leejihee

Hi Katie, This is my first time back on this thread, and I'm very sorry you never received a response from anyone. I hope you have found your journey off Adderall as rewarding as I have found mine. I would love to meet with you if you if you still want someone to talk with. I live in Berkeley- I'm sure distance wouldn't be an issue for either of us, if you still live in SF. - Christie

Hi Quit-Once, Thank you so much for your reply. It is really great to know others feel Adderall has weakened their body and it's not just a figment of my imagination. (I've always been a little clumsy), but I thought the frequency of my injuries and the time-span of 2 years was too coincidental not to be suspicious. If I may ask, can you clarify what you mean by "couple of years of recovery"? I am prepared it will take a while to truly recover/ am expecting the temptation to take adderall to come back now and then, depending on life crisis, etc., but I was hoping it would take me less than 2 years for full recovery since I was on Adderall 2 years (e.g., I figured the recovery would be shorter or longer depending on the length of time the drug was taken). And of course, some of this would depend on age, overall health, but overall, I thought the length of time would factor into recovery time. Is my thinking naive? Some changes I've noticed the past 2.5 months (for those who may be curious; I am curious about others' journeys): - I'm finally able to clean my dishes on a regular basis (for me, this means I wash them after each use, not right away but before the next meal), and not leave them in the sink for a day or two (as was my MO the month after quitting Adderall) - I'm sleeping fairly well- 7 hours of solid sleep in a single night - I'm getting a better handle on time; I'm able to go out and actually hang out with people without feeling like it's a chore - I'm cleaning more regularly around the house - Doing laundry on a weekly basis The one thing that is still challenging and a major concern: - I can't read books (even leisure, much less my textbooks). I've always been a bookworm, but the past 2 years I was on Adderall, I read only my textbooks. It wasn't a huge concern of mine while on Adderall; I rationalized this was because of my Master's program, but now that I have taken a leave of absence from school while my foot heals, I have almost unlimited time to read. I haven't been able to "sink" into a book. I can't get wrapped up in the landscape of the book I'm reading. The only way I can describe it is to use a sleep analogy: it's as though I'm a light sleeper, easily awakened by random sounds, never experiencing a deep sleep. The same with reading- my mind is overly aware of the "real" world around me. This makes me very sad and worried as I used to love reading, and especially concerned for my academic career. If I can't read, I will be in a lot of trouble. Has anyone had the same experience, and is this (book-distractibility) something that will go away given time? Thank you : )

Oh and kind of random side note, if anyone is interested in exploring the SF Bay area trail (I live in Berkeley), and would like to get some exercise in and chat and/or just have coffee/lunch/chat/ whatever, I'm fine with that too. Just thought I'd throw that out there : )

I'm so grateful to find this forum. I was on adderall for 2 years, my senior year at UCSC and my first year and half of grad school. I quit mid-December because I fell and broke my foot. In hindsight, it helped me get work (papers, primarily) completed lightning-fast but made my anxiety very bad. Oddly, it also made me accident-prone, and I have all kinds of bodily injuries (sprains, ligament issues, this broken foot, etc.) in just the past 2 years. Which kind of makes sense I suppose- we are talking about a substance that mimics speed. Anyhow, I've been off Adderall for about 2.5 months. I'm finding I sleep WAY better. So glad. I'm much more calm. The bad side: time slippage, difficulty in motivating myself for anything, and especially this- I feel like I'm starving all the time. I'm gaining a lot of weight. Trying to exercise but it's hard with the (lack of) motivation factor. I don't talk to any of my friends or family about it because when I do, they just think I'm complaining. Hard to say I'm not though... you know? I'm sure people on the forum can relate to some of this... Anyway, so that's my 2 cents. I would love to talk to someone who has gone through this, and how they feel about their lives now. How is your day-to-day? How are your relationships? Do you feel more present in the here and now, despite the random, forgetful, moments? Is it worth it? Thanks : )