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I can't follow. It shoots your energy levels through the roof, makes even the hardest task a breeze and can be the difference between barely getting along and h

I can't follow. It shoots your energy levels through the roof, makes even the hardest task a breeze and can be the difference between barely getting along and having a rockstar career

gfourfour 2y ago
Diminishing returns on that though, and it comes at a cost to your physical and emotional health.
- bun_terminator 2y ago
  Sure, but certainly not torture - going by how many people are using those drugs
callalex 2y ago
Can you expand on what you mean by energy levels? The stuff put me in an intolerable zombie not-tired-not-awake state when I was prescribed it. I think the technical term is somnolence? It’s a very common problem for people who take the medication for ADHD instead of recreation.
- a-saleh 2y ago
  This sounds like standard reaction to ADHD medication for someone that has ADHD, and usually point where you fiddle with the dose and release-mechanism with your psych, untill you get best results with fewest drawbacks, modulo pareto efficiency and all that. But if you managed to accomodate yourself to just be able to actually rest to a usable state ... more power to you, and I would like to hear more! I do have a feeling that if I exercised daily, and slept well for 8 hours every night ... I might not need that boost from those meds. But the meds do keep me more organized so that I am actually managing at least the sleep thing? Unless I take them too late? Trade-offs everywhere :D
RHSman2 2y ago
I take Ritalin which is not the same. Dosing is subjective obviously but a lower dose has been a game changer for me. Super-powered now. But Adderall has significant downside right?
- bun_terminator 2y ago
  Same here - I've only ever taken Methylphenidate ("ritalin")
- meowfly 2y ago
  I've had a script for ADHD meds most of my life. Without them I daydream constantly. My parents thought I had a hearing problem because they would talk to me and I wouldn't know what they said because I was day dreaming. I've had both adderall and ritalin scripts (both long and short term variations). I'm convinced that adderall is prescribe incorrectly. It is the most effective medication by far (there is one other that is basically meth, but nobody gets it), but it is significantly more prone to addiction and abuse. It's also harder on the body and brain. Many countries won't normally prescribe adderall for ADHD and they are getting along just fine. As an extreme example, and one I don't agree with, in Japan possessing adderall is illegal but they still prescribe ritalin. Adderall should have been seen as a last resort medication. Like a doctor prescribing ketamine to help with your depression. Instead you can get an adderall script if you tell your doctor ritalin isn't working on your second visit.
navjack27 2y ago
[flagged]
- bun_terminator 2y ago
  I am "officially diagnosed" and have (or had) a prescription. But I know the strange battleground of "I have it but you don't" well
- gruez 2y ago
  >Please, stop taking my life saving medication to give yourself a fucking edge. On what basis? Does him taking your "life saving medication" somehow make it less effective for you? Or are you concerned that if normal people take for performance enhancing reasons that'll cause the government to crack down and impact you negatively? If that's the case, shouldn't your ire be directed at the government for instituting said crackdown, rather than adults making decisions for themselves?
  - wormius 2y ago
    You can blame the government policies and DEA's stringent rules, and I agree, but if they are going to limit it, maybe it'd be nice if the people who DO need it to function and not just so they can ace their finals in college, actually get it first. Both are true. Neither will happen. So... yay society.
  - kstrauser 2y ago
    There’ve been significant shortages that made prescriptions hard to fill. That raises special challenges for the people who need it for daily functioning. The mechanisms required to patiently track down inventory to get their prescription filled are the ones people with ADHD are having trouble with. Imagine if asthma medicine became so trendy that you had to hike up a mountain to get it. Great. If I could do that, I wouldn’t need the medicine in the first place.
    - navjack27 2y ago
