Ritalin

[Beev]

Anyone here ever used it or know someone who has?

My mom had me on it when I was a kid (/shrug, it was "the thing to do" then) and I wonder if it changed the person I grew up to be. I'm very apathetic these days, and while I do have goals and ambitions in life I wouldn't mind getting a mindless job that I do 9-5 and then go home, alone, and relax all evening, but that could just be who I am and who I would have always been.

I think about stupid crap too much...

 

[moshquerade]

If thinking about "stupid crap too much" isn't keeping you awake at night then you're doing ok.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Your mother ruined your life and you should hold it over her head for the rest of her life.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

ahhhh apathy. Join the club. My job is a means to an end.

ps. i wasnt on any drugs as a kid

 

[Sinsear]

It's the new way of raising children. There's always some type of drug for the doctors to stick them on for some made up disorder.

 

[yhelothar]

It's possible that ritalin made you into this apathetic guy today. I mean, if it allowed you to suppress all the things that incite wonder into you so that you can do your god damned homework, I wouldn't be surprised you wouldn't care if you just had a 9-5. That's what you trained yourself for.

 

[boomerang]

It's all a very complex issue. I know you young'uns hate to hear this but it really was different when I was a child. Staying in the house was pretty much unthinkable. We were outside playing, riding our bikes to the four corners of the earth and just generally keeping ourselves occupied all day in the summer months. After school we were outside doing the same. There were very few overweight kids. But it was a time when it was safe to play outside, a time when parents kept their eye on other children besides their own. If you were up to some shenanigans another parent in the neighborhood would call you out and if not, it was waiting for you when you got home.

My grandson was raised in front of the television. Raised on the fast moving pace of video games. It's hard to occupy a mind with mundane things like exploring empty fields or the creek bed you found riding your bike when your mind is geared towards an endless stream of fast paced constant action.

My unprofessional opinion is that this is what spawned Ritalin and the Ritalin generation. Sensory overload. If the world isn't coming at you at a million miles an hour in an ever changing manner, the result is withdrawal and the symptoms are what Ritalin was created for.

Twenty years from now we'll be reading about Ritalin studies and the long term side effects that were not known at the time. I'll about guarantee that.

 

[ShawnD1]

It's possible that ritalin made you into this apathetic guy today. I mean, if it allowed you to suppress all the things that incite wonder into you so that you can do your god damned homework, I wouldn't be surprised you wouldn't care if you just had a 9-5. That's what you trained yourself for.

???
Ritalin doesnt kill personality. It is a stimulant like caffeine or cocaine. It revs you up to a more extreme version of you.

 

[brainhulk]

you're on your hypomanic downswing. you'll be winning soon enough

 

[yhelothar]

???
Ritalin doesnt kill personality. It is a stimulant like caffeine or cocaine. It revs you up to a more extreme version of you.

Heh I first started the post saying, some more ritalin would fix that problem right up. But then I remembered that the effects depend on who's taking it. The general word is that people that really have ADHD feel dulled by the stimulants. Basically speaking, hyperactive people become dulled by stimulants and regular people become hyperactive from it.

That's why people with ADHD often report these medications as making them into a zombie.

Personally, ritalin makes me feel intensely goal driven and I want to do something great. Adderall makes me just have a good time and I just want to have fun with friends.
Occasionally, these stimulants would make me sleepy and dull.

 

[brainhulk]

???
Ritalin doesnt kill personality. It is a stimulant like caffeine or cocaine. It revs you up to a more extreme version of you.

wrong, in children it has the opposite effect. In the doses given to children it increases neurotransmitter activity controlling attention and behavior

 

[yhelothar]

you're on your hypomanic downswing. you'll be winning soon enough

Could be true too. :thumbsup:

The way to fight apathy is you need to get your dopamine levels up. This is the manic state where people have a flight of ideas and are intensely goal driven. This can happen through more stimulants, or natural ways to stimulate dopamine release is to explore new things, have novel experiences, work through goals, socialize with friends, especially to collaborate to work through a problem. Basically be who you are, but let it shine more. Be more of an extreme version of you as Shawn mentioned with ritalin.

