Posted by pablo1 on October 7, 2004, at 11:25:17
In reply to Geno....Let's Brainstorm......(very long), posted by thug life on October 6, 2004, at 8:38:37
thug life,
Thanks, this is interesting. I do differ in my understanding on a few points though.
I've got ADD inattentive type and overfocused type (I think) but I really don't have problems focusing, mostly with being distracted and procrastinating or maybe the substance abuse is a bigger issue than I want to believe. I've had four docs give me various diagnosis that all included moderate ADHD to some extent & have been in & out of therapy most of my life. Like geno, I've tried being sober & my brain isn't happy that way either so I've always self medicated for 30 years, mostly pot & drinking, not super heavily but regularly. So I think that messed up my ability to appreciate the psych meds 'cause it gets confused between getting high and feeling therapeutic effects.
For the record, I think geno is maybe pushing the stimulants too far but given his background of severe narcotic abuse, relatively speaking I think he's on the right track trying to be more methodical & logical about it working with a doc & will eventually settle down. I'm not in a position to criticise about abusing meds. But I do want to find a place where I'm not abusing and at peace. Enough for the disclaimers...
I look at the meds mostly in their relative action on the three major neurotransmitters NE DA & SE. SSRI's mellowed me out & made the procrastination worse in a way plus when I came off, I got a DA rebound like crazy. NE reacts badly with me, causing sleep problems & one of my diagnosis is anxiety so I don't need any more of that. This makes ritalin & adderall not ideal for me. So I got myself some pure dopamine meds amisulpride & amineptine & while they haven't fixed my procrastination, they feel good, make me happy & more motivated and alive without feeling like I'm "on speed" usually (unless I drink a lot of coffee). Mostly they give me a real subtle euphoria and activate my reward/pleasure system more than stimulating the NE adrenaline stuff. They take the blah out & make me feel more like a happy normal person & more sociable. BTW pot does this too but gets me much more high & fuzzy headed. Alcohol relaxes me & I think the part that works on the GABA causes a euphoria/pleasure sociability similar to the dopamine meds but obviously gets me drunk too. But all these give me what I'm missing.
So the way I see the stimulants is:
Ritalin -more NE, more jittery
Adderall -moderate balance
Dexadrine -more DA, more smooth/euphoric/motivating
Amisulpride -almost no jitters, smooth subtle pleasureDoes this scale of relative effects make sense to others?
poster:pablo1
thread:396950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/399956.html