Stimulants How To Endure A Tolerance Break?

[PsychonautRyan]

I'm kind of frustrated with myself right now. I ran out of Adderall (instant-release) yesterday and I have to wait a few days to contact my psychiatrist for a refill, I'm still on 18 mg. of Concerta, I decided that today would be my break from any stimulants. I woke up at 11:30 am, and I got a good 8 hours of sleep, but I had to roll around for an hour before I forced myself out of bed. With two cups of coffee, a Vitamin B-100 complex, and 900 milligrams of St. John's wort, I still felt shitty and depressed, so I just took 18 mg. of Concerta at 2:30 (half-an-hour ago), just to suppress the withdrawal symptoms. So I made it for three hours without any ADHD stimulant, and I'm really loathing myself for my lack of willpower.

The worst part is knowing that when I started Adderall back in March, I thought I could use it for both recreational and academic purposes responsibly and I couldn't be anymore fucking wrong. I have to bear with taking these stimulants until the end of the summer semester, July 25, and I plan on taking a two or three-week tolerance break in time for the start of the fall semester, August 20, but I barely made it three hours without Adderall/Concerta, let alone three weeks!

I know that at the end of the semester, I'll cut down to two or three times a week for work before I completely abstain from psychostimulants, but I'm really doubting my discipline to endure a tolerance break

 

[caseface99]

It's not about willpower - It's about brain chemistry. And your neuropathways are firing left and right telling you to use - so you used.

I've never been addicted to stimulants though - so I can't really help with the tolerance break. Just wanted to point out that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself because to an extent, you've lost the ability to decide weather your going to use or not. That's just the way addiction works. I could give you advice on getting clean permanently - but as far as a short tolerance break, well, i guess you could make sure you don't have any stims in the house for those 3 weeks - and if you're craving bad then stay home and do something to distract yourself. Craving will pass, so sit with it instead of feeding it.

 

[Ksa]

I'm kind of frustrated with myself right now. I ran out of Adderall (instant-release) yesterday and I have to wait a few days to contact my psychiatrist for a refill, I'm still on 18 mg. of Concerta, I decided that today would be my break from any stimulants. I woke up at 11:30 am, and I got a good 8 hours of sleep, but I had to roll around for an hour before I forced myself out of bed. With two cups of coffee, a Vitamin B-100 complex, and 900 milligrams of St. John's wort, I still felt shitty and depressed, so I just took 18 mg. of Concerta at 2:30 (half-an-hour ago), just to suppress the withdrawal symptoms. So I made it for three hours without any ADHD stimulant, and I'm really loathing myself for my lack of willpower.

The worst part is knowing that when I started Adderall back in March, I thought I could use it for both recreational and academic purposes responsibly and I couldn't be anymore fucking wrong. I have to bear with taking these stimulants until the end of the summer semester, July 25, and I plan on taking a two or three-week tolerance break in time for the start of the fall semester, August 20, but I barely made it three hours without Adderall/Concerta, let alone three weeks!

I know that at the end of the semester, I'll cut down to two or three times a week for work before I completely abstain from psychostimulants, but I'm really doubting my discipline to endure a tolerance break

Adderall is an easy thing to stop. I do it all the time. I took tolerance breaks too and lowered dosage to get ripped at the gym more for a month or so. Whenever I abstain or reduce amphetamine dose, I use nicotine. It works wonders for me, I also got ADHD and it's surprisingly strong. When I chew a 4mg gum, I can seriously compare the effects with Adderall except for the fact that it's short lasting and you gotta chew these all the time.

Coffee does NOTHING for me. Absolutely nothing. Only stuff that increases the dopamine in the reward region works for ADHD. It must be addicting or it won't work. If you got ADHD, I urge you to try nicotine. This thing works and on top of it, it doesn't make you horny, so you can also study for exams.

 

[PsychonautRyan]

Believe me, the last time I took a break from Adderall, in mid-to-late May, I had to start smoking again, but I'd be substituting one highly-addictive stimulant for another, even if nicotine gum is non-carcinogenic.

