Health - New to Adderall. Looking For Answers.

[Jackherer]

Hello, swim started taking a dose of 20mg/day for the past 3 days. Swim has ADD, in the past swim had problems with focus and concentration, but has all the best intentions. The past couple years in school have not gone over too well due to focus problems. Has held more jobs than anyone should at their age, due to not rationally thinking and quitting the job without a good reason. Swim has hyperfocus, which is a symptom of ADD, where one would only like to focus on things that interest themselves, and not be focused on anything else that should be of importance to them.

Swim does not have health insurance. Swim had not been diagnosed with ADD, because swim never went to a doctor for the problem. Now, looking over swim's life and reading thoroughly of the symptoms of ADD, Swim has no doubt that ADD is affecting their life in a very negative way.

Swim tried adderall and they didn't take it to get high, they took it to better themselves. Now, in this case, Swim feels better than he has in years. Swim is no longer feeling depression, lack of self-confidence, loss of focus, sluggish. Swim feels swim will finally be able to focus on the things that he has every intention to better himself. Like school and keeping a job and not quitting for a rational reason.

Swim would like to hear your opinions, and would like to know if anyone out there has similar experiences and it made their life take a 180 turn for the better.

[DecoyPencil]

Hello and welcome!

Swim knows exactly where swiy is at. Long ago, swim was completely useless (not saying that swiy is), he slept through all classes in school no matter what, he had no interest in anything. Swim would come home from school and go right to sleep, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again. So one day swim tried Adderall without having been diagnosed with ADHD and it completely changed swim's outlook on life. School, work, family life and relationships with friends all took a dramatic turn for the better almost overnight.

The effect was so dramatic and swim was so convinved that Adderall was the answer, that he went to his doctor and somewhat "manipulated" the outcome of the tests to indicate that he had ADHD. A prescription for Adderall XR, 25 mg followed. It was a dream come true for swim, he spent every minute of every day being productive and it made a huge difference. It was arguably responsible for swim obtaining his job, his girlfriend (the best he's ever had) and several of his friends.

But as they say, what goes up, must come down. Swim continued to use his pills as prescribed for several years. Until one day when swim decided to use an extra one because he had to stay up late working. Bad idea. One led to another and before swim knew it, in a period of a year swim had gone from using as prescribed to using an entire 30 day supply in 4 days and having to go without. It would take several pills to get even an ounce of the motivation it once gave him and even then, it wasn't the same. Swim lost most of the things that Adderall had given him. Adderall giveth and Adderall taketh away lol. Swim was forced to quit cold turkey, which sucked.

Swim is much better off now. He still occasionally indulges, but not regularly as to avoid falling into the same trap. Swim is definitely NOT trying to say that Adderall cannot be used responsibly. But swim would definitely caution swiy to not let Adderall become swiy's primary source of motivation. The edge that it gives swiy will definitely decline with continued use. However, if swiy is careful and uses wisely and sparingly, swim thinks it has the potential to be a useful tool!

Reputation Comments on this post:

prime example of the pros/cons of adderall

[ryanc]

SWIM is fine on his own with motivation and focus and all that. SWIM definitely does not have ADD, but SWIM has taken it for study purposes. Adderall definitely makes everything better, you're much more productive, focused, confident, etc. SWIM would take it everyday if he could, but that's not a path SWIM wants to go down. . .

As DecoyPencil said, one can be able to take adderall everyday responsibly, but there's a high chance that won't happen, and SWIY may up the dose "just for today," and end up with increased tolerance leading to more adderall consumption

So all in all, SWIM thinks adderall is great in your case as long as you use it responsibly.

[Jackherer]

swim believes that if he used sparingly and not use it as a crutch, it'd be a great tool. swim's seen too many people fall off to not let it get hold of him. swim take's heed of swiy's experiences. if swim used a lower dosage, 10mg instead of 20 and used when swim had class or for manual labor. that way swim doesn't get the addiction as long as discipline is there. With that swim says, swim doesn't want to gain impotence. swim needs his tool. ha

[Venusia]

Swiv can relate to everything swiy described in the first paragraph and how Adderall has affected swiy. Swiv too had many jobs she quit for BS reasons and couldn't focus on school for the life of her unless the subject really held her interest, no matter how important the course. Adderall did all for her that swiy described.

Swiv would agree with the PP's statement of use responsibly, and swiy shouldn't have a problem. Swiv would also suggest maybe looking into a state funded psych program to be prescribed the meds and be monitored by a clinician or a doctor. Is this a possiblity for swiy?

[Jackherer]

Swim's in the process of attempting to get health insurance. If swim gets health insurance, swim would be a lot better off.