<p>They don’t make you smarter, but they do give an advantage to those who take them. (Without a prescription.)</p>
<p>^ agree…they do help people remain focused longer than they otherwise would, which in a classroom permits additional learning to occur, think they also help people process more rapidly. as for cramming, they definitely help the person study longer thereby giving an advantage…again, to those who are using it without actually needing it…</p>
<p>I did know an Adderall user or two at Harvard, but they weren’t A students. While it didn’t seem rampant to me, maybe things have changed in the last 10 years. My PBK membership is stimulant-free.</p>
<p>My friend used Concerta (I think it’s the same active ingredient as Ritalin) to study for the APUSH exam by reading an entire cram book in one day after taking 36 mg of the drug. He retained a good amount of info, which helped him on the MC, but he still ended up bombing the FRQs and got a 3 at best. He told the rest of his friends and I not to bother unless it’s strictly a matter of memorizing facts rather than having to deeply understand topics. I don’t think very many high-level subjects are like that, so I’m not sure that these stimulants are all that useful.</p>
<p>Just giving a real-life perspective on the issue for parents and interested students.</p>
<p>“I just wanted to point out that your response is very unusual, and the research does not indicate that most people become “smarter” or learn more because of stimulants, and that higher doses do not make most people learn even more. In fact, the opposite might be true.”
^ posted by Shrinkrap</p>
<p>I certainly want more than anything for this to be true. Otherwise my score on the state exam for physicists will mean nothing more than the “records” set by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemmens. I did study very hard focusing on the areas I correctly thought would be emphasized on the 3.5 hour test. Still, given my age, past medical history and the calibre of the many physicists who have been tested over the past six years getting the best score ever seems improbable to me unless I got a major boost from the Ritalin.</p>
<p>I am able to work as a physician for eight hours a day at the dose I am on (which I will not disclose on a public forum in case some failing Physics student sees it, thinks it will save him from failure but more likely will kill him) but as you know doctors can not just work eight hour days. My doctor is unwilling to increase the dose any further out of fear the Medical Board will get involved. I think I can handle an eight hour per day Physics position but will only take the job if I can be convinced I did not obtain it through use of an advantage not available to other applicants.</p>
<p>Lemaitre, I think the fact that you went to med school shows you are quite bright and well focused to begin with. Most people taking a physics test were not accepted to medical school. I am sure that the rigger of medical school made you a better student overall and increased your critical thinking skills. </p>
<p>It would be similar to college students going back and looking over their old AP exams taken during their senior year of HS. I’m sure most would question why they ever found them difficult.</p>
<p>You probably are smarter than the other test takers.</p>
<p>MommaJ has probably not set foot in a college library in the last twenty years. Coming from a doctorate candidate in an accelerated program, you can bet that adderall helps and that atleast 1/4 of my classmates are on it at any given time</p>
<p>Urine tests before and after the SAT and ACT. That’s the way to roll.</p>
<p>saving this article ~</p>
<p>Didn’t read the whole thread but I feel like these kids are cheating themselves. As some of you mentioned I feel for the siblings, or friends whose pills may potentially stolen at the expense of others. I have a cousin who takes them because he is so hyper. I have seen the good, and bad sides of him. I can’t tell when he has or hasn’t taken his medicine but my Aunt sure can. </p>
<p>My doctor is using this as a last resort to help my concentration, and memory problems that I have sustained from 3 concussions. I agreed with him I don’t want to be taking medicine forever just to concentrate. I rather find a natural way to help increase this. I’m trying out a yoga class at a local gym, but he suggested going to an actual studio where I may potentially get more attention in smaller classes, but its expensive. If that doesn’t work, nor the extra time from the disability office then he will write a prescription for a stimulant. I am also asking, if I will ever get an appointment, my primary care for some suggestions regarding this. I have been trying to workout at least 3 times a week for an 1 hr or 2. Although he said if I ever start to feel depressed to call him because of my migraines and their interactions with certain meds.</p>
<p>Donna, the neurologist uses the progesterone in his practice, for female patients. Thought that was obvious, sorry.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Horrible idea. ETS would have to review thousands of doctor’s notes, not just for ADHD, but also for narcolepsy and some depression treatment plans. There would be a huge “gray area”.</p>
