Adderall abuse with students
Another interesting psychopharmacology issue. We’ve covered the SSRIs here before but the newest trend is among high-school and college-age wanting something to help them focus, do better on tests, etc. Adderall, prescription amphetamine salts for ADHD, seems to be the drug of choice. Article from the Christian Science Monitor follows. (A quick search on Google News shows just how much press this issue has been getting.)
A drug kids take in search of better grades
By Rebecca L. Weber | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
When Paul left home to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder, he took his prescription for the drug Adderall along with him. The medication is normally used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but Paul - who now believes he had been misdiagnosed - no longer used it for that purpose.
Instead, the journalism/business student says he took Adderall only occasionally and with a very specific intent: to help him focus on homework, or to stay up all night cramming for an exam. He also shared the pills with other students who did not have prescriptions, but who wanted Adderall for the same reasons he did.
Fellow students “always wanted my Adderall for studying,” says Paul, who asks that his last name not be used. “Certain individuals couldn’t study without it. They figured, ‘If I study all night on Adderall, I’d better take it for the test, too.’ ”
Adderall is the amphetamine most widely prescribed to treat ADD/ADHD. As with other amphetamines, regular users of Adderall can soon become dependent on it to get through the day.
Dubbed “kiddie coke,” Adderall is being used - and abused - by increasing numbers of high school and college students on campuses across the United States.
Although students often take the drug together - sometimes in study groups - their intent is not recreational. Rather, they use the stimulant in an attempt to enhance their powers of concentration and improve their academic performance.
“It’s a performance-enhancing drug,” says Punyamurtula Kishore, president and founder of the National Library of Addictions in Brookline, Mass., and a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “They start accessing the drug legally, and then they find they can sell it for five or 10 bucks a pill to college kids.”
Pressure to earn ever-higher grades appears to be a primary motivation in the Adderall craze, say Dr. Kishore and other experts. In Massachusetts, where parents and school officials often have high expectations for students, more prescriptions are written for Adderall than in any other state.
Often, students begin imbibing while still living at home, and sometimes parents - unaware of the dangers involved - tolerate their misuse of the drug.
“A lot of families look the other way so that kids can stay up and study,” says Kishore. “It’s a myth that they’ll do better on exams … [But while on the drug] they feel they can conquer the world. Then they come down and crash.”
Although Adderall is often perceived as legal since physicians and pharmacists are involved in its dispensing, ultimately it is an illegal drug when used by somebody without a prescription. Campus policies on handling student drug users and dealers vary, but range from a warning with counseling to expulsion.
It’s hard to quantify the extent of Adderall abuse among students. Certainly the availability to children of drugs to treat ADD/ADHD has soared in recent years.
In the last 10 years, the number of preschoolers taking ADD/ADHD drugs has tripled; the number of school-age children has multiplied by 20. More than 2 million American children are prescribed drugs for ADD/ADHD. Adderall represents about a quarter of the market.
Statistics on the legitimate use of Adderall, of course, don’t reveal anything about patterns of illegitimate use. However, some experts suggest that the fact that the drug is viewed as a legitimate one may enhance its appeal - and its danger - to youthful users.
When Adderall is passed on from family or friends who have prescriptions to those who don’t, it has an aura of legality that street drugs don’t have. It’s pure, which makes it seem safer than unregulated drugs, where users don’t know what else it may have been cut with.
But in many states it’s a felony to be in possession of drug that has not been prescribed for the person using it. Prosecution, says Robert Goldstein, chief medical officer of Somnia, could be “equally as damning to a student” as addiction. When people see a prescription bottle, they think it’s OK - even when it’s taken inappropriately, says Dr. Kishore.
Students are more likely to take a single Adderall pill than drink 10 cups of coffee because, at least in the short term, it’s “longer acting and has fewer side effects than caffeine,” says Dr. Goldstein. “When used appropriately, it lasts an entire day.”
For 22-year-old Ben, it helped him concentrate for hours on end at the University of Michigan, his alma mater. Ben (not his real name) restricted his Adderall use to study periods.
After about 20 minutes, the drug would kick in. He says that the ability to concentrate intensely “helped time pass by better. I could read for four hours straight without looking up at the clock.”
When Ben describes the widespread use of Adderall at his alma matter, he said many students retained prescriptions from when they were young even though they no longer used the drug themselves. Some had stopped taking Adderall because of headaches or other side effects, yet were willing to going on supplying it to others, either to “help a friend in a crunch,” as Ben puts it, or to make some quick cash.
At Ann Arbor, blue pills (10 milligrams) normally sold for $3, and orange pills (20 milligrams) for $5, says Ben. Prices rose as demand exceeded supply during midterms and finals.
Ben, an English major, would frequently take the drug with his peers during study groups in the library. They also met afterward to share a joint to alleviate the inevitable side effects, which include restlessness, dizziness, and insomnia.
Kishore has counseled a number of such clusters - small groups of friends who have taken Adderall together, and become dependent on it together.
Overcoming the dependency is tough, Kishore says, especially for students who were using Adderall specifically to help them stay up to study and who need to learn to approach their studies in a new way. Treatment is normally done on an outpatient basis and involves teaching new coping behaviors and techniques.
Some also hope a new version of the drug could help reduce its misuse among younger students.
In 2001, Shire Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Adderall, introduced Adderall XR, a time-release version. The new version was developed primarily as a convenience, the company says. But because it is taken as a single daily dose, children don’t need to bring it to school, thus minimizing “any potential misuse or inappropriate transferring of medicine to individuals without a prescription.”
But some experts say that Adderall abuse is still not being taken seriously enough by many parents and adults.
Widespread toleration of Adderall misuse is similar to the blind eye too many adults cast on teenage drinking in the 1980s, says Goldstein.
“People didn’t pay attention or take it seriously, before groups like MADD,” he says. “[Minors drinking] isn’t just bad because they’re underage, it’s dangerous. If somebody gets in a car, they can injure others and themselves. It’s similar to being a parent throwing a party with kids drinking, only to find out you’re responsible for the car crash that happens later on.”
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February 4th, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Adderol as a study drug, rather than a prescription medication used to treat ADD/ADHD is fast becoming a mainstream problem amongst college students. As a student, I have been exposed to the magnitude and seriousness of this problem. People need to be aware of how this is affecting our youth. I am currently writing a paper on this topic and would appreciate feedback/opinions/experience.
February 9th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
I am a college student at Texas State University in San Marcos, Tx… I have been on some for of the medication Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, Stratera) since I was 8. When I stopped using the drug around age 15 I noticed that in a few short weeks, my attention span had decreased severely and that my mood swings were begining to increase. Lately at age 19 I have been taking Adderall from a frind that lives in my dorm.. I have noticed that I can study alot better, reading for hours with out wondering what time it is, remembering information better. I don’t loose much of my appetite, I still eat regularly, but my sleep is shorter and more restful. I have noticed though, that with the kids that take this drug for study purposes, their appatites do tend to be curbed, their sleep schedual becomes thrown off, but the way they look at it is, “If I’m making better grades, then it’s worth it.” Recently I went back to my doctor and told him that I had been taking Adderall to see if it would help me and it did, so I asked for a script, so now as a person who is perscribed to the drug hope that all the abusers out there don’t get this privilege taken away from me, but then again.. I feel that what ever helps you get the grade, do it.
Sincerely
Decoy DeVille
February 10th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
I’ve never had such a high GPA untill I took Adderall. I almost flunked out of college, untill I started taking it. THANKS ADDERALL, I owe it all to you
February 16th, 2005 at 1:18 pm
I’ve never taken it to study, but after a bunch of beer, it helps the party go into the night.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:56 pm
Adderall has helped me with some tough times. thanks A LOT adderall!!!!
Peace All Of you adderall “users”,
Shawn Crouton
February 19th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Docters believe that frequent use of Adderall by our college son (he is not ADD or ADHD) contributed greatly to him getting clinically depressed. He got mono, had to abruptly quit taking Adderall, which he took 3 to 4 times a week to study. The “crash” and withdrawal contributed to the onset of depression. Good grades were NOT worth all we have been through - 3 hospitalizations. We never thought this could happen, but it did. It is best not to take other’s prescriptions.
