Comments on: Adderall abuse with students

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:54:39 +0000

does adderall hurt you if you try to take it when you want to win a sports game, like if you took one 30 mg to win a soccer game, to get more motivation, or is it bad because your heart is beating a lot?

By: Unknown

Unknown — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:19:01 +0000

I have been perscibed Adderall XR for narcolepsy. If I had a choice I would use Provigil less side effects and no chemical dependency, my insurance will not cover it because there are other therapies such as adderall…. I cannot afford $900 for a month persciption of provigil. All the people abusing Adderall XR and others are just going to make it harder for the people who need the drug. Think about your family members and children who may need the drugs one day. It would suck if they could not receive Adderall XR or any other drug for their medical condition because of your drug habbit.

By: thinking bout it

thinking bout it — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:29:52 +0000

Im seriously thinking about trying this drug…This sounds to good to be true, and if I could just use it to get through this last semester, I would be content…

By: QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:02:10 +0000

I would like to know, if Adderal is so bad, why would all of your doctors give it to you by simply asking for it? I am finding it hard to believe that a doctor will just prescribe something so horrible to a teenager just because he asked? Aren’t there tests for ADD/ADHD that have to be done before a prescription can be processed?

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:14:28 +0000

I have ADD and a very bad bad case of it all my friends at school say wow dude you have the worse case of ADD i have ever seen and i just laugh and say thanks. i am a sophomore in high school and have been taking medicine since 3rd grade the first neurologist i went to was a phsyco he prescribed me with epilepsies pills! then he prescribed me with a generic alza or something like that, after this i actually went to a not dumb neurologist in about 8th grade because my grades were so bad 7th through 8th i went to a guy named Dr. Robert Kohn he is the most brilliant doctor i have ever talked to his ideas went beyond just trying different medicines to see what happens, together we found a perfect medicine from 8th grade till the end of freshman year i had been taking Adderall XR, with this medicine i had no appetite but incredible focus in the summer i wouldn’t take it because i would be like a stick if i did. up until sophomore year in HS Adderall was working great but it all the sudden just stopped so me and Dr.Kohn tried this new stuff called Vyvanse this stuff worked miracles now i am getting a 4.0 and never been better. seriously if your going to take a ADD medicine take this shit it is absolutely amazing! this is my doctors site i was talking about if you wanna visit it and poke around http://www.drrobertkohn.com/

By: Me

Me — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:42:56 +0000

OK, you people talking about crashing are just being dramatic. Adderall definitely increases your ability to think, remember and it will make you a more successful person. Be smart about using it though. Use it when you don’t have to sleep. I find if I take a 10 then I can sleep within 6 hours. So take it at 5 and sleep at 11. I have never ever woke in the morning and felt like I had a hang over, anyone who says that is being dramatic. Given though I have only taken a 10 in the morning then a 10 in the afternoon. It will help you. It is addicting. If you only take one a day and ween yourself off but taking one every other day or so, you will be fine. As far as depression, I personally have never felt it. I think it has helped with any depression I have ever had and has made me a more confident person. I am not saying this to get anyone to do it or anything like that. I am just trying tp put the rest all the drama some people are saying. I think if your responsible about using is and understand that you will need to ween yourself off of it, the benefits far outweigh the downfalls.

By: RustyDendrite

RustyDendrite — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:13:28 +0000

I have been prescribed Adderall for ten years. I was prescribed Ritalin for two years before switching to Adderall. Regarding the Adderall, my initial dosage was 10 mg instant release daily. I increased the dosage to 12.5 mg instant release twice daily in high school. My Freshman year of college I increased my dosage yet again to 15 mg twice daily. I abused Adderall in the later months of my Freshman year, taking 15 mg pills as many as five times daily. I would drink heavily to get to sleep. This year, after going through a train-wreck of an experience where I did not sleep for four days, I stopped taking Adderall for about a month. Realizing that my abuse of the drug was instigated by my underlying depression and discontent with myself and life, I started taking Zoloft to get back on track. Now I am taking 30 mg of Adderall twice daily with 200 mg of Zoloft once daily and I am sleeping well, accomplishing my goals and getting good grades. Adderall has done great things for sufferers of ADD/ADHD like myself, yet has a high abuse potential when the patient is not self-aware. Although I did become heavily psychologically addicted to Adderall last year, the experience has made it physically clear to me that I had mistaken the good that I saw in taking Adderall for the good that was actually inside me. My brain is even more capable than has ever been before, but this is only maintainable if I strictly adhere to my prescription and frequently take breaks from the medication. Adderall is not for those who do not actually have ADD, though it will not harm them if used extremely sparingly. For those with ADD, it is extremely important to know that personal motivation is the biggest factor in utilizing the Adderall. Although “medicine breaks” can help reduce tolerance via the brain’s neuroplasticity, building up a tolerance to the drug is inevitable yet manageable. By taking too much Adderall for very long periods of time without allowing recovery, the patient is actually worsening their own condition because no amount of Adderall can replace personal motivation and natural energy. Basically, my message is that if anyone has abused Adderall in the past and has ADD–it is still possible to use Adderall responsibly and have it be as effective as it was prior to the period of abuse. For me, it took going into the extremes of taking Adderall to realize that the “optimal mental state” that I had achieved and was constantly trying to rereach, was not all a product of Adderall. Rather, by embodying that state in the pill, I was making it psychologically impossible to comprehend that 95% of my mental ability was already naturally a part of me. The Adderall just helps connect the dots for sustained periods of time–a task that is extraordinarly difficult for those with ADD/ADHD. Anyway, excuse me for rambling… I coming out of a cold that has put my head in a fog.

