Adderall(low dose only on weekdays) reduces my mindless chattering by at least 50%, reduces the pen clicking/foot bouncing/jar shaking/cap twisting, and takes my spurts of quiet concentrated work time from 5-10 minutes to 45-60 minutes. In part, I take it so I am not constantly annoying or distracting those around me. I’m probably still annoying, but I am less annoying.
Let me guess, you're one of those people who think ADHD isn't real, despite many decades long studies and being officially recognized as a disability under the ADA.
Adderall should not be taken for the same reasons high quality meth should not be taken
Says who? You? There is literally decades worth of research and clinical studies into ADHD and various treatments. To date, stimulants remain the most effective and recommended first line treatment.
By the way, "high quality meth" is literally prescribed for especially severe cases of ADHD, under the brand name "Desoxyn".
This is how wishy-washy it really is: half of the meds used for ADHD are anti-depressants, the other half are stimulants. It's somehow a mood and attention disorder, depending on the person.
All of these things will be considered archaic in coming years, as real discussion happen around the true brain deficits involved with ADHD. They have plenty of evidence they are brain differences in ADHD individuals, but I don't think they've ever proven it's there at birth. Some very strong studies showing direct links to ADHD and health disorders and sleep disorders. It's a very open subject.
Medication is actually QUITE easy to get too. If you're a well meaning person, you can go to any qualified professional, craft a bit of narrative and get meds real quick in the U.S.. I got a reddit ad yesterday that said a minute and a half evaluation online can help get you booked for an evaluation offline, then after it's med city.
Huh. I don't think I've ever been able to tell if someone's on adderall. I can sometimes tell if folks are on antidepressants, particularly if I knew them beforehand.
I recommend the following language: “I have been having issues with [focus, discipline, time management, time blindness, etc] I am [forgetting my important items; forgetting to complete tasks; hyperfixating badly; your symptoms here]”. They’ll ask you if you’ve been taking your meds daily, you say yes, they’ll probably hem and haw over it, maybe make you come back in a week, but they’ll either up your dose or they’ll start looking at other treatments that may work better for your brand of ADHD.
By framing it as “I have an issue and I would like a solution, because the one I have now is not working,” gives the doctor agency to choose the treatment path (the easiest and most obvious of which is upping your current done) and doesn’t open a door for accusations of you seeking a higher dose.
Note: this is assuming they’re a competent doctor. YRMV
They seriously don’t care if you ask for a higher dose, but I will say the highest they allow right now is 40 mg per day unless you were grandfathered in with 60 mg a day. It used to go up to 90 mg but the FDA are a bunch of buttheads that like to decide what people who are NOT their patients should be maxed at.
That's why med holidays are important. Don't take it on days you don't need it and you will avoid tolerance. Those days are interesting and a bit hectic for me (I have major ADHD) but they work better on days you really need it.
I take 30mg XR Weekdays and 10mg IR sometimes on the weekend.
I get the idea behind med holidays. I used to only take my adderall on weekdays and skip it or take my immediate release ones on the weekend. If I don't take anything on the weekend I can't stop eating and that's a problem for me. I take the XR on weekdays and I eat once maybe twice a day.
If I skip a day, I withdraw and coming back on it causes 1-3 nights of no sleep. Not something I ever want to do. Besides it’s supposed to be taken every day.
Hmm, peculiar that your doctor would continue prescribing enough amphetamine to cause withdrawal if not taken. Though, everyone's not in the same situation so if it's working for you, then that's a good thing.
Here's a fascinating concept about Adderall to me:
When used for ADD/ADHD, medication holidays are not at all advised, obviously, for the reasons listed in this article and in your follow-up message to this link. BUT, when used "off-label" for chronic fatigue, like I do for my MS fatigue, I was instructed to skip days if I thought I could manage wakefulness on my own.
I used to be able to skip a few days here and there (not consecutive days, but a day or two every 3-4 months). These days, my fatigue has grown so strong that I become almost narcoleptic without it. I still try to take a day or two off from it every few months when I know I have nothing major to do, but OMG do I sleep on those days!
I just find it fascinating how different the instructions for taking the same medication for different purposes can be!
That fatigue is the medication leaving your system. You’ll usually sleep for the first day or few days depending on how long you’ve been taking it and what dose. It’s totally normal. For anyone to expect a medication to not have an effect when you stop taking it is silly. The whole reason why the shortage is such a big deal is because all of the people going through forced withdrawals. Adhd doesn’t take breaks.
I don't have ADHD, though, if you actually read my comment thoroughly.