 

[Ksa]

Believe me, the last time I took a break from Adderall, mid-to-late May, I had to start smoking again, but I'd be substituting one highly-addictive stimulant for another.

Smoking is bad, use the gum, chewing 4mg is stronger then anything you've smoked so far and doesn't give you lung cancer.

Substituting a drug for another is not a bad thing. In fact, it is how I managed to stay on 15mg XR without increasing the dose in 7 years. I just kept changing one thing for another and playing with the dose. When you have ADHD, not using any type of substance is simply out of the question.

 

[Lady Codone]

Amphetamines are a mostly psychological addiction, which can be as hard/harder to manage than physical withdrawals.

If it were me, I'd try to avoid people for a few days and just sleep. Caffeine is decent if you need to get things done. There's always Benzedrex and ephedrine-containing OTC pills (Bronkaid, Primatene) if you MUST have something. Better to just take the break though.

 

[Ksa]

Amphetamines are a mostly psychological addiction, which can be as hard/harder to manage than physical withdrawals.

If it were me, I'd try to avoid people for a few days and just sleep. Caffeine is decent if you need to get things done. There's always Benzedrex and ephedrine-containing OTC pills (Bronkaid, Primatene) if you MUST have something. Better to just take the break though.

Not true for ADHD. Coffee does not help at all, not to mention getting things done. Nothing will ever get done because the subject feels it's totally pointless. It's hard to explain a non ADHDer what it feels like to have ADHD lol but I'll give it a shot:

Imagine you went to New York city and after 500 miles you just realized you forgot your suit. So upset, you drive back 500 miles and get your suit. The way you feel when you have to drive back to New York with your suit is the way the ADHDer feels the very first time, without having forgot anything. Drinking coffee will not help, it will make you more upset if anything! The reason why you say that coffee helps you get things done is because you already have all the dopamine you need and you just require to be awake to be fully functional. An awake ADHDer is not a functional one, remember that.

Without dopamine in the reward region, even lifting your finger 1 inch seems pointless, boring and seemingly unachievable. You just got used to having it.

 

[PsychonautRyan]

I'm probably going to smoke a lot of pot and drink tons of booze as an anaesthesia of the coming anxiety and depression the first one or two weeks, I'd like to regenerate the dopamine in my reward pathways, wouldn't nicotine, having a cross-tolerance as a psychostimulant more than likely impede that process?

 

[Ksa]

I'm probably going to smoke a lot of pot and drink tons of booze as an anaesthesia of the coming anxiety and depression the first one or two weeks, I'd like to regenerate the dopamine in my reward pathways, wouldn't nicotine, having a cross-tolerance as a psychostimulant more than likely impede that process?

The point is to be functional, not in a coma until your next prescription. You remind me of some Diablo 2 fan who stated in 2008 that he would pay 5,000$ to be put in a coma until Diablo 3 releases haha

I'd like to regenerate the dopamine in my reward pathways,

Sleep, exercise and healthy food does that. More drugs don't.

 

[RobotRipping]

exercise is a tough one when taking an amphetamine break. I lasted 3 days without my daily dexedrine before i gave in. I have ADD and holy shit i was not expecting the fiending/fatigue/lethargy/suicidal ideation to be THAT bad. I'd rather kick opiates and benzos together than to go through that shit again.

Maybe it's different for people who just use stims recreationally, they seemingly pick them up and put them down without issue. After daily use for months and months tho, it is fucking painful/miserable to quit amps. You learned your lesson though, no, you cannot use amps for academics and recreation without fucking yourself over. If you want to get stimmed still anyway i'd try a cathinone instead and save your adderall that day. At least that way you won't run out, not really good HR advice but i know the pain and how pathetic it feels to not even get through a day without amphetamines. It's not like i'm a bitch and can't handle a real withdrawal because i can over and over again. But quitting stims.... not easy at all.

As well, if you just stick to your regular dose, you won't accrue tolerance really. You can stay at the same dose for years and years if you aren't abusing it. I also notice i can take psychedelics and not take amphetamines(dexedrine in particular) at all that day and have no issues, kind of strange. I'm sure MXE/DXM/K could substitute well for amphetamines too, as well as many other drugs but in terms of rewiring your brain, there's not a whole lot you can do other than to wait it out for a week/months depending on how long you've used amps.

