What About Adderall

[zubr]

I don't smoke pot, and I don't take adderall often, but I'm glad I've at least tried both. Neither are going to kill me, and having experienced them I feel like I understand the world a little better. I wouldn't mind if my physician had tried drugs. In fact I wouldn't trust him if he hadn't.

My respect to smart brave people. The knowledge is power! It is takes a character to try, to experience, understand the nature and stay away.

It is smart too to refuse trying and stay away from things that you are too weak to overcome.

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[gimmeabreak]

HAH this forum is hilarious. Seriousely everyone is super moral or acts cooler because they do drugs. I'm sorry but I gotta join!! No i never did aderrol, but not because it's "wrong"...pretty much because I'm sure I'll do worse on a test because I'd hit a crash during the test with my luck. Also, us pre-meds are all kinda the same, we take our grades seriousely. I was that kid who's parents never gave any **** for a getting a B, cuz i'd kick my own ass. FINALLY in college I stopped caring as much, and I think if I got into aderrol before medschool, i'd be sooo reliant on it these next 4 years. I don't really care that others do it, but I definetly set a goal to stay away from aderrol so that I can prove I can make it through med school without it.
And no I'm not more moral than any average person, I partied in college, had wild spring breaks, drank like nuts, and recently quit smokin pot (fearin any med schools testing) - yeah it's all in good fun when ya don't let it take over your life, and I worked hard and earned my place in med school just like y'all. I personally would rather take a drug for fun than take a drug for studying...kinda ruins the point of drugs if you ask me, hahah. I don't neccessarily think people who do/tried drugs are cooler than "goody goodies", cuz 1)its a personal choice and 2) i know a lot of nobodies who wasted their lives away on that ****. But also, if you don't do anything immoral, don't go preachin to other SDNers that they will make bad doctors - just because you didn't go out and try certain things doesn't make you a stronger, better, or smarter person.

 

[Law2Doc]

just because you didn't go out and try certain things doesn't make you a stronger, better, or smarter person.

Actually those who don't do illegal things that could jeopardize their careers, like try prescription drugs without a prescription, are probably smarter people by definition -- it's a whole risk benefit analysis and here the risk is phenomenal, while the benefit is pretty nominal for most.

 

[Wackie]

taking speed for studying isn't real or cool. it's gunnerish. that's like baseball players taking steroids to keep up w/ the competition.

I agree.


If good grades and med school are important enough for you, you'll buckle down and get things done.
You would not believe how much better you are academically with a well nourished, rested, and fit body.


I guess I'm considered part of the bookworm, never experienced life, crowd since I've never done drugs. However (and fortunately), many of you haven't had your lives turned upside down by a close loved one addicted to them. Trying drugs isn't "real". Never touching any of that crap was a personal decision I made when my mother OD'ed on controlled substances (ones she used to put her patients under for surgery), ending her life. Being a child and having to pull my mother's weight in my family including taking care of an autistic and diabetic little brother by myself...that's when things get "real".

 

[lilmissfickle]

I agree.

If good grades and med school are important enough for you, you'll buckle down and get things done.

You know, I used to get this crap all the time (and still do) and it makes me so mad. Ever since I can remember, I had huge issues with concentration, following directions, losing things, keeping track of time, and sitting still through class or a movie in the cinema. But because I was gifted and managed to pull A's, all my teachers used to tell my parents that I was spoiled, undisciplined and arrogant (sometimes right in front of me!) and that's why I lacked self-control. In high school, my symptoms got so bad that I started attending barely 50% of my classes, and would get up to leave several times in the middle of the ones I *did* attend.

I started using ritalin illegally, and told my psychiatrist, who wrote me a prescription for it. She told me I'd essentially been self-medicating, and there was no reason for me to feel guilty/kill myself to sit still or panic and stay up for days on end because it was hard for me to concentrate -- why should I limit my potential if there was a relatively safe drug out there that could help me so easily? Since then, I have been formally diagnosed with ADHD by a different psychologist, who was extremely pissed off that I was never helped/diagnosed by the many many many school officials who had complained about my behaviour since kindergarten.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been overlooked like this. Self-medicating is extremely common...if you see that you're truly benefiting from the use of adderall, there's no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to go on it. The way my psych explained it to me, ADHD does not 'need' to be treated...it doesn't make you psychotic or suicidal or unable to leave the house. But there's also no reason why you should have to 'tough it out' without meds...it doesn't make you a better or a stronger person. It just makes you stubborn, like those girls who refuse to pop two advil when they get their period and prefer to take the day off school and curl up in the fetal position for 8+ hours. What's the goddamn point?

