11 ms·

I've been on Adderall for 5 years ... I'm 43 right now. It really HAS changed my life. What I've found is that over the long term you're able to perform much

I've been on Adderall for 5 years ... I'm 43 right now. It really HAS changed my life. What I've found is that over the long term you're able to perform much much better. By the time I was in my 30s I had developed coping skills which worked for the most part but I would find myself getting demotivated and defocused sometimes on long term priorities and sometimes unable to recommit to them. Adderall totally changed that. I'm able to focus on tasks long term AND even if something bad happens in my life I'm able to keep right on track. It's also helped me stay more positive knowing that projects get completed and there's nothing preventing me from accomplishing what I want to accomplish. There are some downsides though: - Adderall is illegal in most countries so you're not even allowed to travel with it in some places. I didn't really know this at first and I wish they would tell you. Most countries will overlook it but if you're China they could totally use it as an excuse to harass you if they wanted. - It's very addictive. If I forget my meds it's basically impossible to function. - It's VERY hard to get since it's a controlled substance. I'm only able to get it 72 hours ahead of time and if they're out of stock sometimes I have to wait. DO NOT wait until the last minute. Get it as early as possible. - Some people have problems with off brands of XR (extended release) that has a different formulation. There's no standardization on the XR process and I think it's vendor specific.

