<p>forgive those of us not in medical school, but what does all this mean… </p>
<p>what are the percentages of… and what not… I need more context</p>
<p>hey, no pain no gain right ;-)</p>
<p>PS. Totally kidding, I don’t use adderral or even really coffee mostly because I’m saving it for medical school when I’ll really need it (at least the coffee, that is…)</p>
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<p>What BDM gave you was the result of a quick lookup. If you don’t know what it means, then this implies that “looking up” the risks of some drugs is not quite as simple as portrayed. The meaning is perfectly clear to a physician.</p>
<p>If there were no drug laws, and all medications were available without prescription, then that would knock down one major concern about premeds and med students illegally abusing drugs. Their behavior would be legal. </p>
<p>However, doctors ON drugs remains a huge problem, and people who are ready to abuse drugs should stay away from the medical profession- and not for moral reasons.</p>
<p>Look, patients pay their doctors to be thoughtful, careful, responsible guardians of their health. There are plenty of smart people who do not have the personalities for medical practice. They don’t take downsides seriously enough. They do not appreciate the necessity of following rules, They take too many chances. Humans are delicate things, screw somethings up and they can never be fixed. Make a dumb decision because you are high and the patient may never recover. </p>
<p>People use caffeine for its stimulant effects on a daily basis for many years. Some do increase doses at times, or reduce them when they have less need to perform. The notion that tachyphylaxis renders this drug ineffective is just not correct.</p>
<p>I question how significant these percentages are in the scheme of things. I don’t know an awful lot about what makes it on a drugs side effects label, but I’m fairly certain FDA reg. are stringent, and all those conditions seem to be analgous to things you would see on the back of a bottel of over-the-counter Tylenol.</p>
<p>Afan you sound a little too self righteous about this “problem.” I can assure you that I understand the complexities pharmacology entails. Your comment about drug abusing people staying away from the medical profession is a defamatory and inaccurate statement. Simply labeling someone a “drug abuser” because they actively take a substance you have ethical problems with is an insincere tool you seem to be using to discredit me. Note, I’ve never even mentioned I take adderall. </p>
<p>I simply have a very big problem when the powers at be insist that I can not accurately make my own assessment of a substances risks and benefits. I certainly wouldn’t want someone with a such a slant as yours making decisions about what I can and cannot put in my body.</p>
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<p>Adderall is mixture of dextroamphetamine saccharate, amphetamine aspartate, dextroamphetamine sulfate and amphetamine sulfate, otherwise known as “speed,” and a cousin to methamphetamine.</p>
<p>Side effects include psychosis and cardiovasculature dysfunction. Adderall has been implicated in “unexpected” deaths among youths receiving medication for ADD.</p>
<p>See [Defective</a> Drug Information - Adderall Side Effects](<a href=“http://www.adrugrecall.com/adderall/side-effect.html]Defective”>http://www.adrugrecall.com/adderall/side-effect.html)</p>
<p>That particular site is one of many posted by personal injury lawyers to drum up business. Hardly the most objective source of information. Like other such sites, they like to hype the dangers to encourage people to sue, someone, anyone, so the lawyer can make some money. On the other hand, the basic facts are correct.</p>
<p>If I sound self righteous about doctors on drugs, sorry. I take it very seriously. People who illegally obtain and use drugs should not practice medicine, and therefore should be kicked out of medical school if caught. For the same reason, they should not be admitted when they apply. There are plenty of qualified people who are not on drugs to fill up the medical profession.</p>
<p>This is not a moral issue. I don’t care about accountants using Adderall, or philosophers or journalists. This is specific to medicine.</p>
<p>People who are using should get a real diagnosis. If they have ADHD they should be under treatment, which may or may not include drugs. If medication is part of the treatment, it may or may not be Adderall. Self medication is dangerous. </p>
<p>Many of these kids may have psychological conditions that they are trying to treat with this drug, but if they have a different diagnosis, then this is the wrong treatment. Some have trouble performing in school because of neuroses or psychoses which Adderall may not help, and might make worse. Doctors, who understand the conditions and pharmacology, are better at treating such patients than the patients selecting drugs on the basis of what is available from the guy down the hall. This is dangerous and irresponsible. It is foolish for anyone to do it, but it is frightening if someone who is headed for medicine thinks like this. Just the wrong match of personality with career.</p>
<p>I take ginkgo once every couple of weeks and a two pills of smart focus, the cvs brand of focusfactor, the night before any exam. And it works most if the time. And hey, who cares if its the placebo effect. If it works, it works. Other ppl drink coffee, I take herbs (im talking about ginko, not focusfactor). I’m gona get flamed for this but, Eastern medicine FTW :)</p>
<p>Nothing new to say about Adderall. Just posting my hope that, with the publication of the Mitchell report, people will stop pretending that the unproven allegations against Bonds make him in any way unusual among ML baseball players.</p>
<p>Effects of some legal alternatives to Adderall for help with concentration</p>
<p>Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
Volume 14, Issue 6 , Pages 415 - 427
Published Online: 18 Aug 1999
The effects of ephedrine on the development of fatigue in a prolonged driving-related task</p>
<p>A taurine and caffeine-containing drink stimulates cognitive performance and well-being
Amino Acids
Issue Volume 19, Numbers 3-4 / November, 2000</p>
<p>Hum Psychopharmacol. 2007 Aug;22(6):339-50.
