Comment · Mon, September 16, 2013
If using drugs makes your life objectively better, is that addiction, or just an intelligent decision?
Original post in this thread
[deleted] · 95 points
I started taking stimulants 3 years ago, at age 24. I had finally sought psychiatric help for my depression several months prior. SSRIs, anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, etc., all the usually first line crap, made me feel worse or did nothing to fix the problems that had always plagued me since I was about 12 years old, and had grown worse in the years since.
I was your classic depressive. Not the melancholy, over-sensitive, weep softly depressive. I was the lethargic depressive, who slept excessively, had trouble paying attention or putting forth effort most of the time, and was generally just a lazy person. I never really liked anything that much, and didn't understand why people would get so worked up over anything- music, politics, school, work....
I was, however, capable of extraordinary things when I was excited and engaged, or simply afraid. If I could get some adrenaline going, I was a brilliant, hard-working, caring person. But that was about 1% of the time. The rest of the time I was sleeping all day, playing video games, working menial jobs, and generally making my family bemoan what a waste of talent I was.
I tried adderall for the first time when I was 2…
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Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
10mg per day is not a large dose. You are exposing your brain to more stress, and most likely causing some damage. However, that damage is probably not significant. You may be taxing your adrenals. That is where adaptogens like bacopa, rhodiola, and ashwagandha can help. They will help regulate your cortisol levels, as well as keeping your enzymes levels steady.
Also, you have to consider some protection from excitotoxicity. That is where extracellular levels of glutamate get too high, opening your NMDA channels, and allowing calcium to influx into your neurons in too high a concentrations. This can damage or destroy your neurons at worst, and increase tolerance at best. A bioavailable magnesium supplement is a must, as that is what blocks the NMDA channels from opening until the neuron reaches excitability. Magnesium glycinate is a good one.
Then you can add an NMDA receptor antagonist in there to add some more protection. Memantine is the go-to drug for that. It binds to an open-channel binding site. This means that it sill allows for normal operation of the NMDA channels, but closes the channel before it can allow too much calcium to pass through. It's much more efficient than something like DXM or ketamine. Not to mention, people on amphetamine report that their doses become more effective when on mematine.
Then you need to look into supplements to help get your ATP production and energy going. I'd suggest adding in some creatine, ALCAR, CoQ10, and maybe some antioxidants like alpha lipoic acid. Then maybe consider some taurine and L-arginine to help protect your cardiac muscles from the stimulant use.