4 ms·

I am taking Methyphenidat/Amphetamine for nearly 10 years now and it totally changed my life in a positive way. I wasn't able to read anything longer than a few

I am taking Methyphenidat/Amphetamine for nearly 10 years now and it totally changed my life in a positive way. I wasn't able to read anything longer than a few sentences (which means no newspaper, no books etc). School was horror for me. I nearly failed in the lower secondary education. Then I was diagnosed with ADHD by a German mental research institute and they began to treat ADHD with medications and my situation improved very quickly. I am very skeptical when I am confronted with overly critical statements about the current ADHD treatment. These statements come up every two weeks or so. Maybe they are correct - maybe they are wrong. The only thing I know is that the medication helped me like nothing else in my life. Maybe I am living in a dream world where my sense of reality is somehow disturbed. The good things a proper ADHD treatment can do are more or less always never mentioned - at least that is my perception.

betterunix 14y ago
As with all drugs, this is not a simple, binary matter. For some people, there is a very real risk that stimulants and antidepressants will cause serious psychological problems; that risk increases with dose, and even a person who is fine with low doses will probably have a psychotic episode at very high doses. Just look at the doses being discussed in the article -- this kid was blowing through a month's prescription in two weeks time, and his prescription was for 60mg/day (sometimes higher). He was past the point of therapeutic doses and that he had psychotic delusions is not terribly surprising. I have heard of people succumbing to stimulant psychosis after drinking too much coffee for too many days. This happens with cocaine, amphetamines, cathinones, etc. Moderation is essential for using these drugs safely, though that statement is equally true for any drug.
jeffdavis 14y ago
I think the challenge is that they are prescribed so casually with so little monitoring. I guess we could just say that he's an adult, and can OD if he wants to. But I cringe at the damage that can do.

betterunix 14y ago

As with all drugs, this is not a simple, binary matter. For some people, there is a very real risk that stimulants and antidepressants will cause serious psychological problems; that risk increases with dose, and even a person who is fine with low doses will probably have a psychotic episode at very high doses. Just look at the doses being discussed in the article -- this kid was blowing through a month's prescription in two weeks time, and his prescription was for 60mg/day (sometimes higher). He was past the point of therapeutic doses and that he had psychotic delusions is not terribly surprising. I have heard of people succumbing to stimulant psychosis after drinking too much coffee for too many days. This happens with cocaine, amphetamines, cathinones, etc. Moderation is essential for using these drugs safely, though that statement is equally true for any drug.

jeffdavis 14y ago

I think the challenge is that they are prescribed so casually with so little monitoring. I guess we could just say that he's an adult, and can OD if he wants to. But I cringe at the damage that can do.