dr_dshiv 6y ago
You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. When I think about that, it's kind of mind blowing. For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. It's just a cultural trope that it stunts growth, etc. It took ages before people recognized that there weren't really health downsides to coffee. We are so trained to expect that "every up has a down" — but what if that's just a relic of Calvinism and we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears?
- kqr 6y ago
  > You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. This is a null hypothesis that hasn't been refuted due to lack of evidence, and not an alternative hypothesis that has been proven by evidence, right? I ask because I've been looking into this before, and from what I remember there was virtually no evidence on long term use in reasonable amounts. (There is evidence on short term use in reasonable amounts, and long term use in unreasonable amounts, though.)
  - dr_dshiv 6y ago
    Well, it's scientifically difficult to randomly assign people and assess effects for multiple decades. So the ideal evidence won't be available. But if we accept a "nutrition science" level of evidence, then I'd say there is strong evidence showing the naturalistic longterm use of adhd meds is not dangerous. Especially considering our baysian prior: a person off the street would estimate far stronger negative effects of taking speed every single day. In fact, adhd meds are correlated with healthier outcomes (of course, huge selection effects. Yes, eating kale will be associated with increased health, but it isn't causal) Here is the best recent review that I know of: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X12001988?casa_token=JTFfFAAPMioAAAAA:CmPJ3Prrcnw3XctpMa-W-ZtKvg7-dhI37Jo4BjBRKIDgLPXi1c6-JGrcuWmAHUMZkJLd2-Smn0Q https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X1... I'd love to know your take.
    - whimsicalism 6y ago
      > In fact, adhd meds are correlated with healthier outcomes (of course, huge selection effects. Yes, eating kale will be associated with increased health, but it isn't causal) Yeah, I'd say p much impossible to untangle there without experimental evidence.
- acituan 6y ago
  > we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus > we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears? I'll argue with the assumption that there is zero long term psychobiological consequences to exogenous psychostimulants (I personally don't buy this, but let's assume it was true). Increasing focus and task salience is only one of the many factors constitutive of human potential. They never give the answer for what to focus on, or whether a task is worth it or not, and rob the person of the opportunity for developing frustration tolerance. They turn people into indiscriminate doing machines, with little wisdom to guide it. Makes one think if prescription amphetamines being as widespread among plumbers as software engineers is truly a coincidence. I will argue this is because our bioeconomics, our not wanting to do things is also part of our wisdom machinery. Having used for half a decade myself, I can spot some collogues who are on amphetamines; unnecessarily assertive, obsessed with orderliness of code, constantly in need of refactoring, huge bias for action with diminished wisdom to temper it (Well, also pees a lot.). There is a reason they are not being used by fighter pilots anymore because they can get too cocky and make decisions that kill their own. No wonder everything looks like a good idea when your brain is swimming in dopamine and norepinephrine, but when everything looks like a good idea, how do you find what is the right thing to do in the medium/long term? Is that really the human potential? I would argue far from it. I think it is just enhancing the potential for a particular job description that requires you to sit on your bum all day and plumb boring stuff someone else tells you to.
  - justinko 6y ago
    I’ve read a lot of comments around amphetamines. This is probably my favorite. Amps turn you into a drone. Any perceived benefit is met with equal or greater detriment.
  - sam1r 6y ago
    +1 thanks for this
  - ditonal 6y ago
    Feels like every week someone here is touting the idea of ADHD meds being this solution, all these people are just undiagnosed, there’s an unfair stigma against, and I feel compelled to bring up that I bought into that thinking, got a legit diagnosis and took meds as prescribed, they triggered mania in me and nearly ruined my life. I tick all the ADHD boxes but I managed to make it through college without meds so never should have started. Psychiatry is broken and handing out prescription amphetamines to everyone who can’t focus is as bad as an idea as it initially sounds.
- Inception 6y ago
  > For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. Might as well, we already load them up with sugar, which does have known side-effects. Sarcasm aside, maybe not a direct negative side effect, but if you suffer from poor sleep, drinking too much coffee or drinking coffee too late in the day has correlation and lack of sleep certainly has negative side-effect. Personally, I'll keep my kids off coffee and other drugs until they're old enough to buy it themselves.
- jm4 6y ago
  In some cultures it's common to give kids coffee. My parents didn't give me coffee when I was a kid but my wife's parents started giving it to her at an early age. My kids both drink coffee. My older one started on black coffee when he was 2. It's just a routine part of his day. Coffee at breakfast and then at cafecito in the afternoon.
  - ytwySXpMbS 6y ago
    Coffee has been shown to reduce the length and quality of REM sleep, which is very important for early brain development. Read the relevant section in ‘Why We Sleep’ and you may change your mind.
- winter_blue 6y ago
