Stradlater
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2010
- Messages
- 4
Hello all! I would be genuinely and deeply grateful if you guys could help me sort out some issues i've been having with stimulants.
I started taking adderall about 9 months ago. First at 20mg, then 30mg, then 40mg. At first it was great - ADD was much better, I could memorize stuff real well, and I felt just great. I did over use it some. For a week and a half I stayed up for 3 days at a time and I've stayed up all night or for a couple nights or taken 50mg in a day several other times.
Anyways - About two weeks ago I was pretty depressed and wasn't doing a whole lot (even though on adderall) and needed to write a paper for a friend, so I stayed up all night to write it. Only problem was that instead of feeling great and getting the paper done beautifully, I just felt horrible. I was very much awake, but all I could do was stare at my computer screen think about weird existencial rubish very deeply. I ended up taking like 50mg throughout the night and it just got worse. I'm not sure if this was a mixed episode or a psychotic break or what.
Ever since then I've not felt right at all. I kind of feel like I'm going a bit crazy. My memory is crap, I'm paranoid, anxious, etc. I've switched to methylphenidate and then dexmethylphenidate, but haven't started feeling a whole lot better.
My concern is this . . . . could I have damaged something in my brain by using adderall? I found some journal articles on primates that concerned me:
Here's an abstract that I got from here: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v32/n4/full/1301179a.html
Amphetamine (AMPH) sensitization in the nonhuman primate induces persistent aberrant behaviors reminiscent of the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinatory-like behaviors, psychomotor depression, and profound cognitive impairment. The present study examined whether AMPH sensitization induces similarly long-lasting morphologic alterations in prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons. Three to 3½ years postsensitization, sensitized, and AMPH-naïve control monkeys were killed. Blocks of prefrontal cortex were Golgi-impregnated for elucidation of pyramidal dendritic morphology in layers II/superficial III (II/IIIs), deep III, and V/VI. In AMPH-sensitized animals as compared to AMPH-naïve controls, pyramidal dendrites in layer II/IIIs exhibited reduced overall dendritic branching and reduced peak spine density (22%) on the apical trunk. Across all layers, the distance from soma to peak spine density along the apical trunk was decreased (126.387.65 m in AMPH-sensitized compared to 162.987.26 m in AMPH-naïve controls), and basilar dendritic length was reduced (32%). These findings indicate that chronic dopamine dysregulation, consequent to AMPH sensitization, results in enduring, atrophic changes in prefrontal pyramidal dendrites that resemble the pathologic alterations described in patients with schizophrenia and may contribute to the persistence of schizophrenia-like behavioral changes and cognitive dysfunction associated with sensitization. These findings may also provide key insights into the etiologic origin of the pronounced behavioral disturbances and cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia.
I read through it and these monkey's were only being injected with 0.1-1 mg/kg of amphetamines. I'm 72 kg and have taken 72 mg in a 24 hour period - though only at 10 or 20 mg at a time, could have I gotten damaged like these poor monkeys did?
-Thanks kindly friends,
-Stradlater
I started taking adderall about 9 months ago. First at 20mg, then 30mg, then 40mg. At first it was great - ADD was much better, I could memorize stuff real well, and I felt just great. I did over use it some. For a week and a half I stayed up for 3 days at a time and I've stayed up all night or for a couple nights or taken 50mg in a day several other times.
Anyways - About two weeks ago I was pretty depressed and wasn't doing a whole lot (even though on adderall) and needed to write a paper for a friend, so I stayed up all night to write it. Only problem was that instead of feeling great and getting the paper done beautifully, I just felt horrible. I was very much awake, but all I could do was stare at my computer screen think about weird existencial rubish very deeply. I ended up taking like 50mg throughout the night and it just got worse. I'm not sure if this was a mixed episode or a psychotic break or what.
Ever since then I've not felt right at all. I kind of feel like I'm going a bit crazy. My memory is crap, I'm paranoid, anxious, etc. I've switched to methylphenidate and then dexmethylphenidate, but haven't started feeling a whole lot better.
My concern is this . . . . could I have damaged something in my brain by using adderall? I found some journal articles on primates that concerned me:
Here's an abstract that I got from here: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v32/n4/full/1301179a.html
Amphetamine (AMPH) sensitization in the nonhuman primate induces persistent aberrant behaviors reminiscent of the hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinatory-like behaviors, psychomotor depression, and profound cognitive impairment. The present study examined whether AMPH sensitization induces similarly long-lasting morphologic alterations in prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons. Three to 3½ years postsensitization, sensitized, and AMPH-naïve control monkeys were killed. Blocks of prefrontal cortex were Golgi-impregnated for elucidation of pyramidal dendritic morphology in layers II/superficial III (II/IIIs), deep III, and V/VI. In AMPH-sensitized animals as compared to AMPH-naïve controls, pyramidal dendrites in layer II/IIIs exhibited reduced overall dendritic branching and reduced peak spine density (22%) on the apical trunk. Across all layers, the distance from soma to peak spine density along the apical trunk was decreased (126.387.65 m in AMPH-sensitized compared to 162.987.26 m in AMPH-naïve controls), and basilar dendritic length was reduced (32%). These findings indicate that chronic dopamine dysregulation, consequent to AMPH sensitization, results in enduring, atrophic changes in prefrontal pyramidal dendrites that resemble the pathologic alterations described in patients with schizophrenia and may contribute to the persistence of schizophrenia-like behavioral changes and cognitive dysfunction associated with sensitization. These findings may also provide key insights into the etiologic origin of the pronounced behavioral disturbances and cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia.
I read through it and these monkey's were only being injected with 0.1-1 mg/kg of amphetamines. I'm 72 kg and have taken 72 mg in a 24 hour period - though only at 10 or 20 mg at a time, could have I gotten damaged like these poor monkeys did?
-Thanks kindly friends,
-Stradlater