I was diagnosed with severe ADHD when I was 8, since that time I have been regularly taking any one of several amphetamine medications for my 'condition' and I feel I should let you know that when you get these things prescribed to you for a reason, you don't really enjoy them. It isn't that the side effects are really so bad, the one I have always disliked the most is the loss of appetite, which for some reason no one has ever explained to me occurs across the board with all ADD medications.
I have a fast metabolism naturally, if I don't take my medicine and I eat as much as I want of whatever I want I don't gain a pound. When I do take my medicine which is usually, I have to force myself to eat, and the adderall takes all the fun out of eating. I am a cook, and I LOVE food, so this is especially hard on me. Aside from that there is the insomnia, which I believe I suffer when not medicated as well as when on adderall so I am not sure about how much of the blame for that which I can proscribe to medication.
Here is the part that will come as a surprise to you if you think you know what these drugs do, and I don't claim to understand why it works differently for people with ADD. When I am NOT on these drugs my brain performs BETTER. By this I mean that comprehension, problem solving, learning and retention are all reduced by this drug when I take it, however what is increased is focus. When I am un-medicated my mind jumps from one thought to another with such rapidity that almost nothing gets accomplished without a supreme effort of will.
I also find that on adderall, my mood is less enthusiastic and that my personality is somewhat blunted. I never feel any kind of euphoria or crash from this medicine, I currently take 60 mg a day at two intervals, usually finding that the effects wear off after about 4 hours.
