251–260 of 261 posts
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I was prescribed approximately 25mg daily Adderall for 7 or 8 years, so here's my anecdotal answer to your questions... > I still remember my friend who had a prescription for ADHD -medication, > and they cut off this medication, and he couldn't do nothing but sleep > for 3 weeks almost. Wow. That is really irresponsible of them to cut him off so suddenly. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I definitely had a "crash" i…
Mind if I ask why you stopped using it? And do you plan to start again?
Also to be honest I found modafinil to be a lot more effective.
I don't see myself going back onto Adderall. I wouldn't rule it out, but it doesn't appeal to me right now.
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I was prescribed approximately 25mg daily Adderall for 7 or 8 years, so here's my anecdotal answer to your questions... > I still remember my friend who had a prescription for ADHD -medication, > and they cut off this medication, and he couldn't do nothing but sleep > for 3 weeks almost. Wow. That is really irresponsible of them to cut him off so suddenly. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I definitely had a "crash" i…
Thank you for your well put answer. I have no experience with amphetamines, but have been thinking about this subject, but it's not something that is exactly being talked about in public. Sometimes I even felt it a little bit unfair as a programmer, that I am competing with people who are medicated. But I don't think like this anymore. And yes, I agree on the doing less is more, with highly intelligent tasks you just…
But now that I've been on both sides of the fence I can safely say that it's not a big advantage. If programming was a footrace... on a long term basis I'd say that Adderall is more like a knee brace than a pair of roller skates.
On a short-term basis it can be different. The first time you take it, you might be able to pull a very effective all-nighter. But you will have to catch up on sleep eventually. Much like caffeine, a person's body adapts to Adderall very quickly. There's no free gains with this stuff.
The ideal usage pattern for Adderall might actually be closer to "take it sparingly 2 or 3 times a month" rather than "take it every single day."
Why does this article describe these stimulants as "narcotics"? They are neither opioids nor illegal when prescribed, so it seems like a needlessly provocative, and factually incorrect, description.
Because the authoritarian state uses an in-language to signal virtue, overstepping denotations. These are the same people who call non-cops "civilians."
I can't help but ask myself whether we should be wondering why Americans can't make it without drug-modified behavior, or whether this is better or worse than alternatives such as cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, etc. Humans in societies have been chemically altering their moods since we discovered mood-altering chemicals. Stress occurs inside and outside civilized workforces, and people take measures to mitigate stres…
Anecdotally I think Europeans are more likely to self medicate with alcohol and cigarettes rather than prescription pills which are more common in the USA. In my experience the culture around having a few drinks after work and even having the occasional cigarette is far more relaxed in the European countries I've been to than just about anywhere in the USA. But as I've said, I have zero evidence that any of this is e…
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> Robert Whitaker [1], author of Mad in America and Anatomy of an Epidemic, has looked into these matters, and concluded that the medications make people's conditions worse. Sure, I agree that the school isn't making it any better but lashing out against the things that work in lessening the pain given our current theoretical overload? Remember, we don't need to go further back than my childhood before woodworking an…
> Banning or further restricting [...] the best solutions we have doesn't sound like something I would support. The solutions offered by the medical profession are far from the best solutions we have, they're what are profitable for the medical-industrial establishment to offer.
I'm all ears: Tell me about it because I know someone who really did try without and would be happy if there was a better way.
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My doctor told me to redose in the evening if I'm going to a social gathering, and it changed my interactions completely. Instead of writing myself off with shots until I can handle the social side, I am able to carry conversations, am not overwhelmed by the stimulus (imagine trying to have a conversation, while playing pinball and reading a book in a loud room). It was a huge factor in breaking a drinking problem, w…
May I ask which meds you take now? You sound similar to me. I'd like to know what to ask my doctor about.
I take 2x5mg Dexamphetamine tablets in the morning (8am) and another 1x5mg around lunch (1pm).
I started (switching from Concerta) on 2 and 2, but asked to drop the later dose as it seems to top me up enough to finish the work day and handle the bulk of my evening (cooking, etc...)
The Dex works far better for me than Ritalin / Concerta, but I've heard good and bad for both. Keep your doctor in the loop for everything, and listen to what they say (eg. I brought up and planned my lower dosage, rather than just doing it), and bring up any issues as early as possible.
Don't try to fix side effects with other medications, keep the chemical intake as simple as possible. I had to spend more time on diet and sleeping habbits than anything else, but it was worth the effort and discipline.
If my diet and sleep are in check, I can manage a day without medication (relying on a detailed plan/schedule) here and there, or keep momentum up to make progress into the night.
If I burn myself out for a couple days, no amount of medication could help.
Hope that was some sort of help, good luck mastering your "mental skillness" :)
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My doctor told me to redose in the evening if I'm going to a social gathering, and it changed my interactions completely. Instead of writing myself off with shots until I can handle the social side, I am able to carry conversations, am not overwhelmed by the stimulus (imagine trying to have a conversation, while playing pinball and reading a book in a loud room). It was a huge factor in breaking a drinking problem, w…
Presumably if you re-dosed in the evening you would be up very late the next morning, or did it not affect you like that?
My dosage is pretty low (see my other reply), and I'll usually only take another 1x5mg which seems to 'top up' the previous dose for around 6 hours. EDIT: I believe they are considered 'quick release', described as active for 4 hours, though I seem to wind down after 5. (then I get a bit fuzzy for an hour, cant hold a conversation easily, focus gets locked on tasks I'm working on, etc...)
The general effect definitely makes me more alert, but doesn't keep me awake. On weekends, I'll often have a nap after my second dose, its like my mind clears enough to settle and without purposefully taking in new stimulus, it relaxes and I drift off. Some people describe the same with Caffeine.
As a side note, I drink coffee if I want to wake up / stay up late. Caffeine seems to turn off the part of my brain that says "fall asleep", increases my heart rate a little, but thats about it. My dex on the other hand, seems to raise everything a lot more evenly. It doesn't affect any one thing more than the others.
I'd describe Caffeine as a "dirty" feeling stimulant, and Dex as very "clean", as an anecdotal, personal comparison.
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I take melatonin every day, and I find my ideal time to take it is about an hour before bed. I take a small dose (1mg), which seems plenty, and in fact in the past I took half of that. People vary. You can buy tablets with ridiculously large doses, and I definitely would not recommend taking those regularly.
I've noticed that in addition to becoming more expensive, over the past few years, it's started coming in really high dosages at retail outlets (drug stores, etc). The cost difference makes it silly for me to buy a bottle of 90 1mg tablets for $10 instead of the bottle of 90 5mg tablets for $13 so I get the higher dosage and just snap bits off of them to swallow. I've seen bottles at our local Rite Aid with 10mg tabl…
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I use Ritalin to treat my ADHD and that was my reaction as well. I have developed a thick skin over the years to the FUD around amphetamines. I can also see how dangerous it could be taking a drug like this without getting the dosage calculated right. Interestingly a pretty prolific mathematician, Paul Erdős used amphetamines [1]. Not sure which one(s) though. I don't think he had a prescription but I think it worked…
And why was this downvoted? There certainly is a whole lot of FUD around drugs, even completely legal ones like R.