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Stimulants To Speed or Not to Speed, That is The Question.

RainWater

RainWater

Greenlighter
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
12
Location
California
I'd like some advice from people that are either prescribed meds for ADD or have acquired some notable wisdom on the matter.

Recently I took 3 (or 4?) different tests for ADD and I guess they confirmed what I already believed. It was all legit and went through qualified sources.

One was the O Connor which is specifically for measuring impulsivity/inattentiveness etc.

I'm not interested in using these meds for recreational purposes, so should I start taking them or what?

It could be life changing for the better...right?
 
To be perfectly honest, as both someone who has taken these medications and someone who works with now overly-medicated students, I would not recommend you take a medication like Adderall or Ritalin. I'll tell you why...

First, how old are you? I am twenty-two, and I have managed to live a productive life without medication for this many years even with what I am imagining as very moderate ADD. (And who really knows for sure whether or not I truly have ADD.) Taking Adderall made life easier, and that's for sure, but it came at a pretty steep price. These medications have exacerbated my depression, and I am now more depressed than ever before, and they have also raised my blood pressure significantly. Oh, and now my jaw clicks and snaps (bruxism, I guess?)

It is just such an awful price to pay, and it's a slippery slope. First you will be prescribed an ADD medication like Adderall XR, and then a couple of weeks later you will notice the anxiety. So then your doctor will prescribe you a benzodiazepine like Klonopin to counteract the anxiety. But another side effect is increased blood pressure, so then you may be put on a blood pressure medication. If you have depression already and the ADD medication exacerbates or causes depression, well then now you will have to be put onto an antidepressant.

Oh, and each one of those medications have their own side effects! I would say that if you can get by without medication, then for the love of God do not go on a medication. That would be my advice, and you can take it for what it's worth. I'm sure more Bluelighters will chime in soon.
 
I appreciate the fast reply. I'm also in my early twenties...but honestly my life until now hasn't been terribly productive.

Presuming ADD is an actual condition I'm sure there are varying degrees of it. The decent or good grades I did manage to make in school were usually only a result of my innate ability rather than paying attention or being remotely interested.

I get what you're saying but were you prescribed the adderall? Or were you self medicating with it?
 
You are just looking for approval to take them, I agree with verso, don't. Do you have a history of drug abuse at all? do you feel like getting all these nifty side effects from amphetamines? I myself was diagnosed with add when I was ten, but my dad opposed to the doc and didn't got pre scripted with uppers. Recently, I decided to try them and see if they where worth it... honestly, that fake dopamine rush and extra concentration could help me academically, but the side effects made it totally not worth it (comedown, high blood pressure, etc..), only took me 3 days on meds to realize that my body didn't deserved being hooked on uppers.

Long story short, it's not worth it, go on and check out the darkside subforum, look for amphetamine threads.
 
Verso hit the nail on the head! djzmo May have a good point, too. Are you just looking for approval or someone else to justify your taking of Amphetamines, prescribed or not?

I personally believe that ADD and ADHD are extremely over-diagnosed, and young kids should never be given Amphetamines and other strong stimulants like Ritalin when their brains aren't even close to being fully developed (which happens around age 25 on average).

Some people are just more hyper than other people, and some people are better at focusing on a task like schoolwork and such than other people.

I do agree that there are some people who do benefit from taking these meds. I just don't think everyone who day-dreams or is disruptive should automatically be given a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD.
 
^^Exactly.

Amphetamines are incredibly useful for ADD, but they're also incredibly addictive. If you need them, then get them and use them, but do so with caution.
 
in addition to the risks presented by previous posts in this thread i'd like you to consider something else about ADD medications.

first of all, if you've been diagnosed as ADD then i recommend you take them. taking a regular dose non-recreationally should improve your life. in my experience i have not noticed any anxiety or increased blood pressure. i am prescribed vyvanse and it has led to drastic improvements in my concentration, work ethic, and motivation. i "got by" in school without the meds, but i am doing much better while on them. if there is a day when i do not have any plans to work, or focus on anything in particular, then i can get by fine without it and i don't seem to have any "addiction" to it. no withdrawls or anything like that. however, since taking the medication for several years now it's hard to get motivated to do something without the medication. it's a bit of a psychological dependence. i can definitely survive without it, and if i take my time i can adapt to life sans vyvanse, so i wouldn't necessarily call it an addiction, but it's something that i would prefer to have in my life than not. ultimately i recommend that you see how it works for you. you've been diagnosed with ADHD so your life stands to be improved by these medications. they aren't a lifelong commitment or anything, so see how they affect you and if they don't work then there is nothing difficult like painful withdrawals that come with stopping them.
 
I find that no matter what my dose is no matter what i've done that day if i've forced myself to eat or not... I cannot fall asleep after a dose of dexadrine/amphetamine... not for 30+ hours after the dose. and this is the #1 turn off for me, it just consumes my life if it's in me, i wont eat, i'm extremely tired but I can't refuel in any way since I can't sleep or eat. and whenever I am doing work on it I feel pissed off in a profound and unshakable way. It gets right on top of me and it's only worthwhile for one night out of every few hundred because of the immediate weight loss and headaches from exhaustion it produces.

