Will amphetamine change your personality?

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I was just barely diagnosed adhd last year and since then have been scripted adderall. I'm currently on 20mg xr and have remained on this dose for 4 months. While it does help me muster the motivation to complete tasks (I also have depression) I also think it's changing me and I don't know if this is bad or good. To start, I admit that I use amp recreationally, taking up to 3x my daily dose over the day but for the most part I take it as directed.

When I'm on it I become extremely empathetic and much more in touch with my emotions in general, this effect is magnified if I'm drinking. I feel mentally dulled but my social skills have improved ten fold even when I haven't taken it for a week or two. When I'm out with friends, at a party, or at work this is great but once I'm alone I just feel like all the things I used to be interested in mean nothing to me anymore. I never pick up my guitar and my curiosity in the sciences is almost gone entirely. Most of the time I act on impulse which is not something I did very often a couple years ago. I feel like a different person and it makes me think I just lost my handle on life.

Is this common among people who use amphetamine or similar psychostims long term, will it become better/worse over time?

 

[unpause]

Yes. Most definitely. It will make you more focused especially having add or adhd. It will actually make you feel quite good, at least it did in my case when I started on it.

Long term use of it can be a negative thing for some, so I'd suggest from personal experience using it only a year - three yrs.

Them you could switch to other add/adhd non-stimunlant medications.

Much luck buddy, hope this helps in some way.

Peace,

C

 

[Ozle]

Some aspects of your reaction are unusual however. Amphetamines are typically known for making people over-focused on whatever is in front of them, while leaving them relatively detached from their emotions and those of others, generally producing an anti-social effect; some go as far as calling it a "robot-like" feeling. What you're describing (extreme empathy and emotional insight) seems much more typical of a response to MDMA than a classical (DRI/DRA) stimulant... I doubt that adding alcohol alone would have been able to cause such a huge difference in effects. Are you sure you didn't take anything else?

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Maybe I overstated the extent of the emotional connectedness. It's nowhere near as powerful as MDMA, which I've had a couple times as fairly pure crystals, but it is significant.

I get my amp from a pharmacy so the chance that I'm getting another substance is pretty unlikely. The other strange thing is that my heart rate doesn't seem to increase on a regular dose, I use a phone app to measure BPM and it doesnt seem to increase.

To me amphetamine feels like an empathogen but doesn't give me any euphoria by itself, in that sense it just adds extra enjoyment to things I already enjoyed. Most the time I'm the "I love you man" drunk so that's probably why alcohol adds to it, plus the inhibition. I've been in robot mode before but that's only after I've stayed up for 35+ hours or im coming down from a larger dose, which very rarely happens.

 

[lightbrigade]

Agree w/ Ozle re the anti-social effect. Also, I've it produce a "robot-like" effect where emotions and empathy are thrown to the wayside until the crash.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

Yes. Most definitely. It will make you more focused especially having add or adhd. It will actually make you feel quite good, at least it did in my case when I started on it.

Long term use of it can be a negative thing for some, so I'd suggest from personal experience using it only a year - three yrs.

Them you could switch to other add/adhd non-stimunlant medications.

Much luck buddy, hope this helps in some way.

Peace,

C

That was also my experience with Adderall/Dexedrine. I was on it for only 2-3 years not taking it on weekends, or during breaks from school, or during the summer.

What are the non-stimulant meds for ADD/ADHD besides Strattera?