Mmkay, I havn't read through the entirety of this thread, but have read enough to understand what the OP is asking...

First and foremost, I was diagnosed with ADD in 1996, whilst I don't want to sound facetious, this was before the influx of kids being(in my opinion) misdiagnosed with ADD when in reality they merely have behavioral problems.

Now, if you want adderal/ritalin, its damn easy to get diagnosed by a psychiatrist regardless of whether or not you actually suffer from it.

That being said, take it from me, you do NOT want to be on amphetamines long term. I've been taking Dexamphetamine for about 15 years now, and the detrimental effects of it absolutely outweigh the positives. I become focused to the point of obsession on whatever I happen to be interested in at the time. An example is when I saw someone playing a skillgame called stepmania a few years ago, went home, and proceeded to play the game 8-10 hours/day, every day for more than a month. I had minimal contact with my group of friends and they were actually surprised to hear from me when I eventually did see them next.

However for people who actually suffer from ADD, it is unavoidable that we use medication. Without taking my meds, I can concentrate for roughly 5-10 minutes before I go off the rails. I'm extremely annoying to talk to, I get bored very easily and get extremely frustrated for no reason at random times.



For you: If you made it through high school without failing most of your courses, and did so without taking medication, you don't need it. It's not worth it.

certainly. this is a good first start imo, and the free downloadable ebook is great too:

http://www.how-to-meditate.org/

Why is it that everyone who hears of Adderall suddenly thinks we're all hopped up on speed? The amount of Adderall prescribed for ADD is much lower than a "recreational hit". Also, the response to the drug is almost polar opposite than what most people achieve by taking speed. It actually slows the world down just a bit.

No it doesn't. The effects of dexamphetamine are very similar to that of methamphetamine, the difference lies in the reason for its use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderall

You might be taking less than a recreation drug user but it's still the same neurotransmitter levels that are being increased.


If you were to go back 50 or 60 years you'd find the use of amphetamines as diet pills was perfectly acceptable...

Juk

You're missing my point. My point isn't WHAT the drug normally does, but rather what the low dosage amount can do to someone with ADHD. Normalizing neurotransmitters vs littering your brain with neurotransmitters has a much different effect.

Prozac - known side effect is decreased labido. For me, I turned into horny monster.

Adderall - known side effect is similar (or identical) to speed. For me, it takes my racing mind and slows it down so I don't go off on tangents as often.

Marijuana - never got high from it, although I'm willing to try again and again for clinical research

Benadryl - makes one of my kids fall asleep, and makes the other kid "wired".

Different drugs impact different people differently.

The best way to treat this legitimate neurobiological disorder called ADHD is with a multimodal approach, e.g., education (including counselling), school/work accomodations and medication if required. After a lot of research, I decided to try Vyvanse as the first medication for my ADHD child. Unfortunately, the benefits were offset by the side effects of red nose, hot ears, lack of appetite, inability to sleep and nausea, so the paediatrician has switched us to Concerta 18mg SA. Wish us luck!

wrong.. look up generation rx on netflix, watch it. Then DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. if you believe what the national media tells you, your just another puppet. Go find the information.. The truth is gross and hard to swallow but if you look for the truth yourself without swallowing what everyone shoves down your throat you may learn something. Not trying to criticize your personal self but I believe exercise and eating healthy is where its at long term for 98% of people. The other 2 percent may need some help but as for ADHD or ADD its just a broad term to let pharmaceutical people (especially that ones at the top) soak up tons of funds. If your in college reading books and listening to everything your professor tells you I have one suggestion to consider. Your teachers should be teaching you how to think for yourselves. Not WHAT to think. Seek the truth and you shall find it. Follow personal stories and dig deeper. I promise you your stomach will turn. Don't believe and follow the masses. Don't listen to one person, dig the information yourself. Knowledge truly is power (and I'm not talking about government funded knowledge either)

(i'm not anti government by the way. I'm pro constitution) and there is a big difference.

this is dumb. Almost everyone does some of these things to some extent.

pharma industries loves all those invented illnesses, obese people and the usage of tobacco and alcohol.
healthy people are just not good for our economy, so we get rid of them.
every ADHD-test is made by the pharma industries or people that they paid.

i dont say that there arent people that really fall into the category of ADD/ADHD,
but i go out on a limb and say 9/10 prescription meds are given to people who just chose to be a legal-druggy,
instead of learning to manage their own lifes with the ups and downs that come with it.
people became customers, and forgot to be human.

lazy, greedy, stupid people become fat, in debt and get depressive. hallo U.S. of A..
feeding their 5 year old childs psychopharmaca. those parents are the worst thing ive ever seen.
i wish i could beat them half dead, seriously.

have to do sport now to calm down.

ADD is a pretty obscure disorder. It is very, very geek friendly aswell. Anyone who spends a little too much time on their computer, playing games or whatever else will recognize themselves in 50% of those symptoms.

Another illness like this is Asperger's syndrome, pretty much any geek thinks they have it, because the symptoms are so vague and it's very hard to really know whether you have it or not. Sometimes, personality traits are just personality traits, not symptoms.

It only seems that way to you, mainly because you are not an Asperger.

As one myself, trust me, there is nothing vague about the symptoms.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rugs-long-term

Looks interesting.

From a personal point of view I hope information on self managing symptoms of ADD becomes much more accessible.

Most of the discussion on this topic tends to focus on drugs and I think that's unfortunate, because with most mental health conditions medication - if required at all (potential benefits and costs to the individual need to be weighed up, whereas discussions of medication are often very biased towards the benefit part of this equation only and also heavily weighed in the short term rather than the long) - can only ever be part of the approach to improving ones quality of life whereas they tend to have become the entire focus.

Its your body and mind. You shouldn't need to justify trying amphetamines if its what you want. Adderall will prob help you if you have many of the symptoms written in the OP. On the other hand, you will also have to deal with any potential consequences.

Maybe these symptoms are related to some thing in your childhood.