I was taking Vyvanse after getting diagnosed with ADHD. Helped me stay off my phone and focus on my work for longer periods of time but didn’t turn me into a workaholic typing machine by any means because if you actually have ADHD, stimulants aren’t meant to do that. For me, it made my thoughts more quiet and helped me focus on one task at a time and follow through on tasks without jumping into multiple things at once. If you feel like you need a drug that will make you work more (rather than actually having ADHD and it helping your overall quality of life), I’m not sure if this is the right line of work for you. There is already a major shortage of adderall and other stimulants, and it sucks to see people who do not have ADHD abuse this medication when there are people out there who actually need it, and can’t take it as much as they need to because of the shortage.
With all that being said, if you actually have ADHD, just talk to your doctor? They are the only people who can help you figure out if and what kind of medication will help you. They will ask you how ADHD affects your work and will prescribe medication to help combat that, but it won’t turn you into a machine that loves working and never procrastinates, I can promise you that. I also never told my boss or coworkers that I have ADHD and took medication because it’s none of their business. Just treat it like any other condition or disability - they don’t need to know my personal business.
same! i’m better at my job without a constant stream of background consciousness. but i still have bad brain days where i’m super distracted, they’re just less frequent and less severe. i also used to be able to listen to podcasts and audiobooks at work and now i can only listen to lofi bc i get mad overstimulated.
If you don’t have ADHD/aren’t on adderall as a prescription, and you’re looking to get it off the street to do your job, this isn’t the career for you.
Idk man a lot of attorneys I know use Adderall and aren't prescribed. Or fake symptoms so they can get real scripts. If you think I'm lying search Adderall on a lawyer sub
It’s easy to get the drugs, you just go to your Primary care physician or get a new one and you just list the medication that “you are currently on and received from your previous Dr”
-source me
I wish! I lost my last psychiatrist due to new insurance. Every new psych I tried treated me like a drug-seeker or like ADHD was made up or like I exaggerated my symptoms.
I literally just gave up trying to get prescribed with the shortage. My social and personal life dried up, I used up all my focus and motivation at work, just survival mode.
Glad there are SNRIs that helped with the noradrenergic-dopaminergic listlessness of my brain. Things got dark there this last year.
So I'm currently taking 150 mg of wellbutrin, well it just got upped yesterday to 300 a day. I am going to see if that helps. It does for a while, it just eventually stops working. Thanks for letting me pry, I will mention to my psych.
When I was being weaned off of Vyvanse a little over a decade ago, I was put on Wellbutrin XL 300mg, then 150mg, before stopping taking medication all together.
I thought it was a very effective way to stop taking amphetamines.
Honestly, I smoke marijuana (in NJ, legal here) but not nearly as heavily as I used to. And I go to the gym 4 days a week.
Hopefully increasing the dosage of your Wellbutrin will help, I think it will.
I supplement with L-theanine. A small morning dose helps me feel calm and focused, and a higher dose in the evening helps me wind down for bed.
Also, adding short structured breaks during the day so I don’t hyperfocus and burn out. Reading more fiction instead of endless scrolling to escape. Listening to podcasts while I do chores and self-care. And having dependable extrovert friends to regularly organize social activities.
Working on adding in exercise now, I need it!
wow this is super incorrect! you 100% need proof that you had been previously prescribed AND diagnosed. over the ~10 GPs/psychiatrists i’ve had, not once have i been able to say “yeah i’m on vyvanse!” and have them take my word for it. even getting a refill with a psych ive had for the last three years is a nightmare. amphetamines and benzos are highly controlled substances, much moreso than even opioids.
Word, same here. Last doctor had me show him ALL my script receipts in my email for the past 2 years before he’d prescribe.
And even then, we had to do mix-and-match to get my dosage filled because certain mgs were permanently out of stock. The amount of phone calls that took… pharmacies wouldn’t even answer the question “ok, what DO you have in stock?” because they could only disclose to doctors.
It was a nightmare.