<p>As someone diagnosed with ADHD 3/4 of the way through college (with the whole enchilada of a neuropsychiatric evaluation), despite symptoms evident since childhood, this “bad rap” of stimulant abuse has made it frustrating to explain the condition and its treatment to my parents. Perhaps this is why my parents were hesitant to have me diagnosed earlier.</p>
<p>Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but in a person with ADHD, stimulants allow dopamine to flow to the correct regions of the brain, reducing the deficits in executive function, whereas in a person without ADHD, stimulants simply keep him or her awake and “energized”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I work in public sector mental health in Northern CA, and there are no neuropsych services available to any adult public mental health consumers in my region. None. At all. Big huge service gap, not a single neuropsychologist in the public system. And I have seen many young adult clients prescribed Adderal for ADHD after a single brief clinical psychiatric interview. The norm is to quickly prescribe based on self-reported symptoms. If a person ends up in a public psychiatrists office, they therefore must need meds and often get the exact meds they are looking for.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For obvious reasons, its impossible to do a double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial on whether off-label use of Adderal by high achieving students without ADHD diagnoses increases SAT scores or grades in college, so we wont ever really know how what is happening with these students overall. My gut tells me that the beneficial effects, if any, are marginal, and that Momma J has it right:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My D tells me that at her elite LAC, there is a clear problem with students looking for friends to deal them Addies, especially at finals time. She knows kids who have done what the article reports, though she can’t relate to why they would do that, and it makes her mad, as she gets high test scores and good grades on her own smarts and hard work, sans pills. She estimates about one in six students at her college have done Adderall, so by her guesstimate, that’s not a small problem. She stated that there is a stereotype that it is more the math-science students who are using them to cram for and take finals. Adderall doesnt work so well if the task is writing a coherent paper for a humanities class you just cant cram your way through drafting and editing a paper and expect to get an A.</p>
<p>I can totally relate to that. I took some kind of speed pill (a “speckled bird” - anyone remember?), given to me by a friend, when I was a college sophomore. I had procrastinated and needed to pull an all-nighter to get a paper done. Boy, did I think I was writing the greatest paper ever while I was buzzed on that pill. When I came down, and came to my senses the next day and edited my paper, I found that what I had written was total gibberish, and I had to re-write the darn thing. Last time I ever used speed good old coffee and cigarettes was what I stuck with thereafter.</p>
<p>Hi:
My daughter takes Vyvanse during the day and does take Adderall during long nights of homework and study. The only thing that these medications do for her, is help her stay on target and focused. I’m sure it helps her with her grades because of the help in focusing, because without it she would be all over the place and less successful, but it is not a “grade pill”.</p>
<p>My son was diagnosed at age 4 with ADHD. He is now in HS. We have been through every psychological and neurological test and health care professional you can think of and have cycled through all the drugs mentioned on this thread, as well as some others. </p>
<p>A word of warning to anyone considering taking stimulants for reasons other than strict medical necessity: they do not always work the way you anticipate that they will.</p>
<p>For my son, Ritalin works great. The other meds, not so great. Adderall supressed his appetite to the point that he was passing out. It also prevented him from sleeping and he became irrational due to exhaustion. Concerta was even more a nightmare - every morning, he came down stairs like the dinosaur bursting out of the ship hatch in the second Jurassic Park movie. I had to pick him up from school every day. Within weeks, it started to trigger ticks and minor seizures. The other meds had varying side effects.</p>
<p>Correct prescription and dosage of mental health treatment medication is not an exact science. It is a “try it and see if it works” proposition. Even when you are properly evaluated and diagnosed, you cannot know what effect any drug will have on your particular system. Don’t put yourself at risk, even if your best friend swears a particular drug will help you get great grades. It’s not worth the damage you can do to yourself.</p>
<p>Further, for those of you who take these stimulants, be aware that the combination of stimulants and pot or alcohol is unsafe. Pot and alcohol are brain depressants. Ritalin and Adderall, etc. are brain stimulants. When you use stimulants and depressants in combination, your brain does not know whether to fire up or calm down. It is a sort of chemical cerebral whiplash. Do you really think that is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself?</p>
<p>Westiemom1, I am interested in your analysis of marijuana as a central nervous system depressant. Could you point me to where you got your info?
