I've found amphetamines have the so-called paradoxical effect for just about everyone. It's not uncommon to see a tweaker or crackhead sit still, intensely focused on whatever, ADD or not. If you focus on moving around doing a bunch of shit you'll do that. If you want to sit and write, read or draw you'll do that.
That's probably how they work, it makes mundane tasks easier to pay attention to, even keep your interest. It'll work in regular people too, that's why adderall's so popular with students and some workers. That's why they give it to pilots.
I really think it's the cultural expectation that have a big role in the effects. I remember an article, can't seem to find it now, that said cultural expectation can influence the effectiveness of drug. Aspirin worked in some countries like the US for heart attacks, but not in other countries. Benzos the same. The color of the pill can change you perception of the effects. Look at everyone who says this brand of oxy is way worse than that one. It's kind of like nitrous or ethyl chloride where everyone bursts out laughing because they're called laughing gas. Usually they huff the balloon like it's a bag of paint, when it's best to hold it, but I digress. It makes me kind of giddy but it's not uncontrollable laughter like Salvia.
Really the current stimulants aren't so much like a scalpel, selectively raising dopamine in just the right areas of the brain to just eliminate symptoms and nothing else. It's more like a club hitting multiple parts of the brain and body. It's 19th century medicine, not some super advanced selective shit. Can't think of one drug that is.
macd610 I would love to see some studies. Did read some that indicated in some people with ADHD dopamine levels were lower in certain parts of the brain, but I'm not sure if they showed it normalized them or used a control. Forgot which parts, been awhile since I took anatomy and physiology.
I do think it's effective for reducing symptoms from ADHD. I just don't think there's any proof that it works vastly different in ADD people than in normal subjects. I mean no one's saying it has no other effects for narcoleptic or obese people even though the effects treat the symptoms, or that pain patients have an endorphin deficiency. It just reminds me of the "serotonin hypothesis" with SSRIs or the COX-2 hypothesis for shit like Vioxx. It just seems like a marketing gimmick to reassure doctors, teacher and parents that they aren't going to turn their kids into tweakers. And it won't because it's taken in a controlled moderate manner in a medical context. Actually there was a study that found that untreated ADHD were more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, but those that were treated early actually had a lower risk.
I really don't give a shit if doctors believe this myth and just give it to whoever. I think anyone should be allowed to get them. I'll get stimulants anyway since I definitely have ADD. And in doses that work it does have a stimulant effect for me. Not like smoking crack or shooting meth, subtle but noticeable.
I do wish that they would come up with something that was very selective. It'd be a good nootropic in addition to an effective treatment.Imagine an amphetamine with a ceiling effect at 60mg like a Nubain or Subutex for stimulants. You could take it in beneficial doses but not do tweaker shit even it you tried.
I Think Cylert might have came close but never was popular and pulled from the market due to an unacceptable risk of liver failure. Not very common but not rare. No way to predicted it. Imagine a kid dieing of liver failure because they were given a drug more toxic than methamphetamine! For ADD! I think it might not have been as hard on the liver in adults but it was only studied and marketed for children
Also they tried that with Vyvanse. The hypothesis was that it would only work orally because it needed to be broken down by trypsin in the gut, be extended released, and that higher doses would overwhelm that enzyme giving it a ceiling. Later experience showed that it was basically an IR prodrug for dextroamphetamine, converted in the bloodstream, no real difference other than costs and patent protection. DEA saw through Shires shit and made it schedule II

. Clobenzorex is an old drug that is like an XR dexedrine prodrug. But it was pulled of the market in the US like a lot of stimulants were. No money to bring an old drug back.
And good coke snorted is probably one of the most laid back uppers. For me at least.