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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

#41

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.

But it does work like that, and drug tolerance is why you can eat a 30mg XR and be normal and I would be flying off anything more than 5-10mg IR.

Adderall has a lot of utility for regular people, it works exactly like caffeine. Eventually all that dopamine from the amphetamines is going to ruin all your receptors, hth.

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

#42
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 0 sugar > I drink raw milk You'd have to drink milk in tiny quantities; I'd be astonished if raw vs processed makes a difference if so.

I mentioned raw milk not in reference for "0 sugar". Just mentioned normally that I try and keep away from processed food, drugs, medications etc.

Still seems weird that in avoiding sugar, you're going as far as not eating fruit, but you still have milk.

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

#43

"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…

As I understand it ADHA is one of those spectrum conditions like Dyslexia so a single diagnostic test may not be enough. For example I have a stellar reading ability but my written work and spelling is awful.

I've often wondered if Dyslexia and attention deficit disorders are connected and/or occur together. I was diagnosed with Dyslexia when I was quite young but it was before the greater awareness of AD-disorders. I've not tried Adderall but have tried Modafinil which worked as advertised.

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

#44

Just out of curiosity: do you ever stop and think/ask why ADD or ADHD exist only in the US? How could such a condition be so frequent yet only present in just one country?

Adderall is very much present in Europe as well. So is Ritalin.

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

#46
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're "ADHD" it affects having fun just as much as working - imagine you can't finish a book and you can't hold down a conversation with a stranger long enough to start dating them. There are pretty universal subconscious skills medication improves here.

This is what I have to explain to people, my ADHD doesn't only apply to things I don't want to do. Things like not being able to watch a movie, or even play some video games without missing huge parts of the story, or sitting through a conversation with a group of friends trying to constantly "catch up" to a topic that I missed a few minutes ago, or trying to be self aware enough to not change the subject on people t…

I had held off getting tested for ADHD because I was convinced I was just lazy and didn't like schoolwork but once I noticed I couldn't play a single videogame for more than 15 minutes at a time and had to do something else, I got myself tested and ultimately diagnosed.

I still remember the first day I took the medication, it was like somebody finally turned off a white noise machine in my brain and I could finally do all the things I've wanted to do.

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

#47

I felt extremely sad on taking Adderall and other similar stimulant medications like Ritalin. Maybe the sadness effect would have gotten less with continuing the medicine, but overall, I didn't feel like taking drugs since they cause a lot of other side effects like insomnia. Now I've been able to control my ADHD successfully. Atleast upto the point that it has stopped affecting my life and career so much. a) 0 sugar…

Another thing that can help is doing a yoga class once a week. I found the 3h0 Kundalini yoga to be the most helpful. But eliminating sugar is a big one too there are many ways in which we unintentionally expose our self to everyday food items that can induce ADD states.

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

#48
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like an odd test. Of course everybody will score better on a concentration test while on medication for concentration.

They want to measure the benefits of medication.

That’s missing the point. ADHD meds make everybody concentrate better, regardless of whether the person actually has ADHD.

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

#50
post #6
post #4

I really, really wish there was more discussion of this. This is something that is very present in my life and the lives of people I have worked with, but nobody talks about it. The two things that really stick out for me are the existential implications of taking a pill that rewires your brain, and the inevitable intersection of that with one's career choices.

I don't take adderall, but I'm not too convinced by the concerns listed here. The drug seems far less risky than alcohol on all counts, and I'm pretty sure all amphetamine users are aware that their playing with some sort of fire. I think the compelling question is why people feel so compelled to take a pill to sell their souls to a rat race? Seems like an almost Huxleyan Prisoner's Dilemma to me.

"I think the compelling question is why people feel so compelled to take a pill to sell their souls to a rat race?"

There seems to be an implicit assumption in your question that refers to adults. What about the growing number of people, diagnosed and treated as children or young adults before they really have an agency in the matter?

Some U.S. based statistics on diagnoses for different https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/radical-increase-in-kids-prescrib... https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/slaits/nsch.htm

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