One year of stimulants in college. My thoughts and advice...

I am 20 now and am studying Chemistry (BS) in college. Over the last summer I obtained a script for amphetamines which I have successfully been using to raise my grades. I believe that I do have some degree of ADHD, however I really don't care because the end result is the same. I definitely have RLS. Anyways, here are my thoughts on prescription stimulants after one year. I am writting this list for anyone who is choosing to start taking stimulants on a regular basis for academic reasons. Some of these things are opinions and may not necessary apply to anyone but myself, however there will be a lot of generalization in this list.

1. Adderall is addictive, even for people who legitimately have ADHD and have used their meds since they were young children. I am not in that category, but have never met anyone who didn't admit this.

2. Most doctors that i've seen do not believe people who have ADHD are even capable of getting high from their meds. This leads to somewhat reckless prescribing of stims.

3. The most amphetamine the average person can take in a sustainable manner is around 50mg. Note: "the average person". Your mileage may vary.

4. If you are taking amphetamines you would probably be better off with total abstinence from caffeine and tobacco. I get a lot more out of my script by doing this, have much softer comedowns, feel happier and healthier, and get much better quality of sleep.

5. All the amphetamine in the world doesn't mean jack shit if you don't get at least 6 hours of sleep and 2 solid meals per day. Minimum. You'll feel better the more sleep and food you get. I try to get a solid 8 or 9 hours of sleep and munch all day.

6. Don't pull all nighters, they will break your body down, cause your tolerance to skyrocket, and in general fuck shit up.

7. Amphetamines will, at first, make you actually want to do things that you consider work. This will go away after a while, but not entirely. Do not try to compensate by upping the dose. Doing so will just make the problem worse. Instead, you're just gonna have to learn to do shit that you don't want to.

8. If you have trouble sleeping, see your doctor and get that shit solved right away. I use clonidine and melatonin, and it works alright for me. I am thinking of asking for gabapentin as an additional med.

9. You won't always feel like eating but you have to. A good way to get your calories when you don't feel like eating is by drinking whole milk and eating cliff bars. Beef jerky, pasta, omelets, juice, shakes, and gatorade are good ways to get calories as well.

10. Take whatever vitamins you feel is appropriate, just don't go overboard with dozens of obscure nootropics. Take at least a normal multi-vitamin, it'll reduce comedowns and stress. I take one multivitamin, one vitamin C tab, one Omega-3 supplement, and two iron supplements in the morning (I have low blood-iron). I take melatonin and magnesium before bed (both help a tad with sleep).

11. Stimulants can make switching between tasks very difficult. It will always be "one more second/game/flashcard/whatever". Learn how to watch out for this and always think "what am I doing right now, and should I still be doing this or should I be starting something else".

12. If you cannot moderate yourself with your own meds, see if a trustworthy close friend or SO can distribute your meds to you. Thats what I do. My girlfriend gives me one pill every morning. If I have a packed day, then we discuss two but she has veto power.

13. This one is an opinion, but I find vyvanse to be very much superior to adderall or adderall XR. The come-up is much smoother which I find substantially less addictive. It can't be snorted crushed, plugged or even IV'd for a faster experience. It is what it is and you just have to accept it. Less of a rush also means you don't do as many things you regret in manic euphoria. Then, vyvanse also lasts all day without the up/down bipolar feeling of adderall, and it ends with a much milder comedown. The fact that vyvanse only uses dextroamphetamine as opposed to levoamphetamine supposedly means more dopamine is released compared to epinephrine and norepinephrine. I believe this reduces the stressed out feelings I get from adderall. Finally, less people ask you for vyvanse yet it is worth much more.

14. Stay hydrate. Try to use water fountains.

15. Stimulants can take away the "gross, I haven't showered or brushed my teeth feeling". As gross as it is you may have to remind yourself to take care of you hygiene.

16. Try not to mix booze with stims. It will fuck with your head if you do it to much and/or too hard.

17. Do not take stimulants everyday for an unending period. I personally need at least one day off per week to recharge, catch up on sleep and food, and to just relax. Not taking days off reduces the effectiveness of stims and leads to anxiety.

18. To elaborate about the consequences of not getting enough sleep... with enough stimulants you would be hard pressed to feel tired or miss class. You can make yourself feel fine even when you have only a couple hours of sleep per night. You won't notice until afterwards, when you are getting enough sleep, that you have little to no memory or recall of this sleep-deprived state. In that state you become irritable and have wild mood swings. You become OBSESSED with things that you give zero fucks about normally. I mean fucking obsessed researching stupid shit you truly, truly don't care about, and then you barely even remember what you learned during your obsession. Stay the fuck away from this place, it takes a toll on your body, mind, and relationships and it is why my girlfriend now distributes my meds to me.

19. Smoking on amphetamines causes synergistic addiction to both cigs and amps. Try to stay away from here.

20. On the flip side, amps make quitting cigs much easier. It feels like it accelerates the timeline for withdrawal. One week of no cigs on amps feels like one month without amps. However, amps also boost the cravings for cigs during withdrawl.

21. It is very easy to make mistakes like spending all your time making flashcards and no time learning the flashcards.

22. Smoking too much weed with amps can hurt (maybe damage) your heart. Pay attention to it while blazing on stims.

23. More sleeping advice on stims. Eat a big meal before bed, have a fan for white noise, keep the room cold, get a wide bed so you can stretch and not wake up you SO, try to do pushups/situps/run/ect around 6pm, keep the room dark, try melatonin - it helps a little, keep hydrated and well fed, and finally try taking a shower if you can't sleep. Start out with a cool shower, and then gradually make it colder and colder one turn at a time until you feel numb and the water doesn't feel cold anymore. Then switch to warm and slowly make it hotter and hotter until it burns. Switch back and forth between hot and cold and after a while it becomes hypnotic and you get very sleepy. Then get a big glass of milk and go back to bed.

24. In a pinch, 25mg of diphenhydramine can put you to bed. But, this can only be done occasionally because tolerance builds very fast.

Thats all I can think of for now folks, I'll add more if I can think of anything else.