additionbysubtraction

Hi everyone! I wanted to post a follow up since it has been almost a full month since I made that choice to flush the little poison pills. I wanted to reflect a moment now so bear with me...When I first made the decision to have that talk with the doctor, I already knew what Adderall was, how it affected me (friends have given it out before, etc.), and that my general personality would allow me to get it if I just answered the doctor's questions honestly (ex: Do you sometimes find yourself distracte-... - "squirrel!") I went on with the appointment and my expectation was that I would use this as a "treatment window," which of course implies a definite ending period, where I would discontinue the medication after forming new habits or thought processes that helped me get out of the way of - me. Let's face it, we all have a commonality of finding ourselves too distracted to find satisfaction in the jobs we are doing with so much going on at once. And like I know I am, many of us are probably achiever types that strive for a little bit more every day for ourselves and our families. So let's roll back time a bit then...6 months into my medicated self and I already start to notice some annoying quirks. In the morning, I would sometimes have a little bit too high of a resting heart rate, and being a geeky type of guy at times, I went to the app store and purchased a $2 app that measures your resting heart rate. After my 15 mg instant release, it would go from 70 BPM to sometimes 106 bpm and I don't even have stairs in the house! I noticed that combined with the physiological changes of the elevated resting heart rate with the occasional hyper awareness of it, Adderall made me a spontaneously more nervous person. Already I was violating myself because as a very cool, calm individual, I was now pursuing ways to keep the Adderall from harshing my mellow (but I couldn't just stop taking it because "it was my focus) 12 Months in...I'm now taking the little orange devil daily for 12 months now. In fact, the original plan was to "take weekends off." I think I may have done this once during a beach trip weekend. But other than that, my thought was "hey! I have a lot of stuff to do on the weekend so I'll be ok or better just taking it!" I am still bothered occasionally by the heart jitters and now, at age 32, I realize that due to the concerns of Adderall use and just being at the ripe old age of 32, I need to establish myself with a good GP (The Adderall comes from a psychiatrist), get blood work, etc. Most importantly, I wanted to talk to a third party with their extensive knowledge of medical science, the body, and MY blood work results to see if I am on the right track - with the adderall, and my overall health. Fast forward a month from my blood letting appointment with my doctor, and guess who the devil was that we spoke about most of the time? The adderall. My health was actually quite robust and he went on about how I could train to be a high performing athlete with my overall levels of hormone/LDH/etc. etc. Except for someone so healthy, I had an elevated BP and resting HR. He told me it was my choice of what I want to do, because if the Adderall was working, then it was not his place to tell me to quit. In fact his words were "if it does more good on it then keep taking it, but your results tell me that with a continued good diet and exercise (I literally stopped exercising vigorously when I began Adderall - just did floor exercises that kept my HR down) I may be surprised when I find I don't need it. You may have noticed that I just said that I stopped exercising vigorously when I started taking it. The funny thing is that I am a very intense person, and exercise is a very important part of my life. But for some reason, strangely, I realized after that appointment that I DID really just kind of stop exercising. I had absolutely no activities which challenged my cardiovascular endurance. I knew right then and there that I had to go test myself - so I bought a few one day passes to the gym... At this point I am probably taking adderall for a year and a few months, and I go to the gym to start off just shooting some baskets. Then a pick up game starts coming together and I think "hey why not, it's been a while, but I used to play a lot" 10 minutes into the came and my heart felt like it was going to explode. My dosage was 15 mg in the morning and then 15 mg at lunch. It was like 5PM and I was getting this feeling - wtf Fast forward a few months....still using Adderall. It helped some days, and most of the time I wished I never went to that first doctors appointment. Then I guess in a moment of hopeful searching, I was on my computer typing things into the search engine - "adderall sucks" , "quitting adderall," etc., and I found THIS SITE. The stories and things that the members and guests had to say ignited a spark in me, and I went straight for the pills and then straight for the toilet! That was a month ago. Never have I wanted one since then. Today I can't tell you how good I feel. My neurotransmitter function was not destroyed, thank GOD! So it's not too late to quit taking them if you are afraid that you are going to be a dolt forever. Fact is, your body will need a few weeks to repair and, if thinking about quitting, please make sure that you are ready for a little bit of work. Surround yourself with good books, good people, a clean house, etc. when you are on your journey to clean living. Also, this is what I do now to support a clear state of mind and it's WORKING. In fact, I have better focus and energy NOW than I ever did. Read "Clean Gut Diet" and put some of those clean eating priciples into your daily diet Definitely Avoid all white breads and sugar if possible Take Fish Oil (The norwegian cod kind) Work on yourself (Read books like "Happiness" by Mattheiu Richard or anything by James Allen to create and build on your spiritual center) Exercise at least enough to sweat for 15 minutes a day Like I said, today I feel great. Absolutely great! I joined the YMCA and I work out every day, and love it! No heart palpitations and I really push myself to the cardio limit but never feel the lightheadedness and flutters. That's all behind me now. Also, the most noticeable thing? You will laugh. And Laugh and LAUGH some more! I haven't belly laughed so much since the month before I started taking it. A month now after quitting, I laugh hard again. My wife notices the difference, I can see it in her eyes. I'm whole again now, I'm me again now. If you are still reading this and were considering taking it...well, that's your choice. But if you are a high achiever type that is or is thinking about taking Adderall because you need assistance on your quest to get "all of this stuff done" save your time and avoid this pill. -Sean

Ok it's me, the poster of this thread! I'm ready to comment more. 4 days have gone by and 1.5 years of daily adderall use behind me. I feel great! Thanks to this board, I found the purpose and urgency to make this decision. Results so far: Better sleep Better workouts (no arrhythmia) Great sex! I laugh more I can be goofy with my daughter again! I think that we should try and remember the benefits of the therapeutic window we were in - it is likely that we formed new habits while on the pill that we can now do "off the pill" thanks to new neural pathways. This is of course my experience and everyone else's will be unique.

here we go... http://youtu.be/LXmIJcYkbjo