February 26th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
I am a student at Penn State University and I know tons of people that either take adderalto study or snort to give themselves extra energy for the party. I have tried both and it has helped me learn and have fun. I don’t take it regularly because I don’t look for it, but if its there why not? I know it turns you into a beer drinking champion that keeps going and going and going. I was intrigued by this phenomenon among fellow students and have decided to do a research project on its abuse. It looks like I won’t have trouble finding subjects to survey.
Kelly M
March 1st, 2005 at 3:01 pm
I am a high school student and right now i am working on a project for my health class. I have been assigned to research Adderall. this site has been a great source of information on both the good and the bad of this drug. thanks to the people who set up this page.
March 4th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
i love adderall but i think its probably killing me. that sucks
March 8th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
I was prescribed to Ritalin when I was a young boy in 3rd grade. I took Adderall until I was 16 yrs old and near the end of my use I HATED it. It makes me feel like a completely different person. I recently took it to help me write a speech during crunch time and it didn’t even help! It just brought the same depressing feelings. I hope I never have to rely on anything like that again!
March 26th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
I would like to say that I take adderall on the weekends because I work long hours and still need time to study. I’ve never had any bad side effects or dealings with depression. I started taking it a few weeks ago and it makes me feel amazing and really helps my motivation to get things done.
But then again, I really think I have serious problems concentrating and when I read a book to study, it takes me hours and hours to get through even short chapters, because I can’t keep my mind straight. I’m planning on visiting my doctor soon to talk about it, because it has been a problem for me all through school since I was a little kid…perhaps its not ADD but a different kind of learning disorder and I can fix it and stop taking the adderall….who knows.
I’ve never taken it recreationally, because I think taking drugs for fun is one of the dumbest things you can do…And I question whether taking them for grades and work is just as dumb, and usually end up with the answer “most likely.”
The only thing I have noticed when taking it, however, is that on weekends when I don’t have it, getting through my work shifts effectively and well is really rough on me physically and emotionally. I work 12 hour shifts into the middle of the night (2-3am) and its just rough to handle without something to help me out. Drinking cof fee only lasts a short period of time and when the caffeine wears off, I’m exhausted completely. And when I get home at 2 or 3 in the morning, and still am feeling the effects of the Adderall, its really nice to be able to relax and sit down and study, not having to worry about when I’m going to have time to study for the exam I have Monday…..
March 27th, 2005 at 6:37 pm
I’ve used Adderall about 5 times during exam periods and I must say there is no way I could have gotten all of my work done without it. I’m really good at cramming for tests but exam week just piles it all on and it’s no surprise people are looking for some help…a competetive edge. It’s a very impressive drug and most people who I’ve talked to that also take it have reported basically no side effects except maybe irritability, like if someone calls your name “HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE?” haha because you want to get all of your work done. I don’t think everyone should be so alarmed. College is about learning and learning to be resourceful. In pressured environments like universities, you have to do whatever it takes to get the best grades. And if some measly amphetamine salts a few times a semester present themselves as an opportunity to get an A, then by all means, a few sleepless nights are worth it. Hell you’d be up studying anyway and not getting anything done.
March 28th, 2005 at 6:34 pm
getting wired is awesome
April 1st, 2005 at 11:16 am
i used adderall once and my lip got totally swollen and i had to show my face at school and i told everybody that i got hit in the face with a lacrosse stick….it got even worse the next day so i skipped skool..taking adderall was so not worth it! i had to tell everyone the same story over and over again! So dont take it!
April 4th, 2005 at 7:34 am
man…
here is the scoop…
back in high school, i drank, smoked weed, did acid, and all sorts of pills including adderall…hit the bottom of the pit. one day decided to get serious, and joined an IB school in my senior year of high school and went into college with 18 credits right off the bat.i dont use any adderoll, but i will admit i drink coffe e 3 times a day, and i only drink expresso shots and i ussualy drink 6 to 8 shots at a time, or when im on the run im grab some red bull. Im an accouting major at a college which ranks 4th in the nation…
i dont cram, because i wanna learn, taking adderol will help you in the short term, but you wont be able to go above and beyond, you wont be able to transcend what you learn in class and make it useful…school is not about the grades, is what you do with what you learn, the grades are simply a gauge to let you know how you are doing, and a measuring scale for the people who will potentially hire you.
you cant go your whole life taking adderol, people who NEED TO sometimes wish they didnt because of the long term side effects.
i have a 4.0 GPA, and its due to organizing, scheduling, studying ahead, focusing, prioritizing, and discipline. all natural skills, that not only get me good grades but further energizes me to do more, its free, there is no negative side-effects.
you know, one day human kind will realize the power of ideas, thoughts, and intention, and conditions such as ADD and ADHD will no longer exist because as we realize that ideas have consequences human will be able to cure themselves of any psychological disorder such as ADD and ADHD.
The people you hang out, the music you listen to, the thoughts you evoke, all contribute to you well being…remember that
April 6th, 2005 at 7:08 pm
I started doing adderall when I was visiting a friend on the east coast, just to party. It was really fun. I could stay up all night, never ran out of things to say, was energetic and talkative. Plus I could drink like a fish. I wasn’t nervous, and I felt more confident. I started buying adderall from friends, to study and party with. Pretty soon I took it every time I needed to study or party. I went to a doctor and got a prescription. I was crushing it up and bumping it because I liked the effect better. I really saw no negative side effects until I broke up with my girlfriend and went off the deep end with the drug. I did it all the time. And now I feel empty without it, and I’m the complete opposite as I was when I was on the drug. I think about it all the time, and I’m depressed as all hell. There is no such thing as ADD, I proved that anyone can get diagnosed with it. Aderrall is just speed, and eventually it catches up to you. Trust me, don’t do it.
April 7th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
People need to develop ways to learn, no one is born knowing how to learn. The public education system is known for the omission of such instructions…They are quick to place you in a class they think fits you best based on your past performance, but they will not access your present ability to learn and try to enhace your current abilities and place you in a higher level class which corresponds to your newly attained ability to learn.
My theory is any pin head can learn…if one really puts themselves into it.
the reason im bringing this up, is because adderol will create an illusory ability to learn, your burning out your brain cells, and putting them into a un-natural mode for some short term gain. the more you use it, the more you will loose touch with the natural tools and mechanisms that you can use to learn and enhance your cognitive ability….that happens until dependency is reached, and an individual can no longer learn without the drug, because it doesnt know how to otherwise. IMAGINE…if you played basketball every day…and you were good at it,,, but then for some reason you stopped for about a year, you wouldnt be nearly as good…same happens with adderol, if you take it, and use it to psyche yourself up to learn, you will loose touch with your own abilities to foster knowledge.
if you are worried about you ability to learn…dont drink alcohol, im not even trying to lecture people..but why dont you look up ALCOHOL DEMENTIA on google, and see what you get…and if you have time investigate how come a drug as dangerous as alcohol is still legal, you will be surprised and maybe angry.(the reason has its roots in politics)
April 16th, 2005 at 3:19 am
I can see the pros and cons of adderall. Concentration, but irritibility when it wears off. I am putting together a project on drug abuse trends, and have a prescription for Adderall myself, so was looking for pictures and new info or horrible side effects.I take it every day. I have always had trouble concentrating and wish it weren’t so…I stuggle with everything,even listening to music lyrics or conversation, because I go off and think of something without knowing I switched focus. On Adderall,I can hear music and lyrics. I am not cold all the time anymore either. i was always freezing, especially my hands. I was always embarrassed because I miss so much of what is said. I can have more normal conversations now. I have discovered that it does not work as well lately. I take forever to finish a paper, and have trouble moving from activity to activity…the opposite as before, but I don’t finish things. I crave more of it at times.
I have to keep working all of the time. But I get stuck doing one thing, like reading one aspect of my research topic, for hours and hours and my kids wonder why I never want to do anything but do homework anymore. I have legal script. I don’t sell it. Because I am having trouble with some “perseverating” and insomnia, I am cutting back on the meds and hope to stop craving it someday before my brain is fried. I wonder what we are missing in life, that we need to stimulate our brains with drugs? Purpose or “love” perhaps?
April 16th, 2005 at 10:06 am
This page has really given me some insight about this drug. I am writing an argumentative paper about the frequent use of adderal amongst college students.