  > You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. Wow, that is truly amazing. I'm glad to learn about that. I notice a slight depression if I stop taking my ADHD meds for a few days (perhaps up to a week), but after that I'm back to my old (ADHD-driven) self. So in a sense, it's not addictive at all. The depression can tempt one to get back on it, but that's about it. One side effect of Adderall though is ED, and it's pretty bad. I guess it depends on the person, but for me, the ED was quite bad. The ED does go away after getting off of it.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    > So in a sense, it's not addictive at all. You definitely have a withdrawal from adderall. A few days (up to a week) is typical of most drug withdrawals.
  - shajznnckfke 6y ago
    > One side effect of Adderall though is ED, and it's pretty bad. I guess it depends on the person, but for me, the ED was quite bad. The ED does go away after getting off of it. The drugs for that are very easy to get these days - you can get a prescription online by taking a survey and the pills will be mailed to you without ever talking to a human.
    - olyjohn 6y ago
      They are also ridiculously expensive.
      - shajznnckfke 6y ago
        The big popular ones that advertise (Hims and Roman) are very overpriced. I found Blink Health sells a generic version for much cheaper ($2 a pill).
    - winter_blue 6y ago
      Well, the drugs for ED (e.g. Sildenafil) are quite bad / not really good for your health. It's probably a lot better in the long-run to use exercise as a cure for ADHD. (Instead of slamming your system with drugs upon drugs. With one drug taken to mitigate another's side effects, etc.)
- gameswithgo 6y ago
  increased impulsiveness and sleep quality are know negative impacts
- didibus 6y ago
  Some children are given coke, pepsi, mountain due or other soda drinks with high caffeine content.
  - monkpit 6y ago
    > Most Ok
    - didibus 6y ago
      Fair point, I have no idea of the real numbers, so I edited to say "some". My point was more to say that there are other beverages and foods with high caffeine contents, so when you take them all into account, there's probably more children being given caffeine then we think.
  - olyjohn 6y ago
    None of those drinks have anywhere near the caffeine of coffee, though. An energy drink of some kind probably does though.
    - jiofih 6y ago
      That’s not true. ~100mg in a cup of coffee, 40mg in an espresso shot, the same 40mg in a can of Coca-Cola (and ~60mg in Diet Coke).
      - smileybarry 6y ago
        Caffeine in an espresso shot (and conversely one cappuccino) is ~63-77mg[1], and one can of Coca-Cola & Diet is 32mg & 42mg[2]. [1] Nespresso is 63mg (5g of coffee), "average" espresso is 77mg (7g of coffee) https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso [2] https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ingredients/caffeine/the-caffeine-in-your-can https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ingredients/caffeine/the-caffein...
        didibus 6y ago
- muxamilian 6y ago
  I drank coffee for several years (around 4 cups a day, not later than 4pm) and suffered from insomnia and didn’t know the origin. Since I stopped caffeine intake, my insomnia is basically gone and I feel a lot more functional because of better sleep. So my impression (yeah I have to admit it’s a study of size 1) is rather that caffeine is more dangerous than I thought.
  - charliemil4 6y ago
    I wonder what it means if I can drink 4 espressos before bed and sleep like a baby... does anyone have research on caffeine metabolisms and ADHD / other diagnoses?
    - toyg 6y ago
      Not everyone is the same. I have heard of drug addicts who could only drop heroin by replacing it with massive amounts of highly-caffeinated energy drinks, in quantities that would be objectively bad for most regular folks.
      - charliemil4 6y ago
        Wow that explains a friend’s monster energy intake
      - nullsense 6y ago
        I only managed to drop drinking a shit tonne of Red Bull once I started Ritalin.
    - muxamilian 6y ago
      Yeah I know several people who tell me the same like you... Again not proper science but it seems that caffeine tolerance and metabolism is quite different from person to person.
- LordFred 6y ago
  Ok, I'll try to jump in here. a) There are downsides to coffee. I know of a clinical neurologist (Steve Novella) who, when working with a patient with chronic headaches, will always ask "how much coffee do you drink." Always remember, if a "medicine" is doing good, it will have side effects. Period. Note that homeopaths simply love going on about how homeopathy doesn't have any side effects - spoiler, that's because it's not actually doing anything at a physical level. b) Yes, daily use of stimulants in people with ADHD has been show to be pretty much ok. In fact, there are studies showing that kids who are not medicated are more likely to end up as substance abusers, largely because they're self medicating (remember, drug abuse is a symptom++). However, the kids who were treated with stimulants? No more risk than their neuro-typical peers. c) The above says NOTHING WHATSOEVER about neuro-typicals taking it daily. ++ Source: my partner, currently doing her neuro-psych masters on addiction.
bg4 6y ago
I started taking it in my late 30s for ADD and it was life changing. Over time though it was making me super angry so I stopped taking it. I now focus on sleep and exercise but my career really accelerated while I was taking it.
- robinreekers 6y ago
  Same here. Super angry about some random guy wearing a blue sweater that I didn’t like for example. It made no sense to me why I was that angry, but it went away after quitting... I was seriously afraid to kill somebody if I would continue taking it.
  - WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
    I got like that on Ritalin & quit stims for 10 years. After that 10, I tried amphetamine which blew holes in my persistent brain fog. I went on Adderall and (as we've often heard) it changed my life. I'm not advocating you change a regimen that is obviously working for you. I'm just adding another possible plotline to that same story.
- heimatau 6y ago
  I was on prozac with adderall and I have uncontrollable anger. I immediately got off of it. The problem might be with adderall or the mixture (if you're taking other meds).
n4gN1 6y ago
Do you take the XR version or do you take regular adderall? I've taken regular adderall on and off for the last 10 years. It helped me so much in the past but I started to feel very fatigued by it. These days I have an extremely difficult time focusing and have been contemplating going back on it.
