[21]

There is a documentary on Netflix called "Take your pills" about Aderall (and it's cousin Ritalin). According to it a lot of people under 25 take it, they feature a student, a software developer, a financial analyst.

After watching it my understanding of Aderall is that it makes you capable of intense focus (a sort of anti-procrastinator). It doesn't make you smarter or capable of solving stuff that you couldn't before. They end with saying that it destroys lives and that it's dangerous, but they never quite delivered on that, one guy said that it destroyed his life but he never went into detail and he didn't look like you typical image of a crack-addict (ie: felt to me more of like a thing they did to prevent them being accused of promoting drugs).

[lefnire]

I was prescribed Aderall for ADHD growing up; 14-25yo. Towards the end doctors were loath to continue my prescription, until finally a doctor refused and I couldn't get it since. Their story has always been: it's an amphetamine, and comes with all those risks and health concerns. Particularly around heart health.

When I took it, it felt like that movie "Limitless". Superpower concentration. I took their word on the health bit though, no free lunch, so I stayed away. I developed A-fib (Atrial Fibrillation) at age 30, which is very rare at that young. Could be any number of things, most notably genetics (though I'd be my family's first); but doctors to whom I mention Aderall all have this "ahhhhh" reaction. "Could be something else, but if I were a betting man..."

Frankly, I've always figured the way Aderall abusers abuse - here and there, for finals or work deadlines - couldn't be that dangerous, unless you get into the habit. I (and many others) was prescribed 1x/d for ~10 years. Seems to have caught up to me, but that's some relative heavy usage. I certainly don't condone, just brain-dumping experience.

[taneq]

> It doesn't make you smarter or capable of solving stuff that you couldn't before.

Probably the biggest surprise for me since starting my own company has been how little "hard stuff" I've done. I've learned a whole lot of new skills but the hard part is keeping nose to grindstone, not emitting flashes of brilliance. Versatility and average engineering skills applied persistently are more than adequate (in my experience) so something like modafinil would probably be a significant win for me - too bad I can't risk trying it since I'm probably not diagnosably ADHD and my work involves semi-regular drug tests.

[mlevental]

>I'm probably not diagnosably ADHD

it's so easy to fake it

[CryoLogic]

I was prescribed Adderall daily for 4-5 years for ADHD. Adderall significantly increased the amount of time I could stay in "intense focus" mode for. In otherwords, I could be "in the zone" for hours at a time - rather than maybe 30 minutes at a time without it.

The biggest side effect I ran into was de-personalization, Adderall made me lose interest in many non-productive things like taking relaxing walks outside or making small chat with my girlfriend. It turned me into a productivity machine.

My doctor and I played around with various dosages ranging from 5mg XR to 30mg XR and from 5-15IR in the afternoon as it starts to wear off.

My philosophy these days is to take the minimum dose required to just barely get that focus I need to finish complex long tasks that require a lot of focus. For me that's 10mg XR for a whole day or 5mg IR for a hour or two. I also only take it on days where I have one of those tasks, and neither my doctor nor I see any benefit it taking it every day.

In college many of my friends took it for studying, and being a pill that increases deep focus of course it helped with used correctly. Even for those without ADHD.

[jacques_chester]

I take ritalin (methylphenidate).

It makes me capable of merely ordinary adult focus (and I still need other tactics in addition). I read these anecdotes about superhuman laser-beam focus and it kinda irks me because I just come up to "able to hold a job" levels.

[yeswecatan]

That caught my eye while scrolling through Netflix last, but I didn't watch it. Anecdotally, I took adderral 5 or so times in college to help me study. It helped a lot but wasn't habit forming at all. I have considered taking it for interview prep.