Do you know what type of marijuana was being used for the study? It makes a difference what the ratio is of CBD, CBN, THC,THCV, CBL,CBC?</p>
<p>It’s a featured thread & I can’t get an answer?
My MDs haven’t said anything, but you’ve gotten me worried!</p>
<p>I doubt that marijuana would be considered a CNS depressent. A CNS depressesent is a drug that causes marked sedation, decreased respitatory drive and decreased heart rate. Most opiods such as morphine fall into this catagory. People who have used marijuana describe so many different reactions to the drug that it is difficult to characterize. In addition many of the reported reactions may be a placebo effect rather than due to the drug. Patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer are convinced it is an effective anti-emetic but the possible mechanism of action is unknown. For many people it is a mild hallucagenin which can increase arousal, increase heart rate and result in a stronger respiratory drive. Some people report spurts of energy which would be typical of a stimulant. The drug does not seem to be particularly sedating.</p>
<p>Doing research on the effects of marijuana on humans is very difficult. The FDA considers it to be purely a drug of abuse with no legitimate medical applications and generally will not approve research studies that involve administering marijuana to humans.</p>
<p>EMK, not exactly what you were asking, but what I have on hand; </p>
<ol>
<li>British Journal of Pharmacology</li>
</ol>
<p>AU - Pertwee RG</p>
<p>[The</a> diverse CB1 and CB2 receptor pharmacology of three plant cannabinoids: 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and 9-tetrahydrocannabivarin - Pertwee - 2009 - British Journal of Pharmacology - Wiley Online Library](<a href=“http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjp.0707442]The”>http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjp.0707442)</p>
<p>"The Diverse CB1 and CB2 Receptor Pharmacology of Three Plant
Cannabinoids:delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Cannabidiol and delta 9</p>
<h2>tetrahydrocannabivarin"</h2>
<ol>
<li>J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2006 June; 317(3) 1072-1078.</li>
</ol>
<p>doi: 10.1124/jpet. 105. 100354</p>
<p>AU Blair Robert L, et al</p>
<p>"Activation of the cannabinoid Type-1 Receptor Mediates the
Anticonvulsant Properties of cannabinoids in the Hippocampal Neuronal</p>
<h2>Culture Models of Acquired Epilepsy and Status Epilepticus"</h2>
<ol>
<li>Neuron 2006 Aug 17; 51(4); 455-466</li>
</ol>
<p>doi: 10.1016/</p>
<p>j.neuron.2006.07.006</p>
<p>AU- Monory, K et al</p>
<p>"The Endocannabinoid System Controls Key Epi-leptogenic Circuits in</p>
<h2>the Hippocampus"</h2>
<ol>
<li>Exp Neurol. 2007 April; 204(2); 705-713</li>
</ol>
<p>doi: 10. 10.1016/j.expneurol.2007.01.001</p>
<p>AU - Deshpande LS, et al</p>
<p>"Development of pharmacoresistance to benzodiazepines but not
cannabinoids in the hippocampal neuronal culture model of status</p>
<h2>epilepticus"</h2>
<ol>
<li>J Neuroscience 2009 Feb 18;29 (7):2053-63</li>
</ol>
<p>AU-Drysdale, Ryan D et al</p>
<p>School of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen
Foresterhill, Aberdeen
AB25 27D, U.K.</p>
<p>“Cannabidiol targets Mitochondria to regulate intracellular Ca2+ Levels.”</p>