Make sure you're eating well too. Your brain needs all its nutrients it could get if you want it to function well. Have lots of proteins, carbs, and a good balance of vitamins and minerals.

 

[Saint Nick]

My parents gave me Ritalin when I was a kid, too. I quit taking it after about two weeks. Stupid.

 

[KGB]

It's all a very complex issue. I know you young'uns hate to hear this but it really was different when I was a child. Staying in the house was pretty much unthinkable. We were outside playing, riding our bikes to the four corners of the earth and just generally keeping ourselves occupied all day in the summer months. After school we were outside doing the same. There were very few overweight kids. But it was a time when it was safe to play outside, a time when parents kept their eye on other children besides their own. If you were up to some shenanigans another parent in the neighborhood would call you out and if not, it was waiting for you when you got home.

My grandson was raised in front of the television. Raised on the fast moving pace of video games. It's hard to occupy a mind with mundane things like exploring empty fields or the creek bed you found riding your bike when your mind is geared towards an endless stream of fast paced constant action.

My unprofessional opinion is that this is what spawned Ritalin and the Ritalin generation. Sensory overload. If the world isn't coming at you at a million miles an hour in an ever changing manner, the result is withdrawal and the symptoms are what Ritalin was created for.

Twenty years from now we'll be reading about Ritalin studies and the long term side effects that were not known at the time. I'll about guarantee that.

It sounds like we grew up about the same time and might even be the same age.

How did you wind up so fucked up?

 

[SunnyD]

I had/have a nephew on it. He is not remotely the same person he was before. Granted, he was a handful and so on, but now it's just depressing to see the shell of a person with no desire or ambition, simply dark.

I don't know if in his opinion he would say it helped or not. I deal with kids that have attention and activity issues, but it doesn't take medication to fix them... it takes patience and understanding, along with some creative parenting.

 

[gophins72]

Anyone here ever used it or know someone who has?

My mom had me on it when I was a kid (/shrug, it was "the thing to do" then) and I wonder if it changed the person I grew up to be. I'm very apathetic these days, and while I do have goals and ambitions in life I wouldn't mind getting a mindless job that I do 9-5 and then go home, alone, and relax all evening, but that could just be who I am and who I would have always been.

I think about stupid crap too much...

you can always get the 9-5 job then go home and do something that puts you one step closer to your goals and ambitions, not every step is a fork in the road.

 

[ShawnD1]

Heh I first started the post saying, some more ritalin would fix that problem right up. But then I remembered that the effects depend on who's taking it. The general word is that people that really have ADHD feel dulled by the stimulants. Basically speaking, hyperactive people become dulled by stimulants and regular people become hyperactive from it.

Fair enough. I don't want to get into details but my friend and I seem to have radically different responses to most things. He chills out when drinking beer. I get very excitable and talkative.
Dosage makes a difference too. 3 beers makes people dance. 10 beers makes people sleep.

 

[Saint Nick]

Fair enough. I don't want to get into details but my friend and I seem to have radically different responses to most things. He chills out when drinking beer. I get very excitable and talkative.
Dosage makes a difference too. 3 beers makes people dance. 10 beers makes people sleep.

Heh, I'm the same way. I drink a couple beers and I just sort of mellow out. But if I drink some liquor or 4+ beers, I am in party mode.

 

[Zargon]

I had/have a nephew on it. He is not remotely the same person he was before. Granted, he was a handful and so on, but now it's just depressing to see the shell of a person with no desire or ambition, simply dark.

