Stimulants

[Speed King]

Buddy, you have covered a bunch of stimulants and at least three different medical conditions. You probably have one condition for sure and possibly all three. You may have five more. The point is, as simple and easy for us to figure out and answer, in reality it's going to take a while to get all the separate issues evaluated, diagnosed and finally the great medicine prescribed. It may seem like forever, but in the end it feels so nice to have what you need. In the mean time, research each topic off places like pub med and major web sites. Learn about each topic. When you go to the doctor, go armed to the teeth with knowledge. You will get where you want to go faster.

 

[Dresden]

I think Modafinil sucks. I prefer coffee. But I think narcolepsy is a hard to get diagnosis due to all the drug seekers seeking Desoxyn. Adderall builds tolerance too quickly to work everyday. Get your thyroid checked. You might be tired to due hypothyroidism or some other treatable medical condition other than narcolepsy.

 

[closeau]

Yeah Dresden, my thyroid was checked last month. Everything good. I have ADD along with my other mental stuff but I may see if my shrink will give me a mild stimulant. All the other meds add to my sleepiness. I don't take ephedrine anymore cause it wasn't working just making me shaky. I'm sure shrink will be hesitant cause stimulant could cause manis (bipolar I) She may though cause my Dr is really cool and my meds work really well. We'll see. And my bro Speed King, I hear ya. My sleep study spot hasn't even been made. They were soused to call day after neurologist and no call so I called and their booked up for 3 months and I see neurologist in April. Fuck all that. He told me to message him about appt and he never responded. I know I'm going thru tragic state now but I can't focus worth a shit. Distracted so easy. Feels like high school all over again. That's when I was diagnosed with add and put on Ritalin. That shit helped me get thru senior year and graduate. It was very close though. Had to make 97 on final history final to graduate and teacher hated me so I stayed up with Ritalin for 2 days straight studying and made 99. Teacher was pissed. Do I go to my shrink Friday and PCP Monday so one of them should help me. I'm even tolerant to caffeine. Takes 5-6 cups of coffee to wake me up. I've been using Benzedene last few days cause so much to do and it's really helped. I read about it on another thread. It's a nasal inhaler and you open it up and take the strip of cotton out and soak in lemon juice for an hr then drink. Some people described it like Adderall. Not for me. Just a lot of energy so I've been able to get done a lot of what I've had to do but it's too expensive to use every day. Plus I'd rather get a med from a dr and take as prescribed. It's better on my conscious cause I feel bad abusing a nasal inhaler but drastic times cal for drastic measures. I'll keep this thread posted. For now, bring on the expresso!!!

 

[Phisherman]

I've heard about people with narcolepsy being prescribed modafinil or Ritalin. Like others here I don't think a doctor would give you Adderall first time, it's a shockingly strong stim. Moda and Ritalin will definitely keep you awake, like a really strong caffeine, add has some noticeable stim properties.

 

[closeau]

Ritalin worked well years ago. I'll see in 3 days. I'd be happy with Ritalin.

 

[closeau]

So I was prescribed Ritalin today by my shrink. I was on it in high school and had success with it. My ADD has been ferousious lately not even counting the narcolepsy. So, we had Ritalin and Adderall and she picked Ritalin bc I've been on it before. Low dose. 5mg x2 day and she said if that doesn't work take 10mg in the morning. Well I feel stimuated(took one hr ago) but it was expensive and I think my nsurance covers Adderall. My question is, which is better? I really wanna focus better and have more energy. I really don't have the need to be all speeded up and high. I see her next week and can switch to Adderal real easy especially if my insurance covers it. So, I'm just fishing for some opinions and stuff. I'll probably just see how this does. I heard the comedown is bad and it's short acting. So my friends, give me some insight and even though it says don't take after 4 I'm gonna bust another one in a few. Can't g crazy either cause if my intention is to switch to Adderall I have to bring in bottle. Thanks

 

[MrRoot]

Have thought your symptoms might be due PAWS or otherwise drug use related or induced?

Also many other neurological diseases or psychological conditions may seem like narcolepsy and especially worsening of ADD/ADHD and narcolepsy like symptoms may in fact be due other neurological conditions or drug use related.

 

[Kittycat5]

Both Ritalin and Adderall are effective (roughly equally) for ADD/ADHD. Ritalin for many feels "speedier" or "dirtier" than Adderall and leads to discontinuation. I dont find this personlly but still prefer Adderall but I dont use either therapeutically. Im suprised your insurance wont cover Ritalin as it is fairly cheap.

 

[closeau]

Yeah it was 30$. That's not a lot but that's a lot for the baby dose I'm on. I will def stick with the Ritalin. The focus between Friday and today is like night and day. I agree with her that this week we can raise it a bit but usually I'm a zombie. Drinking coffee all day and just out of it and if someone talked to me I would daze. I had 1.5 cups of coffee this morning and I'm fine. I'm alert and have even been able to continue my songwriting. I'm happy with it but 10mg twice day would be good. I read dosage on drugs.com and I'm def on baby dose but it's working pretty good. I'm just wondering if tolerance builds and effect wears off like opiates. Does it?

 

[MrRoot]

When taking Ritalin daily you first build up tolerance for parasympathetic effects such as elevated heart rate and feeling jittery if you get those and after that you will start slowly building tolerance for mental effects when taking your drug as prescribed.

It takes months in most cases for first therapeutic dose to stop functioning properly for staying alert but you stop feeling the drug way before. Most likely your Dr will have to raise the dose within a year for it to have same effect than it had initially.

Most people stay on the first raised dose for years in a case of narcolepsy.

However if you mess up with Ritalin by using higher than prescribed doses or using other similar stimulants recreationally at the same time you will most likely end up having to raise the dose all the time until it stops working or you start to get severe or even fatal side-effects and after that there won't be anything that helps with narcolepsy until you have stopped using until your tolerance drops significantly and during that time you'll suffer from narcolepsy maybe even more than what you did before starting Ritalin.

 

[closeau]

I see. Makes sense. I have abused a drug or two in my day but haven't had the urge to abuse Ritalin. Like I said, I used to drink coffee all day and I just had my second cup. That's way down from my usual 15. My Dr did tak about raising it a bit this week when I see her but it's really worked well for both my narcolepsy and ADD. My focus is amazing today. My creative juices are flowing and I'll take that. See, I got a med to help me in 15 min from shrink that woulda took me till April to get from neurologist. I've called 5 times and messaged my neurologist about sleep study and no one has gotten back to me. Hell with it. A med that's being used to treat ADD is helping my narcolepsy. It's all good. Thanks for info!