Interesting article on the subject of abuse. It would be more interesting to find out who the doctor was and if this woman ever received a proper clinical evaluation or a genome sequence. It seems pretty clear that she was improperly prescribed Adderall. Though they are cracking down on it much harder these days due to misdiagnosis and parents who do go pay "expensive upper east side doctors" so their kids can ace their SAT exams.
It really is sad.
I've been taking the extended release version for over a year now and without it I would be an unproductive wreck. I went through a full clinical eval by a neuropsychologist, and had my genome sequenced to verify that I had the specific mutations that are thought to be responsible for ADHD.
For me it has been life changing to say the least. I grew up in NYC and would take the uptown train when I was supposed to take the downtown train twice a week at minimum, I wouldn't realize this had happened until I would end up in the Bronx or somewhere the train exited the tunnel and allowed light to come through the windows and bring me back to reality. I would make these errors due to my brain being off thinking about computers, robots, books, particle physics, food, girls, music, manga, etc ... rapidly shifting from one idea to the next, never completely finishing a single thought.
It was hard for me to read. To finish projects. And I never had a job and instead chose to start my own companies.
I don't quite believe the exercise hype - I was a division I athlete during my undergrad years, and worked out harder and longer than 99% of the human population during that time - and I still had difficulty.
I decided to get help after my first year of my master. I was getting frustrated, unable to complete projects to my liking/standard, and staying up far later and working far longer to complete anything than many of my peers - and having just finished designing digital products for one of the top design firms in the world (really my first true foray into corporate America), while having trouble sitting down during meetings, and only hearing every third word that came out of my colleagues mouths, was beginning to freak me out.
so i went in. And worked through the process. I was diagnosed and confirmed and my life completely changed. Although I had a difficult time with my family (asian) who looked at me differently and refuse to this day, to talk about my condition. The pluses still out-weigh the minuses.
Adderall doesn't excite me. It calms me down. I can even sleep better since my mind is not racing 10000 miles per hour. I'm doing the best work of my life these days and couldn't be happier as I finish up my master thesis. (something i cannot imagine being possible had I not talked to someone and gotten help). I have no side-effects, and just feel "normal" when I'm taking it. And I am closely monitored by my physicians, all of whom have my best interests in mind. Sadly, this sort of support and knowledgeable/honest care is not easy to find.
I think stories like these are both helpful and harmful. Helpful at exposing the blatant misuse and misdiagnosis, and also harmful because it shows people that it's still possible to find doctor's who don't give a shit about you and will just prescribe whatever you ask for. I have people who ask me for the drug, of course, I don't hand it out for $5 or whatever because it actually helps me and doesn't turn me into some sort of incredible hulk super human like the author or other abusers. Patients and doctors should be more responsible b/c if you don't really had ADHD, then this stuff will mess you up ...
and i have no idea how to end this brain dump because well, it 2am and i'm sleepy and i have ADHD, I won't take my prescribed dose until 9am, and i have to talk about the healthcare system during my preliminary thesis defense tomorrow ... so ya ... later