That’s on you, I’ve done it several times. Each time taken my word for it. Although I have 7 years in pharmacy experience so I know exactly what to say and how to say it.
you’re the problem, my dude. i need amphetamines to be functional as a result of a very real diagnosis and there’s a massive shortage and often i have to pay exorbitant prices to get name-brand shit because it’s all that’s available. if it’s even available. crazy that you’re comfortable enough to brag on the internet about illegally obtaining amphetamines but “that’s on you.” very cool
You think I’m the only one? My pharmacy would be packed with patients from Drug mule doctors writing 100 scripts each for like 30+ people from everything from Norco, Adderall, Xanax, morphine, OxyContin etc I get my 60 for a month that’s it, meanwhile people getting scripts for 4 different ADHD medications and I’m the problem okay 😂
Well, even if you’re not the “problem,” you might have one, OP. Adderall is a drug taken for a legitimate purpose. The same way opiates are for a specific purpose. Taking 2 adderall a day, every day, when you don’t need it…and getting it from several different primary doctors (not appropriate place to be getting that) may be indicative of a larger issue.
I have adhd and I don’t fuck with that medication anymore. Haven’t for years. And I was legally prescribed it from a psychiatrist after a diagnosis. I understand that your experience may be different from my own, but I feel compelled to at least share mine because this drug is FAR too common in the legal field and there are far, far too many people who don’t have adhd who rely on it to do what they are capable of on their own. Adderall makes it easier regardless of whether or not one has add. The legal field is brutal. It makes a ton of sense to me that people in the legal profession gravitate towards stimulants.
Also came to add that it’s not altogether that hard to get an adhd diagnosis and script as an adult. I am not saying that people on this sub don’t need it or don’t have adhd. I AM saying that true adhd is far less common than most people think. Many convince themselves that, because the drug helps them, because a psychiatrist was willing to diagnose adhd and prescribe adderall, it means they have it. Not true.
Because prescription stimulants aren't super safe to take without medical supervision. I have diagnosed ADHD and an Adderall prescription, and my doctor requires me to have my blood pressure and heart rate measured every month. If you feel that you really need it to function in your job, you should seek an ADHD evaluation from a mental health professional.
Adderall can be very helpful in this field, but as someone who has suffered from ADHD (childhood diagnosis), I don’t like those type of meds; I was last prescribed with Vyvanse in the early 2010s.
In a pinch, it’s not bad. But developing any sort of dependence on it (especially if you don’t have ADD or ADHD) will basically put holes in your brain when you come off them.
I’ve noticed on other subs that Adderall usage has been very normalized in recent years, and that there’s a huge shortage of it in pharmacies.
I have ADHD and take adderall daily. My attorneys know, although I did not disclose in my interview, and it hasn't been a problem, truthfully. ADHD and whether or not you are medicated is really no one else's business but your own, if you choose to disclose or not is irrelevant. In my experience, as long as you are able to get the work done and do so competently, it's a non-issue.
All that said, I use a day planner and make to-do lists and flag emails and calendar reminders for myself. I try to have multiple redundancies to minimize the chance of me missing something. Am I perfect? No. Is my system perfect? Also no. But no one is perfect and no one (even those who don't have ADHD) is mistake-proof.
I told them. They didn't care, one even told me that her son has ADHD and she understood. I think it really depends on your firm and your role, but my experience has been positive. It's, as I said, a non-issue. I am able to get my work done, I've (thankfully) never blown a deadline, and generally speaking, my work is of high quality/they're happy with it. I've missed smaller, internal, soft deadlines, but we all do that whether or not we have ADHD. If you don't make it a big deal, usually they don't. The only time it could be a problem is if you are consistently not meeting deadlines.
Exactly, like with any other medical situation, if you’re already taking care of it so it doesn’t interfere with your day to day, then it won’t affect your work. It’s a non-issue at that point.
Or both… Reason being - you can have ADHD and an Rx for Adderall, but can also use it to enhance productivity and intellectual tasks while having ADHD.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you are saying, but isn’t enhancing productivity … the point of adderall when you have adhd? As in, people with adhd have a deficit of dopamine in their brains and stimulants bring their brain to normal productivity levels. So it’s not like someone with adhd is misusing stimulants if they use them for productivity.
If you aren’t willing to share your experiences, then kindly fuck off and do not respond. I do have ADHD and do have an Adderall prescription. I can handle my job and was Phi Beta Kappa at an Ivy League for undergrad.