I don't know if in his opinion he would say it helped or not. I deal with kids that have attention and activity issues, but it doesn't take medication to fix them... it takes patience and understanding, along with some creative parenting.

how much is he on? I was on 8 hour doses in Middle/High School. and had a smaller non time release pills that lasted 3-5 hours or so for random just in case times

if you *really* have ad/hd and arent just a worthless spazz, you have low brain activity that makes it hard to focus on anything. Ritalin is supposed to raise brain activity so you cna pay attention for a sustained amount of time

obviously every kid thats hyper or cant pay attention doesnt have ADD/ADHD and doesnt need ritalin. but some DO need a little help because of actual reasons other than bad/not enough parenting.

before ritalin I was getting b/c's then went to straight A's and stopped getting makes on report cards for being a classroom nuisance.

but I'm probably the poster child for proper use of ritalin. I never even had my dosage upped from like age 11 till age 22 when I quit taking it. I still could benefit, I just fight through the issues best I can. some people never stop taking it.

 

[Alone]

If thinking about "stupid crap too much" isn't keeping you awake at night then you're doing ok.

And if it does?

 

[Kadarin]

It's all a very complex issue. I know you young'uns hate to hear this but it really was different when I was a child. Staying in the house was pretty much unthinkable. We were outside playing, riding our bikes to the four corners of the earth and just generally keeping ourselves occupied all day in the summer months. After school we were outside doing the same. There were very few overweight kids. But it was a time when it was safe to play outside, a time when parents kept their eye on other children besides their own. If you were up to some shenanigans another parent in the neighborhood would call you out and if not, it was waiting for you when you got home.

My grandson was raised in front of the television. Raised on the fast moving pace of video games. It's hard to occupy a mind with mundane things like exploring empty fields or the creek bed you found riding your bike when your mind is geared towards an endless stream of fast paced constant action.

My unprofessional opinion is that this is what spawned Ritalin and the Ritalin generation. Sensory overload. If the world isn't coming at you at a million miles an hour in an ever changing manner, the result is withdrawal and the symptoms are what Ritalin was created for.

Twenty years from now we'll be reading about Ritalin studies and the long term side effects that were not known at the time. I'll about guarantee that.

I was born in '68, and growing up in the 70s-80s I'd have to agree with this. Nobody was on Ritalin or other stimulants, and we all rode bikes, played outside, went places and did things. We didn't have cellphones to keep us tied to our parents like an umbilical 24/7, and most of us weren't overweight.

 

[zanejohnson]

its all in your head....


but yeah, ritalins horrible, in fact, anything that alters the way you perceive reality is harmful, it stops you from growing and maturing into what you should naturally...

expection for SSRI and MAOI drugs.. that just corrects things that usually, we mess up ourselves..

 

[Duder1no]

lol my wife is so anti-drug that instead of taking a pill she just toughs out any headache/pain

 

[soulcougher73]

It's all a very complex issue. I know you young'uns hate to hear this but it really was different when I was a child. Staying in the house was pretty much unthinkable. We were outside playing, riding our bikes to the four corners of the earth and just generally keeping ourselves occupied all day in the summer months. After school we were outside doing the same. There were very few overweight kids. But it was a time when it was safe to play outside, a time when parents kept their eye on other children besides their own. If you were up to some shenanigans another parent in the neighborhood would call you out and if not, it was waiting for you when you got home.

My grandson was raised in front of the television. Raised on the fast moving pace of video games. It's hard to occupy a mind with mundane things like exploring empty fields or the creek bed you found riding your bike when your mind is geared towards an endless stream of fast paced constant action.

My unprofessional opinion is that this is what spawned Ritalin and the Ritalin generation. Sensory overload. If the world isn't coming at you at a million miles an hour in an ever changing manner, the result is withdrawal and the symptoms are what Ritalin was created for.

Twenty years from now we'll be reading about Ritalin studies and the long term side effects that were not known at the time. I'll about guarantee that.

I was born in 73' and this is how my childhood was most of the time. Computers entered it during high school but most of my childhood was outside all the time other than to eat or sleep.

 

[MetalMat]

you're on your hypomanic downswing. you'll be winning soon enough

That made me lol