Hardcore Student prescribed Adderall...The Birth of a Speed Freak

TCMVegas

Bluelighter
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Nov 22, 2012
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I'm not really sure TDS is the right place for this, even though it involved some desperate and dark times. I'm more trying to keep them from happening again.

The Promise:

My psychiatrist prescribed me 2Xmg Adderall a day just before school got going again in the spring. At first, Xmg twice a day was all I took, even though I was prescribed twice that much. I felt like a god, I was so focused, no longer self-conscious, felt popular, felt brilliant, and very motivated. I told myself that I didn't want to ever let my tolerance take me above 4Xmg a day, since twixe at Xmg was already so effective. A month later, my psychiatrist gave me 8Xmg a day, which let me rationalize using higher doses (2X mg twice a day after 3-4 weeks, up to 8X mg after 2 months), even though these higher doses never met the effectiveness of those first doses. I built up a tolerance and became dependent. But I had KNOWN that Adderall was my answer. I was finally going to get A's, and Adderall seemed to be my savior. I could work for hours and hours with incredible interest and focus, and absorb so much from what I was learning.

The Darkness:

It was somewhere around mid semester that I really realized I was becoming an amphetamine addict. I was taking a bare minimum of 4X mg a day, most often around 6Xmg (2 XR's). Some days, especially in nights before math tests, I would take adderall every couple of hours, sometimes reaching 100mg in a 24 hours period while desperately (and impressively) studying for a midterm that I should have prepared for way earlier. As I continued to exhibit not-great work habits, I was in danger of not maintaining B's in my classes. I needed to work more. The path to success seemed to be sleeping less, because when up at night working on amphetamines (or just reading bluelight or researching drugs), sleeping seems like the devil.


My low sleep was unhuman, and I mean ABSOLUTELY UNHUMAN. Some Fridays, I'd tell people I'd only slept 5 hours since Monday. I had visual trails in class, waving my hand in front of my face. My eyelids were practically purple, and so droopy that I thought I must have been permanently damaging my eyes. My working memory was so shot that by the time I read the end of a sentence, I'd lost track of the information from the beginning of it. In class one day I reread a sentence 4-5 times and absolutely could not comprehend it. I was becoming paranoid of those around me. On weekends, if I didn't set my alarm, I'd sometimes wake up 16 hours later, still exhausted,as my body fought the losing battle of trying to recover from me. A paranoia accusation lost me a good friend, and may have damaged the relationship with my best friend. I feel terrible and want to apologize, but I don't think this is going to be possible. I lost friends. I was a psychotic amphetamine addict. But worst of all, I didn't even have the grades to show for it.

Originally I thought I'd never use it recreationally, I broke that promise to myself. Adderall made you not miss sleep. Adderall made me sleep SO LITTLE that it must have just decimated my ability to work and remember. Which I "fixed" with more Adderall. My grades were drooping, and I was becoming psychotic. I decided I wanted to salvage my grades, and could use a break from school.

The Future:

I've been amphetamine-free for months now, without an Adderall prescription. I've been thinking for months about how I should treat Adderall. I will have a friend hold on to it, so that I do not end up irresponsibly abusing it. I just need to know what exact instructions to give him.

The best solution I can come up with so far is to give myself single 20mg XR for Saturday, and a single 20XR on Sunday, and not use it throughout the week. Only exception being the day before and the day of any midterms. Do you guys think this is a responsible plan? I want to keep some benefit from Adderall without becoming totally dependent.
 
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I've always thought there should be Adderall clinics that work like Methadone clinics

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My addiction to Adderall was just like yours. I studied/stayed awake like mad for the first half of the semester, but actually failed out due to staying chemically motivated (just not delivering).

Your plan to have someone else hold dose it out to you SOUNDS like it would work. One silly solution I came up with was to keep the script in a safe (in my possession) and give a friend/neighbor the key. On designated days I would retrieve the key from them. It's not foolproof. In amphetamine craving you'll probably just take them all out. What I actually did once was separate the script into 4 1-week sets, and gave them to my friend. I just ended up visiting her early and it didn't matter to her whether I was "doing it right". After that month I didn't want to trouble her anymore. Think about your relationships.

Since you can't control it, it's best to stay away. If you haven't done it successfully before, why would it work again this time? What has changed? (I am asking myself the same question.)
 
Hey Cohesion, thanks for weighing in. Were you on any other drugs at the time that you tweaked your way out of school? For me personally, I actually lowered my use of other drugs (psychedelics, weed) from fairly frequent to almost not at all. I think I smoked weed 3 times last semester, when in the past without adderall it had been probably 1-2 times a week
 
You're welcome. You can try to ration your way around it and do a damn good job intellectualizing. But do you feel it would work for you again? Settle into your feeling.