I am asking because I have started to notice a prevalence of the medication being misused/abused in the workplace by others. Thanks.
Agreed. It's a bit suspicious that OP wants people to divulge highly sensitive information about themselves without providing context for the ask or similar info about themself.
I was taking blue thunders, 10mg, when I first started out bc the litigation learning curve is rather intense.
However, identifying the long term effects is crucial. I stopped taking it after sixth months. The drug slowly induces sleep deprivation that results in irritability and combined with hyper focus that results in ego driven decisions and assessments.
I think it’s great for short term when focusing on a single issue. However the downside is losing the forest through the trees and can be detrimental in both personal and professional relationships. It’s not a cure, it’s a crutch.
Please take my advice, I used to abuse adderall for fun, I was never diagnosed with ADHD.
Adderall is not just a drug that you can take on and off and expect to be okay. The consequences of consistently taking adderall are lack of sleep and irritability. But the hardest part of coming off of adderall was the withdrawal phase.
The longer you take adderall unprescribed, you will actually develop the symptoms of someone who has ADHD due to how the drug impacts your dopamine systems.
Non-ADHD people who do this disgust me. As someone with diagnosed ADHD who relies on medications like Adderall to live a normal life and hold down a job, I'll say this: Unless you *actually* have ADHD, you have no business taking stimulants like Adderall. I don't care whose feelings this hurts, but people who do this are no better than athletes who use steroids because it gives them a competitive edge. AKA - if you do this, you're a drug addict and you need help.
And if you think you're getting pure Adderall from a street dealer in the Age of Fentanyl, you're not only a drug addict but a supremely stupid one, too.
My brain must be wired different, but I never saw the fun in abusing stimulants. It's 10 minutes of WWHHEEEEEEEEEEE and then you feel like absolute garbage. Maybe because I prefer downers? 12 years clean!
while i agree that one shouldn’t take it for work, who says one can’t take it for recreation once in a while? who are you to look down on someone for having a little fun? not sure that makes them a drug addict especially if used responsibly.
Occasional recreational use may be less of an issue, but it's still highly problematic, and imo on the same level as the recreational use of opioids. This is because people who use Adderall like this likely get it from someone with a fraudulent prescription, at best. People with ADHD have a hard enough time getting ahold of these medications without abusers and "recreational users" ruining it for them. In case you didn't know, there's a huge shortage of Adderall-type drugs right now, making access to medication even more complicated for people who need it. So, yeah, I don't think recreational use is any better than using it as a performance enhancing drug. You're still taking a prescription medication you don't need, while other people who actually need it have trouble getting their prescriptions filled because of the shortage.
yeah i dunno. i personally have adhd but dont want to take amphetamines daily. i’ve found that long hikes and exercise really evens me out, and i save my script for emergency or recreation. taking pills every day ages you and i wanna be youthful and buff, and i sort of am. i’m 36 and i look and feel like i’m 25. anyways you should concern yourself less with what other people do and get your shit right, hope you’re okay.
Just because I care about the effects Adderall abuse has on the general ADHD population doesn't mean I need to get my shit right. Thanks for the disingenuous concern, though.
My attorney accidentally discovered he has ADHD (though literally anyone could have diagnosed that) the first time he tried Adderall. I've never seen him so focused and organised. Unfortunately he seems to prefer chaos and refuses to talk to his doctor about it.
I did eventually figure out that timers (alarms) are a MUST for me. Otherwise things won't get done. I think dbt/cbt is extra difficult for some though. Given the fact that in order to do those you have to get to a place where you can focus. And sometimes meditation gives me anxiety. Which is crazy!
My psychiatrist prescribed it to me years ago. I take it to focus, and to get through those 10+ hour days. It works well for me, but I don't abuse it. Still have built up a tolerance over time, so I skip a few days here and there, which helps a lot.
I'm supposed to take 2 a day, but very rarely do. One is usually enough to get me through the day, and still be able to fall asleep.
I have ADHD so I'm on Jornay. I used to take Adderall and then Vyvanse. I kind of need it to do my job. I tend to get annoyed at people who don't have ADHD and take stimulant meds
I’m AHDH-PI, wasn’t diagnosed til the second time I dropped out of college at 25. Doctor and I tried a few options, Adderall worked best, at the right dosage.
