Rampage Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 I have been taking adderall for a year and a half. My doctor has me on a 10 mg in the morning with two 20 mg Xr as needed throughout the rest of the day. My father suffers from depression/bi-polar, I am not sure exactly since he refuses to get help. But I think I have a portion of whatever it is he has. I was born with some unique vision issues that prevented me from being able to learn how to read and write. It was a blessing from heaven that when I was 8 years old we moved to Florida and just happen to live within an hour of one of the 3 doctors nation wide that could help children like me at the time. If it had not been for that doctor I would have been labelled as special ed. (Side note: if you have children that are struggling with focus and school, look up vision therapy before resorting to medication, PLEASE!) As a result of my eyes issues, school work or anything that required me to focus was exhausting for me. I would get horrible head aches and stomach aches, I fell asleep a lot, and absolutely hated reading. I was never taken to a doctor for focus issues because my Dad does not believe in medication or psychiatric help and once my eyes were fixed, the major symptoms were resolved. I went on to sign a college baseball scholarship and did very well in school, I am actually finishing a masers degree in accounting within the next year. As I got older I noticed behaviors in myself that resembled my fathers depression, only I was able to manage it and not let it affect how I treated others or how productive I was. Once I was married, in school, and working, all symptoms became worse and the focus/fatigue issue associated with school like task became a real issue. I could not handle life, I was mentally and emotional broken and overwhelmed. That is when I got on adderall. Honestly, it has saved my life, I don't know how I would do it without it. But here are a few thing I do to keep myself from developing a tolerance and from abusing the drug. 1. DO NOT take adderall 7 days a week. I find that when my schedule calms down, I am able to go without (thats usually only on vacations when I am not required to focus mentally for extended periods.) I usually do not take it on the weekends to left my mind reboot. If I have been taking my full daily dosage, I might to one 20 mg Xr on Saturday then nothing on Sunday 2. Use substitutes for adderall to lessen the negative feeling associated with days you do not take it. As a former college athlete, fitness and lifting are a daily part of my life. I take pre-work out supplements that contain a good amount of caffeine and also include additional stimulates that are legal. When I take a day off of adderall or if I feel like I should stop for a period, I will start taking pre-work supplements prior to my early morning work out and then I will sip on a lemonade Rockstar (these energy drinks are not carbonated and contain very little "extra's" that enhance the affects of caffeine on the body like most other energy drinks, it like the "natural" energy drink out there) through out the day. You do not want to over due you caffeine in take, so gauge how much is needed on a case by case basis. Some days I need less than others and some days I need none. There are a few reasons I substitute. First, caffeine and other stimulant in pre-works outs affect the same portion of the brain as adderall. Since I consume zero caffeine when I am taking adderall, I am very sensitive to caffeine when it comes time to use it. I swear it tricks my mind into thinking nothing has change and after a day or two, I feel like I never have taken adderall before, there are pretty much zero withdrawals or mental side affects for me. I can then easily reduce or eliminate my caffeine in take. 3. If you are going to take adderall, diet and hydration are essential. You need to eat a well balanced meal first thing in the morning and consuming a gallon of water each day is a must. Your brain does not function at it highest potential when it is deprived of nutrients. When adderall becomes the substitute for a health diet, you need to stop taking it. In addition to this, I try not to take adderall later in the day if at all possible to ensure a good nights rest. Sleep is an incredible part of health. Our bodies rebuild and grow during sleep, hormone release each day occur's at its maximum levels during sleep only if we are sleep for the proper amount of time and maintaining a good diet. Your days memories are organized and filed away and long term memories are stored. One of the first things your body stops producing at normal levels when you eat horrible or do not eat enough and sleep for short amounts of time is the production of essential hormones. (Hence the increase in over weight men being given "testosterone therapy" as early as 30 years old). Abnormal hormone levels has proven to have an affect on your mental state as seen in women after they give birth, when men and women get older and go through menopause and men go through andropause, and more famously, "roid rage" or extreme mood swing in individuals who abuse steroids.To make my point, if adderall has any chance of being a productive drug in your life, you need to make sure your body is producing hormones and happy hormones (dopamine etc) at its optimal levels first by sleeping and eating healthily. I have seen depression and bi-polar like symptoms disappear as friends have start a exercise routine, have become very strict on their diet, and sleep atleast 7-9 hours a night. Lets face it, we all would feel better, look better, and be more alert through the day if we actually took care of our bodies. I would not take adderall until your lifestyle is fixed. Adderall should not be used as drug to help us simply "function" day to day. I believe that if we all were maintaining a health diet, exercising atleast 5 days a week, and sleeping 8 + hours a night, we would quickly see a reduction in the number of individuals who "need" the drug at all. 4****MOST IMPORTANT!!!