I wonder if anyone can relate to having a temporary ideal mental state? And, having the idea or concept in your imagination of what this might be?

I've had fleeting moments of being "with it" or something like that. Where I'm focused, motivated, confident, cool, can absorb information, and have drastically improved performance. I most had this state when first using caffeine. I certainly have this state in many other instances, but again, it is only temporary. Like sometimes when reading a book, I will be totally caught up in it. Maybe what I'm describing is a sort of flow state or something. I always used to have this when playing computer games, but now I seemed to be loosing interest in them.

The reason I ask, is that I'm getting somewhat disappointed with medication. I've tried focalin and dexedrine and I'm not too happy with either of them though they were somewhat helpful for ADHD symptoms. I'm just hoping that there is some substance out there that can induce this ideal mental state more permanently. Maybe I'm looking for something that isn't really there? Can anyone relate? I've thought that treating ADHD-PI symptoms could induce this. I've also tried the following potential ADHD treatments:
modafinil
deprenyl
strattera for a short period
ritalin (dl-methylphenidate)
pseudoephedrine
ephedrine
amantadine

And still I hope for this state. I'm planning to try desoxyn, and may be adderall as well. It remains a thought of mine that effectively treating ADHD-PI will induce this, but maybe I'm just delusional. I have this imagined ideal cognitive state and it is so easy to understand. It is crystal clear within my imagination. I know is there, yet it is so difficult if not impossible to achieve...

I don't completely understand what you mean.

Do you mean like me you feal brain foggy all the time and you want more clarity?

I know EXACTLY what you mean....
...............I'm never gonna make it back there tho.


Enjoy your sanity~

...it's fleeting.

I think that everyone has lucid moments. But yes, I know what you mean....eventually the bubble bursts and I'm back to being scattered and sidetracked.....

Me :D

I kind of know what you're talking about. I'm on my 4th ADD med and it doesn't seem to be doing much. My brain just feels cluttered. On rare days I'll just feel "in it" when I'm doing something, say homework, just tear into it, get it done, and be happy. That seems to be happening less and less, though.

Have you tried changing your diet? or more natural holistic treatments as an alternative to the medications or in addition to the medications.

I feel the ideal mental state either on dex or adderall when I feel like I can grasp something with my brain. Where my brain feels like it is fully alert and responsive.

I also find that when I eat healthy like Fruits and Veggies and no McDonalds and exercise more that I can reach that ideal mental state more often.

I had that ideal mental state 50%-75% on concerta for 1 year, then Adderall 1 year. The only days it were near "reall" or euphoric ,maybe were the first or second days.


anyone taking NMDA to prevent tolerance? I'm just trying dexedrine with amantadine, i'll let you know the results, so far none.

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/archive/index.php/t-97021.html

read this for adderall tolerance prevention...prolly applies to dexedrine as well.
i don't bother with it cuz it alrdy gained tolerence for adderall alrdy but jus ttake a look.

I don't completely understand what you mean.

Do you mean like me you feal brain foggy all the time and you want more clarity?

I think it's predominately having more focus but the other factors are important too. I don't think it's brain fogginess. It's like my mental faculties are functioning properly, but they are scattered, and sometimes I can focus them. Maybe this is what I mean by ideal mental state.

It's clear to me that I don't have as good a natural ability to focus as "normals".

Here's an example. Lets say I'm playing starcraft an RTS game. I'll normally have so many thoughts going in my head, and I'll just act on each one that hits me as fast as I can. Like, I need to build something, then need to command some forces, put some workers on resources, or scout. I'll be in a frenzy but I am kind of hesitant or something and I can just tell that I'm not so "with it." But, sometimes I just hit this state where I can focus all of my mental capabilities on one task at a time, and I'll complete each task like lightning and make the best decisions in a split second. It's as if during each few millo-seconds, there is no mental clutter but just what I need to do right then. All worrying fades, and I hit this zone. It's sometimes during a battle that this happens. I'll often turn games around in those instances if I was loosing.

