As someone in their 40s who only received a diagnosis in their 40s, I found Adderall to be transformative. I only recognized the symptoms when my son was diagnosed ADHD and I started researching. It was through various videos and articles that I saw reflections of my own experiences. So I spoke to a doctor about it.

My experience with Adderall is characterized by its stability. I don’t experience the highs and lows often associated with medication. I'm on a pretty low dose and I do not take the medication every day. Instead of feeling energized or high, Adderall brings me a sense of calm, which was somewhat unexpected, considering its use as a party drug. But for me, it silences the constant noise in my head and allows me to just think and speak. I can actually speak to people without my mind rushing ahead of my voice, tangling up all my words. I'm effective at work and my job performance has improved significantly. My wife noticed a change pretty quick in the day to day life around the home as well.

Saying anything negative about adderall is an extremely unpopular opinion on HN, as you can see. It turns out people who take amphetamines really like amphetamines. If you’re a consenting adult I don’t see a problem with it. It gets ugly when you have doctors or teachers suggesting your child should be on them or “tested” for ADD. You are changing your child's brain permanently by making this decision. Changing who they are, for better or worse. Amphetamine salts long term are incredibly altering and heavy handed. They should only be administered to kids in very unusual cases in my opinion. Reduction of effective deep sleep alone should give you enough pause to reconsider. And thats the tip of the iceberg. But I understand it’s hard when you are pressured by doctors or therapists. Or have a particularly unruly child without the time or patience to give them the attention they need. Please for anyone reading this thinking about giving this to their kids, reconsider and exhaust all other options.

Yours maybe.

I see your downvoted but I agree. Workplace "success" is a metric but not the only metric in life. And if you decrease the focus on that metric I think you would find some darker sides. Downvote away.