34 replies to this topic

[Chemist]

Psychostimulants affect people in different ways. Give someone with ADHD adderall and they become focused. Give someone without ADHD adderall and they start bouncing off walls and feeling like they are on speed. Otherwise, why would not everyone be taking it?

I think this is a common fallacy. You can give anyone adderall and if they try to focus themselves they will be able to stay on task like no other. Amphetamines are pretty universal. This whole ADHD argument is perpetuated by the medical industry.

If it benefits everyone then how come it is difficult for people without ADHD to get a prescription? There must be some risks and tradeoffs to taking it.

Adderall allows ADD'ers to have more normal focus, but for bright students s it gives them laser like focus. Many ADD'ers want to believe that this is not the case as they feel the use of the drugs is unfair. It is unfair, but guess what life's not fair.

Edited by Chemist, 03 June 2008 - 02:20 AM.

[dumbdumb]

I've found so many conflicting opinions on the question - can anyone with the requisite knowledge just settle the question of whether Adderall or Ritalin are harmful to the brain or body if taken long-term?

[December15]

I realize that as someone so new to the board my opinion won't carry much weight, but as a 52 year old woman I do feel I have perhaps a different perspective on nootropic effects. One thing I notice in this particular thread is that no-one's mentioned you're not supposed to feel effects from nootropics! Their intended purpose is to preserve and increase the growth of brain synapses. That's not something you're going to get a buzz from, it's when you realize your memory is a little sharper, your thinking a little more multidirectional, that you realize the effects. Yet here it seems people equate say oxiracetam - which I've taken for years - with modafinil, which I've also taken for years. That's apples and oranges, they're just not the same type of chemical substances at all. I also do HGH (although I may have to stop, if Zoroaster's been on the BB boards as I have he'll understand why). I've heard people say they experience a variety of direct results from HGH ranging from muscle growth to grey hair growing back in the original color. The truth is, even if you can find a good supplier you won't feel much aside from healing more quickly when injured.

If you're under 30, maybe even under 35 you're not really going to be able to tell whether the nootropic regime you're on is any good until you're 45 or 50. If you want noticeable effects, the only things I can say from experience that work are Desmopressin for memory retention and modafinil for sharpness and focus. I've never tried Ritalin, Adderall is definitely effective but just too damned hard to get.

December15

I've found so many conflicting opinions on the question - can anyone with the requisite knowledge just settle the question of whether Adderall or Ritalin are harmful to the brain or body if taken long-term?

[Chemist]

Just to correct the notion that ADHD sufferers respond to stimulants in the same way as other people -- simply not true. For decades medicine has noted the "paradoxical response" of ADHD sufferers to stimulants: for these people, amphetamine and methylphenidate appear to have a _calming_ effect.

Lol, if Adderall didn't work for non-ADD'ers [people who do not have ADD] then why is its use so prevalent in major universities? Come to a University of California Campus [i've attended 2], lol, you'll find the use to be quite prevalent among non-ADDers .

[wootwoot]

One thing I notice in this particular thread is that no-one's mentioned you're not supposed to feel effects from nootropics! Their intended purpose is to preserve and increase the growth of brain synapses. That's not something you're going to get a buzz from, it's when you realize your memory is a little sharper, your thinking a little more multidirectional, that you realize the effects.

If you can not feel an increase in your mental focus or sharpness is anything really happening or is it just a placebo? I am looking for a nootropic that does what it says by increasing focus and memory not for a buzz. I am not looking for feel good ideas that "it says it helps your brain but I can't tell if it is or not, it must be since I am taking it". I want something that works plain and simple.