Amphetamine Psychosis

[rilex]

Swim has been taking Adderall (20 mg) for 6 weeks now. Lately swim has deided to start taking more, and has dropped about 120 in the last 24 hours. Now swim can't stop hearing things! Will it go away? I've read about amphetamine psychosis, and I suppose that's what this is. Has anynone experienced something like this, and did it go away?

[Beanfondler]

What is Swiy experiencing beyond a desire to consume more?

Swibf acquired the first script for 5mg methylphenidate about eight months ago. Since he has weasled his way to a 30mg amph combo 3x daily. Which has to be supplemented by MA reductions becoming awkwardly close together. Swibf's sleepless antics produce a profound dissociation of time and the greater frequency of visual hallucinations. He doesn't have much to complain about other than the fact his candy doesn't have a never ending supply.

Depending on what Swiy is speaking of as the psychosis they are experiences the lessened grasp of reality won't go away you'll become accustomed to it though and the addictive tendencies will only get worse. If the second is what concerns Swiy a reassessment of how desirable amph use actually is for Swiy. At least sooner rather than later, since that kind of objectiveness with regard to the subject will dwindle.

[rilex]

SWIM has absolutely no interest in ever taking the Adderall again and never has had a craving. My question is, does amphetamine psychosis go away? To quote "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"- "Oh Mama, I hope it's not the end. Stuck inside Mobile with Amphetamine Psychosis Again..." Hopefully the fact that he says "again" means it goes away.

[moda00]

Swim has been taking Adderall (20 mg) for 6 weeks now. Lately swim has deided to start taking more, and has dropped about 120 in the last 24 hours. Now swim can't stop hearing things! Will it go away? I've read about amphetamine psychosis, and I suppose that's what this is. Has anynone experienced something like this, and did it go away?

Chances are good it will go away. As one described it, this seems to be a direct result of the drug, as opposed to a persisting psychological condition- a result the acute effects of ingestion of high dose of amps. Once the amps wear off, and swiy gets some sleep, body and brain will recover just fine in all likelihood. Don't worry too much, but of course be careful, and Take care!!

edit: also in response to one's last question, yes, one of my friends has taken both Adderall recreationally and is prescribed to methylphenidate. S/he has experienced similar distortions, anxiety, visual and auditory distortion, etc. It is not uncommon, although highly unpleasant, and most often a result of the drugs themselves as well as the sleep deprivation that often accompanies the use of such substances.

Additionally, BF's point that this could be an experience of reflecting upon what dose range is safe/desirable is a good one- high dose amp experiences may not be something s/he wants to repeat.

[Beanfondler]

Swibf loves his amphs more than anyone he knows, the only dose he distastes is the one that isn't there. Now that Swibf understands the question, if use stops the immediate psychological distortions etc will fade entirely for a majority of Swiy's after sleep.

On second thought Swibf seems to think that Swiy will still have a sense of hearing. Sounds like a pretty minimal "pychosis," but with the gaping unspecificity and scientific nomer that scares small children. Everyone has it and if they don't the barriers to entry are nonexistent, but profoundly worrying all the same.

Swibf is too tweaked to make much sense of what his thought process was originally, but it seems that he thought if Swiy spent time to wiki some trendy disorder Swiy should start suffering to sustain an image... Swiy would have had a hard time not reaching the conclusion that substance related disorder would generally not be so if the substance were not present.

Reputation Comments on this post:

It's nice to see any signs of intelligence in the amphetamine forum!

[RadicalMexican]

ive went thorugh that i wrote a story under the adderall experiences thread. Just stop taking it for a few days and dont take more at all cause u will start to see things after u start hearing things,

[Panthers007]

Amphetamine psychosis, unless the use of the drug is stopped, continues to grow until it is full-blown. At this point it becomes clinically indistinguishable from paranoid schizophrenia.