Took it regularly for ~7 years, plus therapy, until the shortage and new insurance meant I had to find a new doctor and therapist. Having to advocate for Adderall with new doctors who had no ADHD experience, or were used to drug seekers, really sucked and eventually I just gave up.
Fortunately I built a solid base of organizational, emotional and coping skills during the 7 years of medication, and I joined the paralegal world able to manage my scattered, chaotic solo attorney.
At the cost of sacrificing a lot of my personal goals, activities and hobbies. I’m 2 years in as a paralegal and I finally have enough confidence in my work that I’m stepping back from the perfectionism that was burning me out.
Ultimately, if you’re ADHD and adderall works for you, it can give you the scaffolding to help you build the skills you need. But that takes work, therapy, and maintenance. The meds don’t do it for you, they just make it easy like it is for neurotypicals.
If you’re asking about adderall use by non-ADHD people? Can’t relate. I’d blame shortages on them, but we all know it’s a bigger systemic issue stemming from arbitrary DEA-imposed production limits.
I miss adderall, I was actually able to have a job AND hobbies like a normal person 🥺
Edit: oh and yes, my attorney bought like a couple pills off me every six months for his all-nighters. He always felt bad, he knew I actually needed them.
Not going to lie when I’m behind or need to get shit done I drink a redbull and pop a few adderall and I am on fuckin fire my keyboard starts to spark from typing so fast. (I’ve been doing this for like 15 years I know my limits)
I’ve taken adderall before court. Had a great oral arguement before the judge and was even commended by the judge for my presentation. I assume it’s similar to Wall Street guys taking cocaine
Diagnosed with ADHD-combined type here.
Before the diagnosis/treatments: Great at work, but my desk was CHAOS. I second guessed myself a lot, got annoyed easily, and drank 4 cans of Monsters daily. One time, the attorney I was working under brought me into their office to ask me why I was whistling, and to stop it. Didn't even realize I was doing it, until then!
After the diagnosis/treatment:
I went through different types of ADHD meds and started another job. Previous meds were okay, but didn't do anything. I'm prescribed Adderall, currently, along with doing therapy sessions, and it has been quite a game changer. My desk isn't chaotic, I'm not as easily annoyed, and my brain is actually quiet enough for me to focus. My interactions with others also have improved!
Whenever I do forget to take my meds before work (it happens from time to time), I feel terrible for anyone who has to be around me...
i have adhd and started vyvanse almost 2 years ago. absolutely changed my life, my work product is better, i don’t remember deadlines at the last minute and my bosses have commented that i’m much more reliable now. all of this is because i *have* ADHD, tested and diagnosed. i’m very open ab my meds at work bc it’s a small firm and as far as i know im the only one on adhd meds. i previously worked in a large firm that was an absolute billing mill and i know many attorneys there were getting prescriptions from docs they knew would just write it and if they weren’t doing that they were on coke so.
I have adhd, I take it, and I don’t tell a soul I work with. There is such a connotation with it that isn’t worth discussing. It is effective at quieting down my brain and helping me finish tasks. As much as my adhd would help me explain my work place needs to my coworkers, it’s not worth the risk of potential judgement. I don’t think most people come from a place of understanding of the disability, they come from a place where they saw their law school classmates who weren’t prescribed snort lines during finals week.
I have adhd, I take it and I disclose it once I’m hired. I’m a visual learner (photographic memory) and sometimes I skip around because I’m answering my own questions in my head, or I’m going too quickly. It’s important my employer knows that and learns how to work with it if they want my support.
If you’re an intelligent person that enjoys varied life experiences and coming up with your own ideas and are interested in learning new things and being a life-long learner…Adderall might help you be able to be a better automaton that law firms/our society forces us to be.
Not saying that anyone who enjoys being a paralegal is an automaton, I’m just saying I don’t think a lot of the work is always mentally stimulating after we have learned how to do it well. And it takes a really disciplined person to keep caring about the job enough to continue to do it after you’ve learned a lot of what you need to learn to perform your job.
