Drug info - Stimulants and anxiety?!

[Joklem]

Okay, so a little backstory... From (approximate) age 10 to 15, swim was prescribed Ritalin for ADHD. Over the past 7 years or so, swim sort of self-diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Swim often feels anxious for no reason at all, and have had panic attacks. After two attacks swim was prescribed temporary Valium, which put me to sleep; made me feel relaxed, but depressed so swim stopped.

Little history of drug use:

1) Swim doesnt get drunk, ever. Maybe one beer every other months. Swim can very easily say no to an open bottle of vodka or whatever.

2) Swim uses marijuana whenever he can. Swim has done the research and believe that it's not only not unhealthy, but actually healthy. Swim never craves it when he doesnt have any, but he appreciates when he does. He rarely use it as an escape, but he smokes a little to reduce his anxiety and make him more motivated. He only started smoking marijuana regularly in June of this year (previously it was monthly, sometimes weekly), and he does feel better both physically and mentally.

3) Swim has done most "hard" drugs once, loved the experience, and never done them again. That includes LSD, psilocybe mushrooms, speed, MDMA... but mostly psychedelics. Haven't touched opiates, crack or meth.

4) Last week, there was a party-ish at his appartment, and swim did speed (amphetamines in a pill). For 48 hours, he was completely anxiety free, fully motivated and my full focus was into what he was doing, which was talking with a band about production and assisting them in theirs. However, he had the worst hangover in my lifetime which lasted about 3 days where any fun was sucked out of life... he knows it's part of the experience and it's why he doesnt ever want to use amphetamine recreationally ever again. Swim got the answers I needed and don't feel the need to do it again.

5) Swim doesnt feel an addiction to anything other than cigarettes (pack a day) and caffeine (coffee, tea, energy drinks), and he feel physically healthy. He only started smoking one year ago and the anxiety didn't change for worse.

Swim considers himself a very intelligent person, he learns everything fast, from professions to music instruments. Especially when motivated, but the anxiety kills the motivation.

So my question is this... why do stimulants, of all drugs, makes Swim feel relaxed, anxiety-free, happy and motivated to do anything?

Should he ask his doctor to resume his Ritalin/Adderall (if it's availble in Canada) treatment? He has no appetite for abusing stimulants again, but could he benefit from a treatment with CNS stumulants?

Also worth noting is that he actually feels less anxiety the more caffeine he intakes. I'm thinking... is he anxious because he's unmotivated and doesn't know where to start to get further in life?

[Matthijs85]

Originally Posted by Joklem

So my question is this... why do stimulants, of all drugs, makes Swim feel relaxed, anxiety-free, happy and motivated to do anything?

Because it is supposed to be the effect (at the right dose), especially for people who (tend to) have ADHD regarding the relaxed...

Originally Posted by Joklem

Should he ask his doctor to resume his Ritalin/Adderall (if it's availble in Canada) treatment? He has no appetite for abusing stimulants again, but could he benefit from a treatment with CNS stumulants?

Worth discussing with SWIY's doctor... SWIM does not like the idea of taking drugs on a daily basis, but if it would really improve his quality of life very much he would consider it.

Originally Posted by Joklem

Also worth noting is that he actually feels less anxiety the more caffeine he intakes. I'm thinking... is he anxious because he's unmotivated and doesn't know where to start to get further in life?

SWIM, who also at least has a tendency towards ADD, and also considers himself very intelligent, autodidactic and fast learning, experiences the same. Although the more is not the right word, too much caffeine can make SWIM quite restless and a-relaxed.
SWIM rarely experiences anxiety, but does feel uncomfortable speaking in public (giving presentations, asking questions to a presenter in public, etc.). This is strongly correlated to how well SWIM knows the other people (the more the better). SWIM can think and truly believe why/that this is totally unnecessary, but it doesn't change the physical discomfort / lost ability to focus. However, caffeine reduces this, and SWIM indeed feels this has to do with a changed motivation. SWIM also experimented with low doses amphetamines or alcohol while giving a presentation. Amphetamines worked great, alcohol just a little.

[Joklem]

Thanks, he'll be taking an appointment. He just hopes he gets understood and not judged so he can work better.

[HorseBox]

SWIM NEVER gets anxious so maybe we can compare lifestyles in hopes of identifying the cause of SWIYs anxiety. Alright SWIM rarely if ever exercises, he gets impulses to eat especially snickers bars and things like that and he has a bit of a belly on him. SWIM rarely drinks because he has a hernia and lots of acid reflux. SWIM will eat a full dinner for breakfast if he has the opportunity because he gets really hungry but if he can't find anything heavy to eat he'll just eat a bowl of serial which always fills him up despite him thinking it wont. SWIM rarely eats fruits or vegetables because he has the feeling they wont fill him up. Instead SWIM always goes for carbohydrate rich foods like bread and similar foods and he'll also go for meat as he thinks it fills him up.

Psychologically: SWIM does not care about anything really he's a carefree man and thats by choice. He's been not caring about lifes "problems" for years and now it comes naturally to him. Goes without saying SWIM never worries about anything but the downside is he doesn't care about missing appointments and other important things. SWIM smoked cannabis HEAVILY every day for over 7 years straight and quit over a year ago. SWIM has a serious obsession with consciousness and the mind therefore always finds himself in lucid dreams because the more one thinks about lucid dreaming the more one finds themselves in lucid dreams. SWIM has the firm belief that anything that goes wrong in the brain can be fixed with the mind alone. SWIM has seen that what he asks for (like to be free of worry and unstable emotions) he gets it just takes a long time. So gradual that SWIM doesn't even notice the change, its only when he looks back a year or so that he realizes he got what he asked for. Maybe if SWIY keeps thinking about how good it will be to be free of anxiety it will happen over time.

HorseBox added 7 Minutes and 13 Seconds later...

SWIM should mention that one of his brothers has anxiety everyday and believes its a result of years of MDMA abuse. SWIM told his brother that he thinks he can change this with his mind alone and his brother keeps replying "yeah after years and years of therapy unfortunately". SWIM can't seem to change his mind. Maybe thats the problem. He believes so firmly that he's stuck with anxiety that its a self fulfilling prophecy. Hypnosis has been used to cure anxiety so its obvious beliefs alone can rid your mind of anxiety. Years of therapy my ass SWIM was very sensitive when he was younger and turned himself so emotionally stable that the effects of benzodiazepines describe how SWIM is on a daily basis. Took over a year for the change to happen so maybe people fall under the illusion that its the years of therapy that produced the change when in reality it only took years for the change to fully implement because since we can't believe this is possible the mind has to implement the change so gradually that we don't even notice it therefore it doesn't defy our belief system. Thats just SWIMs theory if SWIY thinks he's talking bullshit feel free to tell him to shut the fuck up

Reputation Comments on this post:

Mental health problems are not life-style choices. They are real, clinical conditions.

[Joklem]

Update: SWIM got a prescription for 20mg twice daily with 12 refills. He's feeling absolutely awesome and like a new person.

No desire to abuse it at all since it's so useful and he doesn't want it to turn on him!

Thanks for the advice.