      It's absolutely frustrating every single month. Sometimes I have to make sure to have a week or more of extra medication just to have enough medication to manage my executive functioning well enough to be able to stay on top of the pharmacy so I can get my medication that manages my executive functioning. I liken it more to a shortage of insulin and everything the diabetic can eat screws with their blood sugar horribly because that's how society kind of works for someone with ADHD and executive functioning. Everything is frustrating, everything is waiting, everyone seems so fucking slow (and it's not their fault you have to give people grace), everything basically "drains the tank". I have to work with my doctor and the pharmacy in order to adjust my prescription so I could be prescribed the right kind of medication that works for me that also jives nicely with what the pharmacy inventory gets and I also have to make sure none of this looks like drug-seeking behavior so I have to talk with full disclosure with my doctor and be very forthright with frustrations. It's been a nightmare since the shortage happened. And if I didn't have other people in my life that care, I wouldn't be able to handle any of it on my own especially during the months when getting my prescription was more than just the next day after my prescription runs out usually.
wormius 2y ago
For people who have ADHD it tends to have the opposite effect. I'm not officially dx'd, but in the past... I'm pretty sure I have ADHD (the test I took which was a standardized test has me on the low end of ADHD)... I've tried some stimulants and it is almost like your brain is so wired, the the drugs over-saturate it and exceeds a threshold and causes a sort of "crash"... My regular doc has me on Clonidine because "BMI" (they don't want me to Belushi/Farley myself). Clonidine only helps with slowing my brain down, but doesn't help with the focus the way stimulants should (in theory). I'm still as unfocused but just slower, mentally. Which can be good, mind; and it helped my STRESS level during an insane level at work, but not really with focus or motivation issues. In terms of stimulants I've had in my life: Caffeine - usual addict (I drink two 240 mg energy drinks, maybe three a day. Wen I was an alcoholic and drinking heavy I would drink 4 cans a day - thankfully I'm no longer drinking and reduced my caffeine) Ephedrine - as a teen, when it was legal (pre-2000s sudafed ban - when you could buy it in gas stations under the name mini-thins (which I think now are just... shitty caffeine pills last I heard)). I would get all tingly (like weak MDMA physical effects, but no real mental effects) I would crash hard shortly after, just fall asleep, when the drug was still in my system (e.g. most people wouldn't have crashed/fallen asleep) Methylphenidate (Ritalin)- A coworker whose son had ADHD gave me some back in the early 00s. I tried both a lower and regular dose, both knocked me out. I was hoping for this magical "boost" - and maybe it wasn't the right med, and maybe it wasn't the right dose. IDK, I don't think I'd want that, because my understanding is Adderall is more effective (it's meth, where ritalin is more similar to the cocaine molecular structure - anyone please correct that if wrong it's been ages since I read up on this stuff). MDMA in the past. This one doesn't knock me out, but it's also extra-serotonin goodness, and the rush is very nice (I bet if I took a lower/micro-dose of MDMA it would be more like Ritalin and Ephedrine) - and this was back in the 90s when MDMA was good - sold by Sammy the Bull Gravano on a mass scale, and you knew it was pretty pure (except the one time someone obviously sold me DXM which is 100% NOT MDMA LOL) I currently take Venlafaxine, which also helps my focus very very slightly. It reduces my anxiety, which is why I take it, and in the same way Clonidine helps slow me down, so does Venlafaxine. It doesn't help me focus, it just slows me down. So energy levels it is different for at least some people with ADHD (in fact it's funny - my friend shared a link the other day about this effect saying "if you get tired after stimulants like this, you have adhd" (maybe it didn't say tired, but the gist was the same). Looking up info - it says 2-6% of people may get tired instead (I assumed this was everyone with ADHD, but maybe it's a subset of them, then). I only WISH I had the chance to be rx'd and TRY the damn stuff. It may not work, but at least give me a chance. I'm overweight yes, but my ticker is good. And I understand with alcoholism my "potential" for abuse is there (but I have no desire for opioids even though I've had them for medication). The whole thing is rotten, how we manage it, how our society is built, and the demands placed on us (it's gotten worse the past 20 years, every job wants you to be 10 jobs at once). The only way TO be in this society is ADHD multitasking wizard, who can only activate for the bossman under extreme duress, and have no volition on their own, and struggle because of it.

