Since few years ago, when I started to study medicine (2011) I have known students that use drugs to stimulate their brain in order to perform better in studying, to concentrate, stay awake, last longer hours with energy, etc. Almost always the majority, including me, use coffee to maintain energy and avoid fatigue, but I knows of cases that opt for stronger stimuli, getting to buy stronger and dangerous drugs for that purpose.
I remember when I was starting med school in Argentina, I met a fifth year classmate who told me that he used marijuana for his study days. He said that he smoked before he started studying, and then he smoked before going to take his tests, and that everything flowed very easily. It made me laugh a lot, because years later I told this to a friend and she tried to study under the effects of marijuana and couldn´t concentrate for more than a minute.
Moving on to another case, I remember comments about a very outstanding student at my school, who I was told he used Ritalin to improve his concentration, and that he studied more than 8 hours in a row, only locked up in his house by himself. I found it interesting but I always asked "where did he get it?" Ritalin is supposed to be a drug that is administered in people with attention deficit hyperactivity, especially children and, very surely, he did not suffer from it.
This is what Wikipedia says about ritalin:
Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is a psychostimulant medication approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and narcolepsy. It could also be prescribed for cases of fatigue and depression resistant to treatments.
Also, a few months ago I was struck by a drug that is very frequently used by students in the United States who are supposed to help with concentration. A doctor prescribed it to a friend to help her during the exam period and she used them and then she sold the ones that were left over to her classmates (LOL). The medicine is called Adderall and, really, I do not even know if it exists in Venezuela, but it has attracted my attention a lot because if it would be something that I would try to help me study more/better, since lately I feel a lot of difficulty to keep pace with it, apart from a lot of lack of motivation.
Then, I started to investigate and I got this:
Wikipedia sayd this:
Adderall Phenylethylamine, used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is also used as a cognitive enhancer, and recreationally as an aphrodisiac and euphoric.
In therapeutic doses, Adderall causes emotional and cognitive effects such as euphoria, changes in libido, increased alertness and better cognitive control, it also produces physical effects such as decreased reaction time, resistance to fatigue, and increased muscle strength. In contrast, higher doses of this drug can impair cognitive control, cause rapid deterioration of muscle fibers, or induce psychosis.
The side effects of Adderall vary widely among individuals, but commonly include insomnia, dry mouth, and loss of appetite.
The risk of developing an addiction is insignificant when the Adderall is prescribed in small daily doses, as in the treatment of ADHD; however, the routine use of Adderall in large doses presents a significant risk of addiction due to the pronounced reinforcing effects found in high doses. The recreational doses of Adderall are generally greater than the prescribed therapeutic doses, and the risk of developing serious adverse effects is much higher.
It basically tells you that everything will be fine, as long as you use it responsibly and at low doses. Not bad.
On another page (farmacovigilancia.tv) I got a reference of an article that I thought was quite interesting, about a person who was medicated with Adderall and commented on his experience:
In the United States, this medication is badly used by university students to improve their concentration during exam times. However, this drug has many side effects, as told in the first person Jeff Tinkoff in the article The Adderall Generation: 6 Annoying Side Effects of The 'Focus Drug'.
Jeff tells how the drug helped him keep stress levels low and complete his work efficiently, but what happened next? A series of side effects that, according to Jeff, has nothing to do with those that are reflected in the media:
Be unproductively productive
Adderall helps maintain concentration, yes, but not necessarily what you want. You can spend hours watching Youtube videos, buying unnecessary things on the Internet or being on Facebook in a totally unproductive way, while your brain thinks it is doing something productive.
Inability to eat anything
Adderall left Jeff with no appetite for many days. Even when hungry, he had the feeling of not wanting to take anything to his mouth because he felt full. Of course, drank many liters of water, with the consequent effect of going to the bathroom, he says, "about 1,000 times a day." When the high peak of the Adderall effect was passed, he ate as if he had not eaten in days.
Transpiration without reason
Although sweating is a normal part of anyone's life, taking Adderall makes you sweat with a minimal amount of effort. Jeff says that his armpits sweated as if he had been swimming all day and came to sweat without doing anything.
Anxiety
When taking Adderall, it is impossible to relax. Just trying can lead to an episode of anxiety and obsession to do something, anything, to keep busy.
Depression
After taking Adderall, Jeff had the feeling of being drowned in his own depressive thoughts. After exhausting all his energy and intellectual capacity, the effects of the drug to be productive disappeared, plunging into a state of depression that, generally, he spent with a good night's sleep.
Sleeping problems
Another effect described is the difficulty in falling asleep at night, even if he had taken the drug in the morning.
My personal conclusion is that we obviously should try to perform more in our lives without using any stimulant medication but from the healthy tools that we know are at our hand but we are too lazy to take. These tools I could think of are exercise, a good diet, having a regular sleep schedule, etc.
But, this does not take away my curiosity to know what it would feel to have a boost to my basic skills? And YES, if I had the chance, I would give this Adderall a try, because it sounds like a relatively safe thing, and, aside from the side effects, it could come in handy, who knows?