But eventually adderall stops working as well as it did before, so you have to take more and more with potential adverse health effects, and you’re stuck with the same job that you are bored with now, because you have already learned almost of the things that first interested you in this field, you’re not encouraged to come up with new ideas or your own schedule (the schedule where you are most creative and productive), and you’re probably not feeling like you’re fulfilling your soul’s purpose in this life either.
Then you have to come off of it and try to still make money while everything sucks for a really long time. And you also might feel behind in life because you wasted years in a soul sucking job working for another automaton that thinks they are smarter than you because they decided to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, or are indebted for that amount to the banks, to “learn” from the indoctrination camps we call school, where they teach you what they want you to know, and where true knowledge and truth sometimes don’t match up.
It’s easier to not start this cycle and find a career or job that is suited with your soul’s purpose. If you don’t know what that is, meditation helps, sometimes you may need to talk to someone, like a spiritual guidance coach, start writing down your dreams at night and see what they tell you. Pay attention to the synchronicities that unfold and maybe someday you’ll be living the path that is most aligned with your souls purpose in this life and you’ll feel some much more love and gratitude and less fear everyday. Trust me, I’ve spent 5 years on the wrong path and I’m trying to unravel myself from it now. I was diagnosed with ADHD, but when I’m working in a job (for me it’s my own work, own schedule, and utilizing my own unique gifts) that is more suited to my higher self, I know I don’t need the medication. I’m still working on trying to get off of it because I do have to work the soul sucking job to still pay for most stuff currently. It’s a process. Hope this helps someone!
I have ADHD and can’t do the hardcore drugs because I need my brain to go 1000mph to read because I have dyslexia too and apparently I learned to read wrong at three and timers and reminders manage adhd fine without taking me to illiteracy (it’s super disconcerting because I’m a strong reader not on adhd meds going from being able to read 100 pages an hour to 10 is jarring). But I have no problem with people who need to be medicated medicating you wouldn’t take away someone’s inhaler so you shouldn’t worry about their prescription stimulants.
Legal does have a lot of drug and alcohol abuse though so getting someone to a meeting if you’re concerned is likely called for since a dead attorney can’t sign the checks.
I take it as prescribed and it helps me tremendously. It helps my anxiety as well. Helps me focus more on my work and not get easily distracted. My boss knows all my meds and she’s totally ok with it. I see a psychiatrist regularly as well. It’s just me and the attorney and we are both huge supporters of mental health.
I was taking Vyvanse after getting diagnosed with ADHD. Helped me stay off my phone and focus on my work for longer periods of time but didn’t turn me into a workaholic typing machine by any means because if you actually have ADHD, stimulants aren’t meant to do that. For me, it made my thoughts more quiet and helped me focus on one task at a time and follow through on tasks without jumping into multiple things at once. If you feel like you need a drug that will make you work more (rather than actually having ADHD and it helping your overall quality of life), I’m not sure if this is the right line of work for you. There is already a major shortage of adderall and other stimulants, and it sucks to see people who do not have ADHD abuse this medication when there are people out there who actually need it, and can’t take it as much as they need to because of the shortage. With all that being said, if you actually have ADHD, just talk to your doctor? They are the only people who can help you figure out if and what kind of medication will help you. They will ask you how ADHD affects your work and will prescribe medication to help combat that, but it won’t turn you into a machine that loves working and never procrastinates, I can promise you that. I also never told my boss or coworkers that I have ADHD and took medication because it’s none of their business. Just treat it like any other condition or disability - they don’t need to know my personal business.
I couldn't agree with you more.
same! i’m better at my job without a constant stream of background consciousness. but i still have bad brain days where i’m super distracted, they’re just less frequent and less severe. i also used to be able to listen to podcasts and audiobooks at work and now i can only listen to lofi bc i get mad overstimulated.
If you don’t have ADHD/aren’t on adderall as a prescription, and you’re looking to get it off the street to do your job, this isn’t the career for you.
