Stimulants for studying.

[Susanoo]

First off, just to note, I am referring to prescription medications like adderall/ritalin or OTC things like coffee or caffeine pills.

Secondly, I am prescribed to the medications that I am going to talk about. I am diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and have been since I was like 12 or 13.

Third, I have never been addicted or dependent on any substance before in my life. I don't smoke, I rarely drink (less than 10 times a year), and there's no medication that I'm prescribed to which I have not or could not stop taking cold turkey without any major side effects. Most of my medications I've stopped taking cold turkey just to see if I could.


So first off, I have recently been taking adderall XR to study. I have a few concerns with this though... I am MUCH more productive while I take it, and not very productive without it. I really don't want to be dependent on anything. Is there any way to become independent of this? I know I have ADD/ADHD, but come on, is that even a real thing? Or is it just a byproduct of our technology/information era and being overstimulated and having bad mental habits since childhood. Your body also develops a tolerance to these types of medications, I would rather not go down the road of requiring higher and higher doses each day just to achieve the same effect. I want to be able to get 4.0's in difficult heavy-science semesters without a single stimulant or all-nighter, not even a cup of coffee.

How many of you take stimulants to study? If so, which and why? If not, how do you get by without it, and how well do you do? I have a friend who is the same age as me who just started residency, the most he does is caffeine gum or pills, no stimulants.

Is requiring stimulants to study any indication that academia or medicine isn't for me? I know it is common for students to take these things, and I have heard a lot of medical students take drugs like adderall. But, if you NEED a medication to even do something, doesn't that suggest that you're not predispositioned towards whatever that something is? For example, I don't take pre-workout or listen to music in the gym, and I enjoy it and am very productive there, I don't need additional motivation while there, so I would consider myself naturally inclined towards athletics.

Even with stimulants, I am not scoring straight A's on my exams. This legitimately worries me. This isn't a question, just a statement. I have friends who take nothing and have 4.0's, yet with stimulants, I don't even score as high as them. .............

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[songl4a]

I take a swig of decaffeinated green tea every now and then.

 

[Mad Jack]

I had bad ADD in my teens. I just had to learn how to make my brain focus. I hated what the stimulants did to me, so retraining my brain was my only option. It was tedious, and extremely difficult to do. Studying is a skill, and requires a lot of boring repetition. But your brain can adapt to damn-near anything, and now I've managed to focus my energy (almost) where it needs to be when it needs to be there. I still get distracted, as you can tell by my thousands of SDN posts, but I have enough focus to get by, even in med school.

It's a hard thing to do though, most people literally don't have the willpower and would rather just take stimulants since it's much easier and less painful. There's nothing wrong with that, as the process of learning to live with your ADD can be awful at first, and might hurt your grades initially (I had to drop a couple classes early on in college).

 

[baxt1412]

just err on the side of caution here, folks. no medical advice.

he does is caffeine gum or pills, no stimulants.
yet with stimulants, I don't even score as high as them. .............

1) caffeine is a stimulant
2) just because you don't score as high as others doesn't mean anything. that doesn't mean medicine isn't for you.

 

[Low Flow]

First off, just to note, I am referring to prescription medications like adderall/ritalin or OTC things like coffee or caffeine pills.

Secondly, I am prescribed to the medications that I am going to talk about. I am diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and have been since I was like 12 or 13.

Third, I have never been addicted or dependent on any substance before in my life. I don't smoke, I rarely drink (less than 10 times a year), and there's no medication that I'm prescribed to which I have not or could not stop taking cold turkey without any major side effects. Most of my medications I've stopped taking cold turkey just to see if I could.


So first off, I have recently been taking adderall XR to study. I have a few concerns with this though... I am MUCH more productive while I take it, and not very productive without it. I really don't want to be dependent on anything. Is there any way to become independent of this? I know I have ADD/ADHD, but come on, is that even a real thing? Or is it just a byproduct of our technology/information era and being overstimulated and having bad mental habits since childhood. Your body also develops a tolerance to these types of medications, I would rather not go down the road of requiring higher and higher doses each day just to achieve the same effect. I want to be able to get 4.0's in difficult heavy-science semesters without a single stimulant or all-nighter, not even a cup of coffee.

How many of you take stimulants to study? If so, which and why? If not, how do you get by without it, and how well do you do? I have a friend who is the same age as me who just started residency, the most he does is caffeine gum or pills, no stimulants.

Is requiring stimulants to study any indication that academia or medicine isn't for me? I know it is common for students to take these things, and I have heard a lot of medical students take drugs like adderall. But, if you NEED a medication to even do something, doesn't that suggest that you're not predispositioned towards whatever that something is? For example, I don't take pre-workout or listen to music in the gym, and I enjoy it and am very productive there, I don't need additional motivation while there, so I would consider myself naturally inclined towards athletics.

Even with stimulants, I am not scoring straight A's on my exams. This legitimately worries me. This isn't a question, just a statement. I have friends who take nothing and have 4.0's, yet with stimulants, I don't even score as high as them. .............

First off, I understand your worries. Second, I drink copious amounts of coffee (as does every doctor, I assume) in an attempt to stay alert enough to study Biochem at night. Third, try to not compare yourself with others so much. I know I'm guilty of it sometimes, but it will only make you feel inferior and worthless. There are always people out there who are smarter than you--and they can do it without stimulants. You don't need a 4.0 in all your classes. Just good enough grades to show that you can handle the material.