April 24th, 2005 at 5:46 pm
oh man! i freakin love it!!!! i saw some 1 takes it after drinking, yes i do to, i sumtimes wonder whats its doing to my body right after i take it bu then it kicks in and i dont care anymore=] adderall makes me smarter then you=P
May 2nd, 2005 at 7:35 pm
those prices are sooo off.. lol. them people are gettin ripped off.
May 3rd, 2005 at 5:20 pm
I have taken adderall for several years now. At first i took it in a 10 mg dosage (the lowest dose offered) and it helped, even at that low amount, my concentration immensly. I even got several comments from my teachers regarding how much better my work ethic was. I switched to the 20 mg xr version and have bot experienced any negative effects of it to this day. I am an honor roll student and i recently scored in the top 10 percentile in maath on the ACT tests as a Freshman. I have never abused my adderall nor have i attemted to sell it to others. I have however been asked to sell it for about 4 dollars a pill. Adderall has helped me tremendously but i am not naive enough to believe that it does not get abused. A good way to solve the problem of adderall abuse is simply to reduce the number of prescriptions going out and also set stricter penalties for abusing it.
May 9th, 2005 at 2:57 am
“oh man! i freakin love it!!!! i saw some 1 takes it after drinking, yes i do to, i sumtimes wonder whats its doing to my body right after i take it bu then it kicks in and i dont care anymore=] adderall makes me smarter then you=P”
Thank you, Einstein, for that wonderful demonstration of the intellect-enhancing effects of Adderall.
May 21st, 2005 at 4:58 pm
I have been on adderall xr for about 2-3 weeks now and I have to tell all that I am a much better worker,wife,and mother. I am 26. I wish I had got it sooner. I would have had a easer time in school.
May 23rd, 2005 at 2:51 am
I love Adderall with an passion. I become filled with happiness just thinking about it, but i probubly will die before im 30. But I’ll have an awsome gpa and leave a fabulously thin corpse. I HATe YOU Adderall! Is it not normal for my palms to itch when i pick up my script? anyone know? I love you Adderall
June 14th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
A friend gave me the peach rock (orange pill) about a week ago and I found myself extremely happy..smiling all the time and reading this psychology book really intently. I stayed up all nite..me and my friends drove around all nite without being paranoid because we dint have to be worried about being pulled over and getting caught with the usual drugs and alcohol. We talked about everything imaginable and had deep conversations. Surprisingly I wasnt bored either. I often feel like I need alchohol and a crazy nite to have fun..but I was content with it all and even started up convo with this guy at a gas station. Its better than alcohol in the sense that i was in control and knew my surroundings. But, when I wanted to sleep I couldnt and it was hard to not talk. The next day I felt like I had a horrible hang over. I could tell my body wanted me to sleep but my mind wouldnt. I felt like I was bad tripping..but I probably would do it again..jsut not make it a habit..cuz I need sleep. At some points I felt depressed though, I just thought things over too much. I mean, Im already a thinker and very anxious..this amplified it and made me paranoid at times.
June 27th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
I am a reporter with The Salt Lake Tribune, looking for students in Utah that use adderall to help them study.
Please contact me if you do, and if you are willing to share your experience. We will consider anonymity for you, if you are concerned about it.
Thanks,
tpeterson@sltrib.com
June 27th, 2005 at 5:54 pm
Wow, I’ve been taking Adderall for about 1 year now. It started with 10 Mg, and then 20, 30, and so on. Yesterday I took 100mg. It’s euphoric, energetic, and even the thought makes me tingle. If it’s been a few hours since I’ve taken it, I begin fantasizing about swimming in a pool of orange pills. I don’t have ADD.
I’m a smart girl, I don’t need anyone to tell me what I’m doing to myself, but I’m so far gone. Without it, I feel empty, depressed, incredibly tired, and I turn to alcohol (the second best thing). I’ll take it from anyone who has it, even if I have to steal it.
Since taking Adderall, I’ve lost 30 pounds, gotton my sorry ass back in college, started a buisiness, accelled at my oringinal job, made my parents proud…the list goes on.
I’m 20 and I’m hooked. Despite this, it’s so hard to deny the delicious feeling I have as my 3rd pill today just kicks in. Got some work to do. Peace.
October 4th, 2005 at 12:08 am
This site has given me lots of insite about Adderall abuse in college students. I am writing an essay about Adderall in my English class, and most of this information was very new to me. It was very interesting to find out how Adderall was used in study groups,and how many study groups would take it to enhance thier concenration. I have worked as a Pharmacy Technician for about two years now I count, dispense, and sell Adderall to patients almost every day. I haven’t really ever thought about how it would make you feel, but from what i’ve heard in these blogs it sounds like it would make you feel pretty cool. I haven’t ever tried Adderall, and i’m not someone who put something down until I try it. But I was just wondering is the energetic and euphoric effect worth the crash? Are the study benifits and good grades worth the depression, tired feelings, and craving for the drug? It just sound like any other drug it really cool for a while, and then you have to start taking more to get the same effect. Eventually you will have to quit and it is going to suck really bad.
October 5th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
i am scribed adderall because i have add and i took it for a while and loved it. i would abuse it on occasion but mostly i think the thought that it was going to help me concentrate is what helped me in school. It stopped working i guess so i took more and then one day i took a lot. I had a really BAD crash and everytime i would say it’s not worth it im never doing it again. The crash for me is REALLY REALLY bad but some people don’t really feel anything i guess it depends on the person. I get really paranoid, anxious, depressed and worst of all you can’t sleep. So the whole night your thinking a million things and its just a horrible feeling especially if its at night and your alone. At my school people know that i have adderall and i feel so used because people are starting to be my friend just so they can get some from me i think. i like drugs and all but really i hope one day people will just live without them. Reading some of the things people say about how they love it and are smart and better with it makes me think they’re really pathetic and dumb. But then i realize im a hypocrite because im the same way. the crash is really frickin bad so if thats what your worried about i wouldnt take any chances. for me i’ve always seen drugs as temporary cause can you really imagine doing it all your life?
October 18th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
wow i never knew that this was going on all over. I’m a senior in high school and hae not really heard all about this. I am doing a paper on the growing trend to use adderall, which i can cleary see is happening. I do not know much about the drug but i know that life can be uncontrolable nd you have to turn somewhere for help. Aren’t there other possibilities? um maybe GOD!
I hope you all can find some help with whatever is so stressful that you have to take this drug.
November 3rd, 2005 at 10:50 pm
i have a question for u all… wat if u take adderall and u are already on a ADD medication called concerta?
November 5th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
i began taking adderall because i loved the high and heard it was the ‘magic diet pill’. i found it GREATLY improved my mood and social interaction. i started taking it at school and am able to concentrate and study better.
November 8th, 2005 at 5:17 am
adderall is wonderful, but if you take it at night, there will be reprecussions- you will feel a throbbing sensation in your head, you’ll get nervous, sweat excessively, etc.
November 9th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
Adderall seems like a god-send at first. You feel like you’re on top of the world, that you’re more organized, that you can talk to anyone, get your work done. I’ve been taking adderall for about a year now and I wish that I never had started.
I’m a 20 year old college student. I am smart and I get consistently good grades. I started taking adderall because I always felt that I just never quite worked as hard, or was as organized, or studied as hard as I should. I figured that if other people took this stuff that made you focus better, that I should give myself the same advantage. Also, I did exhibit many of the “symtoms” of ADD/ADHD, but honestly, everyone does to some degree. So I convinced myself that I had slight ADD and got my doctor to perscribe.
I took non-XR 10mg 2x daily to start with. When I first got a perscription, I thought I was dreaming because now I could have this stuff all the time, not just when I had a ton of work and begged a friend for some. I really wanted to use it to be a better student, not just to cram for exams, but to actually be more organized and get work done ahead of time. At first adderall seemed like a good thing. I felt great when I was on it. I felt more social. I was always thinking about how to be more organized. I compulsivly made lists of thing to do. However, today Adderall no longer seems like such a great thing for me.
I didnt realize it at the time, but the side effects of adderall were taking a heavy toll on other aspects of my life. I had recently gotten into an intense relationship and found that when I was coming off adderall at the end of the day, I was both irritable and restless. This lead to two things. Depending on sex and intimacy with my girlfriend to distract myself and arguements with her when she wasn’t willing to accomodate my needs. I think back at the things I got upset about and they seem ridiculous. And it wasnt just the heat of the moment. I’d been in relationships before. I was acting irrationally and I didnt know it. Additionally, because I became so dependent on her for my emotional stability, I cut my friends out of my life to a degree that I cannot believe. My bestfriend and roommate from the year before lived down the hall, and after I started taking adderall I never saw him. The problem was that while I was on adderall, all I could think about was getting work done and getting organized, and then when I was off adderall, I woudl be with my girlfriend or getting drunk as hell…or smoking pot. Now arguably these other behaviors are not healthy, but they were intensified significantly by my adderall use.
