The Limitless Possibilties and Misconceptions of Prescribed "Brainpills"

in #brainpill8 years ago (edited)

Hey everyone! In this post I'm going to share my experiences, reactions, and thoughts of the use of prescription central nervous system stimulants. The goal of this post is to hopefully provide you with a detailed description of what it's like to be under the influence of the drugs in case you haven't experienced them for yourselves, or to give you instances to compare your own personal experiences with.


Before we start, let me disclaim that I am not a doctor and do not condone the use of prescribed medicine without a doctor’s prescription. Everyone is different and what could barely affect someone could potentially kill someone else.


Alright, so I am a super senior (5th year) in college studying Mechanical engineering. Throughout my college career I've experienced several courses where the work load was so tremendous that multiple nights were spent completely without sleep to complete a task. I'm sure most of you have had some of those nights, even out of college. Maybe a task assigned by a boss or a long road trip kept you up through the wee hours of the night. Whatever may be the root of your sleepless nights, you have probably experienced the irritation, lack of motivation, drowsiness, etc accompanied by them. So, if you were given the opportunity to take a little doctor prescribed pill that would completely eradicate the negative sides of an "all-nighter" and give you laser focus to complete your task, would you take it? I did, actually quite a few of them, on different occasions: Adderall XR (extended release) and IR (instant release), Ritalin, Vyvanse XR, dextroamph, in various milligram dosages. The results are astounding..until it wears off, that is. 


Overall I'm a very non-energetic, laid back person that usually never speaks unless spoken to. On CNS Stimulants however I will talk your ear off and be happy about it. Imagine yourself sitting on some tropical island beach where the temperature is perfect, the breeze is just right, and there's a gorgeous storm blowing in off the coast giving you an almost magical feeling of radiating positive energy and happiness. In that moment, nothing can bring you down and you could tackle any task in front of you with a smile on your face. That feeling is how I would relate the feeling of prescribed CNS stimulants to. I go from being unmotivated and sleepy to wired and ready to pin whatever task lies ahead of me to the ground, working for hours nonstop and not wavering once. In this heightened mental state, daunting concepts that maybe before you were intimidated by seem to just "click" and magically make sense. It really does seem like a miracle drug, until it wears off. The come down from these drugs is the exact opposite of sitting on a beach of a tropical paradise. The happy feeling turns to irritability, the talk your ear off feeling turns into not wanting to have any human interaction whatsoever, and the laser focus just disappears. Also, depending on the time and dosage taken, even if you're exhausted, sleep might be unattainable. You'll find yourself tossing and turning, unable to quiet your mind, and as soon as you think you're about to drift off into sleep, you'll get hit by a second wind. Very similar to ingesting too much caffeine, which is also a CNS stimulant, and trying to sleep. 


Throughout my time in college, I can't deny that the aid of prescribed CNS stimulants has helped me complete crunch time tasks and master concepts for tests at what seems like a highly increased rate from that of my normal self. Just recently, it worked out that I only had two hours to study for a midterm in one of my courses I consider difficult. With the aid of Vyvanse, I passed the test with a 90%, beating the average for the class by 18%. I do strongly believe had I not taken the stimulant I would have brought the class average down rather than up.


To sum it up, I do think prescribed CNS stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse, etc do provide almost a miracle-like solution for large tasks and short notice cram sessions, which is a likely reason for their huge popularity among college towns. For me, however, the side effects resulting from the come down are too great to justify taking them unless a task where they would be beneficial is presented. 


I hope this brief summary of how these drugs personally affected me helped shed some light on what can be expected under the influence of them. Everyone is different though and the results someone else might have may vary. I'm interested to hear your opinions and experiences on the matter and how they are relatable or differ from my own. 


Thanks for your time!

Will

#brainpill #smartdrugs #prescription #drugs  #college #steemit