You have to eventually just go for something instead of living completely for the future. You can live to improve tomorrow more and more, never enjoy a day, and then die with it all in vein. I'm not saying you should necessarily take it, but consider how much it helps you now vs. the future potential damages and try to balance it out.
I agree completely. I've been on stimulants mostly for the past 7 years, after a battery of cognitive tests indicated a rather marked difference in my short-term memory (27th percentile) vs. long term (99th percentile). The idea was that I was inattentive most of the time, but once I could attend, I'd remember anything.
In any event, for the first two years or so I was on ritalin and then generic adderall. They both immediately helped me, but ritalin made me feel like a zombie emotionally. Adderall, and subsequently Adderall XR, sparked a several year period of immense intellectual curiosity. That has not diminished but the I have to take vacations from Adderall because I can feel myself becoming psychologically addicted to it. I'm a graduate student and freelance writer and writing on adderall was simply necessary for me, having done it for the past several years. It's very hard for me to sit down and write unless I'm on some kind of stimulant (legal stimulant)
Anyway, the point is, Adderall is effective for the initial boost but utlimately you need to pour yourself, or let yourself be moved by, something quite independent of psychoactive substances.
I go off Adderall XR now every 3 or so months and I try to remain off for at least a month to a month and a half. It's really hard, and often times I need to take adranafil and/or wellbutrin to feel like I can access my productive and intelligent self. Again, this is all psychological, not physical.
Anyway, I hope that proved insightful for you or someone else. I'm 23 years old, hopefully at some point (when I'm no longer a student, lol) I can taper off permanently.
Edited by dprice218, 11 March 2008 - 12:32 PM.