Not.
 
It's your call, man, but just know that there is an excellent chance you will experience side effects and that they're not pretty, certainly not worth what little benefit the medication might offer you.

I know that my cardiovascular system is not thanking me for the months and months I used amphetamines regularly, and not at unusual, untherapeutic doses, either. Likewise, I hate that my jaw clicks now all of the time. It hurts and it's annoying. So ask yourself, is being put at greater risk for heart attacks really worth writing a paper in record time? It was for me once, but not anymore.
 
Really appreciate the responses, shared experiences, and different opinions guys.

I'm not 'looking for approval to take them' @ djzmo. I'm deciding whether or not this will help improve my lifestyle and if the pros outweigh the cons.

I'm not trying to write a paper in record time. My goal isn't something that insignificant. While this could (and should) help me academically maybe it could help in other areas of my life also.

I'm going to try this out and if some of the horror stories I've read start to become a reality for myself then I won't hesitate to try something else.

:D
 
Only take them when you really have too ?

Trust me you don't want to be taking that everyday . It's horrible after a while .
 
I agree with verso and the other posters, and I'm also glad the OP asked his question in the way he did. Tread carefully, amphetamines are a very two-faced class of drugs, just make sure you're aware that everybody reacts to them differently and if you do have ADD/ADHD they are certainly more theraputic than for somebody who doesn't and just uses them recreationally (like me!).

I think the pharm companies hit that one on the head, actually.
 
I was prescribed adderall in college...I completely bullshitted the psychiatrist and got the meds I was after within 3 sessions. I just wanted the pills to sell and to study (both of which I did successfully, adderall is worth it's weight in gold in a college town). Anyways, I started taking them everyday because it was fun, but my tolerance skyrocketed to insane heights like 60-100+mg a day. Soon, all it did was make me paranoid, anxious, depressed, unable to perform sexually (I was reduced to a mere helmet in the bush, I couldn't even whack it to save my life when on that shit).

It was extremely fun at first and I was so productive, happy, and not poor. Then after a few months they started to show their darkside...all culminating with an overdose/panic attack while I was driving, luckily I didn't crash my car or hurt anyone. My heart rate must have been around 200bpm's and I started to lose my sanity as well.

Sorry for the rant, but that's just my experience with amphetamines. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you not to do it, because it's fun as hell...for a little while. Speed is highly addictive and once you're on it, it's hard to stop. Just be careful, be safe, and don't do it often.
 
I remember taking a bunch of Ritalin, Felt great! Then they wear off and your whole body hurts.
Plus I had to do some roofing the next day and felt like shit. I stay away from Speed. I want to go down not up!
 
wow i didn't know you had to go through extensive tests for ADD/ADHD diagnosis lol.

I went to my doctor 4 months ago and just told him i had trouble focusing in class, and keeping my attention, and right away he says sounds like ADD! and prescribed me 20mg adderall IR's right off the bat.

I get 60 20mg IR's a month, supposed to take 2 every day. I'll admit, the feeling that recreational doses can give you is really awesome. Its really euphoric and rushy for the first hour, but the high quickly wears off and you are left with the effects that it is intended to cause - attention, focus, sharper cognitive processes. So be careful not to chase the high.. cause you will be left awake for days. The high is very short, but the beneficial/intended effects last 4-6 hours.
I've taken 80mg's orally at 8am right off the bat, and have redosed 60 mg's between 9 am and 11am, and have been stuck awake all night that night.

So my advice - DONT CHASE THE HIGH! the high is short acting on large doses and lasts only 45mins to an hour, and once the high wears off you will be under the impression that the drug itself has generally worn off.. this is not true, you are still very much on adderall and if you redose you will be up for days.

Also.. try jacking off after the initial effects of adderall wear off, your penis will only be able to get a half erection, but the orgasm is so amazing, and prolonged.

another thing - adderall is an awesome tool for class. I have never in my life actually WANTED to sit down and work out equations for hours on end, all with a huge grin on my face. I have fun doing school work.. who woulda thought. Its a great tool to progress in school/life, but if you get used to abusing speed, your health will take a plumit. Exam week before new years I slept 6 hours the whole week, I was up days and days at a time, and i never chose to do that much, I just ended up doing it. so be careful
 
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^ Lol, well I think I went through all those tests primarily because of a former diagnosis (or misdiagnosis rather) I had for Bipolar disorder.

I've gotta admit I'm having second thoughts but I figure it's worth a try...even if only temporarily.
 
rangrz said:
I'd say do it.

treating the ADHD makes life a lot easier.

amphetamine, personally, has few/no side effects on me. So I say try the treatment
Click to expand...

Exactly. Then stick with the lowest effective dose and stay as healthy as you can

Over-medicating and under-eating is what cause a lot of people problems.. so if you can keep yourself in check you'll be much better off in the long run
 
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