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Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#71

Post by ruswick »

MartinCron wrote: post #59
smoyer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Using drugs to gain an unfair advantage over other people at work" Perhaps the ABA (American Bar Association) needs to implement a ban on performance enhancing drugs similar to what MLB (Major League Baseball) mandates?

I drink coffee every day. Does that give me an advantage over those who don't drink coffee? If there is an advantage, is that advantage unfair?

I think the precedent is certainly different for use of prescription drugs that were acquired through dubious means.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#72

Post by jjsz »

TheLegace wrote: post #58
adderall_9 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and the amphetamines do wonders for physical work. You feel fantastic and capable. Amphetamines in particular provide a bit of a euphoric boost. In general, amphetamines are going to make you feel pretty damn good, although coming down might be unpleasant sometimes. I have to caution people to not do exert themselves, as they figure out that they can go workout at the gym like mad. I'm not s…

Ugh, I have hated Methylphenidate, it was really close to ruining my life. It made me feel angry and depressed. I hated the world and every single moment after taking it for some time. Even off of it I felt it semi-permanently affected my brain. I gave Adderral a shot, but again it is quite an unstable drug. Mostly because of it's a Dopamine Uptake Inhibitor. And that usually causes unstable Dopamine levels, meaning…

From what you said atomoxetine is a new age sleeping drug. Not a focusing ADHD drug.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#73

Post by mechnik »

rakeshsharmak wrote: post #31

Has anyone tried Yoga and/or meditation for ADD? I think it might be helpful...I am distracted easily and often. However, I find breathing exercises help me focus.

Yoga and meditation may benefit anyone. There is considerable interest in mindfulness techniques for ADD treatment. Search for 'mindfulness ADHD'.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#74

Post by imsofuture »

juiceandjuice wrote: post #22
danso wrote: post #5

How 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…

You need to qualify your question a bit more. People with ADHD experience it differently than people without ADHD generally. For me, withdrawals after long term use (continuously taking it for 2-3 weeks or more) are generally over a three day period. The end of the first day you really start feeling it. The second day you will be dragging, all day. The third day is similar to the first. After that, you're back to you…

"People with ADHD experience it differently than people without ADHD generally."

I generally disagree with this statement. I don't think that the subjective experience of low-dose stimulants is terribly different between people with and without ADHD. I think that those with ADHD are unable or unlikely to reach a similar state of concentration without low-dose stimulants, however.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#75

Post by killerdark »

clicks wrote: post #63
jpxxx wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an individual who was actually diagnosed with ADHD, I have an axe to grind with a medical industry that sold me amphetamines at 15. The results were ~nugatory~ at best.

As an individual who was diagnosed with ADHD, but whose parents refused to acquire medicine based on superstitious 'but isn't adderall just basically cocaine?' grounds, I assure you I've got an axe about 3,000x bigger than yours to grind at individuals like those who wrote this NYTimes article. I'm sorry to hear that you were diagnosed by an incompetent psychiatric physician, but I would hope you don't use your misfo…

In case drapetomania doesn't tickle your fancy, try hysteria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#76

Post by cube13 »

darrenkopp wrote: post #13
MartinCron wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Myself as well. The only difference is that I have a greater appetite when I'm off it. Considering that I am overweight by just about any metric, that isn't a totally bad side effect, because I don't stop eating, I just don't eat as much when on it.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#77

Post by JohnBooty »

throwaway54-762 wrote: post #45
MichaelGG wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the figurative part. Is that like folks who call oxycodone "legal heroin" or "synthetic heroin"? Is it supposed to sound edgy or provide some sort of shock effect against ignorant people? I don't get it.

I don't describe it like that to "sound edgy" or provide "shock effect." It's just pointing out that these drugs are very similar chemically and biologically, and that people should examine their own biases that divorce adderall (medicine!) from meth (evil drug!) in their minds — they are not so different substances.

However small the chemical difference, there is an enormous practical difference.

Meth can produce an intense high. Adderall, not so much.

I don't have any experience with meth so I can't compare Adderall and meth directly. However, I'd compare the extremely limited "high" from Adderall with... what a person with no caffeine tolerance feels when drinking a medium latte from Starbucks. And, like caffeine, you quickly grow accustomed to Adderall and no longer feel a high from it.

So while it's true that they're chemically similar, and that we shouldn't be demonizing anybody in my opinion, I don't think Adderall and meth are very similar in a practical sense.

While Adderall is obviously misused by some, it is seldom abused in the catastrophic ways that meth is.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#78

Post by rayiner »

"Romantically I became schizophrenic, smashing hearts on purpose or falling head over heels with a one-night stand, exhibiting neediness that disgusted me — yet I rationalized that becoming a self-loathing depressive could be filed neatly into my persona as a tortured New York artist, material for stories I would surely write someday. The problem was, it stopped being a persona, and became who I was as a person: uninspired, unproductive and miserable."

This sounds like it could just as well be a symptom of New York rather than Adderall. Or being a lawyer in New York rather than Adderall.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#79

Post by nikatwork »

michaelochurch wrote: post #34

This made me sick. I don't know what's worst: the author's self-absorption, the victimization tone, or the fact that her colleagues had to do similar unhealthy shit in order to compete with her. It stinks the whole way. Using drugs to gain an unfair advantage over other people at work has unhealthy emotional side effects? Am I to be surprised by this?

> the fact that her colleagues had to do similar unhealthy shit in order to compete with her

You are asserting that the law firm's long working hours were caused by her med use. Do you think you might have that backwards?

> the author's self-absorption, the victimization tone

She had a substance abuse problem. She's warning others that it's a slippery slope. Show some compassion.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#80

Post by nikatwork »

MartinCron wrote: post #59
smoyer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Using drugs to gain an unfair advantage over other people at work" Perhaps the ABA (American Bar Association) needs to implement a ban on performance enhancing drugs similar to what MLB (Major League Baseball) mandates?

I drink coffee every day. Does that give me an advantage over those who don't drink coffee? If there is an advantage, is that advantage unfair?

Caffeine junkies like you disgust me. The use of an artificial stimulant to gain an unfair productivity gain is unethical, you CHEATER.
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