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Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

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Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#171

Post by adderaldecade »

zschuessler wrote: post #51

If anyone here reading this needs the motivation or gentle reminder: you might not need Adderall anymore. I've used it to get ahead in software for the past ~8 years. I recently gave it up, but it was hard to realize that it was time. It might be time for you, too. The thing holding me back was fear. Fear I wasn't enough, that I couldn't be efficient. That I would get fired from my high position. Or even if I could m…

I've spent years trying to get off adderall, swinging between having serious addictions with it (even pouring bottles down toilets), quitting it for months, and then eventually coming back to it as work/stress accumulates.

A few years ago I quite adderall/dexedrine at a startup, it lowered my productivity as I rushed with caffeine and other things to fill the void, and within a month I was fired as I had become useless.

Adderall changed my personality well before I discovered coding. I discovered coding because it suited my adderall addiction, not the other way around. In fact, almost as a maladaptive trait, I changed my whole career path towards coding away from politics precisely because I realized how well suited this new line of work would be for my addiction: Only in coding could I continue with my dysfunctional adderall-addicted personality, get paid well for it, and paradoxically be seen as a functioning member of society.

-------

But now I'm stuck. I want to quit adderall but I know I can't do it without at least a month of not working.

Every vacation comes around, and I promise myself I'll make another attempt at quitting but back out, but fear prevents me from doing it.

The longest I ever quit successfully was for a few months while traveling around the world. I experienced the best romance I've ever had in my life, because without my personality being blunted by the effects of adderall, I could be my charming emotional self again.

That all faded when the trip ended, when I needed to become productive again and faced the disaster of not being able to perform.

And that, my friends, is what makes Adderall addiction so uniquely fucked up.

Unlike heroin, alcohol, or benzodiazepines, our economy currently rewards and even encourages us to continue our addiction to this drug.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#172

Post by seanmcdirmid »

adderaldecade wrote: post #171
zschuessler wrote: post #51

If anyone here reading this needs the motivation or gentle reminder: you might not need Adderall anymore. I've used it to get ahead in software for the past ~8 years. I recently gave it up, but it was hard to realize that it was time. It might be time for you, too. The thing holding me back was fear. Fear I wasn't enough, that I couldn't be efficient. That I would get fired from my high position. Or even if I could m…

I've spent years trying to get off adderall, swinging between having serious addictions with it (even pouring bottles down toilets), quitting it for months, and then eventually coming back to it as work/stress accumulates. A few years ago I quite adderall/dexedrine at a startup, it lowered my productivity as I rushed with caffeine and other things to fill the void, and within a month I was fired as I had become usele…

I felt the same way about cigarettes (and then sugar) for awhile. They helped me focus and think about hard problems (or so I thought). Anyways, not as good example as Adderall, whose effects are probably more effective than what I imagined.

Have you considered taking a personal leave to kick your habit? I mean, don’t take a vacation, but take a leave from your job and then quit the drug while instead working on personal projects and trying to remain productive. You will slump at first, but if you like what you are working on, you’ll probably pick up again after a few weeks.

I know not everyone can afford to do that, but it’s the best solution I could think of. Good luck!

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#173

Post by adderaldecade »

ma2rten wrote: post #98
jglauche wrote: post #14

"We could still have a principled definition of ADHD. It would be something like “People below the 5th percentile in ability to concentrate, as measured by this test.” Instead, we use the DSM, which advises us to diagnose people with ADHD if they say they have at least five symptoms from a list. " I'm in Germany and I've been diagnosed with ADHD-PI lately (I am in my 30s) after seeing a private specialist about this…

I am also from Germany, but moved to the US for work. I am 29. Recently someone suggested to me I might have ADHD. After learning more about it, I had a feeling that many adults with ADHD have: I suddenly felt like my life story made sense. People below the 5th percentile in ability to concentrate, as measured by this test. My health insurance made me take a CPT test and it indicated that I don't have ADHD. This mean…

This is all a bullshit facade. 60% of ADHD adderall prescriptions are from people who realize they can work better by using it.

So they fake the symptoms, and get those advantages. That's what's refreshing about this posted article; it points out how ridiculous continuing this whole charade is.

