performance enhancing drugs. They give the same "cracked out" superman effect to anyone who takes them. They are amazing. And we should not discount them by giving credence to the bullshit that is ADD and the epidemic which is giving dumb kids speed so they can live up to their parents' standards.
ADD is overdiagnosed, and adderall/speed is overprescribed in doses that hit high enough that their grandma can feel it. It's fucked up to be giving hard drugs to kids just because the kids are dumb. Let them be dumb. Let's not make them drug addicts at the cost of their mental freedom.
Just google for it, the stories on forums and other places. There are millions of kids who grew up and regret the drug issues they have now. The dependencies. Because they've been on speed their whole lives, because of a giddy parent and a giddy psychiatrist long long ago. The stories show that treating "ADD" with speed in children, is a really shitty thing to do.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#135As one who takes methamphetamine (generic Desoxyn) for ADHD, I can't help but take issue with the sensationalism in this article. If someone takes the same low dose I do but doesn't actually have ADHD, how could they be considered "cracked out?" simply because they are faking a diagnosis? We know that low-dose amphetamines improve cognition in healthy individuals regardless of whether or not you have ADHD. We also kn…
Wow, how did you get an rx for that? Did they try tons of amphetamines and finally go for Desoxyn?
I agree: It's incredibly something (classist?) that only certain people can legally get amphetamines. I'm sure if you have lots of money, it's far easier to convince a doctor to RX. Whereas if you don't, you can even afford the doctor to diagnose, let alone RX (plus the risk of being labelled a "seeker").
Having essential medications behind professional, for-profit gatekeepers is a violation of human rights. It's reprehensible and an affront to personal liberties.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#136Does anyone have any adderall or vyvanse for sale?
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#137The comments in this thread seem to suggest a reasonable subset of people here partake. Is there any reason you feel the need to? I went to a pretty rough college where I had standard 24 hour straight homework sessions once or twice a week. And I used caffeine maybe once a week at most. I work at a startup where the work culture isn't as competitive as what I feel is the norm, but even listening to friends at there d…
But have you tried using amphetamines while working? Perhaps you don't know what you're really capable of. I know people that are fine, happy, productive. But on speed, they are amazed at how much more capable they are.
Apart from psychosis or heart issues, why should anyone settle for being less powerful?
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#138The comments in this thread seem to suggest a reasonable subset of people here partake. Is there any reason you feel the need to? I went to a pretty rough college where I had standard 24 hour straight homework sessions once or twice a week. And I used caffeine maybe once a week at most. I work at a startup where the work culture isn't as competitive as what I feel is the norm, but even listening to friends at there d…
I'm prescribed Adderall. While being treated for depression my doctor identified it as something that might be helpful for me.
Contrary to the sentiment that these medications are just some kind of super energy drink, I find regular therapeutic use actually leads to less work hours and reduced stress for me.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#139I 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…
By the way, why would dentists be "cracked out" on amphetamines? Is it a very competitive field or are the hours terrible for a dentist in the US? (I also thought it was a bit over the top, but the dentist in the example stuck out even more for me -- I don't live in the US, and the dentists I've known had pretty normal, non-stressful work lives.)
I interned as an orthodontic assistant before entering the software engineering field. Dental school admissions are highly competitive, require several years of additional schooling, and will place the student in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. My anecdote follows.
The orthodontist I worked for put in serious hours well beyond many of the "crunch time" horror stories we hear in tech, typically arriving at her practice at 5:30am and leaving at 8pm (prepping the office, working on orthodontic appliances, case studies, paperwork), and working Saturdays as a part time Dean at the local dental school.
There were also state mandated continuing education requirements, the occasional emergency call, lawsuit, delinquent payments, marketing and sales for her practice, the occasional sales call from a vendor rolling out "Smart Brackets", and the need to manage 10+ employees and maintain professional relationships with other dental medicine practitioners for referrals and covering sick days.
She was incredibly driven and competitive, probably an outlier, but was also certainly a multimillionaire and an accomplished dentist.
Re: Amphetamine use in America's workforce
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure I'm ready to accept that this is a myth. From "Prescription stimulants in individuals with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: misuse, cognitive impact, and adverse effects", published in Brain and Behaviour (2012): "In sum, the evidence concerning stimulant effects on working memory is mixed, with some findings of enhancement and some null results, although no findings of overall performan…
Unfortunately you can pretty much nanny-pick a study that supports your view for just about any purported topic and view relating to drug use. Secondly, that study is flawed because it fails to acknowledge what is known as the 30%-30%-30% jump. The difference in intelligence between a retard and a normal person is the same difference of intelligence between a normal person and a genius. Different boosts account for d…
What about people diagnosed as adults? People no longer affected by their parents will?