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Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

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Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#21

Post by balfirevic »

russellbeattie wrote: post #17

'Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD' This is completely wrong. It treats the symptoms of those of us with severe ADHD, and let's us do everyday things like sit in a theater or an airplane, or enjoy playing quietly with our little children. It's not just about being an office drone spending 12 hours a day in Excel or some cynical bullshit like that, it's about every day life.

I mean, I get that we are discussing ADHD here, but you could have at least read the next sentence:

> Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD, at least not in the same way penicillin cures syphilis. Adderall will give everyone better concentration, and we’ve judged that it’s okay for people with terrible concentration to use it to overcome their handicap, but not okay for people with already-fine concentration to use it to become superhuman.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#22

Post by chesimov »

gcatalfamo wrote: post #13

Just out of curiosity: do you ever stop and think/ask why ADD or ADHD exist only in the US? How could such a condition be so frequent yet only present in just one country?

Don't know about other countries but in S. Africa it also exists. We don't have Adderall as far as I'm aware but I know of people who use Ritalin and say it has improved their daily lives.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#23

Post by russellbeattie »

balfirevic wrote: post #21
russellbeattie wrote: post #17

'Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD' This is completely wrong. It treats the symptoms of those of us with severe ADHD, and let's us do everyday things like sit in a theater or an airplane, or enjoy playing quietly with our little children. It's not just about being an office drone spending 12 hours a day in Excel or some cynical bullshit like that, it's about every day life.

I mean, I get that we are discussing ADHD here, but you could have at least read the next sentence: > Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD, at least not in the same way penicillin cures syphilis. Adderall will give everyone better concentration, and we’ve judged that it’s okay for people with terrible concentration to use it to overcome their handicap, but not okay for people with already-fine concentration…

I read it - the tone of the paragraph is that it's not really medication, but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect. It doesn't work like that. The dose I take would make a non-ADHD person into an obsessive hyper-focused teeth-grinding mess, but it basically just makes me normal. Adderall is real medicine which cures a real problem.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#24

Post by akvadrako »

jglauche wrote: post #14

"We could still have a principled definition of ADHD. It would be something like “People below the 5th percentile in ability to concentrate, as measured by this test.” Instead, we use the DSM, which advises us to diagnose people with ADHD if they say they have at least five symptoms from a list. " I'm in Germany and I've been diagnosed with ADHD-PI lately (I am in my 30s) after seeing a private specialist about this…

That seems like an odd test. Of course everybody will score better on a concentration test while on medication for concentration.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#25

Post by balfirevic »

russellbeattie wrote: post #23
balfirevic wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I get that we are discussing ADHD here, but you could have at least read the next sentence: > Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD, at least not in the same way penicillin cures syphilis. Adderall will give everyone better concentration, and we’ve judged that it’s okay for people with terrible concentration to use it to overcome their handicap, but not okay for people with already-fine concentration…

I read it - the tone of the paragraph is that it's not really medication, but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect. It doesn't work like that. The dose I take would make a non-ADHD person into an obsessive hyper-focused teeth-grinding mess, but it basically just makes me normal. Adderall is real medicine which cures a real problem.

> but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect

Apparently, that is actually true (not the same magnitude of effect but the same kind of effect - better concentration). And it's not in any way contradictory to it also being a medication.

> The dose I take would make a non-ADHD person into an obsessive hyper-focused teeth-grinding mess, but it basically just makes me normal.

That is almost exactly what the quote above said.

> Adderall is real medicine which cures a real problem.

I honestly don't understand how you got the impression that the original article claimed otherwise.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#26

Post by tonypace »

gcatalfamo wrote: post #13

Just out of curiosity: do you ever stop and think/ask why ADD or ADHD exist only in the US? How could such a condition be so frequent yet only present in just one country?

The Ritalin prescription train is alive and well in industrial Asia. You seem to be basing an argument on false priors.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#28

Post by xorcist »

russellbeattie wrote: post #23
balfirevic wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I get that we are discussing ADHD here, but you could have at least read the next sentence: > Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD, at least not in the same way penicillin cures syphilis. Adderall will give everyone better concentration, and we’ve judged that it’s okay for people with terrible concentration to use it to overcome their handicap, but not okay for people with already-fine concentration…

I read it - the tone of the paragraph is that it's not really medication, but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect. It doesn't work like that. The dose I take would make a non-ADHD person into an obsessive hyper-focused teeth-grinding mess, but it basically just makes me normal. Adderall is real medicine which cures a real problem.

No, that's a myth. Dosage varies from person to person, but "more ADHD" (as in more severe AHDH-related problems) does not equal higher tolerance.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#29

Post by n4r9 »

kanishkdudeja wrote: post #20
y4mi wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get enough vitamins without any fruits? Are you just using supplements?

I take fruits which have no/negligible sugar like Amla, Lemos, Avocados. Once in a while, I do take supplements. But on the whole, I try to live a more natural life, with as less drugs/medicines as possible. Even for milk, I drink raw milk and not processed milk.

> 0 sugar

> I drink raw milk

You'd have to drink milk in tiny quantities; I'd be astonished if raw vs processed makes a difference if so.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#30

Post by Lazare »

russellbeattie wrote: post #17

'Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD' This is completely wrong. It treats the symptoms of those of us with severe ADHD, and let's us do everyday things like sit in a theater or an airplane, or enjoy playing quietly with our little children. It's not just about being an office drone spending 12 hours a day in Excel or some cynical bullshit like that, it's about every day life.

I don't think you understand the argument being made.

Further down you say:

> the tone of the paragraph is that it's not really medication, but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect. It doesn't work like that.

It does work like that. You can give it to everyone, and (assuming the recipient has a good response, no side effects, etc.) it'll have the same effect. That effect might be "worth" more to people who are already at the low end of the bell curve, but it's the same effect.

> It's not just about being an office drone spending 12 hours a day in Excel or some cynical bullshit like that, it's about every day life.

Spending many hours in a row at a desk working on tasks that require extreme focus is my every day life, and the life of most of the people on this site I'd wager.

Where are you going with this? You're replying to an article that said "it helps everyone", and you're trying to say that some people aren't as worthy of help? Is that really where you want to go with this?

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