This is nonsense. I don’t know why people keep saying this. I’ve been medicated for 30 years and you definitely get a euphoria boost when the meds kick in, and you definitely get withdraws on days you don’t take them. They aren’t bad or anything. Just feeling a bit tired and crazy hungry, but the idea that the pills don’t have the standard upper effects on people with adhd is just wrong.
Everyone is different. It’s a mixture of several disorders afterall. For me this is how it works. Same with my girlfriend who is also ADHD like me.
With Adderall, no euphoric upper effect from stimulants unless we use a very high dose. No physical withdrawal symptoms, just back to how we are unmedicated, e.g. easy to get mentally exhausted from anything mentally taxing, difficulty paying attention to a single task, reduced executive function, etc. But it’s not something that happens immediately. It’s once the tasks become overwhelming that we notice we didn’t take our meds. There is not really an immediate sign assuming I had a good night’s rest and I’m not already burnt out.
Caffeine on the other hand has more of a physical withdrawal for me if I don’t have it. And, especially if I’m also on Adderall, and I really load up on it, I do sometimes get that high, “tweaker” feeling. And if I have too much too late in the day, it can keep me from sleeping. (Though, some people with ADHD I know actually use caffeine to fall asleep since it helps them avoid the mind wandering so much.) Besides the same issues as above, I do get headaches late the first day and if I had been overdoing it for several days and stop, cold turkey, I can get migraines around the second or third day.
But I never have a psychological desire to have the medication or caffeine nagging at me like true addiction. I do get what that feels like such as from not having an orgasm for a while like if I travel and don’t bring a vibrator and really end up turned on from hormones. But I’ve never had anything like that from stimulants. Even crack cocaine that I tried a few times, many, many years ago.
Well, the studies out there disagree. While it varies from person to person, it is indeed true that people with ADHD are much less likely to experience euphoric affect when taking stimulant medication than Neurotypical people. If you take something like Adderall or Desoxyn, then the potential for euphoric affect is higher due to the faster dopaminergic release. So some people with ADHD can and do sometimes have that euphoric affect, but it’s definitely less common than for Neurotypicals.
This is nonsense. I don’t know why people keep saying this. I’ve been medicated for 30 years and you definitely get a euphoria boost when the meds kick in, and you definitely get withdraws on days you don’t take them. They aren’t bad or anything. Just feeling a bit tired and crazy hungry, but the idea that the pills don’t have the standard upper effects on people with adhd is just wrong.
Everyone is different. It’s a mixture of several disorders afterall. For me this is how it works. Same with my girlfriend who is also ADHD like me.
With Adderall, no euphoric upper effect from stimulants unless we use a very high dose. No physical withdrawal symptoms, just back to how we are unmedicated, e.g. easy to get mentally exhausted from anything mentally taxing, difficulty paying attention to a single task, reduced executive function, etc. But it’s not something that happens immediately. It’s once the tasks become overwhelming that we notice we didn’t take our meds. There is not really an immediate sign assuming I had a good night’s rest and I’m not already burnt out.
Caffeine on the other hand has more of a physical withdrawal for me if I don’t have it. And, especially if I’m also on Adderall, and I really load up on it, I do sometimes get that high, “tweaker” feeling. And if I have too much too late in the day, it can keep me from sleeping. (Though, some people with ADHD I know actually use caffeine to fall asleep since it helps them avoid the mind wandering so much.) Besides the same issues as above, I do get headaches late the first day and if I had been overdoing it for several days and stop, cold turkey, I can get migraines around the second or third day.
But I never have a psychological desire to have the medication or caffeine nagging at me like true addiction. I do get what that feels like such as from not having an orgasm for a while like if I travel and don’t bring a vibrator and really end up turned on from hormones. But I’ve never had anything like that from stimulants. Even crack cocaine that I tried a few times, many, many years ago.
Well, the studies out there disagree. While it varies from person to person, it is indeed true that people with ADHD are much less likely to experience euphoric affect when taking stimulant medication than Neurotypical people. If you take something like Adderall or Desoxyn, then the potential for euphoric affect is higher due to the faster dopaminergic release. So some people with ADHD can and do sometimes have that euphoric affect, but it’s definitely less common than for Neurotypicals.
Which studies?