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being an addict effecting your grades?

one day i'll not be addicted to the variety of drugs i now take; then we'll see if i improve or get worse.

i know i skip a bunch of classes because i'm (too) often stoned or drunk, so i guess that makes a difference. but i still get good marks. i guess i'd do better if i were sober. but maybe it's self-medication; maybe without them i'd be too anxious to do anything at all.
 
johanneschimpo said:
I've been wanting to ask you this for a while now, so its perfect that this thread came up. I take valium at therapeutic doses. I have taken it daily for 3 months, before that I was on other things (xanax and ativan) as needed. Now I take 10mg valium in the morning and 5-10mg in the afternoon. I certainly feel high from his (I need to take 150mg+ to do that), it just loosens up my neck and back, which is the main reason I take it, more than for anxiety.

Can you give me any indication on how this may be affecting me? Keep in mind I don't get high from this, though sometimes I do take good sized doses of xanax (say 6-8mg) to have fun. I haven't been doing so good in class lately, but I could just as easily blame all the time I spend on the computer (esp. because OD is keeping me rather busy), but I have a feeling that the benzos, even though I don't feel much from them, are making me a little slower than usual.

Thanks buddy.

edit: I would like to clarify that I am asking how this might affect me memory/recall wise, in terms of exams and other school related business...
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Ack, sorry for the late reply!

The biggest problem with chronic benzo use (regardless of dose) is that your consciousness seems to adapt to the dulled-out world of benzos so that it becomes base-line. Actually, it seems to me like one forgets (heh!) how one used to remember things properly. This is, in a way, pretty creepy. I only began to notice how badly my memory was affected after I stopped. It was as if I had taken nootropics - and they worked like they're supposed to! ;).

Have you considered taking something less debilitating?
 
Well I take it for anxiety (according to the bottle), but really I really take it for the muscle-relaxant qualities. I can take xanax prn for anxiety, but valium is the best thing for my neck, where I have 2 protruding disks.
For anxiety I have tried many other things.
For my muscle problems, valium is the absolute best. No other muscle-relaxant compares, in strength and duration. Well, soma does in strength, but only lasts for maybe an hour.
I know it really would be best to go about it in a natural way, but I use my hectic lifestyle as an excuse for not doing things I should - exercise, searching out natural remedies, the list goes on....
Maybe a combination of a good nootropic + valium would counter the effects? I don't want to over-medicate though, or take drug B to cancel out the effects of drug A... because that just leads to the need for drug C...
I guess it's something I'll have to work on. Its not affecting my grades like addiction to various street drugs did, thats for sure.
 
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ebola? said:
>>
Have you considered drinking larger amounts?

I'm currently working through the first year of a phd using just this strategy. >>

hah...given that the tolerance curve appears to be linear, I bet this would be sustainable in the medium-term.

ebola
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Heh well. I agree.

The thing is that between about one and three in the afternoon my brain basically seems to shut down. This would be fine if I had unlimited time, but with deadlines to meet and the rest of my life to maintain, those hours in the middle of the day are valuable. A cup of coffee sees me through this and allows me to work effectively through those hours.

Then I started having a cup of coffee every morning because I liked the fact that I was at 100% effective much quicker every morning than if I just had a cup of tea or whatever.

Both of these ritual coffees are now increasing in strength in order to have the desired effect. But I can't stop drinking it because I still have deadlines and a shitload of work to do and can't afford the hours that not drinking coffee would lose me, especially in the short term while I adjust.

It sucks but everyone in the research centre I'm studying at seems to drink bucketloads constantly so I guess it's just an academic thing. :p
 
>>
Then I started having a cup of coffee every morning because I liked the fact that I was at 100% effective much quicker every morning than if I just had a cup of tea or whatever.

Both of these ritual coffees are now increasing in strength in order to have the desired effect. But I can't stop drinking it because I still have deadlines and a shitload of work to do and can't afford the hours that not drinking coffee would lose me, especially in the short term while I adjust.>>

I found that there's never really a "good" time to quit caffeine...so I ran myself through a taper mid way through Spring term last year. I've found that if I limit use to something like 3 days a week, it actually will DO SOMETHING at a given dose.

ebola
 
Im in my last semester of a 3 year course which has stretched to 4.5 years - failed one semester, took one off - so i guess 3.5 years dedicated study.

Throughout this time, I drank a lot - and still do - being my last semester, i've lost all interest in uni for the time being and literally leave every piece of assessment to the last minute to 'force' myself to do it.

I think its all about organisation - so long as you go to class, keep up to date and get the 'vague' idea of each week's lectures, you should be fine...

