Adderall and ADD productivity
 

Well, it finally happened. I was diagnosed ADD and prescribed Adderall last week. Since then I have been able to stay focused on the days project while still dealing with email and IMs. I've got a ton more energy as well. I can see why this stuff is addictive.

However, I have learned that Adderall helps with focus, it doesn't fix lack of organization. I still need to work on that.

I know there have been some ADD threads here before. But does anyone have experience with how to organize yourself with all this new found focus? It's pretty shocking. I no longer get sidetracked by listening to the conversations of others in the office. I no longer forget what I was working on. I do however focus so much on one particular project that I will work on it all day, and forget about the 10 other small projects/things I was hoping to get done during the day.

Hey buddy

...give me a call!

:-)

there's not an organization pill too?

Organization must be learned. There are a million books on it. Hit Amazon.

make a list and focus on it the adderall will get u through it

Thanks for the advice!


I agree. I have been reading up on organization for years. I have paid thousands of dollars for people to organize me and set up systems, only to use them for a month and then just not follow through. I'm guessing with my new found focus this will be a little easier to follow through with, though still a struggle

Thats exactly what Brad suggested.
Have you heard of GTD (Getting things Done)? A while ago I was turned onto it and the Things App for Mac/iPhone/iPad but I never could get myself to follow through with it. It operates off the same principle as GTD, but I found if the program wasn't always open, I would forget about it.



haha. I hate taking pills for anything. I forget to take my daily vitamins all the time. I never take pain meds, and anti-biotics have to be forced down my throat. So far this stuff has made such a difference in my focus, that I haven't forgotten to take it yet. lol

is this something you will take for the rest of your life?

Buddy,

I was diagnosed with ADHD all most a year ago and I am on Vyvanse which is like Adderall. I wish they found out about my ADHD 20 years ago

Their are a lot of ways to getting organized plus I also work with a consultant (kind of like a shrink) and she keeps me on track. EMail me and I will send you some info.

Jay

Adderall is a motherfucking wonder drug.

I just read about ADD, what was your symptoms?

I have problems focusing on something as well.

Thanks, will do my friend.

It seems so. lol

ADD is a fake disease to sell addictive drugs that make drug companies billions in profit :2 cents:

it is a slippery slope to get on to become reliant on altering your brain chemistry with a drug :2 cents:

I'd like to know this too?

Or can you take it when you need to buckle down?

And you're an idiot. That's my 2 cents.

i needz me suma dat!

thank you, i love you too :winkwink:

my dad is a pharmacist and i used to always hear him talk about ADD being over prescribed as an excuse for kids acting up. i used to believe it was a fake disease as well.

in '97 i started college. in '02 i stopped going to college. i had ~9-12 hours (depending on grades) that needed to be done.

my wife is a 1st grade teacher and we talked about ADHD all the time (ADD isn't a proper term anymore). she would always tell me how i'm worse than some of her kids with how little i can focus. so i went to my dr.

there is an organizational pill. not exactly, but it's one of the major functions. straterra is for ADHD and it's not a barbiturate. i tend to 'like' things and was really concerned with narcotics and getting addicted, so i started with straterra. you have to build up to the dose. after 3 weeks, my office was spotless. everything was in it's place and my life had changed. only problem, it made me sick as shit. back to dr.

vyvanse (someone mentioned above) is far and away the best drug for ADHD on the market right now. it's powerful and long lasting (almost too long). i started on that and loved it. then i changed ins and it wasn't covered. 165 a month is too much. i'm on adderall now and take it twice a day. my organization sucks but i've never gotten so much done. i started all this last january and spent most of 2010 taking classes.

one class was a psychology class regarding adolescents and behavior. ADHD was a major section and i learned a ton. it's easy for people without ADHD to call it shit, and that's fine. but consider yourself lucky. i'm mad i didn't pursue this course earlier in life. i'm 33 and just graduated college. going back to school with my new friend (adderall) was a completely different experience. i made better grades and found participating in class was easier because i knew what was going on. while most people grow out of ADHD, ~15% don't.

congrats sharky on finding this out. it's a life changing event. *ADHD is over-prescribed. i will not discount that at all. but it's a real issue and people dealing with it aren't always bad kids.