I can't follow. It shoots your energy levels through the roof, makes even the hardest task a breeze and can be the difference between barely getting along and having a rockstar career

gfourfour 2y ago

Diminishing returns on that though, and it comes at a cost to your physical and emotional health.

bun_terminator 2y ago
Sure, but certainly not torture - going by how many people are using those drugs

callalex 2y ago

Can you expand on what you mean by energy levels? The stuff put me in an intolerable zombie not-tired-not-awake state when I was prescribed it. I think the technical term is somnolence? It’s a very common problem for people who take the medication for ADHD instead of recreation.

a-saleh 2y ago
This sounds like standard reaction to ADHD medication for someone that has ADHD, and usually point where you fiddle with the dose and release-mechanism with your psych, untill you get best results with fewest drawbacks, modulo pareto efficiency and all that. But if you managed to accomodate yourself to just be able to actually rest to a usable state ... more power to you, and I would like to hear more! I do have a feeling that if I exercised daily, and slept well for 8 hours every night ... I might not need that boost from those meds. But the meds do keep me more organized so that I am actually managing at least the sleep thing? Unless I take them too late? Trade-offs everywhere :D

RHSman2 2y ago

I take Ritalin which is not the same. Dosing is subjective obviously but a lower dose has been a game changer for me. Super-powered now. But Adderall has significant downside right?

bun_terminator 2y ago
Same here - I've only ever taken Methylphenidate ("ritalin")
meowfly 2y ago
I've had a script for ADHD meds most of my life. Without them I daydream constantly. My parents thought I had a hearing problem because they would talk to me and I wouldn't know what they said because I was day dreaming. I've had both adderall and ritalin scripts (both long and short term variations). I'm convinced that adderall is prescribe incorrectly. It is the most effective medication by far (there is one other that is basically meth, but nobody gets it), but it is significantly more prone to addiction and abuse. It's also harder on the body and brain. Many countries won't normally prescribe adderall for ADHD and they are getting along just fine. As an extreme example, and one I don't agree with, in Japan possessing adderall is illegal but they still prescribe ritalin. Adderall should have been seen as a last resort medication. Like a doctor prescribing ketamine to help with your depression. Instead you can get an adderall script if you tell your doctor ritalin isn't working on your second visit.

navjack27 2y ago

[flagged]

bun_terminator 2y ago
I am "officially diagnosed" and have (or had) a prescription. But I know the strange battleground of "I have it but you don't" well
gruez 2y ago
>Please, stop taking my life saving medication to give yourself a fucking edge. On what basis? Does him taking your "life saving medication" somehow make it less effective for you? Or are you concerned that if normal people take for performance enhancing reasons that'll cause the government to crack down and impact you negatively? If that's the case, shouldn't your ire be directed at the government for instituting said crackdown, rather than adults making decisions for themselves?
- wormius 2y ago
  You can blame the government policies and DEA's stringent rules, and I agree, but if they are going to limit it, maybe it'd be nice if the people who DO need it to function and not just so they can ace their finals in college, actually get it first. Both are true. Neither will happen. So... yay society.
- kstrauser 2y ago
  There’ve been significant shortages that made prescriptions hard to fill. That raises special challenges for the people who need it for daily functioning. The mechanisms required to patiently track down inventory to get their prescription filled are the ones people with ADHD are having trouble with. Imagine if asthma medicine became so trendy that you had to hike up a mountain to get it. Great. If I could do that, I wouldn’t need the medicine in the first place.
  - navjack27 2y ago
    It's absolutely frustrating every single month. Sometimes I have to make sure to have a week or more of extra medication just to have enough medication to manage my executive functioning well enough to be able to stay on top of the pharmacy so I can get my medication that manages my executive functioning. I liken it more to a shortage of insulin and everything the diabetic can eat screws with their blood sugar horribly because that's how society kind of works for someone with ADHD and executive functioning. Everything is frustrating, everything is waiting, everyone seems so fucking slow (and it's not their fault you have to give people grace), everything basically "drains the tank". I have to work with my doctor and the pharmacy in order to adjust my prescription so I could be prescribed the right kind of medication that works for me that also jives nicely with what the pharmacy inventory gets and I also have to make sure none of this looks like drug-seeking behavior so I have to talk with full disclosure with my doctor and be very forthright with frustrations. It's been a nightmare since the shortage happened. And if I didn't have other people in my life that care, I wouldn't be able to handle any of it on my own especially during the months when getting my prescription was more than just the next day after my prescription runs out usually.

