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Anonymous
Nellie, I hope you don’t mind me hijacking this post a bit to add on my own daily experience. I could go and create my own! It is just helpful to note these things or I may not know whether it is working or not. It is all a little confusing because this is my first real trial of a stimulant and am not quite sure what to expect from it.
The biggest changes I have noticed so far are thought organization and thought endurance. There has been a significant decrease in the number of times I have thought derailments. I have now been able to talk without taking frequent pauses and breaks due to forgetting what I was going to say or just “blanking out”. This has always been very frustrating for me as it sometimes makes me look like I don’t understand what I am talking about. I also will often repeat the same words twice because I can’t remember whether I have already said them which is annoying to others. Yesterday I went to a BBQ. I noticed that I could talk to my friend while there were other conversations in the background. Usually I cannot talk when there are others talking near me because I lose my train of thought. It is extremely frustrating to be trying to talk and have to start my thought over and over and over again each time someone talks near me, even if it is to someone else and not interrupting me.
When I write, I am having an easier time of organizing my thoughts and it is taking me less time to write posts and answer emails. My information is coming out of my head in thought clusters versus unrelated or loosely related thoughts.
unsure what to think about this one: Maybe it was the mix of people, but I felt less social than I usually am at this BBQ. I usually feel some social anxiety and hyperactivity which compels me to try and talk to everyone even strangers, no matter if I have anything to say which makes sense in the conversation. Yesterday, I just felt content talking to my one friend and a few others when convenient. I felt less socially anxious and pressured, but it was weird how little I cared about interacting with the strangers.
some disappointments: I am still hyperfocusing. I still have very little motivation to do chores such as shopping or cleaning. I have not really gotten more stuff done. I am still doing little forgetful things. such as yesterday, I did my eye makeup and forgot to put on mascara and left the house without it. I cracked my car window even though I knew it was supposed to rain. I lost my water bottle three times.
It has been less than a week, so it may take more time to experience full therapeutic effect. Also, I have many many bad habits to work on which I am already beginning to tackle with help from this site.
I do have a bit too much time on my hands which will be temporary as I start classes again in the fall. and it is too hot out here to make me want to go outside!
(not medical advice. may not even be correct. just ramblings and curiosities. i found most of this from wikipedia, but I have done other cross-referencing from research studies and educational sites)
Still not complete with the research but:
The problem is with understanding the differences between the medications is a lot of the information is theoretical versus what is actually observed. My drive for the research is a bit of a personal one. I have never in my life considered that I could have ADD because I have always had terrible reactions to common stimulants such as caffeine and decongestants (ie. sudafed with the pseudoephedrine). 50mg of caffeine (which really is just a bit more than a mountain dew) would be enough to give me tremors and get my heart racing. I really only used it to make drives longer than an hour because I tend to nod off and just can’t maintain focus that long. I once ignorantly had a double expresso to take a long drive, not paying attention that it was stronger than the usual coffee. It has since been dubbed a panic attack in a can. Pseudoephedrine would do something similar, but also make me very irritable and angry (unfortunately the only thing which could ever clear my sinuses). I was afraid to try the Methylin because I feared that it would be like caffeine x 100 and I would have a day filled with panic attacks. I took the leap only because I was desperate about my job. I was doing 6 hours of work in 11 hours and needed to ramp that up to 8 hours.
My reaction to methyln ER was actually about equal to about 50mg of caffeine, similar heart racing and tremors, but with better mental results. One would think that the Methyln would have a much greater agitating effect, right? I did some research and learned that caffeine and decongestants stimulate mostly via norepinephrine in the brain (which does indirectly stimulate dopamine and have its own unique attention benefits). Norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenalin) [which are related] are the catacholamines of the fight or flight type of anxiety. What is very confusing is that dopamine and norepinephrine have a very intertwining relationship. In addition, norepinephrine is made from dopamine. Thus, both will stimulate both the central and sympathetic nervous system.
The only sense I can make of it is that norepinephrine more directly (but perhaps not of usual clinical significance) influences the sympathetic nervous system and that I am very sensitive to it. However, it does not mean that I do not have ADD. I am sure that an extended release medication is helpful to avoid ‘rushes’. Also, perhaps even just a little difference in the noreph/dop ratio is noticeable to me.
Adderall is a mixed ampthetamine with the D and L chain. The L chain is mostly norepinephrine related. Everyone’s brain chemistry is so unique that many people probably do really well with that extra function.
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