Meds that doesn't ruin your creativity...?

[SunnyHours]

Hi everyone,

I subscribed to these boards yesterday. I'm trying to find a medication to help me at school. I am studying in Web Design and I love it!

Problem is that if I take my Ritalin I noticed my creativity going down...not too good for a designer. But I am about to get kicked out of school because I am always late or don't go at all. It's my last chance!

I am doing all I can right now and I have ZERO motivation to wake in the morning or do my work at night. When I was taking the ritalin it helped tremendously with those problems but it deleted my creativity.

Now to go to school I drink 2-3 Monster energy drink to be able to concentrate and I don't have loads of money so it's becoming an issue.

My question is: has anyone found a medication (preferably a stimulant) that would not decrease creativity ?
I have only tried Ritalin so far...I'm just wondering what would help me more Adderall or Dexedrine?

I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon and I will talk to my doctor (she's pretty strict) and will at least try to get back on the Ritalin or try something else.

Thanks for the input!
Fred.

[Imnapl]

Fred, please describe what your definition of creativity is.

[Contrapunctus]

Modafinil does not seem to negatively impact higher level cognition, so this may be a possibility.

In my opinion, the loss of creativity is more severe with amphetamine, but this can vary by individual.

[mystery]

Originally Posted by SunnyHours

Hi everyone,

I subscribed to these boards yesterday. I'm trying to find a medication to help me at school. I am studying in Web Design and I love it!

Do you have ADHD, or is motivation the underlying issue? I suggest exercise, getting enough sleep, eating good food and eating often, and maybe try meditation or just taking time to relax once a day.

It is very important to eat breakfast, lunch, & dinner during the day as a bare minimum. Soft drinks or energy drinks are no substitute for good food. Also, it might help to ride a bicycle to school to force yourself to get exercise.

I'd suggest supplements and a mutivitamin/multimineral. I find Acetyl l carnitine & alpha lipoic acid helpful for energy. There are lots of other supplements and herbs on the market. Additionally, there are "nootropics" known to help with cognition, piracetam being the most notable. Check out the wikipedia nootropic article.

If that doesn't at least help, then there may be other causes for poor motivation. Like, not seeing any benefit to studying or going to school. Visualizations can really help there, and using other motivational techniques. Also, you just might be pushing yourself too hard for now with too many classes & too much work. In that case, using a stimulant short term might be the answer, but long term, it may be advisable to make changes.

As a last resort, there are plenty of other stimulants available that may not impact creativity as much. Ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine come to mind, but you'll need to search some for these. Be careful if planning to try these, as they are linked to heart problems and death when abused. It appears that one can legally import adrafinil without a prescription which is metabolized to modafinil. But it is best to use this moderately as it has been linked to liver problems. Modafinil is FDA approved for narcolepsy and is a fairly benign stimulant, which shows some promise for ADHD treatment. Deprenyl is an MAO-B, and is often helpful for motivation being an antidepressant. It is often used in low doses as a nootropic. I notice kava helps with motivation, though this may be an atypical reaction. You could try nicotine patches, as these appear to help some with focusing. And finally, it is legal to buy coca tea that has not been de-cocainized in the US (with very low concentrations of cocaine). Wikipedia coca tea

[hash browns]

Originally Posted by mystery

You could try nicotine patches, as these appear to help some with focusing. And finally, it is legal to buy coca tea that has not been de-cocainized in the US (with very low concentrations of cocaine). Wikipedia coca tea

um, i dont see how getting him addicted to nicotine is going to do him any good, and i dont think taking large doses of coca tea is a good idea either, for obvious reasons.

ive been taking adderall, and recently switched to vyvanse, and they both work great for me in terms of making me feel motivated to get my school work done.
also, in my opinion, these medicines INCREASE my creativity. i have a very creative personality medicated or otherwise, but for me taking these medicines allow me to organize my ideas and focus my creativity much more effectively. it also allows me to do work of much higher quality because im less spaced-out and im mentally focused on what im doing.
for example, unmedicated my writing tends to be pretty cliché, i repeat alot of the same words, use shorter sentences, and is often incorrectly organized. but when i am using my medicines i find that i have a much greater vocabulary, i use very complex and long sentences, and the entire paper flows well. in fact, it reflects such greater skill, that it seems as if an entirely different person has written the paper.

but you should realize everyone reacts differently to these medicines and it is up to you to work with your doctor to try to find something that gives you the most benefit with the least amount of side effects.
if taking these medicines give you the ability to get your work done at the cost of being less creative, you need to seriously consider what is more important; your creativity, or the ability to get your work completed. after all, what good is it to be creative without the motivation to apply that creativity?

food for thought.

[D.B. Cooper]

Theres sort of a shift of creativity favoring linear thought but thats the only creative stunting thing i can think of.

I work with music mostly in a non convential way, ie using sequencers, sampling, manipulating sounds and making synths output horrible noises. The actual act of arranging pieces in a sequencer is very mechanical and logical after a while. Stimulants work great for this because of its linear nature. I dont make very conventional stuff so a large amount of the synth and percussion requires a level of abstractive thought as theres no outline of what time sequence its written in (4/4, 3/3/, 3/8 etc). Abstractive thought would probably come a lot harder if i wrote it in a conventional time and had to try and force pieces together and make it aestheticly pleasing..

Writing a song on something like a guitar or drums should be much easier as its all sort of derivative and follows a logical, mathmatic progression..

[ozchris]

If we agree that stimulants can all effect people differently it's no surprise some people get this effect.

Give dexadrine a try if possible. Ritalin makes me dopey and not creative, dex doesn't have this effect at all. (personally)

Cooper - I couldn't even finish a whole song before I was treated with stimulants..now I can arrange pieces of musicly easily. My creativity is not effected negatively at all by dex, if anything my ability to acually use my creativity improves. Synths are fun we should start a music production thread.

[mystery]

Wikipedia Paul Erdos

After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.^[5] Erdős won the bet, but complained during his abstinence that mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before[presumably taking amphetamines], when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine habit.

[inmostleaf]

Originally Posted by SunnyHours

Problem is that if I take my Ritalin I noticed my creativity going down...

As it was just stated this is highly individualistic.

For some stimulants can work wonders throughout all aspects of a person's life.

For others it can work in a given area or two.

And for the other others it can do what you're describing. However, I have a feeling there's an underlying cause that you're not fully aware of.

Only time & reflection will unwound the details to that.

But I am about to get kicked out of school because I am always late or don't go at all. It's my last chance!

Have you talked to your professors about your disorder?

If not, do it now before it's too late. At the very least with proper documentation from your doctor(s) you can get a little more leniency.

Now to go to school I drink 2-3 Monster energy drink to be able to concentrate and I don't have loads of money so it's becoming an issue.

If you don't have a lot of money don't waste it on that crap. All the additives and sugars do not mix well.

Instead, go buy a nice thermos or two and a lot of tea. Preferably green tea as you're interested in creativity (look up theanine + increased alpha waves).

My question is: has anyone found a medication (preferably a stimulant) that would not decrease creativity ?

It's tough to hear due to your current situation but trial & error. That is THE ONLY way YOU will know.

Everyone reacts differently so heed to that.

[Terrah]

Its all in your head bro think about it