Comment by astrange | Hacker News Reader

Comment by astrange | Hacker News Reader

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> On the topic of Ritalin and Adderall, lots of my friends found they had to increase their dosage to see consistent effects.

They are not addictive at normal doses but there can be tolerance depending on your diet. This is actually pretty easy to treat - get a lot more magnesium and try NAC as well. (Vyvanse's effectiveness actually seriously depends on how acidic your diet is. If you take a dose with orange juice it may be completely inactivated.)

> Some talk about abusing alcohol to get to sleep.

Sleep issues (delayed sleep phase disorder) are themselves an ADHD symptom. If you time it right so the stimulant wears off at bedtime this can actually help you - but if it wears off early, I don't have the willpower left to go to bed.

By the same logic cocaine in small doses would not be addictive. I can tell you that everything that manipulates your dopamin levels can lead to some kind of addiction. Plus you have actual withdraw symptoms from amphetamines too.

Cocaine isn't a prescription drug. Adderall/Vyvanse aren't addictive at the prescribed doses, it's not really relevant what happens if you just start snorting it.

> Plus you have actual withdraw symptoms from amphetamines too.

Easily managed and known to last about a week. The non-stimulant ADHD medications like guanfacine actually have much worse withdrawal!

It's so weird to keep hearing that prescription doses of these drugs are addictive. I regularly forget to take them until it's too late in the day and if I took them I would have trouble sleeping... :/

One way to check if you took it, is to choose a song with a strong beat that you've heard thousands of times, for reference. If you took your stimulants that day, the tempo should sound slower than if you didn't.

There are some doctors who think that cocaine in small doses is one of the best anti-depressants we have. Kids can abuse cough syrup or inhale pain thinner. At some point we should have medicines available.

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