Reminds me of the movie Limitless he sure had a lot of focus when he took that pill that looks like a contact lens :)

You didn't get the pills from a long lost brother in law you ran into on the street, did you?

There we go ...

you don't have to take it all the time. no need to take it on the weekends unless your doing something. and if you need to 'buckle down', you can take one or a half of one and get to work

what am i, chopped liver? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

the fact remains that you are altering your brain chemistry to fit your goal of "productivity", and the changes in brain chemistry are long lasting and persistent, for better and worse perhaps


I wouldn't want to date and enter into a long term relationship with anyone that is taking these kinds of drugs :2 cents:

lots of research suggesting ADD is over-diagnosed.

pseudo-ADD
http://www.google.com/search?q=pseud...ient=firefox-a

i don't think anyone would say it isn't. i think it was something around 5-7 times over prescribed.

these drugs alter the activity in the frontostriatal region of the brain affecting dopamine in the region. the stimulants are fast acting and short lived, so they're not 'long lasting' and it's not persistent. if you take the drugs today, you get the effect. if you don't take them tomorrow, you wouldn't feel or act any different b/c you took them the day before. there's no crashing or detox

I think that amphetamine is unhealthy but good luck.
__________________
:warning This is sig area! :warning

Ah. I don't like the idea of people taking medicine anymore than they have to. But disregarding someone else's illness simply because you can't "see" it is incredibly naïve and ignorant.

better living through chemistry...what a joke.

i think most people could be diagnosed for ADHD at various points in their life.

I have high level ADD, I remember they gave me a test once of 15 things that people with ADD experience, and if you had like 5 or 6 of them you probably had it.. I was 12/15.

There's lots of advantages and disadvantages. I haven't medicated it since I was younger, but I did try many times.. Imipramine, ritalin (gave me hives), bunch of others.. Adderall worked okay for me, I should try it again really. I had to order it specially from the US because it's not available in Canada, or wasn't at the time.

Nothing like taking your methamphetamines in the morning...

The other medications just "normalized" me. They take away your highs and your lows.. I'm not willing to live my life like that. Like copywrite said "Hope the sober pills don't coma-kill you"

Here's what you should do to keep on track, taught to me in an article about some oldschool famous rich guy.

When you're ready to start working, write down the 3 most important things that you could do for your company, the 3 most pressing issues.

Then start working on the hardest one first. If you get the hardest one done, then you can move on. If you don't, you'll continue it the next day when you write down your 3 things again.

If there are more than 3 things you need to do, you can keep them in a for later file, just don't work on them until they become pressing or important, or if you need a break from the hard things.

Also use the few minutes rule, that if something can be accomplished within a few minutes, don't write it down at all, just get it done now while you're thinking about it.

"if you don't take them tomorrow, you wouldn't feel or act any different b/c you took them the day before. there's no crashing or detox"

I don't buy that, any time you play around with the dopamine serotonin and other brain chemical balance you are making changes in the brain, maybe subtle and unnoticeable, but the longer you do it I believe the greater the chance for permanent changes in the brain chemistry

I agree with you that it is unlikely that there would be issues if it is a drug that is taken on rare occasion, but any drug that is taken daily for a prolonged period is something that is likely to have longer term or perhaps lifetime effects and should not be taken lightly

Are you planning on dating Sharky?

focus on answering my ICQ! :winkwink:

I'm no expert, but I was under the impression that with these drugs there is usually one path... all is great at first, but then your body gets used to it, so you need to take higher and higher doses to get the same effects, and before you know it you are hopelessly addicted... :2 cents:

Congratulations. You are now high on speed.

wow, adderall is methamphetamine? we're prescribing our children meth? had no idea.

amphetamine, but close enough, basically same thing as meth...

well, not as bad as meth eh, but still. 5-7x over-prescribed amphetamines to children is outrageous.

I need to try that one day..

Make a To Do List everyday and check off as you finish each task.

y'all don't already make to-do lists? well, start, 1st on the list- make a fucking to-do list.

daily life is not that complicated.

I answered it the second you sent it;-) You haven't responded. our last ICQ convo was you saying you couldn't see what I wrote. lol

Thanks for all the posts.

