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Ritalin Gone Wrong

nytimes.com

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Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#71

Post by deno »

cullenking wrote: post #67
deno wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ‘high’ goes away after two weeks of continuous use, but the cognitive benefits persist. This is exactly why ADHD medications work long term. > But in fact, the loss of appetite and sleeplessness in children first prescribed attention-deficit drugs do fade (…). They apparently develop a tolerance to the drug, and thus its efficacy disappears. Those are side effects in the context of treating ADHD. Here’s a great s…

I know this is another anecdotal response, but, the high definitely didn't go away, I just became more mentally accustomed to it. It's exactly the same for an alcoholic who drinks excessively everyday. After a month, the same amount of alcohol has less effect (to an extent). I strongly feel that if the parents of children on ADD meds actually used the meds themselves, many of them would decide on alternative treatmen…

You’re not supposed to use the medication “on and off,” if you want to avoid such side effects.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#72

Post by X-Istence »

qrybam wrote: post #8
dlytle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently taking adult ADD meds (Adderall); it's a double edged sword, and I'd personally really prefer to find another method. The primary problem is, during any sort of transition I would be pretty useless, and I can't afford to take that long being useless with my current job. I went cold turkey from 25mg of Adderall XR daily, and for about a week and a half I was absolutely dead. I'd have a splitting headache…

Scary thought: Going cold turkey with coffee has had very similar effects on me (after 2 weeks of 1-2 cups a day; 2-4 shots/day). I've also had a similar feeling of deadness when I stopped eating meat, dairy and anything with additives for 6 weeks. The first week or so I was completely useless - this could have also been due to me trying to feel my way through to a balanced diet. So much of what we consume ends up ha…

I went cold turkey from all caffeine. One day, almost 10 months ago I said enough is enough and quit. While on caffeine I was always highly irritated, and was snappy with people. I just couldn't get enough caffeine to feel good, and was always tired.

When I went off I was dead to the world for about 2 - 3 weeks. I had a splitting headache which no medicine seemed to fix, and felt laggy. But after those 3 weeks I started to feel better. I had more energy, I was a lot less irritated and was happier in general. I was able to contain angry outbursts and in general have changed entirely. I have more energy now than when I was binging caffeine. I can stay awake longer, fall asleep faster, and I feel refreshed when I do get at least 6 hours of sleep.

Not drinking any soda has also helped in other ways. I no longer have a real need for sugar throughout the day and don't have nearly the same headaches I used to get from not getting my sugar fix. Since I have also lost a major source of calorie intake I have started to lose weight.

I don't drink anything with HFCS in it, soda's with natural sugars every so often (maybe once or twice a month), but mostly I drink water. I drink a glass or two of milk a day as well. One thing I have noticed is that living in America is that soda is pushed with every single meal. It doesn't matter where you go, what soda would you like with that.

---

Since you mentioned no longer eating meat ... I have recently started eating a lot less meat, and even in the past week have stopped eating meat altogether, and I have yet to feel a real difference. It does make it a lot harder to think of meals to make though as I have been eating meat my entire life and it is an integral part of any meal my family used to make. Will see what happens in a couple of weeks from now :-)

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#73

Post by jneen »

deno wrote: post #66
jneen wrote: post #9

I was diagnosed with ADD as a child, and have experienced firsthand the kind of dependencies these drugs can create. I wasn't able to stop taking Dexedrine (essentially the same as Ritalin) until halfway through my first semester of college, when I undertook a daily practice of meditation. Now I've come to realize that "lack of attentiveness" is part of the human condition. We can make it worse by excessive stimulati…

If you can meditate, or sit still in one place without any stimulus for that matter, you’re quite lucky. It’s an impossible task for most people with ADHD. > Now I've come to realize that "lack of attentiveness" is part of the human condition. No. ADHD is a hereditary neurological disorder. One of the first things that you’ll see on Wikipedia’s page on ADHD is a PET scan comparing dopamine transporter availability in…

That's fair. Meditation is hard, and I don't claim to be particularly good at it. On the other hand, I would say it's an extremely difficult task for just about anyone.

The study the article you posted cites successfully correlates brain differences with AD(H)D diagnosis. Part of the argument in the original article, though (which I can verify in my own case at least), is that while the brain affects observed behavior, behavior also affects the brain. So it's a very real possibility that experience and learned behavior are causing both the observed behavior and the brain chemistry differences.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#74

Post by psaccounts »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #38
psaccounts wrote: post #30

It is a shame that most people are unaware of the efficacy of Homeopathy to treat ADD, ADHD and autism-spectrum disorders. Do some research and you'll see how hundreds of thousands of people have been cured of these ailments using Homeopathy alone.

Do some research and you'll find homeopathy is bunk. There's no science behind it, studies have shown it completely ineffective, and besides, it's just clean water.

You are saying this out of the research you have done yourself, right? And yes, I have done the research and also have experienced it first hand -- something that Stanford doctors could not do (and an army of 3 different specializations nonetheless) was cured using Homeopathy. Is this placebo effect?