I now look back on a relationship that could have been so happy, but instead ended bitterly because I was acting irrationally. I dont get work done in advance because I know that I’ll always have adderall to get me through an intense cramming session. Research papers are impossible because adderall makes me focus too much on one thing, not the big picture. At the end of last semester, I stayed up for 56 hours straight working on a paper because I could not just write, I had to obsessively research far beyond the scope of what was required. Similarly, I had a draft of a 40 page research paper due and despite working during every waking hour of the weekend and staying up all night the night before it was due, the end result was terrible because I couldnt see the big picture. But I couldnt get myself to start the paper without taking adderall, and once I’d taken it, I couldnt stop or I’d “crash” and not be able to concentrate. Now, let me make this clear. I dont feel particularly addicted to adderall. I’ve begun to stop taking it most of the time. I feel a bit tired, but I make it through.
Ok, obviously, I’m not a fan of adderall, and I’ll tell you why. Let me preface this by saying that adderall might be right for some people, but that if you’ve made it to college and you get decent grades, but feel like you have a huge procrastination problem and that you can never get work done, ITS BECAUSE WORK ISNT FUN, not because you have ADD. In my opinion, what adderall does that is so harmful, is that it rewires the motivation and reward signals in your brain. Instead of motivating yourself because you want to get a good grade, or because you cant wait to have the work done and go party, or because you really want to be a neuroscientist, you motivate yourself by popping a pill. You forget how to make yourself work FOR YOURSELF. It feels great to study when your on adderall, but you forget the life skills that you need to do well after college. I can understand taking adderall occationally, when you’re in a crunch. But before you go get a perscription or spend your beer money on speed, make an appointment with the study/skills center or a health center counceller or whoever is available at your school and as about how you can learn to be a better student.
Our country has become obsessed with instant gratification. We dont like unpleasant things. Unfortunately learning is not always easy, but taking Adderall, or the equivilant, is not going to help you become a better person in the long run. Even if you get a couple tenths higher GPA, so what?? Do you really want to depend on a drug to get yourself to do the unpleasant aspects of life that will always be present. Do you think that life’s just gonna be a breeze after you graduate? Hell no, not unless your a trust fund baby or something. You’re always going to have to get work done that you dont want to do. College, and high school, and graduate school, are places where you learn how to learn. Don’t waste your time there by focusing on cramming to make a grade. Learn how to motivate yourself and be a happier and healthier person.
November 9th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
One more thing…I know I’ve written far too much already. But for those of you interested in the increasing adderall use/abuse in high school and especially college, I think that this is a very interesting and important topic and I hope that you pursue it. I believe quite strongly that there is an adderall epidemic going on in many of our country’s colleges, one that I have fallen victim to. At my college, a small new-england liberal arts college, adderall is everywhere. I hear people talking about it all the time. When people find out I have adderall they often express interest in getting some. Its impossible for me to prove how rampant it is, but on my college I clearly can sense how widespread the illegal distribution of adderall is. I have talked to friends who say the same thing about their campuses. Very interesting. Personally, I think that if our country made the decision to focus on non-medical treaments for milder ADD, we could deal with the problems much more effectively than with medicaiton. I believe that the only reason why Adderall etc is the treatment of choice is because of the lobby and campaign donations of big pharmacy companies.
And just a side note, no, I am not on adderall right now…lol.
November 9th, 2005 at 6:09 pm
Hi. I’m a news reporter in Houston, Texas. I’m doing a story on Adderall, and I am looking for someone in recovery who we could interview about their experience, in particular, a student.
If you’re interested please reply.
[ mgradney AT tribune DOT com ]
November 16th, 2005 at 8:55 pm
if those ppl are payen 5 or 10 $ for 1 20-25 mg adderall there gettin ripped the fuck off…the most ive seen a 25mg is 2.50 …dumbass college kids
November 21st, 2005 at 2:01 pm
I’m a college reporter from Western Kentucky doing a story on adderall abuse and other extreme study methods. This page has been really enlightening. I had no idea that abuse was this wide-spread. If you are a student who has ever used adderall as a study aid, especially in the Kentucky area, and would Iike to talk I would love to hear your story.
Reach me at katie.brandenburg@wku.edu
December 2nd, 2005 at 1:42 pm
Hi! I am also a college student doing an article on Adderall as a study drug. If you have any interesting stories please let me know!!!! sylviaashleymcadams@yahoo.com
December 5th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
reading some of these articles makes me think, wow, maybe adderal could improve my performance. But i live for me, not to impress others, and if i was ever on adderall it would be completly for someone else. I already feel some of the symptoms people say about aderall, when im not even taking it. like the deppression, and the thinking to much, and the realtionship problems. i have enough problems cuased by myslef, i dont need some drug to make them worse even though it may make me study better. But im smart. I got into college. and thats what matters. i did it on my own. im probably a stronger person for it too, becuase i never gave into peer pressure. Quit wasting your tuition money for craming. thats the biggest waste of money, becuase when you get out, your going to be the stupidest person out there.
December 9th, 2005 at 12:41 am
I’m a college student and I will admit that during exams I have been known to pop Concerta or Aderall for an all night cram session… But just be carefull if you plan on abusing it. I don’t really have the “Bad” crashes that some have, but be carefull not to become addicted. I have seen many students, most who are in the top 10% of thier class, become dependent on the drug. I’m not saying that its bad to take it once in a while to help study, just don’t become dependent on them, cause I’ve seen what can happen, and its not pretty. My words of adivce towards Aderall, and Concerta… Once in a while is fine (hell almost anything is fine for you once in a while) but when it comes to the point were a person can not function unless he or she is on Aderall, then there is a problem… All I’m really trying to say is just be smart about it, and if it becomes more recreational usage then studying usage, ask yourself if you can stop…
December 13th, 2005 at 10:40 am
If Aderall helps college students study, what is the problem with it? I am a junior in college and use Aderall only during exam times, I would say probably 30%-40% of my friends use it as well to study. We need to learn the material, and aderall helps us to do that.
December 15th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
hey guys
I have a question
Aderrals speeds up your hear rate
the thing is I took it during school
then had wrestling practice after school
is it bad to take it, and while “high” on it to exercise and have a heart attack or something?
please let me know
also
if you do take it…do you really actually do better? in any sport
December 15th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
sorry i mean, if you exercise while you are high on it
is it bad?
December 19th, 2005 at 2:52 pm
I like to take aderralls because it makes me think better, and stay up all night to have fun with my friends.If it was not for aderrall than I would not do as good in school as I do now
December 21st, 2005 at 12:31 am
Ok folks, get used to it now. Adderall is a drug that can give you an unfair advantage in the world.
Hmmm, darn, seems like someone is always getting ahead unfairly. Exactly when was it that life was supposed to be fair?
The only epidemic America is having with Adderall is the sudden emergence of self-proclaimed experts who seem to know what an addiction is about. The truth is that most of them don’t have a clue what this drug can do.
