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newdaydawning

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  1. I am a recovered alcoholic; quit drinking 25 years ago cold turkey, after developing a hell of a tolerance. Never had a single physical side effect. Just stopped one day because I'd had enough lost weekends and was sick of hiding liquor from my loved ones, etc. Also, had a new baby and didn't want him to grow up with a drunk for a mother. So I quit one fine day and have never, ever looked back. Never been tempted. Also quit tabacco around the same time-a very different story: much, much, much harder! I still have dreams about smoking cigarettes! After all these years. I used to say I'd never start smoking again b/c I could never endure the agony of quitting again. Anyway, this brings us to Adderall, which I am addicted to presently and about to attempt to quit. I suspect this experience will somewhere in the middle of my other two experiences of quitting a powerful drug. It will certainly not be as easy as quitting drinking, but I doubt very much it will be as hard as quitting nicotine-since that was the hardest thing I've ever done, hands down. But the psychology of quitting any drug is the same. You need to get to a point where the cost/benefit ratio is insupportable, then act accordingly. It sounds like you're already there, so force yourself to begin the process. It won't be easy, but it won't kill you, either. As they say in AA (which I never bought into bc their "our way or the highway" approach was deeply offensive to me) "one step (day) at a time." (Just b'c I didn't find AA right for me dosen't mean it's all sh*t! Best of luck to you. Make the choice, then act on it. Or not, but I think you're ready from what you say here.
  2. Hello, friends. My story is probably a bit different from most of yours, due simply to my age. I am 59. I started using my son's prescribed Adderall 3 years ago when I went back to school for a second masters degree. I obtained my degree on May 12th. I had promised myself I would stop taking it when I no longer "needed" it-i.e. when my last class was over. It is now June 17th, and I am still taking approx. 40mgs per day. I take one 10 mg ER capsule in the morning and then supplement it with 5 mgs IR (cutting 10 mgs in half) as "needed" throughout the day. My son is a second year law student, legitimately diagnosed with ADD, and he takes 2 15 mg ER caps per day. (I now have my own scripts; it's astonishing how easy it was to convince our family doctor that I have adult ADD, although I absolutely do not.) Anyway, my son is trying to help me quit. He's been through rehab (during high school) for other substance abuse issues (due to self-medication before he was properly diagnosed, in my view, but perhaps not). He knows how to go off meds and illicit drugs, in other words, and he advised me that cold turkey is the best way, echoing what I've read on here so far. I am a recovered alcoholic of long standing (never went the AA route, so reject their edict that there's no such thing as a recovered alcoholic; rather everyone is always one forever and ever, etc. I agree with the forever and ever bit, but since I've not had a drink or single relapse in over 25 years, I believe I have earned the right to call myself recovered. I am also an ex heavy cigarette smoker, ditto length of time and total cold turkey approach. Btw, quitting drinking was a cake walk compared to quitting tabacco. That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, including childbirth! I find it interesting that I am unable to walk away from Adderall the way I did with alcohol and cigarettes (although cigs took several attempts and relapses, eventually I kicked it, because I was hospitalized for a ruptured appendix and on a morphine drip for 6 weeks. By the time I was able to walk again, nicotine was completely out of my system. And yet the first thing I wanted to do was take the elevator down to the hospital lobby and buy a pack of cigarettes! (This was in the days when there were cigarette machines in hospital lobbies-can you imagine? My son encouragingly tells me if I could quit those two drugs, I can do this, too. I know I need help with this one. He's the only confidant I have in this; I know he won't judge me and he understands what it's about. My husband and daughter don't know. They do not share our "addiction prone" personalities. Lucky them. So here I am. My son told me to probably stay away from forums like this, because he's afraid I'll read a lot of misinformation and start thinking I can't do this. But this one seems different, so Ima give it a shot here. Thanks for reading my story and I would be grateful for any input, comments, responses, etc. I am leaving for New Hampshire in a few days, where I spend my summers, and that's a pretty perfect place to put something like this in action-no distractions, the staggering beauty of nature all around me, no schedule to keep, lots of exercise and plenty of outdoor pursuits, etc. However, the past 3 summers up there did not motivate me to stop taking it. So we'll see what happens this time. Thanks for listening! Wish me luck.
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