'Take Your Pills" documentary on Netflix
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Anonymous
| It's rampant in upper-middle-class circles. In law school, and at competitive colleges, there are probably more kids on it than off. |
Anonymous
| adderall is legal cocaine, sold by drug companies. plain and simple. |
Anonymous
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It's really only a matter of time before a paper like the NYTimes does a big exposé on the overuse of Adderall and people start getting exposed.
If you've got a legit disorder, fine. But it's being abused the way competitive athletes use performance-enhancing drugs and steroids. |
Anonymous
| I was surprised when a college student told me casually that he popped Adderall to study. I felt old because in my time we pulled all nighters but the hardest drug we did was caffeine. Not that there were plenty of drugs on campus, but that wasn't my thing. |
Anonymous
It is. 100%. |
Anonymous
I can see how though. I took a low dose (I think 10mg) from a friend over a weekend when I was particularly exhausted and scatterbrained and he offered after talking about how he started as an adult, how he had masked his ADHD as a kid and in college unintentionally, because he didn't think he had the right symptoms to be anything, etc. I didn't feel jumpy or speedy at all, I just felt refreshed and focused and awake/ clearly thinking. Maybe placebo, maybe not but man I sometimes wish I had one some days (which is exactly why I don't pursue getting some myself, I feel like that is a slippery slope) |
Anonymous
I just posted about taking it one weekend. I don't 100% get this- is that just a matter of staying up longer/later to focus when normally you would be exhausted and not retaining as much? I know there was some abuse of it when I was in undergrad but that was 18 years ago, it wasn't THAT common. Because having been on recreation drugs that are upper/speedy, well, that didn't seem conducive to studying, honestly. But my drug experience isn't all that vast |
Anonymous
Oh totally. It's kind of a miracle drug...it's not surprising how many people want / take it. I would love to have a prescription and have the option to take it from time to time... |
Anonymous
Yeah I understand what you're saying - it's not like you feel like you're on meth (...disclaimer: haven't taken meth.) - but it's not like your heart is racing and you're sweaty and talking fast. Although when people take too much...it is actually not too far off. But yes it makes you focused and organized and alert, and it feels like tasks that seemed overwhelming seem manageable. But to your point yes, it's something you use as a tool...it's not like you pop an adderall and suddenly have a killer desire to do physics. But it DOES make big amounts of boring, mundane and dry material seem interesting and manageable. You still have to make the decision to do the work or whatever, but adderall makes it much easier / less painful (for everyone - not just if you have a diagnosis). But yeah, people definitely use it as a "tool" to stay awake / alert / energized when they go out. And it makes you feel social and energized - not unlike legal speed |
Anonymous
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Then why are people getting this prescribed that don’t actually need it?
Are we going to take it away from people who legitimately need it because assholes can’t use it properly? |
Anonymous
| Young women also take adderall to stay skinny. |
Anonymous
| Made me scared to send my kid to college... |
Anonymous
Well, the answer the documentary touches on is that it's difficult to determine who "legitimately" needs it. There's no definitive test for those disorders, and many of the symptoms/signs are things that everyone experiences to a lesser degree in ordinary life. Many doctors approached the drug as "if you take it and you notice an improvement, then you need it." But the documentary implies that everyone who takes it notices an improvement, but that doesn't mean everyone needs it. And the documentary alludes to the reality that it may not be addictive in the same way heroin is, but it can cause a dependency. That's the problem with what some PPs above have done -- taking it just to get a boost, even though you don't have a diagnosis. It would've been helpful if the documentary went into the long-term issues. The NFL guy alluded to downsides of taking it long term, as did his wife, but they didn't really go into that. It's a shame because in some ways, the documentary could've been an advertisement for the drugs as it basically mainly emphasized all of the enhancements without even really detailing the potential long-term issues. Seems like irresponsible documentary film-making to me. That said, I'm glad I went to college before the use of this skyrocketed. It sounds like it does create an unlevel playing field. |
Anonymous
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My kids take Vyvansse which is basically adderall.
We tried a lot of things before going to drugs. Diet, cbt, meditation, tutoring, private schooling, positive outlets... you name it. I finally caved when my 8th grader was suffering from depression from his inability to retain any information from lecture. They say it's really easy to get at school if you want. They told me kids take it for studying but not for parting. |
Anonymous
What diet did you try, PP? |