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I was in a similar boat, and spent a decent chunk of time during adolescence going through that trial-and-error process. At one point we tried Ritalin, which en

by asxd 5y ago

I was in a similar boat, and spent a decent chunk of time during adolescence going through that trial-and-error process. At one point we tried Ritalin, which ended up just giving me horrible headaches and causing my grades to plummet. Dexedrine, on the other hand, was much more effective for me, even more so than adderall for some reason. I know Ritalin works for a lot of folks, and I find it pretty fascinating that the same medication can affect different people in such drastically different ways. Completely tangential, but regarding Paul Erdos, I recall hearing about a story where a colleague of his was concerned about his amphetamine use and offered to pay him a sum of money to go cold turkey for a month. Erdos was pretty adamant that amphetamines were a boon to his math research, so he went cold turkey for a month to prove he could, took the money, and then promptly resumed his usage. Not sure if it's true or what lessons are to be learned there, but it's a fun story :)

loxias 5y ago
> I know Ritalin works for a lot of folks, and I find it pretty fascinating that the same medication can affect different people in such drastically different ways. Same!! (Ritalin doesn't work on me either). On my "journey to what works" the least pleasant, and most amusing in retrospect, was Strattera. Somehow, that medicine cranked up the "impatient asshole" knob in my brain to 11. I was cursing out people on the street for no rational reason, and carrying myself with more confidence than I've ever felt in my life. Things where I would normally have a patience of minutes became seconds. I found myself getting pissed off at dear friends for talking too slowly, interrupting them "can you fucking speed up please?". I quit after 5 days. :) At the time, my doctor seemed skeptical of the side effect, but a decade later I found documented evidence of it in others. Curiously, the medicine works quite effectively, no side effects, for someone who shares half my DNA. Brains are weird! Tangentially, I've heard a variant of that Erdos story too! Clearly it must be true. ;-)

by asxd 5y ago

loxias 5y ago

> I know Ritalin works for a lot of folks, and I find it pretty fascinating that the same medication can affect different people in such drastically different ways. Same!! (Ritalin doesn't work on me either). On my "journey to what works" the least pleasant, and most amusing in retrospect, was Strattera. Somehow, that medicine cranked up the "impatient asshole" knob in my brain to 11. I was cursing out people on the street for no rational reason, and carrying myself with more confidence than I've ever felt in my life. Things where I would normally have a patience of minutes became seconds. I found myself getting pissed off at dear friends for talking too slowly, interrupting them "can you fucking speed up please?". I quit after 5 days. :) At the time, my doctor seemed skeptical of the side effect, but a decade later I found documented evidence of it in others. Curiously, the medicine works quite effectively, no side effects, for someone who shares half my DNA. Brains are weird! Tangentially, I've heard a variant of that Erdos story too! Clearly it must be true. ;-)