4 ms·

as someone who's prescribed amphetamine (i.e. adderall) for [inattentive] ADHD, and have also tried meth-amphetamine, I just want to point out that those are tw

as someone who's prescribed amphetamine (i.e. adderall) for [inattentive] ADHD, and have also tried meth-amphetamine, I just want to point out that those are two very different drugs as far as effects and potency go. Methamphetamine is so strong, I honestly couldn't even tolerate small amounts of the stuff. The few times I've tried it just resulted in dehydration, headaches, and muscle aches, easily outweighing any cognitive effects it had (which weren't even really more noticeable than regular amphetamine's effects for me). Cocaine isn't as bad, but still a bit too much for me as well. Regular amphetamine on the other hand, the compound this article is about, has given me quite a noticeable improvement in my quality of life. Results do vary even among us adhd people, but for me, I've never experienced anything worse than staying up a bit later than I would like from taking it. Otherwise it just feels like drinking a really strong cup of tea for me, cause even coffee makes me more jittery. So the research in this article doesn't surprise me too much, but it's always nice to have some extra reassurance against all the anti-adhd-medication propaganda that originally made me paranoid about even trying it back when I was first diagnosed.

meowface 10y ago
Low recreational doses of dextroamphetamine also give me dehydration, headaches, and muscle aches if I'm not properly hydrated or haven't eaten in a while. So that might've played a role. Methamphetamine is proven to be more neurotoxic than amphetamine even when accounting for its extra potency, though, so it should ideally only be taken infrequently, in very low doses, or not at all. There are some neuroprotective substances you can take beforehand to mitigate the damage, but it's probably not worth it.
- dfsegoat 10y ago
  As a general rule in pharmacology: putting a methyl- group on any molecule increases its ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier and have increased psychoactivity (and neurotoxicity): METH-amphetmaine N-METHyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) di-METHYL-tryptamine (DMT) etc
dfsegoat 10y ago
Same case here. Back this assessment 100%. I was prescribed desoxyn once back in the 90s -- it is methamphetamine, and my body could not handle it. The Adderall IR tablets however (30mg bid) - i have no problem with tolerating - and would venture to say that my functional life would be difficult without it - I certainly could not be a software engineer and probably would have never even finished my degree.
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  Why were you prescribed Desoxyn if you're able to function with 30mg of Adderall? That's not at all an unreasonably high dose. Desoxyn is usually only prescribed when the dosage by weight of Adderall would be too high.
  - dfsegoat 10y ago
    I said my dose was 30mg bid - twice per day. The other part of it was the physician was quite literally, old - and I questioned his ability to practice medicine at that point -- the same guy prescribed methadone to a friend of mine for migraines. I've never heard of anyone else being prescribed Desoxyn.
    - chimeracoder 10y ago
      That's a high dose, but not unusually or dangerously high (depending on what condition was being treated, since you didn't specify). I'm surprised that you were able to obtain Desoxyn given that - it's usually tried as a 'last resort' medication, partially because doctors are hesitant to prescribe something that's under even more scrutiny than other Schedule II drugs.
  - danneu 10y ago
    30mg instant release is a pretty high dose of Adderall as opposed to 30mg extended release. I can't think of a single upside of IR over XR unless you use it recreationally and want that steep curve.
chimeracoder 10y ago
> I just want to point out that those are two very different drugs as far as effects and potency go. Eh, you were probably experiencing the effects of improper dosing (as well as - I'm assuming - different means of ingestion). Methamphetamine is just amphetamine with an additional methyl group, which makes it cross the blood-brain barrier more easily, and means that a lower dosage by weight is necessary for the same outcome. Methamphetamine is metabolized almost identically to amphetamine, which means that the pharmacokinetic impact is the same. The main difference is that methamphetamine is generally smoked (or occasionally snorted and injected), whereas amphetamine is prescribed orally. Also, unless you were prescribed Desoxyn, there's the other question of how pure and reliable the methamphetamine is, and what other compounds were present.
- marknutter 10y ago
  Thank for clearing up such a common misconception. The misinformation flying around about drugs and drug use these days is disheartening.
- axlprose 10y ago
  > you were probably experiencing the effects of improper dosing (as well as - I'm assuming - different means of ingestion) For the dosing, you're probably right, since I didn't have a milligram scale at the time, but I tried to eyeball a portion similar to half of an adderall tablet, since the entire reason I tried it in the first place was to make that comparison. As for the ingestion method, I tried to keep it the same as I would take any other medication and quickly washed it down with water, however it being a powder makes it harder to guarantee none of it was absorbed sublingually, though I've also tried adderall that way, and the effects were still not that intense. Anyways, I am aware how similar the two compounds, I just tried to highlight the effect differences, since that's usually what gets people up in arms about drugs.
  - earcaraxe 10y ago
    An Adderall tablet is mostly binders. The actual amount of it that is amphetamine is nowhere near the size that you see.

