It's unfortunate the author was not able to manage the drug properly. Adderall is a potent substance that, when used in the correct fashion, can be an effective aid for those who need it. It's also highly addictive so must be combined with a healthy lifestyle and coupled to good habits in order to be kept in check. I would highly recommend that anyone who feels themselves falling into a routine similar to that described seek a therapist as well as focus hard on improving their sleep, diet, and exercise routine.
Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
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Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#12Someone close to me has severe ADD and stopped taking Adderall recently. This person is more productive and organized and even coherent on it. But this has turned out not to be worth A) the way if affects their mood/social interactions, and B) the inevitable Flowers For Algernon "mush-brain" feeling when it wears off in the evening.
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#13How do people who've taken it for most of their adult life cope with adderall usage? I mean, how necessary of a drug does it seem to be -- or, to put it another way, how bad are the withdrawals, compared to antipsychotics, painkillers, etc? And if you've lived with adderall usage, do you chronically feel like you have a reduced appetite and all the other kinds of symptoms? I've heard that happens for people who take…
I took adderall (under the direction of my doctor, naturally) as an adult for around two years. Getting off it had zero side effects or withdrawal symptoms for me, other than the fact that extraordinary focus and concentration were suddenly difficult again.
Same here. I've had ADHD for my entire life, but I seem to be able to just go on and off of it whenever I want and the only side effects is that I no longer have the benefits. In fact, I regularly do just stop taking it for time to time when I need to be more creative rather than more focused.
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#14Its a good article and I am glad she feels better however what do expect when you abuse a powerful medication and drink every night.
"The mix of whiskey rocks and a pocket of pills was a potent one. I was now getting high seven nights a week, every night a delicate balancing act".
Since she kicked the "pills" she now should kick the whiskey before that gets out of control. The title should probably read "Substance Addiction:The Last All-Nighter".
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#15As a college student that is constantly surrounded by Adderall and Vyvanse misuse, this hits close to home. I've had a prescription to similar drugs my entire life, and it was in 8th Grade that I realized that I didn't actually need them to function. The drugs made me unhealthily underweight, constantly antisocial, and easily aggravated. Nowadays when I look at my peers, I see the same things happening to them. Some…
It's an extremely hard drug for anybody, ADHD or no. Adderall / Vyvanse is prescription meth[0] (something I've heard from several of my AD(H)D friends). If the pros outweigh the cons for an individual, great; I wish them the best. But while I can't find the research I remember to back this up, it's looking like long-term medication with amphetamines may be ineffective or harmful. EDIT [0]: Yes, I know that that pres…
A few years ago, my doctor encouraged me to stop taking Adderall based on the conventional wisdom that it was likely to cause heart disease. I'll always remember what he said, I only prescribe Adderall for depression in my terminal cancer patients, because I'm not worried as much about their long-term heart health
OK, Doc. Let's not refill that prescription, then.
This conventional wisdom has recently been challenged, but I think there is no great consensus on this issue yet.
http://www.dailyrx.com/adhd-medicines-were-not-linked-seriou...
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#16It's unfortunate the author was not able to manage the drug properly. Adderall is a potent substance that, when used in the correct fashion, can be an effective aid for those who need it. It's also highly addictive so must be combined with a healthy lifestyle and coupled to good habits in order to be kept in check. I would highly recommend that anyone who feels themselves falling into a routine similar to that descri…
Exactly.
The tone of the article made it seem like the Author was a victim here, when in reality I think this comment sums it up:
>The writer tells us she was "23" when all this happened, as if to say, "Really, I was just a kid." But, really, she wasn't a kid. The brain is quite mature at age 23, but she didn't explore, evidently, the possibility that she was making a mistake.
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's an extremely hard drug for anybody, ADHD or no. Adderall / Vyvanse is prescription meth[0] (something I've heard from several of my AD(H)D friends). If the pros outweigh the cons for an individual, great; I wish them the best. But while I can't find the research I remember to back this up, it's looking like long-term medication with amphetamines may be ineffective or harmful. EDIT [0]: Yes, I know that that pres…
A few years ago, my doctor encouraged me to stop taking Adderall based on the conventional wisdom that it was likely to cause heart disease. I'll always remember what he said, I only prescribe Adderall for depression in my terminal cancer patients, because I'm not worried as much about their long-term heart health OK, Doc. Let's not refill that prescription, then. This conventional wisdom has recently been challenged…
Oh, the possible negatives I had in mind were brain-related: "diminishing returns" due to tolerance or other factors after long-term use, and adverse side-effects of the drug flooding your brain with seratonin and dopamine over long periods of time (obviously similar to that observed in long-term methamphetamine use).
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#18It's unfortunate the author was not able to manage the drug properly. Adderall is a potent substance that, when used in the correct fashion, can be an effective aid for those who need it. It's also highly addictive so must be combined with a healthy lifestyle and coupled to good habits in order to be kept in check. I would highly recommend that anyone who feels themselves falling into a routine similar to that descri…
It's unfortunate the author was not able to manage the drug properly. Adderall is a potent substance that, when used in the correct fashion, can be an effective aid for those who need it.
Uh, I would claim that drug reactions vary considerably from person. To claim Adderall is always bad for someone seems to be untrue but to attack someone for not being able to control their reaction to it or any given drug seems really problematic. You can't tell what ability person X has to control their reaction to substance Y, I'm not arguing this just based on the tautology that you aren't them but on the fairly well demonstrated point that human psycho-physiological reactions have been shown to have considerable variation.
It is a question of who or what is in-control and pretending there's a pat answer to this is evil.
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#19Its a good article and I am glad she feels better however what do expect when you abuse a powerful medication and drink every night. "The mix of whiskey rocks and a pocket of pills was a potent one. I was now getting high seven nights a week, every night a delicate balancing act". Since she kicked the "pills" she now should kick the whiskey before that gets out of control. The title should probably read "Substance Ad…
I would bet that without all the energy that Adderall gave her, she no longer has the energy to go drinking with friends 7 nights a week.
Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter
#20As a college student that is constantly surrounded by Adderall and Vyvanse misuse, this hits close to home. I've had a prescription to similar drugs my entire life, and it was in 8th Grade that I realized that I didn't actually need them to function. The drugs made me unhealthily underweight, constantly antisocial, and easily aggravated. Nowadays when I look at my peers, I see the same things happening to them. Some…
It's an extremely hard drug for anybody, ADHD or no. Adderall / Vyvanse is prescription meth[0] (something I've heard from several of my AD(H)D friends). If the pros outweigh the cons for an individual, great; I wish them the best. But while I can't find the research I remember to back this up, it's looking like long-term medication with amphetamines may be ineffective or harmful. EDIT [0]: Yes, I know that that pres…
Prescription "meth" is just that: meth. Methamphetamine is legal in the US and available under prescription (brand name: Desoxyn). It's scheduled just the same as Adderall -- not that scheduling means much; most of it's science-free political posturing.
Adderall/Vyvanse are amphetamines but not methamphetamine.