Norfolk, VAWhen Steve was an undergraduate, he started taking caffeine pills and says his grades got a whole lot better - from C’s to A’s. So it is no surprise that he took a psychiatrist’s advice and took Adderall.
“When I was in grad school, I had trouble concentrating, I couldn’t pay attention,” says Steve, age 36. “My doctor referred me to a psychiatrist who had me fill out a questionnaire, which apparently determined that I suffered from ADHD. He told me not to worry about any Adderall side effects - what a mistake that was. Looking back, I can hardly believe that any health professional can conclude just from a questionnaire that you have ADHD, and secondly, not know of Adderall effects.”
As soon as Steve started Adderall, he began having illusions of grandeur, thinking he was better than everyone else, thinking he could do anything. “I thought I was some kind of genius, that I was so ‘rad,’” says Steve. “I got these crazy ideas, one of which was that my professor was controlling my mind. I am now banned from the campus because I kept blaming him whenever I didn’t get what I wanted.”
If you take more Adderall than your prescribed dosage, that is probably too much and it could mean that you are addicted. Adderall overdosage can lead to Adderall stroke and other heart issues. Steve says he took up to 180 mg at once - it is a wonder that he is still alive. (The maximum safe daily doses of Adderall are 40 mg/day for children and 70 mg/day in adults.)
“I never finished my graduate degree, which I blame on Adderall. I was 26 years old when I started graduate school and when I started Adderall. I quit taking the drug nine months before I entered the military, but only because my closest friends told me that I was turning into a lunatic. It was like I was bipolar. I was paranoid and started to get suicidal thoughts, to the extent that I wound up in hospital from overdosing - more than once. I thought if I took more of it I could be like Einstein and it never occurred to me that Adderall was dangerous. Both times in hospital they gave me a drug to stabilize me. No one ever addressed the Adderall issue.”
For the past decade, Adderall abuse has been rampant on high school and college campuses. Availability is easy - Steve says he used to sell Adderall to his friends - until they too were diagnosed with ADHD and got their own prescriptions. For people who do not suffer from ADHD, Adderall is said to help focus, increase energy and decrease appetite. It can also cause stroke, heart attack and death.
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