If you get addicted, get a spine and own it. The drug didn’t jump into your mouth, it didn’t subdue you by force.
http://religiondrugspolitics.blogspot.com/
December 24th, 2005 at 6:55 am
Adderall, talk about a double edge sword. In high school, i got terrible grades because i could never make myself study, but on standardized test like the ACT I scored a 31, which is very high. Well, my story is a lot like other people, in high school, I had been a huge pothead, and drinker, but never really took narcotic pills, until a friend one day offered to sell me 7 20 mg adderalls. well i had never tried it, and I had been suspecting that maybe I was ADHD. Well at first I absolutly loved it, i took one 20 mg pill and was amazed at the amount of work I was able to get done, or how chatty I was, and as someone who has always been very shy, the ability to just talk to people I dont know was very liberating. I immediatly told my parents, that I think i needed to be prescribed to adderall, if I was to do well in college. 2 weeks later, my doctor started me out with the little 5mg pills. they seemed to work, but also at the same time in my life, i was descending deeper and deeper into a “junkie” lifestyle. I started abusing XTC, to the tune of about 7,000 dollars in about 2 months on credit card cash advances. At the same time I noticed that I was taking more, and more adderall to recieve the same effect. My script was upped to about 30 mg XR, which has just come out. Well, thanks to pot, and all the other drugs that had become priorities to me started to negatively affect my grades, they dropped, and dropped lower. But then Cocaine really entered the picture, with stimulants I found my Drugs of Choice, and hellish dive into that world continued unabatted for about 3 years. By the time, the Private University that i was attending, finally had enough of bad grades to kick me out. By this time, it was not uncommon for me to go through a script of 30mg XRs in about 3-4 days. 250-450 mgs a day seemed to be the only thing that worked, for days i would spend awake, and alone in my dorm room, snorting lines of cocaine, and popping my adderall. I can remember how exicted I would get when my script would come in the mail, and then i could finally have a free high, because my parents of course were paying for this miracle drug that was going to help me academically. As the cocaine really started to grab me, adderall seemed like the last of my worries. it was absolutly no problem for me to wake up, if i had sleept the night before, and pop 200 mg XRs to get started, and start my daily process of securing pot and cocaine, which at this point was costing every penny i had, besides money for cigs. about half a gram of coke, 200 mgs of adderall, and a couple hits of acid, with a big bag of pot was what i needed to spend my day in my room alone staring at the computer screen, and pacing. Pyschosis had me to the point, were i rarely left my room, exept to get drugs. Class was forgotton, grades hit rock bottom. I would spend days and weeks at a time, alone thinking obessesively about a girl that i had been sure i was going to marry, but broke up with my because once the serious drugs entered my life, I was “not here anymore”. Well finally the semester ended, with 5 F’s, a serious stimulant problem, and an extreme sense of failure, and a monkey on my back. but, by that time, i had begun to hate adderall so much, I just refused to renew my scrip, I was tired and exausted by being wired all the time, and the lonliness it entailed. I still continued to smoke pot, but dropped the cocaine and adderall. and after being so wired so long time, slowin down seemed like a good idea, but by then I had become dependant on drugs that slowing down meant getting into painkiller heavily, you know the usual oxy-contin, methadone, and Loratab 10s. So then i got a real habit, and after 6 months of not working, selling drugs to support my oxy habit. i decided to stop, and eventually did. I got a job at a resturant, but then quickly go back into cocaine (anyone whos worked at a busy resturant knows what im talking about.) 2 arrest later I am looking at 2 years of probation, with random drug test. Well at around this time, i went to a new kitchen, and for the first time stopped doing any drugs, pot, alcohol, cocaine, anything. I started to succed, and in 3 months went from the bottom level in the kitchen to the kitchen manager. I was so proud, but then it struck me that it had been about 6 months since i got on probation and no drug test, so i decided to start smoking pot again, well 3 months in lala land, and once again I am spending about 100 dollars a day on loratab 10s. well i started to slack at my job, and before you know it I was fired, and this was devasting as this was one of those jobs that you absolutly loved to go in the morning. also as a bonus the GM called my probation officer and informed that I was selling drugs at work, which is fucked up because the only person I ever sold drugs to at work was her. (she aint no saint). well they drug tested me and failed, and starting procedings to revoke my probation and make me server about 6 months in parish prison. well i struck a deal with more community service and more regulated drug test. so now i couldnt do much of anything, so i decided to take another wack at college after about 3 years, but I was clean and motived for the first time since i was probably about 17, im now 24. So i went back to school, but only part time, like 2 classes just to kinda warm me up. Well i got striaght As, but was intimidated by taking a full load of hours 15-18, and sitting in classs, because i know that naturally i cannot concentrate in class, and Fs result, and i was trying to bring my GPA up and was very motived to tackle college like a job i love, so i decided to reactivate my old adderall script. and with out the pot and other shit, I was doing great in school, nothing like showing a 4.0 semester, when they are used to hearing about .9 semsters, and at the same time I knew that there was this “adderall demon” very close to surface, and it was a constant battle to use it only as prescribed. and for a while i did very good at this, but then for some reason after going through katrina, and rita, I found i could not afford the XRS, so i had to get the reg 30 mgs, which last about 3-5 hours, in comparasion to the XR, which lasted about 7-10 hours. so, well how do i get through the day of classes, when my medicine only last 3 hours, but im in classes for 5 hours a day, and i need to study for about 5 hour after class are over. well take another one.
see where im going, were i think I am taking more adderall in mgs, then i was when i had the problem with it, but before it just really, really fucked me up like a self-destructive, lets see how much I can take of this. I run out of # 45 30 mgs in about a week, which isnt bad, but the last few refills have last about 3 days again. But it just seems that no matter how much take at a time, even 120 mgs of reg tabs, just simply wasnt doing all the much. but its affected my pyschological, being shy is probably prone maybe social aniexty, which was become almost diabiliting, in my ability to be in any sort of social situation, beyond one-on-one. Even the friends I have know my whole life. I have become incredibily isolated, exept for one girl, who i am very close too. and its really starting to bother me, i have a 4.0, i am finally breaking a pattern, having gained some maturity, and started to start my life. But, now i am prescribed to now benzodiazapams for the anxiety, and i am given 30 regular 30 mgs, and 30 mg XRs a month. I got this on monday after exams. Its now thursday, and out of 60 i only have maybe 5. I know that this “demon” has made his comeback much stronger than before. But my grades are great, and with the benzos the anxiety has gone, but the not sleepings, and having to take ridcilous amounts to feel anything, when I have nothing to do. so now its 5 in the morning, and i have to drive 6 hours to memphis on christmas eve, and my whole family is going to be congradulating me on how im finally “on my way”, but im disturbed by the fact that, they attribute this to not doing drugs at all anymore, like im reformed. but honestly i quit pot, and painkillers, but only because i thought drugs like pot, as not worth it anymore, i had moved onto bigger and better things, a heavy abuse of amphetamines. I know this has to be doing something to me horrible pychologicall, and socially, the isolation caused by my “amphetamine pyschosis” in social situations, had made pursuing school all-consuming. Is it worth it? 300mgs a day, in two doses of 150 each to acchieve grades that will enable me to fufil my potential, instead of some loser, to finally attain what deep down I had wanted hear for a long time “Im so proud of you, son”. But at the same time being just as big as drug addict as i was before, i just simply dont let anyone know this is going on. when i run out, i run out and bear the consequences, and almost enjoy the break from it, and after a week of not taking anything, i start to feel more normals, and almost dread the day when that scrip comes in the mail, but i almost cry, when i put all these fucking pills in my mouth, when i swore i never do it again. but im still succeding on the outside, but honestly, even though i lie to myself about this, and few friends abot it, im changing something fundamental about me this time, I just have really become very emotionally dead, no matter how much amphetamine is flowing through my viens. and i havent always been like that. so i dont know, what to do. i keep telling myself, that this next semester I am going to do it without adderall, and just throw myself into it, and get another 4.0 so i can stoop feeling like this. But i know deep down, when that times comes around to refill in a month, im going to be somewhere between crying, and salivating at the thought of all those adderall, to eat, and feel somewhat good. so is it worth selling your soul, to put a proud smile on your mamas face, for the first time in long time. And this last semester, i did so well, because the week that i did have some, or the courple days, i did nothing but study and keep up. so by the time exams came, i pretty much knew all the material. but this next semester, my abuse cycle for the script of 60 pills is about 2 1/2 days, and he class are much harder. I guess just time has to tell. adderall, is something im just really bother by right now, because of my moral problem with living two lives, and being fack, and acting all reformed, like im on the path to some to law school finally, where i’ve always wanted. but i know from experience i am a drug addict, no matter what the benefits it one day gives me, still am losing something i hold sacred, even through everything. I feel like judas, selling my soul for 30 peices of silver. is it worth it? i know, i know i love seeing a smile on my mommas face, and pride on my fathers, and having some sort of matarial success as a lawyer, does appeal to a very base part of me, about just being able to get what i want when i want. but also a spiritual side, saids now. I dont know, I could quit adderall, but in all truth, i need it bad for school, without it i cannot function in class, without i have watched my grades drop slighty, when i did nt have it, and the longer the it when on the worse, it got. so to not “sell” my soul, i have to break my mamas heart, and have my father give up on me, because they put so much value on adademic degrees and such, all my other siblings, have phds and masters and shit. i dont know, i know over the holiday i have to figure out someway to do it without adderall, or just finally just accept it and become that guy the 30 year old loser, who has just failed at anythig worthwhile, and maybe balding, like george constanza. i might flip a coin.