skissane 6y ago
> Some people have problems with off brands of XR (extended release) that has a different formulation. There's no standardization on the XR process and I think it's vendor specific. “Aderall” is a mixture of dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine, in a 3:1 ratio. Unlike some other drugs, both enantiomers have a therapeutic effect, but slightly different effects on the brain. If one takes pure dextroamphetamine (“Dexedrine”) instead, that is also available as an inactive prodrug lisdexamfetamine (“Vyvanse”). This is different from an XR formulation, in that the drug is absorbed immediately, but lisdexamfetamine itself has no effect on the brain. However, enzymes in your red blood cells gradually convert the lisdexamfetamine to dexamphetamine. The advantage of this, is unlike an XR formulation, there should be no difference between different manufacturers.
- zylent 6y ago
  I’m currently switching to Vyvanse after 10+ years using adderall. There is no generic formulation (at least in the us) because it came to market in 2007. I’ve had several issues with inconsistent adderall from various generic manufacturers and that issue simply isn’t possible right now with Vyvanse. The downside is, it’s $400 a month without insurance, and $100 a month with good insurance. Because it’s basically dextroamphetamine with a lysine molecule taped on, the psychoactive effects are really similar, but I’d describe it as cleaner if that makes sense. The “killer feature” of the enzymatic release is it’s basically a fixed timing, whereas with XR formulations of Adderall you have a 50/50 blend of immediate and delayed release 3:1 amphetamines. I believe you are correct, it’s not standardized. This, combined with the acids / bases both hurting overall blood levels (think grapefruit juice) means you just have a wildly inconsistent time over long term use of the medicine. For example, I’ve had pharmacies change generics on me without saying anything, I’ve had an inability to get my preferred generics, and I’ve had days where it’s felt like I took nothing at all. The worst are Nuvo and Mallinckrodt in my experience (IR 10mg 2x/day). I’ve only been using Vyvanse for a week or so, but I can say it’s a marked improvement for me and the lack of a generic is a huge boon with regards to consistency.
  - skissane 6y ago
    > Vyvanse. The downside is, it’s $400 a month without insurance, and $100 a month with good insurance. Here in Australia, one month supply (30 tablets) costs 30 USD. The Australian government subsidises prescriptions for all Australian citizens and permanent residents. I believe the actual cost, prior to the subsidy, is around 85 USD. The government negotiates prices with the pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the prices it negotiates are generally less than those that US insurers pay. Manufacturers generally accept less revenue for the Australian market, since if they can't get it subsidised by the Australian government it becomes quite difficult to sell it here.
Baeocystin 6y ago
I literally just got diagnosed with adult ADD a month ago. I'm 46! It... explains a lot of things, both for better and for worse. I never even realized I was developing coping skills vs. just developing normal skills, if that makes sense. I definitely have had the same types of problems as you describe. I've been on Ritalin for a few weeks now, and the difference is remarkable. If this is how normal people feel most of the time, I don't know... I am both relieved to have a name for what was causing me problems, and also feel the need to grieve lost opportunities in life. It's a complex mix of emotions.
- summitsummit 6y ago
  > I never even realized I was developing coping skills vs. just developing normal skills do you have some examples? i suspect the majority of mine are the former
  - Baeocystin 6y ago
    Sure. I'm happy to share individually, but I don't really want to post them on a public board. My email's in my profile if you want.
    - purplecats 6y ago
      how do i see it in your profile?
      - Baeocystin 6y ago
        It, uh, helps that I make sure it's visible to others first. Sorry about that. Please check my profile again.
- stormbrew 6y ago
  I'm a little bit younger, and pretty much the same on all of this (except vyvanse for me). I really wish I'd figured it out in my teens or twenties. Also, every time a post on here comes up about elaborate methods of achieving focus the comments are full of people typical-minding what really might actually be ADHD (the whole "everyone is like this right?" thing) and I'm just sitting there like.. maybe you should look into this it probably shouldn't be that hard. Of course if you post that you get a bunch of replies from people who insist that, "no, actually, it's cell phones' fault" or that it's totally normal to absolutely loathe doing any mundane task.
nullsense 6y ago
>Adderall totally changed that. I'm able to focus on tasks long term AND even if something bad happens in my life I'm able to keep right on track That sounds amazing. I can't even imagine that. I've just been diagnosed at 32 this year. Been on Ritalin for a few months but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Maybe 3% better. Things going bad still derails me significantly. They're fairly conservative with meds in my neck of the woods, but I'm going to persist with my doctor to try them all to find what works. The struggle to push through actually going through all the phone calls, emails and appointments necessary to get to that point is very un-ADHD friendly. So many times I considered just to give up and forget about it.
- AuryGlenz 6y ago
  I have a friend that I’m positive has ADD. He agrees with me it’s a possibility but it stops there. He was even given stimulants by someone but he hasn’t tried them. He’s not opposed to it, but he’s so bad he never gets around to popping that pill. Actually setting up a doctor appointment is never going to happen. He’s 33 and has been in college since graduating high school and still doesn’t have a degree, and he’s actually quite intelligent.