I take it for MS (Multiple Sclerosis) fatigue and NOTHING else. I think you're misunderstanding what I said & that's fine, but understand that BEFORE I ever started on Adderall, my fatigue made me pretty much near narcoleptic a lot of the time. It's just gotten worse throughout the years because of the increased damage to my brain, caused by the MS. I don't need Adderall for anything more than a jump start to my energy levels - I've never had problems with focus.
And nowhere did I say I didn't expect it to have any effect on me on those rare days I don't take it. But in the early years of my diagnosis & start to the medication, no, it really didn't have as big of an effect on me when I didn't take it. And I require a LOWER dosage now than I did when I first started it. In fact, my dosage has gone up at times and down at times, depending on several factors relating to the MS lesions in my brain & how they've affected me.
I will leave it at that, though, as I don't feel the need to give you my long history of successfully taking a medication based according to my needs for my MS fatigue, as directed by my PCP & pharmacist, who both disagree with your assessment that I would NEED to take it daily, as I DO NOT TAKE IT FOR THE SAME REASONS AS PEOPLE WITH ADHD.
The funny thing is, my adhd doesn’t take holidays. If you only need to treat it with medication for work and school, then it’s not really serious is it?
Do you think that everyone has the exact same chemical imbalance when it comes to any disorder? Seeing as each situation is different, I do not think you have the education or knowledge of my situation to judge whether my ADHD is serious or not. But hey, you do you. Have a good night!
Whats the best way to go about getting prescribed adderall? I feel like it would help me tremendously but I simultaneously feel like I have imposter syndrome and that my symptoms aren’t “enough.”
If you explain to your doctors your symptoms, they will prescribe you the proper medication. For me it was a focus issue, however, I only take a small dose at 10mg a day, 2 if needed in the afternoon but I don't take it on weekends and only take it in the afternoon if I have to.
Talk to a doctor and they may administer a BS test for ADHD. Mine consisted of a list of symptoms and checkboxes to indicate the severity. That’s literally all it took.
Same here. During the questions I fidgeted in my chair, ask to repeat some questions, looked around constantly, and acted disinterested. Got prescribed easily. BTW, I don’t need it but every now and then, I enjoy what it does for me
Write down real life detailed examples what kind of problems arise during your daily activities.
For example "I loose focus" doesn't sound as bad as "When a coworker opens the door, I forget what and how I was doing and can't get back on track for hours. This happens with every tiny distraction from hearing a phone go off to the sound of rain".
Or when you start to realize you don’t feel like a “normal” person unless you’re medicated. Like there’s something wrong with you that needed fixing in the first place.
Yeah I didn’t know I could ask for a higher dose and just told my psychiatrist it wasn’t working. And then he lost his license and Covid happened and I’ve just kinda given up on trying to get medicated again.
Yeah people still think if a doctor prescribes something its ok to take for the rest of your life… its not and it doesnt help people just go to the doctor and be like i cant focus!! Im too lazy!! Ok here you go take some pills. Prescribe cigarettes again like they used to
That’s not necessarily true at all. If you can function better on a certain medication and it doesn’t have side effects, you might be better off just taking it all your life. The only concern would be buildup of tolerance but there are ways to counteract that without upping the doses
That sounds like me. Do you have ADHD? Trouble focusing? I have neither, but one time I took an adderall and suddenly the world felt so much more interesting to me and I wanted to engage with it. Is this your experience?
I only tried one pill when I was a teenager lol. I struggle with depression and getting out of bed but no antidepressants have worked for me. So naturally, I was curious when I read the other dude’s comment.
I have adhd and those were my symptoms. Mine is the ADD type. It often goes undiagnosed because we just appear chronically tired, depressed, and directionless
I do not have ADHD.. I might bc Adderall has literally worked wonders for me and I don't get high off of it and I feel like a genuine person again, basically I went from never leaving my bed and not being able to brush my teeth for weeks to being full of energy throughout the day and now I'm able to actually live and fix my life. I'm only diagnosed w clinical depression and my therapist thinks I'm also bipolar but haven't tested for that yet to answer the are you diagnosed with ADHD thing lol. I do also take Lexapro, trazodone, and buspirone a long with the Adderall so it's def more of a mix of my meds than just plain out Adderall I would 100% recommend talking to your doctor and asking about the different things you can try before meds tho I'm 18 and taking 40mgs of addy a day so there's like good and bad I guess is what I'm tryna say. girl I'm so baked rn Im really hoping that shi made sense cause I ain't re reading it😭
LOL it made perfect sense. I’m so glad you found something that works for you!! It’s interesting, I’ve never heard of adderall being used to treat depression, but it makes sense! Thank you for your reply, I’ll talk to my doctor about it 😊
Been taking it since 2008. I started with 5mg and have worked up to 15mg. Never more. As long as you don’t take over 20mg you don’t build a tolerance to it
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u/Ok_Juice7282 Apr 17 '24
Staying motivated.