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#75

Post by rms »

dlytle wrote: post #5
tokenadult wrote: post #4

I was interested to see that the researcher who wrote the op-ed, a psychologist based at my alma mater, has participated in some of the research projects he reviews in the op-ed. As I read the comments here, I'll be collecting ideas for questions to ask the local researcher in person as I try to learn more about ADD. I was particularly interested to see that the op-ed criticized several earlier studies for their stud…

I'm currently taking adult ADD meds (Adderall); it's a double edged sword, and I'd personally really prefer to find another method. The primary problem is, during any sort of transition I would be pretty useless, and I can't afford to take that long being useless with my current job. I went cold turkey from 25mg of Adderall XR daily, and for about a week and a half I was absolutely dead. I'd have a splitting headache…

Modafanil works to cut Adderall withdrawal symptoms for most people. And Modafanil withdrawal is nothing more than being unusually tired, but not miserable.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#76

Post by natrius »

sek wrote: post #20

So Ritalin is just a usual mind boosting drug, it has rebound effects and people develop a tolerance. Like cocaine, MDMA, ephedrine and meth. It differs in it's euphoric and adverse effects, but the positive influence is not permanent. Not a single drug can help you in the long term, you have to develop the abilities yourself. These drugs have the opposite effect, because as long as you take them you don't evolve. Th…

"Not a single drug can help you in the long term, you have to develop the abilities yourself."

What is your proof of this claim? As with most generalizations, I doubt there is one.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#77

Post by nn2 »

psaccounts wrote: post #30

It is a shame that most people are unaware of the efficacy of Homeopathy to treat ADD, ADHD and autism-spectrum disorders. Do some research and you'll see how hundreds of thousands of people have been cured of these ailments using Homeopathy alone.

the association of witch doctors recommends ... water!

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#78

Post by rdl »

tripzilch wrote: post #59
dlytle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently taking adult ADD meds (Adderall); it's a double edged sword, and I'd personally really prefer to find another method. The primary problem is, during any sort of transition I would be pretty useless, and I can't afford to take that long being useless with my current job. I went cold turkey from 25mg of Adderall XR daily, and for about a week and a half I was absolutely dead. I'd have a splitting headache…

I tried a few sessions of bio-feedback but quit because I got frustrated by it and not being worth the time and money. During the intake the therapist described Ritalin as "poison". I should have probably gotten up and left right there. If you have the opinion that Ritalin is overprescribed, or that it should not be given to small children, that's all fine with me. But "poison" has a pretty clear definition, you'll f…

A $99 Zeo comes with an API and will let you do exceedingly simple biofeedback; the manufacturer is quite helpful, too. (I was going to work on a waking study using the hardware, but ended up not having time).

There's also the EPOC Emotiv.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#79

Post by rms »

tripzilch wrote: post #59
dlytle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently taking adult ADD meds (Adderall); it's a double edged sword, and I'd personally really prefer to find another method. The primary problem is, during any sort of transition I would be pretty useless, and I can't afford to take that long being useless with my current job. I went cold turkey from 25mg of Adderall XR daily, and for about a week and a half I was absolutely dead. I'd have a splitting headache…

I tried a few sessions of bio-feedback but quit because I got frustrated by it and not being worth the time and money. During the intake the therapist described Ritalin as "poison". I should have probably gotten up and left right there. If you have the opinion that Ritalin is overprescribed, or that it should not be given to small children, that's all fine with me. But "poison" has a pretty clear definition, you'll f…

The evidence is much more strongly in favor of amphetamine being actually poisonous (neurotoxic) than ritalin. Even then, it only happens at higher higher than a certain, not really well known dosage.

You might like playing around with Neuro-Programmer 3. You can get substantially similar or even stronger effects to EEG neurofeedback with simple audio brainwave entrainment. I actually question the value of EEG neurofeedback not combined with audio brainwave entrainment, which serves the purpose of teaching people what different brainwave states feel like. http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/index.php You can hook up an EEG to it to. Or build your own for a few hundred, http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/, but the signal processing is actually the hard part. Among the cheap commercial EEG products I've tried, only the NeuroSky Mindwave filters out facial movements well, but it's one sensor is not really useful for doing much of anything.

The kind of meditation that helps with ADD is concentration meditation, where starting Vipassana, when you focus intently on watching your breath, is a concentration meditation.

Re: Ritalin Gone Wrong

#80

Post by rms »

ulisesrmzroche wrote: post #7
dlytle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently taking adult ADD meds (Adderall); it's a double edged sword, and I'd personally really prefer to find another method. The primary problem is, during any sort of transition I would be pretty useless, and I can't afford to take that long being useless with my current job. I went cold turkey from 25mg of Adderall XR daily, and for about a week and a half I was absolutely dead. I'd have a splitting headache…

I stopped on 56mg for two months and did not have any withdrawal symptoms. You may want to talk to your doctor about this, withdrawal like the one you experienced is not very common, I think.

That's a high dosage, to the level where I expect it is neurotoxic. I think you might be more of the exception than the rule... some withdrawal is to be expected, though not necessarily as strong as OP.
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