December 24th, 2005 at 9:05 am
If any of you would want to voice your opinions in some research on this topic, I have a VERY brief survey going on Adderall.
Just wanted to get input from people who know.
Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Psychology
University at Albany
State University of New York
Here is a link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=13493677E44976
THANKS!
February 21st, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I’m a 16 year old high school student. I use Adderall just for fun. The thing is, I’ve never taken it orally. I snort Adderall. It gives me this feeling, it’s hard to explain. Euphoria. Especially when mixed with marijuana. None of my friends snort it. It’s only me. They don’t believe that I get high off of it. I’ve done coke before, and I can definatly say that it is a similar high. It makes me want to move. I’ve cleaned my entire house from ceiling to floor on Adderall. Scrubbing and vaccuming. I just want to know if there are any other people out there who do this like me.
Will D.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Im a college student and I got prescribed 10mg of Adderall once a day about a month ago. I just finished my first bottle and it does seem to work. I dont abuse the drug in any way. I take one everyday in the morning just as I am supposed to. My question is for others who take the medicine as they are supposed to. Has anyone had problems with a skin rash? Also, around like 6:00 I feel sort of “brain dead”, Im kind of taken over by long pointless stares. This doesnt bother me so much being that Im done with class by that time anyway. Im more concerned about the annoying itchy rash.
Would deffinetely appreciate a response. Thanks.
February 26th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
A few days ago my friend offered me Adderol ( the orange, 20 ml kind). I thought to myself that I should keep it on me until I need it. On friday I tried it because I had such a heavy workload, a paper due and teachers to go see. To my surprise, when I took it, it worked all day from the time that I took it at -8:30 am to 5:30 pm. I was very happy to see that I was fully engaged in my work, listened to lectures 100x times better, and just felt like I could complete and do anything in such a small time spand. Because this drug is not prescribed to me, I do not know when the next I can take it will be, but I am definitly waiting until my friend will give me more. My plan is not to abuse the drug nor use it for parties, but only to use it when I have extremely busy academic days. I am concerned in a couple of different ways because when I took it, I didn’t feel like eating not a bite of anything, and when I thought it was time to go to bed the night that I took it, I jsut couldn’t. I ended up going to bed at 4:00 am to find that when I woke up at 8:45, I wasn’t that tired. I am also concerned of the rapid heart rate it causes and body temperature change, because when I took it I had a bad case of sweaty hands and my heart was pounding.
February 28th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Looking to hear from any students in upstate New York who use Adderall as a study aid. CBS 6 news is researching a story on the subject and would like to speak with students who can talk about its effects.
Email jerry@wrgb.com
Thanks!
March 4th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
I really hope that the makers of this site aren’t trying to send the message that it’s okay to use adderall for this reason. I’m 15 years old and I have ADD and take Adderall. When I was first prescribed with the drug my doctor told me that most people will take it every day through out highschool and then take it every once and a while in college when they need it. He also informed me that it is ILLEGAL if I was to sell it or share it with anyone. I know quite a bit about the subject through research and personal experience, so trust me I’m a valuable source. Snorting the ingredients of the capsule is something I don’t quite know about, but I do know that it’s not safe. Through reading this website I’ve learned that many college students use it and then they can drink even more alcohol. Well, that is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. The more you drink means the more likely your chances of getting alcohol poisoning. You should definitely not mix drugs. It’s like smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol together, the marijuana will dull your sense of pain(that’s why it was used as a presribed drug for a while), so then you won’t feel the effects of alcohol poisoning, so you’ll keep drinking and drinking(because you won’t want to stop) until you die! Also, most people don’t know that doing the drugs isn’t always the part that kills you. They think what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but they’re wrong. Withdrawal is the deadly part. If you start taking Adderall or other drugs and then somehow can’t get it anymore you are going to experience some bad stuff because your body builds a reliance on that drug and it starts to need it in order to function so when it’s not there anymore your body is going to react in a negative way, both mentally and physically. The one thing about Adderall is it changes your perseption. You become a different person when you’re on it and when you’re not on it. One side effect of it is depression and this could be while you’re on it or off it. When I say depression I don’t just mean being sad I mean you are very very unhappy and you cannot snap out of it. It’s also an appetite suppressant which means you don’t get hungry and that isn’t good if you have an eating disorder. Now, I have been taking Adderall for quite a few years now and am not as easily affected by these side effects, but anyone who just wants to do it for a while will have a problem. I take one 25mg pill a day to make me focus and act normal because of a chemical imbalance in the brain. For anyone else(w/o ADD or ADHD) they wouldn’t get the same effect. Adderall is a stimulant, an upper, so it makes any normal person seem like they have ADD or ADHD, but really they are just hyper. For those with ADD and ADHD it corrects the imbalance of amphetamine and noradrenaline so that they resume normality and can focus. So this means that people that use it to study might not get the effect they want. So what I’m trying to say here is, IF YOU DON’T HAVE ADD OR ADHD THEN DON’T USE ADDERALL IT’S THAT SIMPLE! IT’S JUST LIKE 8TH GRADE HEALTH WHERE THEY TELL YOU DON’T DO DRUGS! IT’S SO INCREDIBLY SIMPLE, THEY TOLD ME NOT TO DO DRUGS OR ABUSE PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS AND I DIDN’T! IT’S NOT THAT HARD FOR PETE’S SAKE! I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS! PEER PRESSURE ISN’T THAT HARD TO OVERCOME! IF IT’S BAD DON’T DO IT! I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH THEY BEG YOU TO TRY IT, JUST DON’T DO IT! DOES THAT SOUND HARD?
March 4th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Also, Adderall can be very deadly to certain people. It was outlawed completely in Canada until recently because of the number of deaths in Adderall prescribed children. It was found out that most of them had heart problems. If you have heart problems or there is any history of it in your family or you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol then you could have DEADLY side effects, in which case you’d die of course. Abusing it and taking higher than the recommended dose only heightens your chances of death. It’s possible to OD on Adderall. I wish I didn’t have to take it because I hate taking medicine, but I have to take it in order to be normal and focused. So really, unless you have ADD or ADHD then you don’t need it. Somebody else mentioned coffee and that’s a perfect substitute for studying. Caffeine is also an upper, so you’ll be more alert and more awake. It has lower side effects, that’s why they allow it to be in pop and coffee. The only problem is you have to take reasonable amounts. If you want to know more about what these drugs really do to you, go learn chemistry and biology that’ll teach you how the drug affects the cells.
March 4th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Okay, just on more thing to add. I got this off of http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/article.php?date=2006-02-24§ion=3&id=3
The legal consequences:
Adderall is a Schedule II Controlled Substance, and by federal and state law, it is only available by special, restricted prescription for supervised treatment of specified medical conditions. Taking someone else’s Adderall is illegal. Giving someone some of your own Adderall is illegal. Selling a friend some of your Adderall is illegal. In fact, selling Adderall is dealing, and constitutes an unambiguous violation of state and federal drug trafficking laws as well as College policy.
March 4th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
If you have any questions my email address is spiketheswede@yahoo.com
March 5th, 2006 at 6:53 am
“I really hope that the makers of this site aren’t trying to send the message that it’s okay to use adderall for this reason.”
Spike: No, we’re not trying to send that message. We’re just reporting on this trend, as we think it’s interesting news for people interested in neuroscience.
March 5th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
oh okay
March 7th, 2006 at 7:42 am
I’m a college student who uses adderall to study. I think I’m becoming dependent on it, and I don’t know where to turn for help. I wish I wasn’t pressured into this situation, but I’m a full time student, working full time, and trying to have a social life. How else am I supposed to cope with these burdens? I’m actually on adderall right now, pulling an all-nighter to finish a paper due in a few hours, but I’m too preoccupied with my ‘little problem’ to concentrate on my school work.
