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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

#111

Post by ntumlin »

smoyer wrote: post #47
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?

"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?

Reminds me of http://xkcd.com/1173/

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#112

Post by JohnBooty »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #104

The amount of comments here claiming being diagnosed with ADD and taking pills for it made my head explode. ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it? Because if it is, we have an epidemy going on.

It might help to think of it like a spectrum.

Naturally, everybody struggles with focus at times. Some more than others. One one end of the spectrum you have people who rarely struggle with focus, and on the other end you have people that struggle with it so much that it begins to cause them problems.

So it's less an sudden epidemic than a growing recognition that this is an issue that many people struggle with, and that people struggling with it can really benefit from treatment.

That treatment can include medication, though it doesn't have to. My personal experience is that proper sleep, diet, exercise, and environment are super-important as well.

Yes, it's perhaps over-diagnosed/mis-diagnosed. Yes, some people probably use an ADHD diagnosis as a crutch or excuse.

However, surely you can agree that focus is an issue that many people clearly struggle with, can't you?

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#113

Post by JohnBooty »

jpxxx wrote: post #87
clicks wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

While this is an op-ed being run by a web tabloid, there's no superstition or anti-science on display that I can sense. So let's find some quieter common ground: A class of prescription psychoactive drugs are increasingly being used by tens of millions. They substantially alter the motivation systems of the human brain, have a poorly understood method of action, are extremely easily and inexpensively sourced from the…

  > But the results are the same. They're 
  > the same for ADHD folks, they're the 
  > same for non-ADHD folks...
It's certainly worth talking about, but I'm not at all sure that's true. Our understanding of Adderall's mechanism is incomplete but our current understanding is that, in those with ADHD, appropriate doses of stimulants can boost some functions to where it would be in a non-ADHD brain.

It's kind of like saying that platform shoes make everybody taller. Yes, they do, but some people need platform shoes just to reach an "average" height.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#114

Post by nikatwork »

AnIrishDuck wrote: post #110
nikatwork wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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? It probably becomes a vicious cycle / race to the bottom. You take more drugs to work longer hours and compete with your colleagues, who start taking more drugs so they can work more hours to have the edge over you...

The long working hours of many law firms existed before the widespread availability of adderall. Drugs have absolutely zero to do with it. They are merely a symptom of the underlying workaholic culture.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#115

Post by georgemcbay »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #104

The amount of comments here claiming being diagnosed with ADD and taking pills for it made my head explode. ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it? Because if it is, we have an epidemy going on.

"ADD can't be a real condition if suddenly everybody is diagnosed with it, can it?"

Sure it can be a real condition, one that is superficially easier to treat by giving everyone meds rather than admit that the modern "American" society we've created is full of all manner of unnatural stressors that we haven't evolved to deal with.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#116

Post by throwaway04583 »

Going cold turkey off 40 mg of adderall a day and calling it addiction is a slap in the face to people who have dealt with real addiction. As someone who has used Adderall at this level and stopped cold turkey and someone who has also been a heroin addict, stopping adderall cold turkey is a fucking joke compared to heroin addiction. Alcohol addiction also has the potential to be unbearably uncomfortable, not to mention deadly.

The author is a poseur, and doesn't realize how lucky she is.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#117

Post by throwaway04583 »

b6 wrote: post #30

Adderall IR makes me feel very energetic and motivated, a feeling I like a lot. But I always seem to use it until it becomes so detrimental to my health that I feel I have to quit. Always, my dosage creeps up, my sleep schedule becomes chaotic, I become too thin and frail. I'm mentally quick, but also irritable. At first I take it to feel great, but at some point I'm taking it just not to feel as if I'm wearing a lea…

I would suggest using the XR version if possible. You may need 20-30mg, but I have found it is much more stable and I don't feel the need to redose all day long. My friend has an IR script, and he ends up running out early, while I keep a stable sleep schedule and don't experience the mood swings.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#118

Post by schrodinger »

JohnBooty wrote: post #113
jpxxx wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is an op-ed being run by a web tabloid, there's no superstition or anti-science on display that I can sense. So let's find some quieter common ground: A class of prescription psychoactive drugs are increasingly being used by tens of millions. They substantially alter the motivation systems of the human brain, have a poorly understood method of action, are extremely easily and inexpensively sourced from the…

> But the results are the same. They're > the same for ADHD folks, they're the > same for non-ADHD folks... It's certainly worth talking about, but I'm not at all sure that's true. Our understanding of Adderall's mechanism is incomplete but our current understanding is that, in those with ADHD, appropriate doses of stimulants can boost some functions to where it would be in a non-ADHD brain. It's kind of like saying…

Does it truly affect people with ADHD differently than someone without? My understand is that this is a misconception...

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#119

Post by chrisrhoden »

mrb wrote: post #103
X-Istence wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have taken Adderall now for about a year, and while I have reduced appetite it is not all that bad, I still eat the necessary amount of food, in reality it has been helping me lose weight healthily since I stopped eating while bored ... since I am bored less and can focus on the task at hand. I take 10 mg twice daily. I can go on and off Adderall with minor issues. The only issue when I go off Adderall for a day or…

If you need to take Adderall daily in order to keep your job, then the job is not for your or your employer is pushing you too much. (However, I can understand why Adderall is necessary occasionally to meet certain deadlines.)

...or you have moderate to severe ADHD?

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#120

Post by etrain »

nikatwork wrote: post #114
AnIrishDuck wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? It probably becomes a vicious cycle / race to the bottom. You take more drugs to work longer hours and compete with your colleagues, who start taking more drugs so they can work more hours to have the edge over you...

The long working hours of many law firms existed before the widespread availability of adderall. Drugs have absolutely zero to do with it. They are merely a symptom of the underlying workaholic culture.

I had a friend whose grandfather was a hot shot lawyer at one of the largest international firms of his day in the 60s/70s/80s. She told me that he was a speed addict for close to 20 years. Long story short he got into a situation where he had to quit cold turkey and did, successfully.

Substance abuse to get ahead is nothing new. Drugs are not as new as we pretend they are, and it's been common practice to abuse them for personal gain probably as long as they've been around.

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