BTW, I don't mean to say meds aren't helping. Today I tried halving my dose again, and taking just .625 mg dex. This dose may prove to be more helpful than 1.25 mg! Maybe I just need to play around with dosing more, and too much dex may be detrimental. I know this is very odd. Amu_d provided a possible explanation:
Vit C if too much Adderal/Dexedrine/Ritalin #7 (http://www.addforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=645422&postcount=7)

Have you tried changing your diet? or more natural holistic treatments as an alternative to the medications or in addition to the medications.

I feel the ideal mental state either on dex or adderall when I feel like I can grasp something with my brain. Where my brain feels like it is fully alert and responsive.

I also find that when I eat healthy like Fruits and Veggies and no McDonalds and exercise more that I can reach that ideal mental state more often.

I've been working on improving my diet which helps significantly. I feel best when I eat a wide variety of good quality food that is home cooked. What I'm craving seems helpful within reason, like a hamburger may be loaded with lots of necessary saturated fats and amino acids and I may feel better eating one sometimes :p. But not the crud you'd find at mcdonalds.

I like to semi-meditate which is good for my cognition and health in just about every way. Short naps during the day seem very helpful.

I try to work around my ADHD. I'll do difficult tasks, then easy ones. A really good aid for getting things done is just a piece of paper and writing steps down to complete a complicated task.

I am always trying to redefine what my goals and purpose is in life. Maybe I want to be more ADHD at times, and do things that don't require me to be any other way.

Do you have any other holistic suggestions?

Well, if you are getting that much out of such a low dosage, that is crazy. Obviously if you can feel that much at all then you must be very sensitive.

I sort of know what you mean. I seem to do my very best when I have no drugs but something will grip me for some reason and make me kind of obsessive on it, for a short time, anyway, or sometimes when I absolutely have to do it or have someone good at motivating me. Then I can just do a truly amazing amount of (high quality) work. The less interesting something is, the more difficult it is to do at all, but no matter how interesting something is I just can't keep up the interest as much as I should.

I don't think meds are a cureall, just a tool. I do think it's probably possible to find the ways you work best to make it so you can get into that state more often, call it hyperfocus or whatever.

Find a way to trigger your adrenaline.

When I first started taking high doses of caffeine, my adrenaline stores wouldn't have been depleted. I managed to access this state a lot in those days, for a couple years or so.

Then as tolerance built up, caffeine wasn't triggering the adrenaline response as well, and this may have been because I was burning out my adrenals with all the stimulants.

I think adrenaline is the key, perhaps.

Batman, I support that.

Effect from low dosee could support the idea that the problem is in the frontal lobe.

I definitely feel what you are talking about.
Most of my day I try out random things to get into that state, many days I don´t get there, sometimes I do. The annoying thins is I can never keep it for more than a few hours, and often just one or two. Then the same feeling of not being there.

This just beats me.
Yesterday I reached the state with a combination of lots of pomegranat (don´t know why, but it seems good for me), double dose of Bricanyl inhalation (asthmamedication, use it mostly for the stim effect:-) and playing Depeche Mode on my ipod.
The state was just so incredibly pleasant, i could literally feel how my feet started to touch the ground, all my movements become more determined and more fluid as if the brains registrers what is going on and the feedback system works, and my thoughts and psyche was really clear. Feels like a state where I can be both very relaxed and focused, easy to talk to people, much more easy to keep eye contact, and not seem scattered. then after a couple of hours. gone. And then tried to repeat today-not working!! grrr.

Mystery, out of curiousity, do you exercise at all?

Mystery, out of curiousity, do you exercise at all?

I'm trying to start a routine of 15 mins cardio in the morning about 4 times a week and work up from there. It does appear to help slightly with focusing, and it is very good for motivation. I noticed that when I went overboard with cardio a year ago I was sort of chasing some euphoric feeling from it and I starting to get overstimulated and anxious. I was running like 6-8 miles 4 times a week. I think lots of exercise like this now can throw my hormone levels off (like too much cortisol) where this wasn't the case when I was younger. I've mentioned that I used to weight train, but I've got a thin frame and having lots of muscle doesn't quite fit. Actually I'm trying to slim down with the exercise.