Effects of repeated doses of caffeine on performance and alertness: new data and secondary analyses.</p>
<p>What about good old fashioned time management and improving study skills? I know that sometimes things pile up and stuff but isnt it better to be able to handle these types of things without drugs? I am sure that at times your workload as a doctor may get intense just as it is in school and hopefully you will not be abusing Adderall then to like study for boards and stuff. But of course this is just my personal opinion and will probably be viciously attacked.</p>
<p>I love not taking adderall and owning kids that did on prelims! 
(Just a joke!)</p>
<p>In my non scientific observations, I find that the vast majority of doctors I know are regular users of coffee. At any meeting, if any kind of refreshment is served, there will be coffee. Most hospitals now not only have at least one cafeteria, but also multiple coffee outlets. But of course, these are docs, so they understand drugs and how foolish it would be to take illegal stimulants when legal ones are readily available.</p>
<p>I’ve been on a ski trip with about 20 other medical students…needless to say that we’ve had the coffee makers in both condos running pretty much non-stop from the time we get up until we head to the bars…</p>
<p>Last night I made the mistake of asking “If I make a new pot of coffee, will other people drink it?” which caused a chorus of about 8 yes’s in 3.2 microseconds.</p>
<p>Are there not some major down sides to caffeine abuse as well? I realize its legal, but that’s more due to its social history than its pharmacology.</p>
<p>Just because everyone does it, doesn’t necessarily make it anymore ‘safe’, except with respect to the law (although a valid prescription can circumvent that problem).</p>
<p>It’s pretty safe. And, simply because it has been taken by humans forever, there are unlikely to be any surprises about its effects. But it can keep you up at night, make you nervous and jittery, raise BP.. All standard stimulant effects.</p>
<p>Any newer drug will have unknown effects and it can take years or decades to find out about them.</p>
<p>Look, I not a coffee dealer, trying to get everyone hooked. Some people do not indulge at all. I’m just saying that if you want a stimulant why commit a crime to get one when there is something that is almost free, as safe as a stimulant can be and legal?</p>
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<p>Except for during pregnancy, apparently. No caffeine then.</p>
<p>Adderall and Ritalin don’t make you smarter. In fact, I’ve had times where they’ve had the exact opposite affect on my studying habits. While you can take them if you like, they are by no means a good alternative to real knowledge and information.</p>
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<p>Who ever said knowledge is important? I say grades are important.</p>
<p>I take Adderall because I have ADD. I got my BS degree WITHOUT the drug and I had a C average. I then started to go back for my Masters now and started taking Adderall in June of 2008 and I am SHOCKED at the vast difference in how well I am able to concentrate, study and actually retain the information I spend hours studying. In the past, before the medication, I would study just as hard for just as long and retain very little. But now my grades are already in the A/B category. For me, Adderall brings me up to the level that others without ADD can be at with just hard work and effort and therefore levels the playing field.</p>
<p>If you use it and you don’t need it, your test scores aren’t a reflection of how smart you are, or how well you behaved responsibly by studying, or by doing all your work, or really understanding the concepts, or especially how worthy you are of the job your degree gets you. Your grade is really a reflection of how good the cheat method is that you used over another. So that ‘A’ someone may get is an ‘A’ for the method of cheating they used (hidden notes, copying from another student, using Adderall) rather than their true worth.</p>