By: jamie

jamie — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:37:20 +0000

I began taking Adderall last September after i talked to my doctor about feeling unmotivated and having a hard time concentrating on my school work. After a simple questionaire i was prescribed 20mg two times daily to treat ADD. As a Sophmore in college i came back up to school and at the beginning the Adderall worked wonders on my concentration and my ability to keep my schedule together. However, I felt myself becoming a completely different person. I no longer felt like the happy bubbly popular girl i was known as being, i suffered from horrible headaches, could never sleep for more than 4 or 5 hours a night, felt absolutly exhausted every day even though i could never fall asleep, I became a machine who just went threw the motions everyday with no emotion. I took the pills religiously as prescribed until the middle of December when i went back home for Christmas break. I figured i needed to take some time off from the pills since i wouldn’t be doing any studying and just had about a month to relax and try to feel like myself again. Unfortunatly, it only worsened. I became horribly depressed and felt like i had no passion for life anymore, i would cry at the drop of a hat and was always really bitchy and in a mad mood. My mom told me that she thought that the pills i was taking had stolen my personality and was making me go crazy. (that was really hard to hear!) I am still prescribed to the medication and am trying my hardest to completely stop taking them and hopefully regain my love for life and happiness. Now i rarely take them and only if i have alot of things to get done. I know that sounds horrible but Adderall will alter your mind into thinking that you cant get things done with out it. Its a horrible drug that ruins peoples lives. DO NOT take adderall recreationally or even just to pull all nighters to study. Its very addictive and your a fool if you will sacrifice yourself and everything important to you to get a high at a party or to get a little better of a grade on a test. This drug is prescribed much to easily and doctors should really be more caring about the well being of the patients and have a little more of an in depth evaluation before just handing it out like candy and masking a problem!

By: Peggy

Peggy — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:34:59 +0000

Reading all the comments posted above, I have no idea where to begin. I have been in a 12 step program for 21 months and just started taking Adderall. I didn’t want to take a stimulant but Strattera didn’t seem to be helping much. I went back to school after 20 years and always had problems with focusing so I got tested of ADD. Now add on to that alcohol and drug abuse problems. I wanted to make sure I was on the same playing field as the rest of the college kids when it came to my learning ability. The very first pill of Adderall I knew my addictive personality was off and running. The red flags were there! Yet I did not use my tools of the program. I’ve gone back to school to become a counselor in addictions. I want to give back to those professions who have made me understand my demons. Yes, I do believe that there is a need for Adderal. I do believe Doctors are given it out far too easliy. I had a doctor who I felt would give me almost anything because I was able to read the PDR. This is a red flag to change doctors! I do not want my children on this drug. I feel with 80% chance of them becoming addicts (genetics) they do not need a stimulant in their developing minds. I’ll change their diet, envirnoment, and or school. This is just my belief.
I too noiced that from the comments above that the people who loved Adderal were new to it. Those who have had life changing events and not for the good, my heart goes out to you. The pain in your stories come through loud and clear. Thank you for your honesty. As to the girl who suffers from paranoia, I can relate and good luck to you. For the young man who has a gambling addiction. There are 12 step programs for that and how to deal with an alcoholic parent. To the mom who lost a child. I too lost a child. It took me nine years of self abusing hell to find out why I lost this beautiful baby girl. The best wishes only for you. I’m sorry I don’t want to affend anyone, however, anyone taking Adderall for pure “fun” is an idiot! I know the temptation that looks new and fun in what may be a boring and painful life but their are tools to learn other than self abusing methods. Good luck to all.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:13:08 +0000

Adderall helps get shit done, but it’s not a wonder drug so stop obsessing over it.