March 7th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
My hearty thanks to everyone who did the survey. (I don’t know who because it’s anonymous.) For those of you concerned about symptoms (rash, rapid heart, etc.) and dependence, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE talk to your prescribing physician. In theory, the rapid heart rate should go away after a couple of weeks unless dosage is too high. For dependence, you’d want to look for tolerance, withdrawal, and some kind of impairment in your social, recreational, or school performance. If you’ve noticed these, GO TO THE DOCTOR. Seriously, you might benefit from a different dosage or a different treatment. It’s no big deal. That’s why they make the big bucks. Tell them how you’re doing and let them recommend a change.
March 28th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Adderall Pros & Cons
Pros:
-I want to do things
-allot of energy
-I can concentrate
-euphoria feeling
Cons:
-you could get dependent
-the come down sucks, I get headaches, VERY depressed, and just feel like shit
-increased heart rate
-sometimes I think too much and it slows work down
So overall if I can get a way to counteract the come down (sometimes alcohol, weed, or just food and some music I like) it is a pretty good drug.
April 2nd, 2006 at 11:57 am
I have major depression. I tried all the SSRI’s and stuff and they help but I still felt very unmotivated. I lived with my Mom and my only responsibility was mowing the lawn once a week and that was too much for me. My Doctor decided to try Adderall and now I have a full time job and I think if this continues I’ll move out of my Mom’s house soon. I take one 30mg xr pill daily. I think it’s great.
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:39 pm
adderall is great. it helps me study, helps me get my job done faster at work, and helps me big time in social situations. i used to be that shy quiete kid, now i can interact with people better and hold conversations better, and i am now not afraid to strike up a conversation with strangers(especially the ladies). take enough adderall and you will find yourself as the life of the party.
April 9th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I’ve been taking Concerta for 4 years now as well as Methylphen for night time studying. I am a freshman at a small liberal arts school in MA, which as you all probably know from this website has the highest perscription rate for add/adhd medications than any other state. Since I have been here I have had to hide my medication because of incidents in which it was stolen right out of my room. Although I dont take Adderall, my dosage of Concerta is very high and therefor very appealing to students that don’t actually have ADD or ADHD. I find it really sad and frustrating that people can be so greedy as to steal medication from their peers who cleary need it to help them pull B’s and C’s in school. I think it is unfair that the abuse of these medications is such a huge problem in this country and especially this state because the people that actualy DO have the mental disorder are now not being considered for things like untimed testing or different location. If people that do not have ADD or ADHD could understand what it is like to see your peers getting A’s on tests, or whipping through homework assignemnts or banging out papers in less than two hours. If you could understand how frustrating it is to not understand a concept that everyone else in the classroom seems to get with ease or the hours that are spent with tutors or the humiliation one feels when they have to leave the classroom to take a test in a room with no one else in it because THAT is what it takes for them to concentrate. These drugs were created to help medicate people with a serious mental disorder not for people to take so they can get A+’s instead of A’s. or so they could pop one before a long night of drinkin so they can talk everyones ear off and be the “life of the party”. I pitty the people out there who have ADD/ADHD and sell their pills because someone has given you the chance to NOT be the kid that never “gets it” or has to be seperated from friends because they are “distracting” and you are missing out on your own potential just because you need a few extra bucks. And to all those people out there that don’t know what it is like to have ADD/ADHD, you dont know how lucky you are. So think of that the next time you want to just pop a pill or snort a line of Adderall so that you can finish your homework in less than 2 hours and be able to go out and party on a tuesday night. Try having days of long hour testing where you have to do reading comprehension and memory tasks to find out after 9 years of struggling in school you are diagnosed with a mental disorder that is incurable. To hear people going on and on about the perks of abusing these medications is a blatent slap in the face to every person that struggles with ADD/ADHD day in and day out.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:23 am
I decided to start taking stimulents again(used to take ritalin in elementry/middle/high school on and off). I always hated the side effects but this semester, my last one. I have absolutely no time to be even writing this message. I’ve never been this busy in my life(maybe b/c i’m actually studying). But my success is totally attributed to adderall. I’ve never had so many people come up to me and ask “how do you handle that courseload” or “You must have been an overachiever in high school”..when only the opposite was true. I neve even bothered to do homework b/c I didnt’ see the point in most classes. Ones I like I got A’s without adderall. I just can’t focus for more than 20 min.
I don’t plan on taking it when I graduate except maybe once or twice a month to do tedious chores such as cleaning and other housework(it gets done very quickly and I don’t stop to do 10 other things)
The side effects are getting worse, I try not to take it on the weekends but I’ve been at school 6 days a week. I’m definetly developing a dependency and having to take more(I was taking under my perscibed dosage for a while, I’m about 7mg more than I should be taking currently) The headaches are bad now and I get a horrible rash on my chest and neck, which is odd. Two more weeks and I’m done.
On a side note to those who go out drinking with adderall. I did that the other night(I had been up since 5am so I figured why not try it for a friend’s party at the bar- That was horrible, I felt like I should be doing homework the entire time I was there. I was also just worried the whole time my heart was going to explode or something.
I really wish there was a better place to get credible information online than all these online pharamacies that pop up when you try and type in other over the counter stuff you may need to take or even just side effects.
April 11th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
“I really wish there was a better place to get credible information online than all these online pharamacies that pop up when you try and type in other over the counter stuff you may need to take or even just side effects.”
Some things I try when searching for drugs and trying to avoid reseller hits are:
1) Search for the medical name of the drug, not the brand name
2) Go to the relevant Wikipedia page first, and then follow links from there
3) Read the patient information sheet and the doctor information sheet provided by the manufactorer
4) When searching on Google, use the “-” (minus) option to restrict the search to only pages that DON’T mention certain terms; for instance, searching Google for “cialis -buy” (not in quotes) cuts out some of the online pharmacies. “Tadalafil -buy -pharmacy” is even better (but probably cuts out some of the good results too)
btw, in regards to the rest of your comment, i’m not a doctor but if I were you I’d begin to taper off that drug now, not in two weeks, if it is giving you headaches and rashes. hopefully it is “just” the stress causing that (not to say that the drug isn’t magnifying the stress, or your physical response to it), but why take risks?
April 11th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
By the way, in general, I find it ironic that it sounds like this drug improves people’s grades by making them obsessed with getting work done. I often get that feeling naturally, but I don’t like it; when I get obsessive, I get better grades, yes, but I feel like my mind is getting warped when I start thinking about what I have to do even when I’m out doing something fun on the weekend.
You might conclude that if I can train myself to get this feeling without drugs, you can too, and therefore the drug is an unnecessary and harmful “shortcut”. Or you might conclude that different people have differently tuned neural parameters and what is possible for me naturally is only possible for some people with drugs. I think which of these is the case is an empirical question and I don’t know the answer.
However, my suspicion is that, although for a small amount of people, it is actually physically impossible for them to get in that state of mind without drugs, that most people who use drugs for this purpose could have trained themselves into it if they had put in the time and effort.
I should also note though that I am usually genuinely interested in the subjects I get obsessed about working on. I’m sure that has a large impact, and I don’t know how successful I would be studying something that truly bores me. On the other hand, I’ve consciously tried to develop the skill of finding a way to get interested in what at first seems to be a boring subject.
April 12th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Hey guys, I am a 22 year old college student. Almost three years ago (freshman year) i took adderall in the library because a friend gave it to me and said it would get me focused and stay up all night. Well I wish I would have just not procrastinated and never gotten into that situation. But Life’s full of surprises. The summer was clear of Adderall, i had taken a little bit that finals week and thought it was pretty cool. Then the Fall ‘03 semester rolled around and on of my freshman teamates happened to have a scrip and plenty of it. So every test….this was the easy way out. I just asked him and got it whenever. I wasn’t partying on it, i had never been a huge partier then. I was very involved with church too. However I started turning away from that old lifestyle quite abruptly. By the spring I had adderalled out for a whole finals week…i was taking twice as normal. I would be done with it and then i’d stop taking it and maybe crash a little but not too bad.
Then Summer came and I met a friend from my hometown who was prescribed and he just handed me about 40 (20 mill) pills for the next year for free, he was about to move outta town and i was leaving for vacatoin then to take a job in another state for the summer. Well i was doing some correspondence classes and just took it like crazy to try to get those done early before i left town. I was also beginning to take it for long drives, and just for random recreation)By mid summer i was out already and crashing……..I had to go to work everymorning and bust my but. Well about a week after I ran out i started to feel normal again…naps every afternoon. But i was back to working out again and doing great! Then I decided that adderall was not good….and i dont need to do it. So I told myself I was giving up. It went great and I hadnt taken it for 2 months.