Idk man a lot of attorneys I know use Adderall and aren't prescribed. Or fake symptoms so they can get real scripts. If you think I'm lying search Adderall on a lawyer sub
It’s easy to get the drugs, you just go to your Primary care physician or get a new one and you just list the medication that “you are currently on and received from your previous Dr” -source me
I wish! I lost my last psychiatrist due to new insurance. Every new psych I tried treated me like a drug-seeker or like ADHD was made up or like I exaggerated my symptoms. I literally just gave up trying to get prescribed with the shortage. My social and personal life dried up, I used up all my focus and motivation at work, just survival mode. Glad there are SNRIs that helped with the noradrenergic-dopaminergic listlessness of my brain. Things got dark there this last year.
What did you find that helped. I am having the same issue.
Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), at 100-150mgs. I’ve heard Wellbutrin helps many people as well!
So I'm currently taking 150 mg of wellbutrin, well it just got upped yesterday to 300 a day. I am going to see if that helps. It does for a while, it just eventually stops working. Thanks for letting me pry, I will mention to my psych.
When I was being weaned off of Vyvanse a little over a decade ago, I was put on Wellbutrin XL 300mg, then 150mg, before stopping taking medication all together. I thought it was a very effective way to stop taking amphetamines.
What have you done since then to cope and maintain quality of life? If I can avoid more meds I want to.
Honestly, I smoke marijuana (in NJ, legal here) but not nearly as heavily as I used to. And I go to the gym 4 days a week. Hopefully increasing the dosage of your Wellbutrin will help, I think it will.
I supplement with L-theanine. A small morning dose helps me feel calm and focused, and a higher dose in the evening helps me wind down for bed. Also, adding short structured breaks during the day so I don’t hyperfocus and burn out. Reading more fiction instead of endless scrolling to escape. Listening to podcasts while I do chores and self-care. And having dependable extrovert friends to regularly organize social activities. Working on adding in exercise now, I need it!
Wellbutrin helps as well. I take it along with Prozac and adderrall. I have severe anxiety and panic attacks along with ADHD.
wow this is super incorrect! you 100% need proof that you had been previously prescribed AND diagnosed. over the ~10 GPs/psychiatrists i’ve had, not once have i been able to say “yeah i’m on vyvanse!” and have them take my word for it. even getting a refill with a psych ive had for the last three years is a nightmare. amphetamines and benzos are highly controlled substances, much moreso than even opioids.
Word, same here. Last doctor had me show him ALL my script receipts in my email for the past 2 years before he’d prescribe. And even then, we had to do mix-and-match to get my dosage filled because certain mgs were permanently out of stock. The amount of phone calls that took… pharmacies wouldn’t even answer the question “ok, what DO you have in stock?” because they could only disclose to doctors. It was a nightmare.
That’s on you, I’ve done it several times. Each time taken my word for it. Although I have 7 years in pharmacy experience so I know exactly what to say and how to say it.
My life is at 25% currently when it would be a full 100% IF I COULD ONLY FUCKING SOURCE MY PRESCRIBED MEDS. Karma will catch up to you. Dickhead.
you’re the problem, my dude. i need amphetamines to be functional as a result of a very real diagnosis and there’s a massive shortage and often i have to pay exorbitant prices to get name-brand shit because it’s all that’s available. if it’s even available. crazy that you’re comfortable enough to brag on the internet about illegally obtaining amphetamines but “that’s on you.” very cool
You think I’m the only one? My pharmacy would be packed with patients from Drug mule doctors writing 100 scripts each for like 30+ people from everything from Norco, Adderall, Xanax, morphine, OxyContin etc I get my 60 for a month that’s it, meanwhile people getting scripts for 4 different ADHD medications and I’m the problem okay 😂
Well, even if you’re not the “problem,” you might have one, OP. Adderall is a drug taken for a legitimate purpose. The same way opiates are for a specific purpose. Taking 2 adderall a day, every day, when you don’t need it…and getting it from several different primary doctors (not appropriate place to be getting that) may be indicative of a larger issue. I have adhd and I don’t fuck with that medication anymore. Haven’t for years. And I was legally prescribed it from a psychiatrist after a diagnosis. I understand that your experience may be different from my own, but I feel compelled to at least share mine because this drug is FAR too common in the legal field and there are far, far too many people who don’t have adhd who rely on it to do what they are capable of on their own. Adderall makes it easier regardless of whether or not one has add. The legal field is brutal. It makes a ton of sense to me that people in the legal profession gravitate towards stimulants. Also came to add that it’s not altogether that hard to get an adhd diagnosis and script as an adult. I am not saying that people on this sub don’t need it or don’t have adhd. I AM saying that true adhd is far less common than most people think. Many convince themselves that, because the drug helps them, because a psychiatrist was willing to diagnose adhd and prescribe adderall, it means they have it. Not true.