The good news is that it will clear once the drug is stopped, the person (victim) gets a good amount of sleep, and eats some food and restores vitamins that are washed out. Usually a few days - then the raving nut will be fine. But will always carry a newfound understanding of mental illness! This can prove valuable, though few would recommend this as a method of obtaining such knowledge. Least of all those who took this trip.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Enlightening

[jazzmetalguitar]

Originally Posted by Panthers007

But will always carry a newfound understanding of mental illness! This can prove valuable, though few would recommend this as a method of obtaining such knowledge. Least of all those who took this trip.

Dead on! This is what SWIM gained more than anything in his experience and the only thing that makes him consider it not a wholly bad thing. Albeit, he is not sure he'd voluntarily repeat it.

[staples]

Out of curiosity, which formulation of Adderall is the OP referring to, the extended release (XR) or instant release version? I ask because they could attain very different levels of dopamine if taken over a period of 24 hours.

After being on 20mg per day for six weeks, it's hard for me to imagine that 120mg would cause psychosis. If that is indeed the case, I might suggest that stimulants are not the correct solution to SWIY's ADHD (e.g, SWIY's ADHD wouldn't appear to be caused by low dopaminergic activity, if SWIY can attain psychosis at such doses even after allowing 6 weeks for dopamine synapses to weaken), or SWIY doesn't in fact have ADHD and shouldn't take Adderall as it can make concentration very difficult without medication later in life.

As for the question on whether or not it will go away: yes. The fact that amphetamines (and other stimulants which increase action of dopamine transmitters such as cocaine) induce symptoms of schizophrenia in normal people (and exacerbate them in schizophrenics) is a very large part of the support for the dopamine theory of schizophrenia, which postulates that schizophrenia arises from to much dopamine at brain synapses.

However, it's not quite as others have said, you won't quite exactly experience schizophrenia -- the dopamine theory only explains what are referred to as the "positive symptoms" of schizophrenia (hallucinations, delusions). The excitatory neurotransmitter for fast synapses called glutamate plays a role for the "negative symptoms" (reduction in, or absence of expected behavior, slowed bodily movements, poverty of speech, etc) -- some research suggests that one of the major receptor molecules for glutamate is defective in people who have schizophrenia, which decreases the effectiveness of glutamate. While paranoid schizophrenia is classified by a prevalence of the positive symptoms, it usually includes negative symptoms as well.

I suppose one could induce amphetamine psychosis while using phencyclidine (PCP) which interferes with glutamate neurotransmission and is known to induce the full range of schizophrenic symptoms (so maybe amps aren't necessary at that point? I don't know anything about PCP so...) however in addition to the brain chemistry differences, schizophrenics also have altered brain structure which is believed to be a result of abnormal pruning (decrease in grey matter, or cell bodies, and increase in white matter, or bundles of axons) during a crucial stage of development resulting in enlarged cerebral ventricles (fluid-filled spaces in the brain), reduced mass of neural tissue surrounding these ventricles, and reduced neural mass of other portions of the brain which correspond to the symptoms.

Anyway, SWIY should stop or taper off of Adderall at least temporarily. The first few days without it can be dreadful (depending on the person) but this is necessary to restore sensitivity and density of dopamine receptors.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[jazzmetalguitar]

SWIM doesn't have much time to write now but to further upon one of staples points, it has now been theorized that dopamine plays little role in psychosis. Glutamate, as mentioned by staples, is now considered to be a possibility, with antipsychotics working in a secondary fashion (similar to use of beta blockers to treat essential tremor, something SWIM nows all too much about). More later...

[HorseBucket]

Yeah swim has had his fair share of amp psychosis and it always goes away with time. Swim usually considers the possibility that he might be stuck with psychosis but once he gets some sleep 90% of the symptoms go away and after he eats properly for a few days he's back to normal.

[GForce]

SWIM has been there as well. Clonazepam works well in the short-term for dealing with symptoms, but it is no substitute for sleep and food.