Adderall gave me my life back.

[SwampFox56]

I do realize that this is a repost of a post I made in a thread earlier today. But I thought more people might be interested in my experince with Adderall



Hello, My name is Zeke, I am 16, and I was prescribed Adderall XR almost 2 months ago. I figured that since a lot of people on this forum are fighting over the use of amphetamines, my opinion might be valuable to both sides since I am in high school, I do take it on a weekly basis (I try not to take it during th weekends), and I don't abuse it.

Many kids at my school call Adderall "addie" so I might refer to it as that through out this post (probably not, but that's just what most high school student call it). I was originally prescribed 10MG XR's, my doctor then bumped it up to 20MG's, and we decided to let it sit at 30MG's.

Well before I was prescribed Adderall, I had no motivation to do anything in life. I was in a horrible depression, and I could barley get myself out of bed in the morning. This got so bad that for the past two years I have missed SOO much school that I have only gotten a fraction of the credits that I should have by now. The majority of people just thought I was being lazy, and that I could get out of bed if I had really tried. That isn't even remotely true, and it took me a long to convince people that I wasn't just being lazy. I knew that I would never graduate from school if I didn't get my credits. I knew that I would be a loser if I didn't get any schooling. Every night before I went to bed I would say to myself "Tomorrow I'm going to do it. Tomorrow I am GOING to get up for school in the morning." but no matter how much I tried to convince myself to get up, I just couldn't. Something was holding me back mentally. The things I used to like to do no longer interested me. I used to love music, I no longer cared for any of it. Everything little thing that anyone did made me extremely angry to the point where I might even get violent, and the only happiness that I really got out of life was playing video games.

I went to a therapist and he diagnosed me with clinical depression, and two different types of anxiety. I DID NOT want to take any medication. I tried desperately to find natural ways of trying to treat depression, and anxiety. I tried many different things, but since I had no motivation to do anything I couldn't stick with them. After around a month of trying to find other ways to cure my unhappiness, I reluctantly decided to try medication. He prescribed me Zoloft for depression and anxiety, and Trazodone as a sleeping aid since I would always stay awake worrying about things.

Those drugs really didn't do much. The Zoloft did eliminate my feelings of sadness, and some anxiety, but I still had no motivation to do anything. And the Trazodone did make me fall asleep almost instantly, but it leaves you feeling very groggy in the morning, and feels not unlike a blow to the head.

Also let me put something into perspective for you. My lack of motivation was to do anything was SO bad that. It would literally take me a couple hours of motivating myself to do something as simple as taking out the trash. And most of the time the only reason I did it anyways was because would stand over me and make me do it. My lack of motivation has also stopped me from doing good in school. It stops me from getting up in the morning. I was very close to earning my Eagle Scout, and my lack of motivation has made it so I am no longer able to do any of my Boy Scout work.

Well after a while I told my therapist that even though the Zoloft helped with my depression and anxiety. Those were obviously not the cause of my lack of motivation.

He decided that we needed to add another drug on top of my existing one. He said that he was going to put me on Adderall even though I hadn't been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. But he told me and my parents that he could justify doing it without testing me for ADD or ADHD because of my lack of ability to get up in the morning, and the fact that I am always tired. And he also said that from what I described he thought I had a very severe forum of ADD.

Now let me explain something else. My parents are VERY anti-drug people. They thing that any drug, no matter what its use is, is unnecessary, and if take any sort of medication for more than a very short time that it will mess with your brain chemistry and turn you into a zombie. I like to thing of my parents as smart people, but they are very uneducated when it comes to drugs (in my opinion) In fact, they are so anti-drug that they won't even let me or my younger sister take Aspirin! If they ever give us any medicine at all, they give us a toddler's amount of Tylenol! They act like every medicine contains a large amount of oxycoden inside of it.

Anyways my point of telling you this was; its not like my parents rushed into taking the prescription. They had serious reservations about giving it to me. And my therapist actually had to meet with them privately to discuss how it could benefit me. And especially with a drug that can potentially be very addicting, and have very negative effects on the body. It really took alot of time convincing them that it could help me.

And, to be honest, I really didn't want to take it either. I don't really like taking medication either. But I really didn't see any other drug that MIGHT help my motivation and my ability to wake up.

Adderall has exceeded all expectation that I could have ever had for any drug. Adderall has made me 1000 times more motivated, I can actually DO things again! It's still hard for me to get up in the morning, but I am able to wake up just long enough to take my Adderall in the morning, I fall back asleep for around 30 min, and then I wake up, I do not feel tired, I don't feel hopeless in the morning, and I actually WANT to go to summer school.

Since I wasn't unable to get up at all last year or this year, I failed a lot of my classes. And I am way behind in my credits. While I have been taking Adderall. I love getting my work done. Its actually makes getting things done fun!

Throughout my whole school career I have never done well in school. I am now extremely ahead of schedule in my summer school classes, and it looks like I will be able to earn twice the amount of credits I thought I was going to this summer! You have no idea how that feels.

Anti-drug activists, and fanatics (like my parents) will argue that these drugs do nothing good for you. Well if it wasn't for my Adderall prescription.......well I don't want to think about that.

[Buffie1313]

Thats great!!! I have a thread on how someone stole my meds when I just started the treatment...I can not wait to get my adderall back in July when I see the doctor. I got to use it for 4 days and I was doing things I onced loved and haven't done in awhile. I hope when I get back on my meds I end up like you feel.
I am older 34 with 2 kids. I have deppression as well and avoid being around my kids for 2 long..Sounds bad. I love them. They are at the age where they go play outside with friends so it's a little better now getting quite time for myself.
On adderall I had a better time cleaning it came more easey to me. I am mad right now cause I have no meds but look forward to the futre

[Divacai]

I have nothing but love for Adderall as well. I wish I had been diagnosed with ADHD at 16, I think my life would have gone a different route.

It's good to hear that someone so young is finding the help they needed and succeeding. Good Job Zeke!!!!

[Buffie1313]

Divacai...Your so right. Sadly my mom told me after I got the conformation I have ADHD last month..She said oh yes one of your doctors said you might have that when you where younger but you would grow out of it..I was sooooooo MAD!!! To think how she knew and never helped me. Sadder they took care of foster kids with it but never thought to ge me checked out. I wonder how things could be for me now if she did. I know I would of went to college. I didn't cause it got to hard to get finacial aid..lol I laugh cause ADHD held me back. I think it is great that colleges help ppl withh ADD/HD I wish I knew for myself.