Adderall is just becoming the new coffee.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#174

Post by drngdds »

russellbeattie wrote: post #23
balfirevic wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I get that we are discussing ADHD here, but you could have at least read the next sentence: > Adderall doesn’t “cure” the “disease” of ADHD, at least not in the same way penicillin cures syphilis. Adderall will give everyone better concentration, and we’ve judged that it’s okay for people with terrible concentration to use it to overcome their handicap, but not okay for people with already-fine concentration…

I read it - the tone of the paragraph is that it's not really medication, but something like caffeine which you can give to everyone and it'll have the same effect. It doesn't work like that. The dose I take would make a non-ADHD person into an obsessive hyper-focused teeth-grinding mess, but it basically just makes me normal. Adderall is real medicine which cures a real problem.

What he's saying is that Adderall boosts anyone's ability to concentrate. The dose you take boosts your concentration levels from "really low" to "normal." It would boost a non-ADHD person's concentration levels from "normal" to "way overfocused."

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#175

Post by adderaldecade »

d2kx wrote: post #78

I started taking Modafinil about 4-5 years ago and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier. I live in Europe so you can forget about amphetamines/adderall basically, only thing you'll get here is Ritalin and even that not as easy as you might think. Modafinil is easy to get on the internet though. If I lived in the US, I would likely be on Adderall I'd guess. It helped me so much that I wouldn't have completed…

You need to be careful about movement disorders if you're going hard on the Modafinil.

I often it found it quite stimulating in an amphetamine-like way even though it's a wakefulness agent.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#176

Post by drngdds »

Jhsto wrote: post #117
d2kx wrote: post #78

I started taking Modafinil about 4-5 years ago and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier. I live in Europe so you can forget about amphetamines/adderall basically, only thing you'll get here is Ritalin and even that not as easy as you might think. Modafinil is easy to get on the internet though. If I lived in the US, I would likely be on Adderall I'd guess. It helped me so much that I wouldn't have completed…

I feel like comments like yours are one reason doctors don't like prescribing it. I'm glad you are able to be happy on modafinil, but think about what you just commented: (1) alternatives are hard to get, (2) you have to get your substitution from the Internet without a prescription, (3) once you are on the gear you are able to notice the same deficiency in others, (4) you attribute your success to it and (5) "fuck e…

>"fuck everyone" trying to speak people into drug-free alternatives.

It's actually really annoying being told that you don't need drugs to fix your condition when, based on your own experience, you really do

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#177

Post by adderaldecade »

fragsworth wrote: post #88
png_hero wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm, never heard of adding NAC. And do you supplement magnesium too? Your talking about things I’ve never heard of before, this does sound advanced. Any other things on your stack?

> Hmmm, never heard of adding NAC. And do you supplement magnesium too? > Your talking about things I’ve never heard of before, this does sound advanced. Any other things on your stack? The original article mentioned how society has determined it is "not okay for people with already-fine concentration to use it to become superhuman". The way you talk about this, though. Being impressed about someone's "advanced stack…

This whole sports doping analogy with adderall is stupid.

Yeah you performed better. That's life. Quit the moralistic bullshit and appreciate the better work people did.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#178

Post by adderaldecade »

emodendroket wrote: post #165
fragmede wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming the company is doing well, financially, it's not zero-sum if there's enough money for everyone to get a salary increase.

How does that work out for cost centers?

It doesn't, because you've already failed at branding yourself.

You need to emphasize how the code you write brings in a fuck ton of money like the sales guys you do.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#179

Post by tr0ut »

AJ007 wrote: post #49

Any other managers notice that workers on Adderall will spend enormous amounts of time on totally non-productive or completely unrelated tasks?

Yes absolutely. Not a manager but I noticed this. I think there is also a state of mania involved. While not on these drugs you have a better sense of what is worth effort rather than this euphoric feeling of doing anything for the sake of it.

Adderall and the like are not magic pills that make the most important work/tasks get done first and effectively.

Re: Adderall Risks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

#180

Post by tr0ut »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #158
zschuessler wrote: post #51

If anyone here reading this needs the motivation or gentle reminder: you might not need Adderall anymore. I've used it to get ahead in software for the past ~8 years. I recently gave it up, but it was hard to realize that it was time. It might be time for you, too. The thing holding me back was fear. Fear I wasn't enough, that I couldn't be efficient. That I would get fired from my high position. Or even if I could m…

I'll be honest, but I find it very hard to believe that amphetamines can really enhance your cognitive skills. I'm talking from second-hand experience only, but it's pretty clear to me that they can have the effect of making you feel like you're smarter, faster, leaner, better- but this feeling is just a side effect of taking the drug, and does not reflect a real improvement. I can believe that the drugs can help som…

I agree with you. If anything I believe the amount of people these drugs assist is actually a tiny fraction.
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