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Comment by proksoup | Hacker News Reader

My personal experience, I did nicotine patches before anything else.

I had previously used adderral, and was seeking an alternative that wouldn't require a prescription. I used nicotine patches for 3 years, before switching to vaporizing for 2 years now, almost entirely because of the socialization it has allowed that patches did not.

I'm sure there's more adverse effects from vaping than patches, and I'm sure long term stimulant use of any sort (caffeine included) can cause problems of many sorts. I personally don't think adderall or other prescription drugs (or unmedicated as I had been most of my life) would have been better, but of course they could have been.

So just wanted to share my experience.

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How much nicotine do you vape now vs how much did you use with the patches? I'm told the absorption rate of nicotine through the lungs is higher than through the skin, but I'm curious to find out from someone who has used both which method is more effective.

Nothing beats the patch for consistent delivery. With vaping I have it more in bursts.

It's possible that's true about absorption. I wonder if maybe more nicotine is wasted vaporizing because you breathe most of it out or something, or maybe I'm not breathing deeply enough, but with the method of vaping that makes me most comfortable I "use" >3x the mg of nicotine I had before, 4ml of 6mg/ml strength juice a day compared to one 7mg patch.

I would say the patch is more consistent throughout the day, and the vape is easier to adjust throughout the day. Both are effective.

Oh, absorption rate duh, yeah with the patch the onset is like an hour almost, vape hits you much faster.

Did you get an equally stimulating effect from nicotine patches as you got from aderall?

For me, a 7mg nicotine patch had very much the same effect as half of a 20mg (I think it was 20mg pills I had been prescribed, but it's been a few years so I'm not positive) adderall pill.

The effects became very different in larger dosages, but in the smallest doses, I'm not sure I could explain or notice any difference.

Could you describe the large-dose effects of each, if you have a moment?

For me with nicotine, when I have too much I get irritable or quick to anger.

With too much adderall, I'm still in a very content place, no anger, and amazingly "productive", but afterwards very dissappointed with my previous enthusiasm for what now seems in retrospect obviously not such a smart direction to be productive in.

This is a golden comment. To all the folks that cry fowl to others using "smart pills", one must really take the good with the bad when it comes with Adderall.

I recently did some research on Adderall, methylphenidate, modafinil, and selegiline as I'm diagnosed add-inattentive, ran out of insurance and thus medical care and scripts. I was looking for nonprescription alternatives. This is a fascinating alternative. Also, from what I learned, Adderall is a horrible substance. It's way stronger than even cocaine. I'll never touch it again, especially considering the alternatives available.

Did you use adderall nootropically or did (do) you have strong ADD indicators?

It's a good question, I'm not sure I could give a confident answer, as the boundary is blurry to me.

I did have, for most of my life since childhood, what I would feel confident calling strong ADD indicators. The two psychiatrists I've spoken with agree with me, and while I didn't get this deep into the conversation with them, my personal feeling is that like many things it's a spectrum[1], that all humans are at least somewhere on that spectrum.

I did struggle to maintain a job and a home prior to being medicated, and since have been gradually moving towards a life that's normal and happy for me.

YMMV.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12518758

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