Since you naturally have low dopamine levels, even upon full recovery, you'll still have your symptoms of ADHD/ADD. So my best advice, don't abuse your medication and if you want to get high, try a drug from a different class, preferably a psychedelic.

 

[MrSexypancake]

It's not about willpower - It's about brain chemistry. And your neuropathways are firing left and right telling you to use - so you used.

I've never been addicted to stimulants though - so I can't really help with the tolerance break. Just wanted to point out that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself because to an extent, you've lost the ability to decide weather your going to use or not. That's just the way addiction works. I could give you advice on getting clean permanently - but as far as a short tolerance break, well, i guess you could make sure you don't have any stims in the house for those 3 weeks - and if you're craving bad then stay home and do something to distract yourself. Craving will pass, so sit with it instead of feeding it.

Dude, not cool. I hate this line of thought. All it does is allow people to pawn responsibility off on some extrinsic factor. They just end up feeling like they have no control, lose any motivation to fight, and end up way worse off.

It's like my Dad and his diabetes. The guy eats four meals a day and then tells my sister and I that we're gonna end up with it too. "It's all genetics; we never had a chance."

That's bullshit. Since he was diagnosed I have worked to keep in shape and even took up distance-running. I refuse to ever allow myself to become what basically amounts to a more obscure Wilford Brimley. You might have cravings and withdrawals, but these fade and pass. The extent to which a former-tweaker can recover is hotly debated, though generally agreed to be determined by a number of factors.


For those unfamiliar with his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eApR0PFP50

 

[Ksa]

You learned your lesson though, no, you cannot use amps for academics and recreation without fucking yourself over.

Nothing is impossible, what you can say however is that he seems to lack a sustainable methodology.

 

[TakeCareAndControl]

Adderall is an easy thing to stop. I do it all the time.

Mind sending me a lil vial of your DNA, dude? Once the 2ish detox days are done, and the Adderall is out of my system, I can't even compare the feeling to anything else I've experienced. Alcohol withdrawal, as an extremely heavy 24/7 drinker, was easier for me than Adderall has ever been. Hah. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

 

[weekend addiction]

I take low low dose of add meds most days. When I don't take that I prefer to have some kratom around to replace some of the energy, motivation, pain relief, etc. that I get from my meds. I really want off these meds I just need to build confidence in myself. Confidence that I can live without them and do well. They do help me but the side effects can be too much!

 

[Ksa]

Mind sending me a lil vial of your DNA, dude? Once the 2ish detox days are done, and the Adderall is out of my system, I can't even compare the feeling to anything else I've experienced. Alcohol withdrawal, as an extremely heavy 24/7 drinker, was easier for me than Adderall has ever been. Hah. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

I take codeine, amphetamine and nicotine. At least one of these 3 substances has to be in my system at all times. If I only used amphetamines, I would probably experience a bad withdrawal too but since I use 3 substances, stopping one is easy. I never tried to quit all 3 simultaneously, and never will.

 

[PsychonautRyan]

I can definitely notice that nicotine gum alleviates my withdrawal symptoms, I might as well just carry the gum with me to take every hour, it's the equivalent of becoming a chainsmoker overnight.

 

[PsychonautRyan]

Obviously, there isn't a formula for this, but any idea on how much three weeks supplemented daily with DXM, magnesium and l-tyrosine can drop my tolerance by? Ideally, I'm just going to ask my psychiatrist for 20 or 25 mg. Adderall XR when school starts back up on August 20, but if I take weekends off, does that mean that my tolerance is just going to build back up or will it slow the rate of tolerance reduction than if I were taking a total abstinence? Ideally, I'd like to reserve Adderall instant-release for challenging academic projects and long shifts at work, and I'd like to know that if sparing usage would (ever) get my tolerance back to zero (or fairly-close).

 

[PsychonautRyan]

Honestly, I'm done chasing the high, but on more challenging, but short-term projects and long-ass shifts at work, the speedy amphetamine high would be helpful once in awhile.