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Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

191–200 of 223 posts

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitpick: "high intensity cardio" is kind of an oxymoron. "Cardio" is used to mean training which mainly uses the aerobic system. That is, longer term, lower intensity, training that you can sustain over a long period of time because you are going at a pace that your body can turn carbohydrates into all the energy you need. Sprinting is anaerobic training, as is most strength training. It's high intensity, you can't s…

It won't increase your aerobic capacity... It will raise your lactate threshold. The only way to increase your aerobic capacity is to spend a large amount of time exercising at an aerobic heart rate.

It depends on how much rest you're getting inbetween your intervals. If the rest is short enough that your heart rate never goes back down to normal, then you're also working your aerobic capacity.

When I train jiu-jitsu, I do several rounds of live rolling. Usually something like 4 6-minute rounds with a minute rest inbetween. The hard part of live rolling is the anaerobic part: quick spurts of high intensity. How fast you can recover from them, and how often you can sustain doing them over time determines how well, athletically, you will do. But this is also a 30 minute period with an elevated heart-rate, and you never are fully rested inbetween your anaerobic bursts. So, it is also an aerobic workout.

Despite not doing much explicit cardio training, I still have the cardio capacity to run decent distances with decent times, on the rare occasions I do. That's because I am training my aerobic system even though most of the exercises are anaerobic. (I once went on a 9 mile run having not gone on a run in over 6 months, having only done jiu-jitsu training and conditioning during that time. My lungs were fine. My legs were not.)

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#192

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

I'm pleased that you don't sound like you're having substance addiction issues.

However, I'd recommend revisiting your entire thought process about this stuff the very first time you break one of your rules (like when you take them twice in a month for that one "really exceptional" situation).

It's called a slippery slope rather than a precipitous drop for a reason and people don't get addicted to drugs because they're "not smart".

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#194

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

I'm pleased that you don't sound like you're having substance addiction issues. However, I'd recommend revisiting your entire thought process about this stuff the very first time you break one of your rules (like when you take them twice in a month for that one "really exceptional" situation). It's called a slippery slope rather than a precipitous drop for a reason and people don't get addicted to drugs because they'…

I actually haven't taken them in over a year. Not too worried about any slippery slope.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#195

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

How much are you taking at once that you space it by several months?

1-2 pills at 10mg each. Try and just do one. Usually able to get a solid 8-12 hours of straight work out of them. It's hell on my back and I don't like the side-effects so thats why I limit it like that only taking them when I feel my workload necessitates it.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#196

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

What kind of things do you on adderal?

Programming and if I get side tracked a little house cleaning. The trick is not to get side tracked and "crack" out on something that it isn't vital to the task at hand so I can maximize the "high".

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#197

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

abusing unprescribed drugs makes you a "complete moron", but abusing unprescribed drugs in moderation makes you well informed. note taken.

W.H.O. defines S/A as "Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. Psychoactive substance use can lead to dependence syndrome - a cluster of behavioural, cognitive, and physiological phenomena that develop after repeated substance use and that typically include a strong desire to take the drug, difficulties in controlling its use, persisting in its use despite harmful consequences, a higher priority given to drug use than to other activities and obligations, increased tolerance, and sometimes a physical withdrawal state."

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is to my point. who then is the arbiter of abuse? OP? x pills is fine, y pills is fine, z pills makes you a "complete moron".

Well, when your life starts to fall apart at the seams and you start exhibiting any one of the behaviours mentioned in OP's article, that's a pretty good indicator you've reached "complete moron" status. However I think you're over simplifying the question. Not everyone has the same response to drugs/substances. Some people can do what systematical does without any long term side effects because they simply have the…

Disbelief is correct here. On the other hand we have a developer at work (with a prescription) that takes this stuff almost daily. I couldn't live like that, I enjoy my lunch too much and feeling "normal."

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#199

There is a smart way to do this and not be a complete moron like the author. I take adderall a few times a year and have been doing so since my senior year (2003) in high school and have never come close to this trainwreck. It's a simple approach: know exactly what you have to do before taking it, eat a meal before (since you will have no appetite), take them in the early morning (so you can sleep by night), and fina…

I should also rephrase. It was not nice of me to call the author a "moron" as addiction is difficult. She was/is just ignorant of the power of drugs. I always knew from a young age I would never become addicted to a drug. I'd never allow it to ruin my life which is why I've been able to try many drugs a few times w/o developing a dependence. Except for coffee, I'm total addicted to that stuff.

Re: Adderall Addiction: The Last All-Nighter

#200

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...

Are you asserting that the main reason people work long hours is because of performance enhancing drugs? And if you're not asserting that, what are you asserting?

I'm asserting that trying to extract causation from these scenarios is often not productive. One outcome didn't lead to another; feedback was almost certainly involved.
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