Short answer to your question is yes. When I ran out of Adderall and couldn't buy any OTR I'd take heavy doses of Dilaudid and my Klonopin script. I was smoking spice so I'd pass any drug test given by my doctor.

If you're a good student you don't NEED the "benefits" of amphetamine. Also, there are other drugs that don't get you high but will help chemically as well as in a placebo sense to fill that void for want of the "benefit". Wellbutrin is a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, just like Adderall. This was my placebo drug for about 8 months after I quit Adderall. I tapered off of Wellbutrin more slowly and methodically than anything ever in my life, it was a little dramatic. :) Occasionally taking Piracetam. Then I started doing meditation and felt that I was clear enough and didn't need anything at all anymore.

Oh and welcome to Bluelight :D
 
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I just quit Wellbutrin myself a couple of weeks ago. It feels nice the first week or so, I'm not sure it even does anything at all for me after a month or so. Do you think it does?

Now I've been thinking of giving myself an escalating dose through the semester, or a certain amount a week, or something. Maybe I'll have to write out some elaborate amphetamine allowance chart for myself and have another friend who has ADD hold on to it.

I'm going to keep getting 50mg a day no matter what, because it would be a waste not to.
 
I take 5-15 mg a day to study about 5 days a week. I see the recreational value but amps just make me feel like crap...

When it comes to addiction I've always preferred the downers so that may be why I don't abuse it much.

There are other alternatives to adderall tho, caffeine, ephedrine, ect
 
How about, what's on the label, if not less than that?

This.

Yeah, I have a story pretty similar to yours, TCM. I'm back on Adderall XR, 25 mg b.i.d. and about to start back up in school after a several year long break. First attempt ended myself up in rehab/kicked out of my parents for permanently. This time around, classes haven't even started yet and I'm finding myself burning through my script in less than 2 weeks, spending my time learning/writing code in a pointless scripting language so I can more effectively play multiple characters on a pointless, dead emulated server of a pointless, dead MMORPG. When I'm not doing that I'm downloading and cataloging as much porn as I can make fit on my HD, delete, and fit on there again.

For me, it all comes down to the issue of getting to sleep. 50 mg is more than enough for me, it does the trick just fine on the day I get my prescription filled, even with my tolerance being that of... I dunno, some large mammal. But when I first notice I'm coming up on 24 hr mark number one, it feels like I just started. So I gotta keep going.

I dunno... I think it'd be easier for me if I could somehow have it set up so that the power to the room I live in just gets automatically shut off at a certain point... like I'll be all up over 24 hrs (plus whatever amount of day led up to it), which is usually when I'm just at the point where I'm starting to get a nagging (but TOTALLY ignorable) voice in my head telling myself I'm an idiot... then BOOM! POWERS OUT! Then I could more easily excuse just taking my clonazepam and laying there feeling stupid as it robs me of my ability to just... go forever.
 
Give nooptropics a try for what you want, PM me for more info. Theres piracetam and you take so much they ARE NOT stims they are more like health supps I say "steroids for the mind" SORTA, they arent toxic and take them daily no addiction. I use the better/priceier/more potent ones Oxiracetam and Aniracetam. Since I bosh too much Concerta I dont notice it but theres movation,etc

My honest advice? I use Concerta not for a buzz but for motivation sorta like you are but more long term. If you cannot control it or barely sleep toy WILL wind up the way I am now I went to bed at 4am up 4-5pm after nearing 4 days no sleep I thought I got out the habit but I don't think so. I need toget this room clean and not be on this PC or I am getting kicked out my house. I've a mad thread in culture about it.
 
Now I'm thinking of taking a single IR or XR every day after classes, and spending the entire duration of it in the library. Will try to keep doses around 10-15mg a day. Working in some off-days would be beneficial I know, but when I'm busy, I'm not sure it'll happen.
 
Hi All =) I do about 50 mills of IR on heavy days of studying. My trouble isn't with addiction, though. It's with my goddamn family (jeees, I love them!) they won't leave me alone to do the studying. You know, I'll get dialed into some important work and then here comes my wife--wanting to vent about work. I'm in a funny situation. I don't work. My wife does. She makes enough money for the whole family (I have two daughters- 7 and 10). As for school, I'm at a technical college and haven't made less than an "A" yet but the Adderall pulls me through. I don't feel the addictive nature of it like I've been reading about here. It doesn't give me a high but it does get me tuned into my work (as long as I can stay non-distracted). The IR tabs keep me at my desk all damn day... for days, except when I'm in school.