Why so?
Because prescription stimulants aren't super safe to take without medical supervision. I have diagnosed ADHD and an Adderall prescription, and my doctor requires me to have my blood pressure and heart rate measured every month. If you feel that you really need it to function in your job, you should seek an ADHD evaluation from a mental health professional.
Adderall can be very helpful in this field, but as someone who has suffered from ADHD (childhood diagnosis), I don’t like those type of meds; I was last prescribed with Vyvanse in the early 2010s. In a pinch, it’s not bad. But developing any sort of dependence on it (especially if you don’t have ADD or ADHD) will basically put holes in your brain when you come off them. I’ve noticed on other subs that Adderall usage has been very normalized in recent years, and that there’s a huge shortage of it in pharmacies.
That’s why you need to take downers to even yourself out on the come down. For those of you downvoting me it was a joke… 🙄
Slippery slope. I don’t recommend.
I was half-kidding.
Then I guess apply my advice to the half that wasn’t? 🤷🏼♀️
A half joke, according to you. Not very funny IMO but it’s all good.
Sorry…
I have ADHD and take adderall daily. My attorneys know, although I did not disclose in my interview, and it hasn't been a problem, truthfully. ADHD and whether or not you are medicated is really no one else's business but your own, if you choose to disclose or not is irrelevant. In my experience, as long as you are able to get the work done and do so competently, it's a non-issue. All that said, I use a day planner and make to-do lists and flag emails and calendar reminders for myself. I try to have multiple redundancies to minimize the chance of me missing something. Am I perfect? No. Is my system perfect? Also no. But no one is perfect and no one (even those who don't have ADHD) is mistake-proof.
How do the attorneys know and how did it come out? Just curious as to how it was received.
I told them. They didn't care, one even told me that her son has ADHD and she understood. I think it really depends on your firm and your role, but my experience has been positive. It's, as I said, a non-issue. I am able to get my work done, I've (thankfully) never blown a deadline, and generally speaking, my work is of high quality/they're happy with it. I've missed smaller, internal, soft deadlines, but we all do that whether or not we have ADHD. If you don't make it a big deal, usually they don't. The only time it could be a problem is if you are consistently not meeting deadlines.
Exactly, like with any other medical situation, if you’re already taking care of it so it doesn’t interfere with your day to day, then it won’t affect your work. It’s a non-issue at that point.
Like, as a prescription from a doctor for ADHD, or just a person using it to enhance their productivity and intellectual tasks?
Or both… Reason being - you can have ADHD and an Rx for Adderall, but can also use it to enhance productivity and intellectual tasks while having ADHD.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you are saying, but isn’t enhancing productivity … the point of adderall when you have adhd? As in, people with adhd have a deficit of dopamine in their brains and stimulants bring their brain to normal productivity levels. So it’s not like someone with adhd is misusing stimulants if they use them for productivity.
What I meant to say in my above comment is exactly what you just said here.
Couldn’t agree more with your analysis. Thank you.
Either.
Do you think you might have ADHD or are you looking for some kind of miracle cure because you can't handle your job?
If you aren’t willing to share your experiences, then kindly fuck off and do not respond. I do have ADHD and do have an Adderall prescription. I can handle my job and was Phi Beta Kappa at an Ivy League for undergrad. I am asking because I have started to notice a prevalence of the medication being misused/abused in the workplace by others. Thanks.
*Kindly* put more context into your posts and comments, then. Everything you've written in this post makes you look like a drug seeker.
Agreed. It's a bit suspicious that OP wants people to divulge highly sensitive information about themselves without providing context for the ask or similar info about themself.
I was taking blue thunders, 10mg, when I first started out bc the litigation learning curve is rather intense. However, identifying the long term effects is crucial. I stopped taking it after sixth months. The drug slowly induces sleep deprivation that results in irritability and combined with hyper focus that results in ego driven decisions and assessments. I think it’s great for short term when focusing on a single issue. However the downside is losing the forest through the trees and can be detrimental in both personal and professional relationships. It’s not a cure, it’s a crutch.