dr_dshiv 6y ago

You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. When I think about that, it's kind of mind blowing. For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. It's just a cultural trope that it stunts growth, etc. It took ages before people recognized that there weren't really health downsides to coffee. We are so trained to expect that "every up has a down" — but what if that's just a relic of Calvinism and we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears?

kqr 6y ago
> You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. This is a null hypothesis that hasn't been refuted due to lack of evidence, and not an alternative hypothesis that has been proven by evidence, right? I ask because I've been looking into this before, and from what I remember there was virtually no evidence on long term use in reasonable amounts. (There is evidence on short term use in reasonable amounts, and long term use in unreasonable amounts, though.)
- dr_dshiv 6y ago
  Well, it's scientifically difficult to randomly assign people and assess effects for multiple decades. So the ideal evidence won't be available. But if we accept a "nutrition science" level of evidence, then I'd say there is strong evidence showing the naturalistic longterm use of adhd meds is not dangerous. Especially considering our baysian prior: a person off the street would estimate far stronger negative effects of taking speed every single day. In fact, adhd meds are correlated with healthier outcomes (of course, huge selection effects. Yes, eating kale will be associated with increased health, but it isn't causal) Here is the best recent review that I know of: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X12001988?casa_token=JTFfFAAPMioAAAAA:CmPJ3Prrcnw3XctpMa-W-ZtKvg7-dhI37Jo4BjBRKIDgLPXi1c6-JGrcuWmAHUMZkJLd2-Smn0Q https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X1... I'd love to know your take.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    > In fact, adhd meds are correlated with healthier outcomes (of course, huge selection effects. Yes, eating kale will be associated with increased health, but it isn't causal) Yeah, I'd say p much impossible to untangle there without experimental evidence.
acituan 6y ago
> we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus > we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears? I'll argue with the assumption that there is zero long term psychobiological consequences to exogenous psychostimulants (I personally don't buy this, but let's assume it was true). Increasing focus and task salience is only one of the many factors constitutive of human potential. They never give the answer for what to focus on, or whether a task is worth it or not, and rob the person of the opportunity for developing frustration tolerance. They turn people into indiscriminate doing machines, with little wisdom to guide it. Makes one think if prescription amphetamines being as widespread among plumbers as software engineers is truly a coincidence. I will argue this is because our bioeconomics, our not wanting to do things is also part of our wisdom machinery. Having used for half a decade myself, I can spot some collogues who are on amphetamines; unnecessarily assertive, obsessed with orderliness of code, constantly in need of refactoring, huge bias for action with diminished wisdom to temper it (Well, also pees a lot.). There is a reason they are not being used by fighter pilots anymore because they can get too cocky and make decisions that kill their own. No wonder everything looks like a good idea when your brain is swimming in dopamine and norepinephrine, but when everything looks like a good idea, how do you find what is the right thing to do in the medium/long term? Is that really the human potential? I would argue far from it. I think it is just enhancing the potential for a particular job description that requires you to sit on your bum all day and plumb boring stuff someone else tells you to.
- justinko 6y ago
  I’ve read a lot of comments around amphetamines. This is probably my favorite. Amps turn you into a drone. Any perceived benefit is met with equal or greater detriment.
- sam1r 6y ago
  +1 thanks for this
- ditonal 6y ago
  Feels like every week someone here is touting the idea of ADHD meds being this solution, all these people are just undiagnosed, there’s an unfair stigma against, and I feel compelled to bring up that I bought into that thinking, got a legit diagnosis and took meds as prescribed, they triggered mania in me and nearly ruined my life. I tick all the ADHD boxes but I managed to make it through college without meds so never should have started. Psychiatry is broken and handing out prescription amphetamines to everyone who can’t focus is as bad as an idea as it initially sounds.
Inception 6y ago
> For that matter, it is also crazy that we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus — since there are no known negative effects. Might as well, we already load them up with sugar, which does have known side-effects. Sarcasm aside, maybe not a direct negative side effect, but if you suffer from poor sleep, drinking too much coffee or drinking coffee too late in the day has correlation and lack of sleep certainly has negative side-effect. Personally, I'll keep my kids off coffee and other drugs until they're old enough to buy it themselves.
jm4 6y ago
In some cultures it's common to give kids coffee. My parents didn't give me coffee when I was a kid but my wife's parents started giving it to her at an early age. My kids both drink coffee. My older one started on black coffee when he was 2. It's just a routine part of his day. Coffee at breakfast and then at cafecito in the afternoon.
