I was diagnosed a few months ago and am 21 years old. My psych believes that I wasn't diagnosed earlier in life because I am very naturally intelligent--it just caught up with me in college. Once I got into college, I started wondering if I did have ADD.

However, I started using marijuana and DXM (the stuff in cough syrup) heavily the summer before I started college. People do not know for sure if DXM punches holes in your brain, but PCP and Ketamine, both dissociatives like a high dose of DXM, do. I don't know if my circumstances had anything to do with ADD at all, but is there any user or former user of any drug, not just the aforementioned, that thinks that you screwed their brain up to the point where you couldn't focus, concentrate, became chronically depressed, etc.?

I was a heavy DXM user for years. I had the same inability to concentrate before I used as after. But to tell you the truth I have heard of the uncertainty of whether or not DXM will damage the brain and have nothing but what I've already writted to add.

What is the attraction of using DXM? I've never heard of it. I hope my asking isn't considered inappropriate - I'm really curious. PCP has always sounded like something that'd make one feel horrible. So if DXM is similar to PCP, I just don't understand the allure of it.

Thx,
Sue

I haven't read too much of the research, so I don't really know if they've ever come up with a legitimate study proving the "holes in the brain" theory.

I know in my experience, there was a bit of a brain fog hangover the next day, but it usually went away after a day or two. Unless you were taking massive, life-threatening doses of it, you probably didn't do anything to permanently screw up your brain.

And all that stuff about marijuana killing brain cells is a myth, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. You may have short-term memory problems during and after smoking, but there are studies showing that the effects are not permanent.

I don't want to encourage anyone to take DXM, it sucks long term. It's a hard drug to describe, but I can say I could do my accounting homework in my imagination without a book when I was on it. And my grades proved it, top of the class. Unfortunatley it also makes you totally anti-social, or at least it did me, and I didn't even have a girlfriend for about five years.

you know I'm a meth addict, I used for 22 years...
..we've talked about it.

on gay pride day (june 27th) I'll be clean 3 years.

...I get a parade evey year.

LOL!

As an ex DXM abuser, I understand the fear of lasting damage. Especially after my last trip (10 oz of Delsym, tripped for about 8 days, lost just about every friend I had that one. Dissociation is not fun for a week.).

The biggest health scare with DXM was a paper by William Whiteabout the possibility of "Olney's Lesions", permanent tissue death caused by NMDA Antagonist Nuerotoxicity. However a study in June of last year showed that DXM does not produce that specific form of damage. There are people who still complain of cognitive problems, although for anyone who was not a multi-daily user for extended periods of time, the problems eventually subsided.

I know after my last dose, I was very depressed and burnt out for almost months, and prior to that dose I had not tripped for at least 2 months.

To some, it is a truly amazing drug, but you pay the price =(

Yeah, in the time when I was using DXM, I thought it was amazing. And I won't lie, maybe I've become a more open-minded person because of it or something. But the risk just isn't worth it. Dealing with nausea and the day or sometimes 2-day after effects made me realize that I was pretty much an idiot. But before I discovered a regular source for other drugs, cough medicine seemed alright because it was relatively cheap and legal. Though cashiers may look at you weird if you buy 2 bottles at once :o