Then School Started and it got stressfull and the freshman teamate was now my roomate so the adderall was waaaay more than accessible. Before I know it, I would take adderall from 9 to 9 or so. I wouldnt on the weekends or when i needed to be athletic. However more times than not i was on adderall. Because of that on a normal “addy day” in the fall of ‘04 i was taking 40-60 milligrams a day and loving it. By the spring i was up to 60-80 mills a day. I thought it was getting crazy then and i wasnt liking my crashes or the depression because i was having trouble with family life and friends and my normal routine and biological clock. Also i had developed a problem of taking adderall and going to casinos and losing tons of money…and just not a care in the world becuase of the adderall effect. I put myself in about a $4,000 hole.
I went away again for the summer where I had no access to adderrall and pledged to not take it anymore. I got back into my workout heavily scheme that i normally like to do. I looked great and felt great physically. However i abused my dad’s credit card all summer and basically lived the fun summer life on his american express and had borrowed money from my stepmom because my parents only give me money in the schoolyear and i get a pretty good amount. —ALL A HUGE HOLE THAT ADDERALL PUT ME IN—-. With only 2 weeks left in the summer job, this girl i really like flew to visit me. We had a great time, but then she left and I was kinda sad because now I was really starting to feel like there was a possible relationship there. So I was getting depressed that i had two weeks before i go home and get to see her. I couldnt focus so i went on an all out search and got some 20 mill XRs and was taking them like crazy for the last two weeks.
i got home in August of ‘05 and my dad hit the roof with his AMEX bill and my stepmom broke the news that she had loaned me money (because i lied and said it was for an investment…told the lie while on adderall!!!) So it all came crashing down and the parents were worried something was wrong so i told them I was having problems with gambling addiction and had been taking adderall for study purposes(far from the real story). I started then and still go to a Outpatient counseling center for the gambling and kinda the adderall.
The lady rarely drug tests anymore and in a year of seeing her like twice a month she has only urine tested me three times….so i know when i have to not take it for that. I never have failed a test. But i can’t tell her im addicted to adderall because i dont know what would happen with my father who is a die hard alcoholic and extremely hard on me. So because my Dad is that way he made me get a part time job along with my 16 credit hours of school and it drove me insane. I was soooo busy…so short on time and behind with school i started taking adderrall from sun up to sun down to get through my days. I was also paying whatever to get it so I could be prodictive in the day and have that ambitious feeling you get from the drug. I was also taking 80 mils a day consistently. Then suddenly i have an accident and tear my knee up and have to have surgery. So then I didnt want to ask the parents for money so i started gambling while i was high on the adderall again in a desperation that my sober self here talking to you doesnt understand.
It has just continued through this, my hardest semester yet, where I am no longer working because i need to focus on school b/c it is getting so hard and demanding. However it seems that if i am having an addy day i will take up to 100 or so mg’s a day to suffice and most nights once im dont with school i will head to the casino where I will be there for hours most of the time until i run out of all the money i have brought. Then it got to the point to where I was so freaked about the debt i put myself in with this, that i cant even focus like i should in school because i am an MBA hopeful with a 3.4 GPA who needs to bust his butt.
I am not always on adderall….its an on and off thing…but the off’s are either b/c i cant find it or im trying to quit….but both those max last only a week. I am not on it now but i have several pills here ready for tommorrow if i want to take em.
Anyway I dont know what to do. I am really scared that end of this, my 7th semester could yield me a card full of c’s, a total addiction, and thousands in debt. I am just in the dumps now, and adderall has put me there. I want to be able to not do it, but its tough when you know your more productive in some things and have that well-being feeling with it. My Dad, who i love to death, is all over me saying i am always needing money and he hates it and its killing me because i am dissapointing people and they dont even know it…..HELP!!!!PLEASE!!!!!!! I WANT TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS AND GET ON WITH MY LIFE Because i miss the person i was before i met Mr. Adderall and I want to be him again!!!!!!!!!!
May 15th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Me again,
If you need help just go to your family practice doctor(you know…the doc you go see for check ups). They will admit you to a dependancy clinic. Don’t be shy, all records are confidencial. You can’t stop on your own, well you might, but I highly doubt it. Talk to your doctor about it you aren’t going to get any better if you don’t and it won’t hurt if you do. Plus, you might actually find out that you need it in which case they’ll prescribe it to you and it won’t be illegal and it won’t cost as much. If you do want to get tested for ADD though, I recommend laying off the Adderall for a while so they can give an accurate test. Take my advice.
May 15th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/article.php?date=2006-02-24§ion=3&id=3
Go to this website for the legal consequences.
May 25th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Of courser there is a such thing as ADD.
There’s also a such thing as pill junkies who go get it prescribed to them so they can become addicted under the guise of having A REAL PROBLEM.
May 25th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
The adderall and ritalin research that you have all been so helpful with in the past is continuing. If you’d like a chance to win an amazon.com gift certificate just for filling out a few questions on adderall or ritalin use, I’d sure be grateful for the help. Thanks again to all of you who helped last time, too.
Sincerely,
Mitch Earleywine
The survey is at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=294411900312
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:11 am
I’m on adderoll right now, no i’m not prescribed it
taking 30mg on and off, and now i think im permantly depressed at night time
i can’t even type like alot … like it used to do me.. i need more to get a kick
more to smile..
and hoping i dont gotta live my whole life needing a pill to make that happen
June 16th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
i used to take ritilin a few times a week when i’d have driver’s ed really late and this guy in my class would bring me a few pills from his prescription. then i lost touch with him and didn’t do anything but smoke weed for like 5 years. in january, i met a guy and we went out. being interested in altering reality and being pretty experienced with drugs and how people look on them, i IMMEDIATELY noticed that his pupils were VERY dialated. i asked him if he was on street drugs, or prescription. he told me he was prescribed to ungodly ammounts of amphetemine (both adderall and ritilin). of course, i found a way to charm some (a LOT) out of him. for about 3 months he was GIVING (yes, for free) me bottles of 20mg xr adderalls. usually about 30-60 pills at a time. i’m a VERY addictive personality and so of course it got out of control. to the point where i was taking about 50-90 mgs a day. there was a few weeks when i didn’t sleep AT ALL and i basically stopped eating.
it feels amazing, but after you loose 50 pounds (i didn’t have 50 pounds to loose) and people start to notice that you look like a junkie, it starts to suck. i feel totally dependent on adderall. i would literally DO ANYTHING for it (which is a very dangerous place to be). i am determined to find a doctor to prescribe it to me so that i don’t have to feel like these guys could use me. . . they could if they wanted to, if they knew how much i NEED it.
there are times i feel like a cocaine addict…. like, i’ll feel bugs crawling under my skin, or i’ll get UBER paranoid or think people are talking about me or looking at me, or i’ll just feel detached from the real world, not caring if i go with out a shower, or if i brush my unruley hair. i know that people at my college probably think i’m a meth head or something. b/c i go to class with bags under my eyes from not sleeping for days and because my clothes are all falling off b/c i keep loosing so much weight. the other day a guy at my work even told me “you look like shit” and i started crying, and i said “do you think i wanted to do this to myself? don’t you think i know i have a problem?” but since it’s technically legal (if you’re prescribed), no one really considers it a hard drug.
ADDERALL IS THE MOST ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE I HAVE EVER PUT INTO MY BODY (and i’ve done REAL coke before, and other nice drugs, and none of them compare to my love affair with extended release adderall).
like someone else said way up there ^^^, i love adderall, but i think it’s probably killing me. . . even knowing this though, i continue to search out new ways of con-ing people into giving me thier medication. knowing that it’s killing me doesn’t even stop me wanting more, doesn’t stop me enjoying the fucking high.
beware,
is it better to have loved and lost? or never to have loved at all?
sometimes i think maybe i’d be better off if i never found out how fucking great it feels!!
June 27th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Almost everyone who has written about their experiences with Adderall here has missed the point to some degree. First, Adderall is extremely effective in adults with ADHD who have always had trouble concentrating and focusing their attention. I know this, because I AM that adult. I have always had trouble, even as a child, in the areas of concentration, motivation, and focus. After taking Adderall, I noticed two things: First, I was able to maintain interest in one partic