- ytwySXpMbS 6y ago
  Coffee has been shown to reduce the length and quality of REM sleep, which is very important for early brain development. Read the relevant section in ‘Why We Sleep’ and you may change your mind.
winter_blue 6y ago
> You know what's totally nuts? Taking Amphetamine daily for years in reasonable doses essentially has no long term negative effects. In that way, similar to coffee. Wow, that is truly amazing. I'm glad to learn about that. I notice a slight depression if I stop taking my ADHD meds for a few days (perhaps up to a week), but after that I'm back to my old (ADHD-driven) self. So in a sense, it's not addictive at all. The depression can tempt one to get back on it, but that's about it. One side effect of Adderall though is ED, and it's pretty bad. I guess it depends on the person, but for me, the ED was quite bad. The ED does go away after getting off of it.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  > So in a sense, it's not addictive at all. You definitely have a withdrawal from adderall. A few days (up to a week) is typical of most drug withdrawals.
- shajznnckfke 6y ago
  > One side effect of Adderall though is ED, and it's pretty bad. I guess it depends on the person, but for me, the ED was quite bad. The ED does go away after getting off of it. The drugs for that are very easy to get these days - you can get a prescription online by taking a survey and the pills will be mailed to you without ever talking to a human.
  - olyjohn 6y ago
    They are also ridiculously expensive.
    - shajznnckfke 6y ago
      The big popular ones that advertise (Hims and Roman) are very overpriced. I found Blink Health sells a generic version for much cheaper ($2 a pill).
  - winter_blue 6y ago
    Well, the drugs for ED (e.g. Sildenafil) are quite bad / not really good for your health. It's probably a lot better in the long-run to use exercise as a cure for ADHD. (Instead of slamming your system with drugs upon drugs. With one drug taken to mitigate another's side effects, etc.)
gameswithgo 6y ago
increased impulsiveness and sleep quality are know negative impacts
didibus 6y ago
Some children are given coke, pepsi, mountain due or other soda drinks with high caffeine content.
- monkpit 6y ago
  > Most Ok
  - didibus 6y ago
    Fair point, I have no idea of the real numbers, so I edited to say "some". My point was more to say that there are other beverages and foods with high caffeine contents, so when you take them all into account, there's probably more children being given caffeine then we think.
- olyjohn 6y ago
  None of those drinks have anywhere near the caffeine of coffee, though. An energy drink of some kind probably does though.
  - jiofih 6y ago
    That’s not true. ~100mg in a cup of coffee, 40mg in an espresso shot, the same 40mg in a can of Coca-Cola (and ~60mg in Diet Coke).
    - smileybarry 6y ago
      Caffeine in an espresso shot (and conversely one cappuccino) is ~63-77mg[1], and one can of Coca-Cola & Diet is 32mg & 42mg[2]. [1] Nespresso is 63mg (5g of coffee), "average" espresso is 77mg (7g of coffee) https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso [2] https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ingredients/caffeine/the-caffeine-in-your-can https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ingredients/caffeine/the-caffein...
      - didibus 6y ago
muxamilian 6y ago
I drank coffee for several years (around 4 cups a day, not later than 4pm) and suffered from insomnia and didn’t know the origin. Since I stopped caffeine intake, my insomnia is basically gone and I feel a lot more functional because of better sleep. So my impression (yeah I have to admit it’s a study of size 1) is rather that caffeine is more dangerous than I thought.
- charliemil4 6y ago
  I wonder what it means if I can drink 4 espressos before bed and sleep like a baby... does anyone have research on caffeine metabolisms and ADHD / other diagnoses?
  - toyg 6y ago
    Not everyone is the same. I have heard of drug addicts who could only drop heroin by replacing it with massive amounts of highly-caffeinated energy drinks, in quantities that would be objectively bad for most regular folks.
    - charliemil4 6y ago
      Wow that explains a friend’s monster energy intake
    - nullsense 6y ago
      I only managed to drop drinking a shit tonne of Red Bull once I started Ritalin.
  - muxamilian 6y ago
    Yeah I know several people who tell me the same like you... Again not proper science but it seems that caffeine tolerance and metabolism is quite different from person to person.
LordFred 6y ago
Ok, I'll try to jump in here. a) There are downsides to coffee. I know of a clinical neurologist (Steve Novella) who, when working with a patient with chronic headaches, will always ask "how much coffee do you drink." Always remember, if a "medicine" is doing good, it will have side effects. Period. Note that homeopaths simply love going on about how homeopathy doesn't have any side effects - spoiler, that's because it's not actually doing anything at a physical level. b) Yes, daily use of stimulants in people with ADHD has been show to be pretty much ok. In fact, there are studies showing that kids who are not medicated are more likely to end up as substance abusers, largely because they're self medicating (remember, drug abuse is a symptom++). However, the kids who were treated with stimulants? No more risk than their neuro-typical peers. c) The above says NOTHING WHATSOEVER about neuro-typicals taking it daily. ++ Source: my partner, currently doing her neuro-psych masters on addiction.