The thing too is that I'm 45 and trying to jump into healthcare (Radiology). The last time I had a job was in 2007. But I had an affair then too. We're talking about the best sex I have EVER had... EVER! But, her name wasn't Adderall and that's what I'm talking about now. I'm taking clonazepam, bupropion, diazepam, zolpidem, Viibryd, tizanadine, and tramadol. Obviously, all that stuff isn't just to help me study. It's messed up, man, but I take all this shit but I don't tank or come down off anything. I get enough sleep but I do lose a lot of sleep when school gets outta control. I'm takin' my books and shit everywhere I go so I can use every frickin' minute. My body would literally shut down if I had to go with less than four hours of sleep on any given night...and that's not because I appear to be has-been or wanna-be or whatever. I was like that way back. I've always been really sensitive to my sleep for some reason. The doc won't tell me why! (that's a joke...nevermind.) I feel really bad about the guys (and girls) using the XR stuff. That Adderall will string you out in a heartbeat. I tried it for a month and went back to the tabs. You know... I've even tried to snort the powder from crushed Add tabs but I just got a damn headache and nothing different in terms of performance from the Adderall.

There is a lot of fear in me about being addicted that has always been there since living with my alcoholic mother. My brother and sister did enough drugs for me and then some. Again, all that's for my retirement autobiography! It'll be out on shelves soon! (don't ask "what kind of shelves"....).

Good luck to you guys and girls (I can't tell by some of these user names). I'm listening in and I'll keep dialing in as I see my sage-like guidance is needed...HA!
 
eyeslikethesun-I'm not a doctor or medical professional but if I was on the meds you are like "clonazepam, bupropion, diazepam, zolpidem, Viibryd, tizanadine, and tramadol." I would not combine them, or take them with a stimulant.
 
OP here.

Just got scripted this stuff again. I've been doing terribly in school without it...

I don't know what to do. I think I'm going to start using it again, only if taken before noon or something. And sleep from midnight to 8am.

I can't afford to not take it, and I'm playing with fire where I've been burned before if I do take it...

I
 
Here it is:

I CAN design a usage schedule (1 pill between 8am and noon) that WOULD only benefit me.

BUT if I start taking it regularly, I WILL break that schedule. Maybe I'll get myself into a bad situation or something...

I'm thinking maybe a time-lock safe could be good.
 
youve already become a stimulent addict

everything from now on regarding your continued use of them is simple justification

i dont know anyone that can take the same dosage of adderall every day after having a problem with it already

also for my self with weed (i can stop use without much drama), i tried getting my sister to hold on to it for me, and 3 days later i had to get it all back from her

i just cant trust myself being around substances ive already become habituated with, same goes for tobacco.

try tapering yourself off it, save yourself a load of problems down the road

p.s. you've managed life so far without adderall, why is it necessary all of a sudden? find the root cause and try address that without chems.
 
A paranoia accusation lost me a good friend, and may have damaged the relationship with my best friend. I feel terrible and want to apologize, but I don't think this is going to be possible. I lost friends. I was a psychotic amphetamine addict. But worst of all, I didn't even have the grades to show for it.
Originally I thought I'd never use it recreationally, I broke that promise to myself. Adderall made you not miss sleep. Adderall made me sleep SO LITTLE that it must have just decimated my ability to work and remember. Which I "fixed" with more Adderall. My grades were drooping, and I was becoming psychotic. I decided I wanted to salvage my grades, and could use a break from school.

You forgot how miserable you were (or came across that way) just a few months ago. It won't work any better this time. I went through the same thing in the mid 80's. Lots of luck
 
A sweet girl I know, who lives a long ways away, has gotten me to give up on amphetamine.

She said she'd quit weed if I quit Adderall. We're at the end of day 5.

I'm working better already.

I already can't believe I did so much visible damage to my body.

Fuck this drug amphetamine. It's so beautiful, yet it ass-rapes you so hard.
 
Hi OP!! I am recovering from a large ampehtamine habit (dexedrine and methamphetamine) myself..
My friend, they are useful for studying, but don't get hooked.. Eventually you'll come to crave the stuff, and yeah your right, it SEEMS 'beautiful', but you and I both know how it rears its ugly head..
Stay safe man and try not to binge, binging is where it all goes to hell.. Personally I'd come off of it, I know that's hard, but should be done.. Later on in Amphetamine addiction, that's where it all goes to hell and you wonder if it's even worth it anymore..


Feel free to drop me a pm..
 
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