I'm just so sick to death of being treated like a drug addict or being accused of manipulating my doctors into writing me prescriptions. I don't think taking stimulants would compromise my ability to be a good doctor, and frankly, as long as the drugs I'm taking aren't affecting my judgment, then I don't see why it's anybody's business whether or not I'm taking them.

 

[stiffany]

But there's also no reason why you should have to 'tough it out' without meds...it doesn't make you a better or a stronger person. It just makes you stubborn, like those girls who refuse to pop two advil when they get their period and prefer to take the day off school and curl up in the fetal position for 8+ hours. What's the goddamn point?

I'm just so sick to death of being treated like a drug addict or being accused of manipulating my doctors into writing me prescriptions. I don't think taking stimulants would compromise my ability to be a good doctor, and frankly, as long as the drugs I'm taking aren't affecting my judgment, then I don't see why it's anybody's business whether or not I'm taking them.

There is a distinct difference between taking drugs to treat ADHD because you need to in order to get on with your daily life versus taking the drug to be able to concentrate for 18 hours a day in order to prepare for an exam (The latter of which being what the OP is proposing). In the first case, it can be seen as medicating a problem. In the second, it's a case of using the drug to enhance yourself when you do not have an illness/disease driven reason to do so. I see the second usage pattern as no different than taking pain meds because they'll make you feel good (not because you're in pain), taking laxatives because you'd prefer to be a size X over a size Y, etcetera. Unfortunately though, with something like ADHD, there will always be gray areas since, at least to my knowledge, it's not a disease where a simple blood test can confirm you have it (such as diabetes, HIV, TB, etcetera).

 

[lilmissfickle]

There is a distinct difference between taking drugs to treat ADHD because you need to in order to get on with your daily life versus taking the drug to be able to concentrate for 18 hours a day in order to prepare for an exam (The latter of which being what the OP is proposing). In the first case, it can be seen as medicating a problem. In the second, it's a case of using the drug to enhance yourself when you do not have an illness/disease driven reason to do so.

But the thing is, ADHD is not an illness in that sense. I don't need drugs to get on with my daily life. In fact, if I wasn't so dead set on getting straight A's and getting into med school, I doubt I'd be taking ritalin at all.....I'd be a writer, which would lend itself to a different lifestyle and a whole other category of drugs.

And how, exactly, is this different from taking drugs to enhance your performance? Everybody has weak areas, mine being focusing and paying attention to details, which as a weakness is fairly detrimental to my chosen goal of academic medicine. It just so happens that my weakness has a formal name that makes it acceptable and easy for me to get performance enhancing drugs legally.

 

[DrMT]

Guess I'll chime in here

I've taken Adderall before for a test, usually cumulative tests where I already know the information but need some refreshing, and it helps. Heck, I've smoke marijuana the night before some major tests/finals to relax (ace'd the tests/finals i might add) The point I'm making is that these drugs are fine in my book as long as the person knows his or her limits. Some can, some can't, and others are in denial when it comes to drug use.

lighten up guys

 

[Wackie]

I'm just so sick to death of being treated like a drug addict or being accused of manipulating my doctors into writing me prescriptions. I don't think taking stimulants would compromise my ability to be a good doctor, and frankly, as long as the drugs I'm taking aren't affecting my judgment, then I don't see why it's anybody's business whether or not I'm taking them.

ADHD is different than having an acute attack of the "I don't wanna's".
If you have things you want to accomplish and something such as ADHD prevents you from accomplishing it, in that way, ADHD affects your daily life. It's a true disorder that can block you from doing the things you want to do in life. It most defiantly should be treated. It sucks that people who really do have the disorder are poorly judged because of others who have a lack of will power. I'm sorry that you have experienced that.

For a perfectly capable person who stayed up too late, procrastinated with their studies, with an acute lack of motivation, drugs are not the answer.
Chemically induced will power is a serious problem in this country. "I want to concentrate so I'll just pop this pill". "I want to lose weight, so I'll pop this pill and won't have an appetite."
Be strong and do what needs to be done without a pill. As I said before, it's amazing what a well nourished, well rested, and fit body can do for you academically. Try taking care of yourself before resorting to drugs.