meowface 10y ago

Low recreational doses of dextroamphetamine also give me dehydration, headaches, and muscle aches if I'm not properly hydrated or haven't eaten in a while. So that might've played a role. Methamphetamine is proven to be more neurotoxic than amphetamine even when accounting for its extra potency, though, so it should ideally only be taken infrequently, in very low doses, or not at all. There are some neuroprotective substances you can take beforehand to mitigate the damage, but it's probably not worth it.

dfsegoat 10y ago
As a general rule in pharmacology: putting a methyl- group on any molecule increases its ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier and have increased psychoactivity (and neurotoxicity): METH-amphetmaine N-METHyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) di-METHYL-tryptamine (DMT) etc

dfsegoat 10y ago

Same case here. Back this assessment 100%. I was prescribed desoxyn once back in the 90s -- it is methamphetamine, and my body could not handle it. The Adderall IR tablets however (30mg bid) - i have no problem with tolerating - and would venture to say that my functional life would be difficult without it - I certainly could not be a software engineer and probably would have never even finished my degree.

chimeracoder 10y ago
Why were you prescribed Desoxyn if you're able to function with 30mg of Adderall? That's not at all an unreasonably high dose. Desoxyn is usually only prescribed when the dosage by weight of Adderall would be too high.
- dfsegoat 10y ago
  I said my dose was 30mg bid - twice per day. The other part of it was the physician was quite literally, old - and I questioned his ability to practice medicine at that point -- the same guy prescribed methadone to a friend of mine for migraines. I've never heard of anyone else being prescribed Desoxyn.
  - chimeracoder 10y ago
    That's a high dose, but not unusually or dangerously high (depending on what condition was being treated, since you didn't specify). I'm surprised that you were able to obtain Desoxyn given that - it's usually tried as a 'last resort' medication, partially because doctors are hesitant to prescribe something that's under even more scrutiny than other Schedule II drugs.
- danneu 10y ago
  30mg instant release is a pretty high dose of Adderall as opposed to 30mg extended release. I can't think of a single upside of IR over XR unless you use it recreationally and want that steep curve.

chimeracoder 10y ago

> I just want to point out that those are two very different drugs as far as effects and potency go. Eh, you were probably experiencing the effects of improper dosing (as well as - I'm assuming - different means of ingestion). Methamphetamine is just amphetamine with an additional methyl group, which makes it cross the blood-brain barrier more easily, and means that a lower dosage by weight is necessary for the same outcome. Methamphetamine is metabolized almost identically to amphetamine, which means that the pharmacokinetic impact is the same. The main difference is that methamphetamine is generally smoked (or occasionally snorted and injected), whereas amphetamine is prescribed orally. Also, unless you were prescribed Desoxyn, there's the other question of how pure and reliable the methamphetamine is, and what other compounds were present.

marknutter 10y ago
Thank for clearing up such a common misconception. The misinformation flying around about drugs and drug use these days is disheartening.
axlprose 10y ago
> you were probably experiencing the effects of improper dosing (as well as - I'm assuming - different means of ingestion) For the dosing, you're probably right, since I didn't have a milligram scale at the time, but I tried to eyeball a portion similar to half of an adderall tablet, since the entire reason I tried it in the first place was to make that comparison. As for the ingestion method, I tried to keep it the same as I would take any other medication and quickly washed it down with water, however it being a powder makes it harder to guarantee none of it was absorbed sublingually, though I've also tried adderall that way, and the effects were still not that intense. Anyways, I am aware how similar the two compounds, I just tried to highlight the effect differences, since that's usually what gets people up in arms about drugs.
- earcaraxe 10y ago
  An Adderall tablet is mostly binders. The actual amount of it that is amphetamine is nowhere near the size that you see.