Drinking works as a good reward for me, and sets a good benchmark for my work - e.g. 'I'll get fucked up Friday, be hungover Saturday but will be right to do Monday's paper on Sunday ;)' .. not that things always go to plan, but it more often than not works for me.

Pot on the other hand - Pot & Uni DO NOT MIX... studying and learning stoned, let alone doing your exams high - not for me.. 1 joint and the whole day of productivity is gone - I can't even type a coherent sentence while baked.

Its all about moderation, being responsible and knowing your limits people - If you inherently know it is a bad idea to go out and get smashed, it most probably is - the question is HOW bad the instance will be and HOW detrimental it will be to your grades. Just be wise, push the line once or twice and see how it works for you.
 
its a cycle for me. i do reasonably well while on on the drugs, then for a few weeks or even months after stopping drug use for whatever reason ill do great, but then after a while ill fall into a pit, start doing drugs again and repeat.

not really an addiction though. opiates and alcohol dont really fuck with my head. its the mary jane that gets to my work ethic.
 
Good luck with everything, Don't let the dope getcha down, just try to stay focused on your life goals. <snip> lets not be judgmental. this is BL, afterall. - eras3r
 
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My marks haven't fallen much. Bear in mind I'm just finishing up high-school at the moment. But I got into university after smoking weed everyday for 3 years so I think/hope I can continue the trend. I feel that Cannabis has just made it harder to do well. Back in Elementary school I didn't try at all but I still managed an average in the 90% range. In high-school, well, I haven't tried that hard and I'm getting around the 75-80% range, but if I wanted to achieve 90% these days I'd have to quit drugs and I'd have to work really hard. I guess my marks have dropped, but I think that's more a sign of the times and me growing up.

Ketamine and Cannabis have certainly made me dumber though. My short term memory is almost non-existent and if I want to do well on anything, I really have to try hard and focus on it or else it just won't get done. Drugs have made me content to sit here and do nothing when I should be doing something. Before drugs I was the opposite and pretty OCD, so I think I prefer my current mindset, though I could certainly use the motivation sometimes. Well, there's another bonus to using drugs. I now have Amphetamines at my disposal which makes me even sharper than the Koreans.
 
Nope, not mine. Being a student allowed me to live a certain... cough... lifestyle. That lifestyle depends on one thing, and one thing only: good grades. I guess I would have fit the description of a functioning addict.
 
Smoking pot every day and drinking on the weekends hampered my academics enough that I had to take a year off from school to get sober. I'm 6 months in and doing pretty well. Haven't used yet. I feel so much smarter.
 
the functional addicts

oh how i will never understand....

I remember i was supposed to be studying for finals in college a few years ago but instead i thought it would be a great idea to try to cook some crack for the first time... It took me a few hours to realize i was using washing soda instead of baking soda ....

Needless to say i got all F's in all my classes and failed school...

Something about getting high on opiates all day completely kills motivation to do anything else


Laughing at myself
 
I tend not to do too badly due to my addictions, but my current addictions only consist of weed and oxycodone; nothing too life-changing. If it does, for some reason, happen to impede my studies, I won't regret it. I'd rather enjoy my college experience, longer as it may be, than go through it without enjoyment.
 
limiting my drug use especially when I study if a goal of mine this year. I ran into a problem last winter when my marajuana use started to cause panic attacks, I was barely functioning and it was arough few months to get myself under control. my grades and social life were all affected because I used smoking to escape the stress of college life. since then I'm workign to limit my drug use during the week and keep it reserved for fun times with close friends outside the confines of my shcool work.
 
smoking weed everyday for the last ~2 years has caused immeasurable damage to my academic and social life, i'll probably miss out on scholarships because of the toking-eating-toking-gaming-toking-sleeping daily cycle i adopted :/ Also, short term memory has turned to shit, ive locked my keys inside my car 4 times this year...


surprisingly, my 4 month opiate habit actually made me do better at school. If only they weren't so goddam expensive... :(
 
johanneschimpo said:
Its not affecting my grades like addiction to various street drugs did, thats for sure.
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That was me in May, referring to benzo use. And in denial.
I'm addicted to suboxone and valium, which I use therapeutically, in relatively small doses. Although I do abuse xanax and other drugs more than I like to admit. And its affecting me. Its fucking me. At least I'm no longer in denial. When Fall quarter starts, in a little over two weeks, I'm going to chill out and see how I do. I'm pissed off about going from a 4.0 to.... shit I don't know what I've had if you only count the past year, maybe a 3.0 if I'm lucky.

So yes, being an addict is affecting my grades. I always tell myself "I'm not using smack anymore, so everything is great," but thats not true. Being addicted to legal drugs prescriptions, is not much better. I WILL IMPROVE MY GRADES IN FALL 2008.
 
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