 

[OwnageMobile]

Yo OP,

I am not naive to Adderall (Rx'ed, so save those precious seconds of flame left in your throwers). I helps me stay focused, but gives me hella halitosis and I found that I crash pretty hard if I take more than 25mg. The crash involves slight head aches, major irritability, and some depression. I don't think it makes me any bit smarter, I just become much more time efficient in what I'm doing. I reserve it for times of need.

For you who grimace and call me a "gunner" or liken me to a doping athlete, I admit to seeing the unfairness in it. Let me not be the first or last to remind you that life is not fair.

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. - Machiavelli

 

[nubbey24]

I honestly can't believe how much people are demonizing coffee on here. Coffee is next to beer with regards to it's holiness in my book.

 

[OwnageMobile]

I honestly can't believe how much people are demonizing coffee on here. Coffee is next to beer with regards to it's holiness in my book.

Hell yeah, coffee's great. But it's a stimulant that helps many get better grades. So as a natural defense, those who drink coffee yet call those who take adderall "cheaters," are to a measure, being hypocritical.

 

[univscience]

study high, take the test high, get high grades.

 

[Hopeful_Doc]

who needs adderall? I use Focus Factor.



available at any drug store retailer anywhere.


(yes focus factor is real, its a bunch of ancedotal herbs that are supposed to make you a genius and they tote it as better than adderall, never tried it, but i found it funny to say)

i know alot of people who use adderall and i dont see what all the hubbub is about....its an amphetamine.... i find classical music and a nice cup of tropical tea to help me study...

 

[AmoryBlaine]

This is not going to make me very popular with some people but here goes...

Medicine is essentially a meritocracy, and it should be. You have to be smart and self-disciplined to get there. If you need Adderal to study, you don't know how to study. If you have ADHD or whatever, serious, diagnosed ADHD then maybe it's ok. But if you are that handicapped mentally than you probably shouldn't be in med school. Why? Because medicine is not a namby-pamby field where everyone who wants to should be able to get in because THEY have decided that life owes them and MD. Just because you get choked up at the end of Gray's Anatomy and feel like you are "really meant to help people" doesn't mean that you are then entitled to a spot in med school.

Lookit, if you have made it to organic chemistry, don't try to tell me that you have ADHD. ADHD are the kids who can't focus on learning how to add single digit numbers together. ADHD is when Little Timmy is getting Ds in 2nd grade because he can't stop staring out the window.

It is pretty ridiculous to say that "oh, I never knew I had ADHD until I got into my selective college and enrolled in a class that 80% of people wouldn't even be able to pass." Come on, someone has to back me up here. Sometimes we fail at things because we are just not good enough.

And all this nonsense of comparing Adderal to caffeine is pretty laughable. Adderal is a schedule II drug, which means it is kept under lock-and-key in pharmacies. I defy anyone to show me a study that demonstrates that a double latte from Starbucks has the same effect on the ability to focus on a task.

And I'm spent.

 

[super_doc]

Hi! Ya i regularly use Adderall in a cycle, as you would do with creatine or exercising supplements. My cycle starts just a bit before midterm time and then again when finals come around. I owe my GPA to Adderall, I don't know how I could have aced all those classes without it. On a side note, I dont think I will be taking it in med school, cause I really want to learn taht stuff not just memorize and regurgitate for a college exam.

Bottom Line: Adderall can do wonders when used in a cycle.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi! Ya i regularly use Adderall in a cycle, as you would do with creatine or exercising supplements. My cycle starts just a bit before midterm time and then again when finals come around. I owe my GPA to Adderall, I don't know how I could have aced all those classes without it. On a side note, I dont think I will be taking it in med school, cause I really want to learn taht stuff not just memorize and regurgitate for a college exam.

Bottom Line: Adderall can do wonders when used in a cycle.

Creatine is not a prescription medication; with prescription meds you should only take them in the manner prescribed, not toy around with cycles etc.
If you owe your GPA to adderall, then you are going to do poorly in med school off it, because the info is more voluminous and comes at you at a much faster pace. You may find you have a more uphill battle figuring out how to master the material without your crutch. Better to learn how to learn off of it in the first place.





Moderator note: Thread involves medical advice, so closing.