DOSE:

5 - 10 mg

oral

Amphetamines

(pill / tablet)

BODY WEIGHT:

215 lb

At the time I started hitting up my doc for stimulants, I had a pretty good excuse. My sleep was moderately disordered, and my yuppie job and general work ethic was not letting me just blow it off. I'd be exhausted in the mornings, coming in Mondays by 8, Tuesdays by 8:30, Wednesdays by 9:00 ... etc. until I was stumbling in Fridays bleary-eyed at 10 AM. The key part of this cycle was that in the first 3-5 hours of the day, I'd be useless: tired, fatigued to the point of mental incapacity. After 3-5 cups of coffee or an occasional cigarette, I'd be good to go for another 4-5 hours. Then, sometime in the late afternoon, my brain would 'turn on' and I'd be ready for several more hours of work, driven in equal parts by guilt and caffeine. That combined 10-15 hour cycle was making up my workday, and my sleep suffered accordingly.

I ended up experimenting with a lot of 'nootropics,' and discovered that modafinil (Provigil) was the magic bullet. Its effect was such that, if I took it in the morning, I'd have a full, alert, awake, productive day, and I could actually go to sleep at 10 or 11 PM (and avoid the destructive cycle). However, it had some downsides, not least of which was being a prescription substance (and an expensive, on-patent in the US one, at that). Insurance company was not amused. In fact, they sent me a letter suggesting I ask for methylphenidate or amphetamine, instead. Hmm.

After some cautious conversations with my primary care doc, he put me on methylphenidate / Ritalin: first extended release 20 mg, then immediate release 10 mgs. This worked generally quite well, though the XRs lasted 8-10 hours (no joke) for me, which made them unsuitable for PM use. The immediate release methylphenidate was better, lasting 4-5 hours, but had a very odd and noticeable side effect: aphasia. My normally expansive vocabulary was cut short and I felt quite often that the 'cat had my tongue.' (For example, when I tried to explain this to my doc, I couldn't remember the word 'aphasia.')

From there, we moved to Adderall / dexamphetamine. This stuff worked great. It was not quite as low-key, long-lasting, and side-effect-free as modafinil, but it was definitely better than MPH / Ritalin and just as cheap ($1 a pill even self-paid sans insurance).

I've never taken more than 10 mg in a day, and I can't see myself taking much more ever. It's highly useful, cheap, and frankly, one of the safest drugs out there given its long history of use (God only knows what modafinil is doing to its users' brains over years and decades). Now, I say this as a relatively stimulant-naive user: I've never done coke, nor have I ever been stimulant 'high' (nor narcotic 'high'). I think I'll stick to a booze or pot 'high' and save the amphetamine for legitimate, MD-approved, life-improving responsible use.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 83963
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: Jul 17, 2020	Views: 1,646
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Amphetamines (6) : Medical Use (47), Various (28)