***** Don't get too excited, I do not have a quick fix to the daily issues we all suffer that result in each of us feeling as though drugs are the solution. Like anything else, moderation is key and this requires us to exercise the most valuable tool we have. Our individual ability to make choices, to make hard choices that result in positive change. When I was depressed one day driving home, I had a thought that change my attitude and outlook. HOW I FEEL A LOT OF THE TIME IS NOT A CLEAR, ACCURATE, OR REALISTIC VIEW OF WHAT REALITY IS. When you learn to step outside of yourself and take a look at yourself, recognizing the negative thoughts, feelings, and anxieties, we can then make the choice to ACT in a positive light that is in contradiction to how we feel. Just because we feel a certain way, why do we have to act that way? This is by far the hardest skill to learn and to be consistent at. But imagine how shocked your brain would be if you woke up feeling depressed and you just wanted to sleep all day while smoldering in a pool of negative thought patterns and then you said to yourself, "My life is not that bad, I am choosing to get up and to be productive." at which point you choose to force your physical body to act in the exact opposite way your minds feels and thinks. Once you have regained control over your physical body you can then begin to replace the paralyzing mental and emotion state of mind by coming up with a few sentences that are extremely positive and give your mind a depiction of the perfect person you want to be, and repeat those sentences over and over until you mind believes you. Our thoughts become reality, our image of ourselves determines everything. To summarize, once you obtain the skill have recognizing the symptoms that you hate so much and then CHOOSING to force your body to act positively and in direct contradiction to the negative symptom being experiences, you will realize that your feelings, emotions, and negative thought patterns do not need to rule body. Master your, take control, do hard things, and change has to be the outcome. In my life adderall helped me accomplish this extremely difficult task. I remember very soon after getting on adderall I was in a situation that usually would have produce very negative behaviors and feelings and possibly a period of depression, but because I was on adderall I did not feel those negative emotions. My thought in that moment was, "You mean this situation is not a big deal? I don't need to feel the depression and negative emotions I usually feel in this situation and everything will be ok?" It was an eye opener for me and since then when I am not taking adderalll, I am able to recognize similar situations and even feel the depressing and negative emotions and thoughts coming on and stop myself and say."Pause and look at yourself, you do not need to feel this way or think this way, you choose the path your life takes". And then I make the difficult choice of acting in contradiction to how my body feels and my mind thinks and eventually the body and mind change completely. Note, this truly is the hardest step to master, it was something I came to understand even more when overcoming an addiction to chewing tobacco and alcohol. William Ernest Henley wrote a poem that I absolutely love: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley6 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 This is a site for people whose goal is to quit and stay quit from adderall, so advice on how to take it responsibly isn't useful here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage Posted June 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 My hope was that individuals would incorporate some of the suggestions I posted that have made it possible for me to take adderal less and less and when I do take it it's for a reason and not abused. But thanks for being negative, hopefully you get something positive out of this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krax Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 My hope was that individuals would incorporate some of the suggestions I posted that have made it possible for me to take adderal less and less and when I do take it it's for a reason and not abused. But thanks for being negative, hopefully you get something positive out of this site. Rampage when you say you've been taking adderall "less and less," can you be more specific? When did you start reducing your dosage, and how so, that is, from what to what dosage, ect. I'm curious too because you say you've taken it for 18 months, did you abuse it at some point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassie Posted June 7, 2013 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 My hope was that individuals would incorporate some of the suggestions I posted that have made it possible for me to take adderal less and less and when I do take it it's for a reason and not abused. But thanks for being negative, hopefully you get something positive out of this site. What Ashley means is that it's kind of like going to an AA meeting and sharing your tips for drinking responsibly (to a group of alcoholics). Do you see the problem there? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashley6 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 What Ashley means is that it's kind of like going to an AA meeting and sharing your tips for drinking responsibly (to a group of alcoholics). Do you see the problem there? Yes, what Cassie said. I don't think you had bad intentions, and I think what you're incorporating for yourself isn't necessarily bad, especially if it works for you. I only meant that as stimulant addicts, it's easy to try to find ways to try to side step that I myself, and many others on here would probably agree, I think, that we were no longer able to control our usage. Adderall began to control us, we didn't control adderall. I wasn't intending to be negative. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeHereNow Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Its great that you are able to have so much control over your adderall use, and I'm sure your tips could be very helpful in another context. Just to add to Ashley's point about loss of control: A lot of people log onto this forum for help when we are on the verge of relapse (which for most of us would lead to complete loss of control.) A common pattern is that we start telling ourselves we could just take it as prescribed, take low doses in moderation, etc. It's a lie we tell ourselves. I'm worried that this post might be a trigger for some people on here. I hope it's not, and it's not for me today, but on any other day maybe it could be. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motivation_Follows_Action Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 Hey Rampage, Why are you taking time to write a lengthy post on a site called "Quitting Adderall"? I'm assuming you took at least a little bit of time to find this site (it usually comes up when you google, "quitting adderall" or "adderall addiction" or something along those lines)... and then you would have had to fish around a little bit on the site to find the forum, find out what kind of people are on this forum, and what kind of content is encouraged and discussed on this forum; and then create a username and type your very lengthy post... about how not to become addicted to adderall in the first place. I can't imagine someone who doesn't have an addiction issue taking so much time to write about how to avoid the very thing they say they haven't ever experienced... [insert head scratch].... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quit-once Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 My hope was that individuals would incorporate some of the suggestions I posted that have made it possible for me to take adderal less and less and when I do take it it's for a reason and not abused. But thanks for being negative, hopefully you get something positive out of this site. Based on the topic title, its length, and my (lack of) interest in using adderall responsibly, I did not read a single word of your post. In fact the only reason I even clicked on it was to see why so many responses were received so quickly. Rampage, you should not be surprised at the "negative" comments posted in response to a post on how to use adderall at any level. You see, we have all quit or are in the process of quitting adderall. Quitting means not using it, ever again. That is why we come here to quitting adderall dot com - for support and advice on how to quit and stay quit. And to post our feelings, emotions ,struggles and relapse experiences with each other for mutual support. Quitting any addiction is a very black and white issue for the addict or alcoholic: you are either using or you have quit. Using just a little here and there is simply not an option for those of us who have suffered the disease of addiction(s). However, I do understand your reasoning for writing your post, and if it is properly topic-titled, there may be some people who it could help, but I will never know because I just don't want to read it. This forum is the basis of free speech. As long as a post is not hateful, hurtful, or spam you can post anything you want here. I am glad you provided the fodder for this great discussion we are having, and it gives us a reason to post our resolve to stay quit from that evil fucking pill called adderall. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motivation_Follows_Action Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 One point to add here: I think all of us who post regularly on this site are here because we psychologically did not have the experience of taking adderall responsibly in the first place. Some people will never become addicted to adderall, just like some people can smoke socially or have a drink without becoming an alcoholic. People on this site are not those people. We are people who could not take the drug "responsibly" and it ruled (and ruined) our lives. If you are not like us, then you kind of have no place here. Congratulations on never having an issue with addiction to adderall. My post before questioned that maybe you are in denial but actually, I don't really care. I just hope you have had your say and good luck with moving along. Like QO says, we encourage free speech (unless you're here to advertise, which we learned the hard way); but we ask that you are sensitive to your motives for coming here and also recognize that people here are NOT like you. We struggle with this almost every day, and we come here to be encouraged to stay away, not to find information from others about how to not stay away. I hope that makes sense. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 MFA - I know I'm a little late to the discussion but personally I had taken adderall just as it was prescribed to me and I had become by all accounts addicted to it. I hardly ever abused it (though extremely rarely I did). It doesn't seem right to say that people who took it as prescribed (responsibly) could not have had the same experience as someone who took it irresponsibly. I feel that adderall was an extremely negative thing in my life that isolated me and gave me delusions. I was addicted to it just as anyone else on this forum was. It is still constantly in my mind. I understand why you might say that he has no place here telling people how to take it responsibly but I like to think that I did take it exactly as it was supposed to be taken and still had the same experience. Idk hopefully you see where I am coming from. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LILTEX41 Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Rick, I don't think MFA was trying to discourage anyone who took it responsibly from posting on this site. You bring up such a great point - that you can take it responsibly and still be addicted! It can still destroy someone's life whether or not they are abusing it. That's what the doctors don't seem to understand. Anyhow, I think she was just trying to take an assertive position that talk of "moderate Adderall use" is not what this site was intended for and posting a message like that is harmful to most of the people on this site. Rick, you know you are more than welcome here! We just want to help one another recover and move forward without Adderall...addict or not....to recover from this drug is very hard. We are here to support anyone who has that objective in mind. And for those that just come contemplating the possibility of someday quitting...well, we are here to help give those hope. But messages that state, "hey guys, guess what?! You CAN use Adderall after all! Just in lower doses and you'll be fine!" Well, those messages are just simply not helpful and could alter someone's entire life. So all we ask is show those of us trying to get clean a lil' respect. LOVE LIL TEX 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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