I use a SSRI also. Although, I switched to a SNRI called effexor and requested a dosage at 150 mg to have added additional nor epinephrine transport re uptake inhibition. Actually, I have been on adderall for at least 6 years and I can't function without it. However, noone in my graduating class can function anywhere near my level. They call me the textbook. So, Ill gladly take my dependence especially compared to the horrible ADHD.
Pretty much sums it up.
I was on Adderall for about 2.5 years, and I deeply regret it. Sure, it helped me in school, it helped me be "a productive member of society" but amphetamine has a tendency to make one devoid of personality and very zombie-like. While I was taking it with Zoloft (which is a very weak DRI) I felt completely fine and it seemed to help me. When I quit the Zoloft, Adderall became completely different (or at least I was "there enough" to notice its actual effect on me). It tended to make me very narcissistic, just completely pissed off at everything and everyone, insanely isolated, hellishly irritable, and unbearably paranoid and deathly anxious. You see, amphetamine behaviourally sensitizes a user to its effects, even after one use (at least in rats
http://www.jneurosci...9/21/9579.short), which is heavily implicated in its detrimental long term-use effects, including psychosis. This sensitization also causes one to feel (the negative) effects at lower doses, but the beneficial effects nearly disappear. I felt like being on an SSRI prevented me from becoming sensitized (or at least noticing it), because when I took the Adderall after withdrawing from sertraline I felt like I had all of the sensitization built up from the last 2.5 years manifesting all at once, quite suddenly. This caused me to try Focalin, but I seemed intolerant to it as well, in a sort of dysautonomia-like way.. my body did not react properly to it. It felt like OCD-psychosis in a pill.
Adderall is wonderful the first few times (like many drugs of abuse), but tolerance builds rapidly, and eventually you need it to function. It's like replacement-dopamine when you come to that stage. You may try to get that honey moon effect, but in all actuality you will never feel it (nor that kind of pleasure, chances are) again. It has been about three months without Adderall, and I have almost lost my job several times because of ht severe lack of ability to do anything.. everything is overwhelmingly confusing. Nothing makes sense. I can't rationalize. I can only have small bursts of thought, rarely do I have pre-Adderall-type deep, insightful, contemplative thoughts or trains of thought. I can only think very simplistically now.. I feel severed of any spirituality, creativity, or personality. My IQ feels noticeably lowered. My motivation is non-existant; I drank the strongest energy drink I could find (NOS @ ~200mg caffeine) and was still nearly falling asleep at work.
I apologize for the rant, and I do agree that there are a
few lucky bastards out there who can get away with using Adderall/amphetamine dail & chronically with little to no ill-effects, but the myriad of studies show that it is very unlikely to be immune from its proven health effects, and often those who feel fine on it only say so because they haven't attempted to quit taking it, nor do they correlate it with subtle differences in their general health. Further, amphetamine, when it causes severe disturbances in one's life, the user will usually completely avoid thinking the drug has anything to do with it and will blame everything from allergies to the government before they realize the true source. In retrospect, whenever I notified my psych doctor of any changes in temperament, I was always quick to blame everything BUT the Adderall, in fact it has been the one med I've been the most consistent and unwilling to change with. Keep in mind this is my own personal experience and does not reflect that of others, but please do note these are all possible consequences of
chronic use of amphetamine. And, I always took mine as prescribed, even taking days off every once in a while.
Edited by katuskoti, 27 December 2013 - 08:25 AM.