wormius 2y ago

For people who have ADHD it tends to have the opposite effect. I'm not officially dx'd, but in the past... I'm pretty sure I have ADHD (the test I took which was a standardized test has me on the low end of ADHD)... I've tried some stimulants and it is almost like your brain is so wired, the the drugs over-saturate it and exceeds a threshold and causes a sort of "crash"... My regular doc has me on Clonidine because "BMI" (they don't want me to Belushi/Farley myself). Clonidine only helps with slowing my brain down, but doesn't help with the focus the way stimulants should (in theory). I'm still as unfocused but just slower, mentally. Which can be good, mind; and it helped my STRESS level during an insane level at work, but not really with focus or motivation issues. In terms of stimulants I've had in my life: Caffeine - usual addict (I drink two 240 mg energy drinks, maybe three a day. Wen I was an alcoholic and drinking heavy I would drink 4 cans a day - thankfully I'm no longer drinking and reduced my caffeine) Ephedrine - as a teen, when it was legal (pre-2000s sudafed ban - when you could buy it in gas stations under the name mini-thins (which I think now are just... shitty caffeine pills last I heard)). I would get all tingly (like weak MDMA physical effects, but no real mental effects) I would crash hard shortly after, just fall asleep, when the drug was still in my system (e.g. most people wouldn't have crashed/fallen asleep) Methylphenidate (Ritalin)- A coworker whose son had ADHD gave me some back in the early 00s. I tried both a lower and regular dose, both knocked me out. I was hoping for this magical "boost" - and maybe it wasn't the right med, and maybe it wasn't the right dose. IDK, I don't think I'd want that, because my understanding is Adderall is more effective (it's meth, where ritalin is more similar to the cocaine molecular structure - anyone please correct that if wrong it's been ages since I read up on this stuff). MDMA in the past. This one doesn't knock me out, but it's also extra-serotonin goodness, and the rush is very nice (I bet if I took a lower/micro-dose of MDMA it would be more like Ritalin and Ephedrine) - and this was back in the 90s when MDMA was good - sold by Sammy the Bull Gravano on a mass scale, and you knew it was pretty pure (except the one time someone obviously sold me DXM which is 100% NOT MDMA LOL) I currently take Venlafaxine, which also helps my focus very very slightly. It reduces my anxiety, which is why I take it, and in the same way Clonidine helps slow me down, so does Venlafaxine. It doesn't help me focus, it just slows me down. So energy levels it is different for at least some people with ADHD (in fact it's funny - my friend shared a link the other day about this effect saying "if you get tired after stimulants like this, you have adhd" (maybe it didn't say tired, but the gist was the same). Looking up info - it says 2-6% of people may get tired instead (I assumed this was everyone with ADHD, but maybe it's a subset of them, then). I only WISH I had the chance to be rx'd and TRY the damn stuff. It may not work, but at least give me a chance. I'm overweight yes, but my ticker is good. And I understand with alcoholism my "potential" for abuse is there (but I have no desire for opioids even though I've had them for medication). The whole thing is rotten, how we manage it, how our society is built, and the demands placed on us (it's gotten worse the past 20 years, every job wants you to be 10 jobs at once). The only way TO be in this society is ADHD multitasking wizard, who can only activate for the bossman under extreme duress, and have no volition on their own, and struggle because of it.