 

[crossfit4lyfe]

Try Sam e - or at least research on it

My fiance and his dad take it, it's a natural supplement (like melatonin) of an amino acid precursor that is for people with ADD / ADHD
It is a great non-drug way to help, it has made such a difference for my fiance.

 

[Boolean]

If you keep taking the stimulants to score higher and do better, what happens when you don't take them and need to perform on that level? It's a slippery slope, OP.

 

[Lawgiver]

post like this make me so happy i dont need stimulants to function. im such a stimulant virgin a 12oz coke makes my heart race for hours. 🙂

 

[Doug Underhill]

If the topic creator has ADHD and is taking their prescribed medication for this condition, is there really any issue? Don't people with ADHD often have deficits with productivity, and the medication (often Adderall or Vyvanse) is intended to rectify this? In this case, it sounds like he or she is following the doctor's orders and that the prescribed therapy is efficacious.

As long as you're following the doctor's advice in good faith and taking the medication as it's intended, you're not doing anything unethical. ADHD is absolutely a real condition, and there is plenty of peer-reviewed scientific evidence backing this up. It's true that long-term administration of amphetamines can be addictive, but untreated ADHD can also lead to substance abuse disorders, as well as other conditions.

 

[Make Or Break]

post like this make me so happy i dont need stimulants to function. im such a stimulant virgin a 12oz coke makes my heart race for hours. 🙂

A better term would be fortunate.

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

You will get addicted if you keep taking them, but I don't necessarily think that's a dirty word, we're all dependent on things.

Also, stimulants don't make you more intelligent. You're not going to outperform people who are naturally more intelligent than you just cause you popped some pills.

 

[Boolean]

If the topic creator has ADHD and is taking their prescribed medication for this condition, is there really any issue? Don't people with ADHD often have deficits with productivity, and the medication (often Adderall or Vyvanse) is intended to rectify this? In this case, it sounds like he or she is following the doctor's orders and that the prescribed therapy is efficacious.

As long as you're following the doctor's advice in good faith and taking the medication as it's intended, you're not doing anything unethical. ADHD is absolutely a real condition, and there is plenty of peer-reviewed scientific evidence backing this up. It's true that long-term administration of amphetamines can be addictive, but untreated ADHD can also lead to substance abuse disorders, as well as other conditions.

So first off, I have recently been taking adderall XR to study.

Even with stimulants, I am not scoring straight A's on my exams. This legitimately worries me. This isn't a question, just a statement. I have friends who take nothing and have 4.0's, yet with stimulants, I don't even score as high as them. .............

 

[Susanoo]

I had bad ADD in my teens. I just had to learn how to make my brain focus. I hated what the stimulants did to me, so retraining my brain was my only option. It was tedious, and extremely difficult to do. Studying is a skill, and requires a lot of boring repetition. But your brain can adapt to damn-near anything, and now I've managed to focus my energy (almost) where it needs to be when it needs to be there. I still get distracted, as you can tell by my thousands of SDN posts, but I have enough focus to get by, even in med school.

It's a hard thing to do though, most people literally don't have the willpower and would rather just take stimulants since it's much easier and less painful. There's nothing wrong with that, as the process of learning to live with your ADD can be awful at first, and might hurt your grades initially (I had to drop a couple classes early on in college).

Thanks for the info. I just needed to hear that it was possible.

If the topic creator has ADHD and is taking their prescribed medication for this condition, is there really any issue? Don't people with ADHD often have deficits with productivity, and the medication (often Adderall or Vyvanse) is intended to rectify this? In this case, it sounds like he or she is following the doctor's orders and that the prescribed therapy is efficacious.

As long as you're following the doctor's advice in good faith and taking the medication as it's intended, you're not doing anything unethical. ADHD is absolutely a real condition, and there is plenty of peer-reviewed scientific evidence backing this up. It's true that long-term administration of amphetamines can be addictive, but untreated ADHD can also lead to substance abuse disorders, as well as other conditions.

Agreed. I'm not asking about the ethics of doing so. I am prescribed, I have been prescribed for over a decade, I am medically diagnosed by multiple professionals for my ADD/ADHD, and I do take the medication as it is intended under the doctor's orders. My main reason for starting this thread is that it really bothers me that I would need any medication to do something, and I wanted to see if it was possible to become just as productive without the medication, as I am with it. At the same time, I have done well without it before, it was just much harder. The first 4.0 semester of my entire life (summer 2013) I think I didn't take a single stimulant for the duration of that semester. I am not 100% certain on this though, I need to go back and check my old script dates and see.

You will get addicted if you keep taking them, but I don't necessarily think that's a dirty word, we're all dependent on things.

Also, stimulants don't make you more intelligent. You're not going to outperform people who are naturally more intelligent than you just cause you popped some pills.

True. It just makes me more productive and focused, but my cognitive abilities stay the same.

quote

I'm not sure what the point of this quotation was... I say "recently" because I've taken other ADD medications in the past, and have only started to take adderall XR in the past few years. Also, I've only RECENTLY started to take it consistently (daily). In the past, I didn't care about school performance, and would simply not study or fail an exam, before I would resort to taking it and studying. Also, I used to take it sporadically too. My psychiatrist knew this though, as I only saw him 2 to 4 times a year, and I would only get a prescription for 30 adderalls per visit, so 120 would usually be even more than I needed for the year, because of how rarely I took it. But I didn't do too well either.

It makes me much more productive than usual. Also, sometimes I am not productive at all, and those days it makes me productive. Aka, a day where I would normally just do nothing.

 

[Winged Scapula]

SDN is not for the provision of medical advice. Please see your PCP for assistance.