bg4 6y ago

I started taking it in my late 30s for ADD and it was life changing. Over time though it was making me super angry so I stopped taking it. I now focus on sleep and exercise but my career really accelerated while I was taking it.

robinreekers 6y ago
Same here. Super angry about some random guy wearing a blue sweater that I didn’t like for example. It made no sense to me why I was that angry, but it went away after quitting... I was seriously afraid to kill somebody if I would continue taking it.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  I got like that on Ritalin & quit stims for 10 years. After that 10, I tried amphetamine which blew holes in my persistent brain fog. I went on Adderall and (as we've often heard) it changed my life. I'm not advocating you change a regimen that is obviously working for you. I'm just adding another possible plotline to that same story.
heimatau 6y ago
I was on prozac with adderall and I have uncontrollable anger. I immediately got off of it. The problem might be with adderall or the mixture (if you're taking other meds).

n4gN1 6y ago

Do you take the XR version or do you take regular adderall? I've taken regular adderall on and off for the last 10 years. It helped me so much in the past but I started to feel very fatigued by it. These days I have an extremely difficult time focusing and have been contemplating going back on it.

skissane 6y ago

> Some people have problems with off brands of XR (extended release) that has a different formulation. There's no standardization on the XR process and I think it's vendor specific. “Aderall” is a mixture of dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine, in a 3:1 ratio. Unlike some other drugs, both enantiomers have a therapeutic effect, but slightly different effects on the brain. If one takes pure dextroamphetamine (“Dexedrine”) instead, that is also available as an inactive prodrug lisdexamfetamine (“Vyvanse”). This is different from an XR formulation, in that the drug is absorbed immediately, but lisdexamfetamine itself has no effect on the brain. However, enzymes in your red blood cells gradually convert the lisdexamfetamine to dexamphetamine. The advantage of this, is unlike an XR formulation, there should be no difference between different manufacturers.

