5 ms·
As someone who suffers from ADHD-PI, I can't help but wonder a possible co-relation here. Before my occasional marijuana use a few years ago, I wasn't aware of
by tomlin 15y ago
As someone who suffers from ADHD-PI, I can't help but wonder a possible co-relation here. Before my occasional marijuana use a few years ago, I wasn't aware of my concentration issues. Like many others, I thought I was just lazy or unmotivated. When smoking marijuana for the first time, my friends lay around unmotivated and relaxed while I couldn't stop thinking about working on one of my many "one day" projects. This eventually lead me to getting tested for ADHD. Now I am on pharma, but the benefits appear the same.
I feel like drugs helped me realize a lot about myself. While I am not so sure IQ is a reliable measurement, I can definitely say I can handle a lot more information and make good use of that information much better than I had ever before.
I've done some research on brain wave activity and dopamine receptors/activity. It seems that people with ADHD tend to have misaligned brain wave activity and stimulants manage to align this activity up to a point. My theory, from my own experiences, is that there is an optimal brain wave frequency and people with ADHD are suffering from dopamine deficiency that skews below optimal frequency, and too much dopamine activity skews above optimal frequency. Further, I've noted that those who experience drugs as a depressant tend to have normal dopamine activity whereas those who experience drugs as a stimulant appear to have low dopamine activity. It's just a wild theory with no medical evidence - I'm just trying to understand the pattern. I would love to hear others chime in here and adjust my theory as necessary.
I've been told that alcohol or marijuana makes one drowsy or lazy. For me, it stimulates - until a point - then I also become drowsy and lazy. This is where I believe I've gone past optimal dopamine activity. For the average person with normal dopamine activity, passing this threshold seems to happen much sooner.
- zafka 15y agoI think there is some validity to your hypothesis.
- pnathan 15y agoThat is an interesting hypothesis. I have no medical citations to wave around, but it Makes Sense To Me, An Ignorant Layman(tm).
- sliverstorm 15y agoI've noted that those who experience drugs as a depressant tend to have normal dopamine activity whereas those who experience drugs as a stimulant appear to have low dopamine activity I think in general you are going to find depressants will act like depressants, and stimulants will act as stimulants. In your theory, focus on the inflection point where (e.g. alcohol) a depressant acts as a stimulant. It is a stimulant for all people when consumed in the right amount, though it also depends on other factors. Some days alcohol will make me stay up all night, some days it will put me to sleep in 15 minutes.
- tomlin 15y ago> I think in general you are going to find depressants will act like depressants, and stimulants will act as stimulants. I believe this to be true, although, I am talking about those who suffer with ADHD or other dopamine-related disorder. > It is a stimulant for all people when consumed in the right amount, though it also depends on other factors. Some days alcohol will make me stay up all night, some days it will put me to sleep in 15 minutes. My theory is, a substance is a stimulant or depressant relative to your dopamine (or brain wave activity). Too much dopamine reception? Depressant. Too little dopamine reception? Stimulant. It has been reported that average people taking methylphenidate (ADHD medication) experience drowsiness (too much dopamine reception) as oppose to those who have dopamine receptor deficiencies, find the drug as a stimulant (too little dopamine reception). Also, dopamine levels often vary throughout a day for most people, so your perspective would hold true with regard to this theory.
- pingu 15y agoWhat medication gave you the same benefits as weed, if you don't mind me asking? My experiences very closely match yours, fwiw. I tried Ritalin but wasn't satisfied at all, and am 'back on' weed.
- NyxWulf 15y agoMy experience with pharma was similar to the GP sans the weed. I take Adderall.
- tomlin 15y agoRight now I am on Concerta, 54mg. I have tried higher dosages, but the drowsiness and inattentiveness came back. This is what originally lead me to believe that the effects (stimulant or depressant) of substances are relative to the person's dopamine reception. At a higher dose of Concerta, 72mg, I figured I'd end up being superhuman, but, surprisingly I ended up back where I started - inattentive and unmotivated. At Concerta 54mg, I've noticed marijuana will often push me over this threshold as well, causing the marijuana to act as a depressant where it was otherwise a stimulant. Ritalin, while chemically similar, doesn't seem to provide the same benefits from those who've disclosed their experience (again, anecdotal). Concerta is once-a-day release-controlled dosage.
- ihnorton 15y agoThere is some evidence that methylphenidate (ritalin) effects wave activity (synchronization/latency) see eg (not paywalled): http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v21/n2/full/1395347a.html http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v21/n2/full/1395347a.html For some background see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P200 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P200