3 replies to this topic

[sonny]

Every since I was a child I have had problems with attention. I never really focus for more than as certain amount of time.

I have always found when reading my mind always wanders off what I am reading I will read a whole page and not take any of it in, I often read the page or paragraph 5 times to actually realise what I am reading about. I also often become sleepy after about 30 minutes of reading even though I am not tired. [ang]

I put heaps of time into studies because of this, I am second year university student studying dietetics. Does anyone else experience this? I have recently only looked into nootropics and was thinking of trying some piracetam and choline.

[Ghostrider]

You may have ADHD or you may not be interested in what you are studying. Do you enjoy what you are learning?

[sonny]

I did 1 year of commerce and hated it, so I transferred to dietetics. I do find it interesting. I am not failing or anything, but am struggling (getting near passes ect). ADHD has been suggested by a lecturer, although my parents refuse to believe it. It perplexes me how they diagnose someone with ADHD apart from what the patient tells the doctor. I guess this is the reason a lot of students can abuse Ritalin. Plus I have heard ADHD drugs are addictive

[Ghostrider]

Yes, it is very easy to get ADHD drugs -- assuming that you are covered for them, almost anyone can go to a doctor and say the right things to get the drugs. This is why there is so much fear about misdiagnosis. When I was in college, I could have gotten ADHD drugs from a friend who had ADHD, just to see if I could more study more efficiently with them or solve problems faster -- basically like most college students, I wanted to become the Rainman. But I held back because I was unsure how they would affect my brain. I did not want to become like the person who used them -- whether this was a credible fear or not. I have always viewed ADHD drugs as kind of like over-clocking the brain or tweaking the ECU of a car engine for more performance. I just don't trust the current understanding of medicine. You can get immediate effects and not pay for the consequences until several years down the road. For CPUs, this makes sense because the market price of the CPU will be about $5 when the CPU dies 5 years premature due to overclocking. But my body / mind is a different matter. Medicine is still very primitive, and for good reason, the body / mind is not simple. I eventually tried a pseudo or perhaps weak ADHD drug known as Adrafinil and then Modafinil. I hated both as they seemed to impact mental performance in a negative way.