zylent 6y ago
I’m currently switching to Vyvanse after 10+ years using adderall. There is no generic formulation (at least in the us) because it came to market in 2007. I’ve had several issues with inconsistent adderall from various generic manufacturers and that issue simply isn’t possible right now with Vyvanse. The downside is, it’s $400 a month without insurance, and $100 a month with good insurance. Because it’s basically dextroamphetamine with a lysine molecule taped on, the psychoactive effects are really similar, but I’d describe it as cleaner if that makes sense. The “killer feature” of the enzymatic release is it’s basically a fixed timing, whereas with XR formulations of Adderall you have a 50/50 blend of immediate and delayed release 3:1 amphetamines. I believe you are correct, it’s not standardized. This, combined with the acids / bases both hurting overall blood levels (think grapefruit juice) means you just have a wildly inconsistent time over long term use of the medicine. For example, I’ve had pharmacies change generics on me without saying anything, I’ve had an inability to get my preferred generics, and I’ve had days where it’s felt like I took nothing at all. The worst are Nuvo and Mallinckrodt in my experience (IR 10mg 2x/day). I’ve only been using Vyvanse for a week or so, but I can say it’s a marked improvement for me and the lack of a generic is a huge boon with regards to consistency.
- skissane 6y ago
  > Vyvanse. The downside is, it’s $400 a month without insurance, and $100 a month with good insurance. Here in Australia, one month supply (30 tablets) costs 30 USD. The Australian government subsidises prescriptions for all Australian citizens and permanent residents. I believe the actual cost, prior to the subsidy, is around 85 USD. The government negotiates prices with the pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the prices it negotiates are generally less than those that US insurers pay. Manufacturers generally accept less revenue for the Australian market, since if they can't get it subsidised by the Australian government it becomes quite difficult to sell it here.

Baeocystin 6y ago

I literally just got diagnosed with adult ADD a month ago. I'm 46! It... explains a lot of things, both for better and for worse. I never even realized I was developing coping skills vs. just developing normal skills, if that makes sense. I definitely have had the same types of problems as you describe. I've been on Ritalin for a few weeks now, and the difference is remarkable. If this is how normal people feel most of the time, I don't know... I am both relieved to have a name for what was causing me problems, and also feel the need to grieve lost opportunities in life. It's a complex mix of emotions.

summitsummit 6y ago
> I never even realized I was developing coping skills vs. just developing normal skills do you have some examples? i suspect the majority of mine are the former
- Baeocystin 6y ago
  Sure. I'm happy to share individually, but I don't really want to post them on a public board. My email's in my profile if you want.
  - purplecats 6y ago
    how do i see it in your profile?
    - Baeocystin 6y ago
      It, uh, helps that I make sure it's visible to others first. Sorry about that. Please check my profile again.
stormbrew 6y ago
I'm a little bit younger, and pretty much the same on all of this (except vyvanse for me). I really wish I'd figured it out in my teens or twenties. Also, every time a post on here comes up about elaborate methods of achieving focus the comments are full of people typical-minding what really might actually be ADHD (the whole "everyone is like this right?" thing) and I'm just sitting there like.. maybe you should look into this it probably shouldn't be that hard. Of course if you post that you get a bunch of replies from people who insist that, "no, actually, it's cell phones' fault" or that it's totally normal to absolutely loathe doing any mundane task.

nullsense 6y ago

>Adderall totally changed that. I'm able to focus on tasks long term AND even if something bad happens in my life I'm able to keep right on track That sounds amazing. I can't even imagine that. I've just been diagnosed at 32 this year. Been on Ritalin for a few months but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Maybe 3% better. Things going bad still derails me significantly. They're fairly conservative with meds in my neck of the woods, but I'm going to persist with my doctor to try them all to find what works. The struggle to push through actually going through all the phone calls, emails and appointments necessary to get to that point is very un-ADHD friendly. So many times I considered just to give up and forget about it.

AuryGlenz 6y ago
I have a friend that I’m positive has ADD. He agrees with me it’s a possibility but it stops there. He was even given stimulants by someone but he hasn’t tried them. He’s not opposed to it, but he’s so bad he never gets around to popping that pill. Actually setting up a doctor appointment is never going to happen. He’s 33 and has been in college since graduating high school and still doesn’t have a degree, and he’s actually quite intelligent.