[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.