I agree ADD/ADHD is over-diagnosed, However I believe it is the right diagnosis in my case. I'm not a drug addict, pill head or addicted to anything else. I was prescribed Adderall less than a week ago, and initially it seems to be working. I am focusing better, but am still unorganized -- which is the purpose of my posting this thread;-)

hehe. I knew it. either ICQ is fucked or I need your pills!

I'll email you!

While it is true that it is over prescribed, and some parents use it as a parenting tool, because they are lazy.

In TRUE ADD children this drug is amazing.

I once also thought ADD was complete BS, that is was 100% bad parenting. My youngest child has ADDHD, he is almost only ADD now as he is almost 10 and most of the hyper is growing out of him.

Before the meds, he would have the TV on, 2 or 3 board games out, running inside and out to play, and telling you stories all at the same time. During a story he would lose what he was saying and go on to another story that a key word from the first story keyed in his brain.

It would take him ALL day or longer to complete one word search, now with the meds, he completes each one before even going on to another activity.

There are some BAD medications out there, the doctor first put him on Ritalin, this cured the HD part, as it made him a zombie.
Then we went to adderall, which the doctor increased the dose from small to the perfect amount.
Currently my X has him on Vyvanse, which is cheaper, but I do not think it gives him the exact focusing power.

For the people talking about the children taking Meth.
In true ADD children drugs have the opposite affect.

Give an person from puberty or older adderal it keeps the focus power, but gives you hella energy.

Just my experiences in my life with this drug.

funny how this disease is almost non-existant outside the US...

sure, there are some cases, especially children. but my "ADD" and also my insomnia recently went away almost completely after i finally made a long vacation and nowadays hardly work at all on weekends. you just need to give your brain some time to rest from time to time. taking drugs is not the solution.

food. it all boils down to you are what you eat.

eat properly...reduce stress, enjoy life.


re: adhd

A special restrictive diet may significantly reduce symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young children, a new study suggests.

When children between the ages of 4 and 8 were placed on a diet containing no processed foods for five weeks, ADHD symptoms diminished in 78 percent of them. And, when suspected trouble foods were reintroduced into the diet, two-thirds of the children experienced a relapse in symptoms.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...ay/649603.html

I hear that having a project manager can help with that :winkwink:

ADHD Diet

First, what NOT to eat for TWO WEEKS:

1) NO DAIRY PRODUCTS, especially cow's milk. This is the single most important restriction. Instead try Almond milk, Rice milk, or Better Than Milk. Drink water instead of milk. In fact, drink lots of water. The brain is about 80% water, and increasing your water intake to 7 to 10 glasses per day might be helpful all by itself. Sodas, Gatorade, teas, icees, etc., do not count as water. Water counts as water.

2) NO YELLOW FOODS. Especially Corn or Squash. Bananas are white. Don't eat the peel.

3) NO JUNK FOODS. If it comes in a cellophane wrapper, don't eat it.

4) NO FRUIT JUICES. Too much sugar content. One small glass of apple juice has the sugar content of eight apples. Later on you can have juice, but dilute it with water 50/50.

5) CUT SUGAR INTAKE BY 90%. If you can, cut it down to zero. Sugar is in just about everything, but give it a try. Do your best without going crazy.

6) CUT CHOCOLATE BY 90%. No more than a single piece, once a week.

7) NO NUTRASWEET. None. Period.

8) NO PROCESSED MEATS and NO MSG. Only get meats with labels that say, “Turkey and Water,” etc. If the meat has chemicals listed that you can't pronounce, don't buy it.

9) CUT FRIED FOODS BY 90%.

10) AVOID FOOD COLORINGS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. See if your child is sensitive to any particular colors, such as Reds, Yellows, etc. For now, though, avoid all if possible.

SUMMARY: Just eat foods that God made for a while. Eat like people did in the 1940's. Go to a used book store and get a Betty Crocker's Cook Book for recipe ideas. There really are about 10,000 meals that you CAN eat. Just not much in the way of “fast foods” or “convenience” foods.

http://www.oneaddplace.com/adhd-diet.php

My brother has a Secretary that does his origination and it works great. without her he is lost.