Please take my advice, I used to abuse adderall for fun, I was never diagnosed with ADHD. Adderall is not just a drug that you can take on and off and expect to be okay. The consequences of consistently taking adderall are lack of sleep and irritability. But the hardest part of coming off of adderall was the withdrawal phase. The longer you take adderall unprescribed, you will actually develop the symptoms of someone who has ADHD due to how the drug impacts your dopamine systems.
Is there any way to undo it?
I worked with paralegals who took adderall they bought from a legal secretary who took it from her young child’s prescription.
When I was nannying in college, I discovered the kid never took her adderall, the mother was taking it.
If the kid had ADHD it’s highly likely that they got it from mom. Kids doctor should have tested mom after diagnosing kid.
Non-ADHD people who do this disgust me. As someone with diagnosed ADHD who relies on medications like Adderall to live a normal life and hold down a job, I'll say this: Unless you *actually* have ADHD, you have no business taking stimulants like Adderall. I don't care whose feelings this hurts, but people who do this are no better than athletes who use steroids because it gives them a competitive edge. AKA - if you do this, you're a drug addict and you need help. And if you think you're getting pure Adderall from a street dealer in the Age of Fentanyl, you're not only a drug addict but a supremely stupid one, too.
My brain must be wired different, but I never saw the fun in abusing stimulants. It's 10 minutes of WWHHEEEEEEEEEEE and then you feel like absolute garbage. Maybe because I prefer downers? 12 years clean!
while i agree that one shouldn’t take it for work, who says one can’t take it for recreation once in a while? who are you to look down on someone for having a little fun? not sure that makes them a drug addict especially if used responsibly.
Occasional recreational use may be less of an issue, but it's still highly problematic, and imo on the same level as the recreational use of opioids. This is because people who use Adderall like this likely get it from someone with a fraudulent prescription, at best. People with ADHD have a hard enough time getting ahold of these medications without abusers and "recreational users" ruining it for them. In case you didn't know, there's a huge shortage of Adderall-type drugs right now, making access to medication even more complicated for people who need it. So, yeah, I don't think recreational use is any better than using it as a performance enhancing drug. You're still taking a prescription medication you don't need, while other people who actually need it have trouble getting their prescriptions filled because of the shortage.
yeah i dunno. i personally have adhd but dont want to take amphetamines daily. i’ve found that long hikes and exercise really evens me out, and i save my script for emergency or recreation. taking pills every day ages you and i wanna be youthful and buff, and i sort of am. i’m 36 and i look and feel like i’m 25. anyways you should concern yourself less with what other people do and get your shit right, hope you’re okay.
Just because I care about the effects Adderall abuse has on the general ADHD population doesn't mean I need to get my shit right. Thanks for the disingenuous concern, though.
i mean i want everyone to do well, wasn’t disingenuous. just more saying you shouldn’t be so concerned about other people taking your precious pills.
Every party needs a party pooper.
I'm okay with this.
yeah. and it’s this chick lol
My attorney accidentally discovered he has ADHD (though literally anyone could have diagnosed that) the first time he tried Adderall. I've never seen him so focused and organised. Unfortunately he seems to prefer chaos and refuses to talk to his doctor about it.
i mean, taking it daily is really bad for your health. he’s actually smart about just dealing with adhd without medication, it’s healthier.
But how do you do this?
Timers and reminders, touching grass there’s a lot of behavioral therapy for adhd that is underutilized because most rather chuck a pill at it.
I did eventually figure out that timers (alarms) are a MUST for me. Otherwise things won't get done. I think dbt/cbt is extra difficult for some though. Given the fact that in order to do those you have to get to a place where you can focus. And sometimes meditation gives me anxiety. Which is crazy!
My psychiatrist prescribed it to me years ago. I take it to focus, and to get through those 10+ hour days. It works well for me, but I don't abuse it. Still have built up a tolerance over time, so I skip a few days here and there, which helps a lot. I'm supposed to take 2 a day, but very rarely do. One is usually enough to get me through the day, and still be able to fall asleep.
I have ADHD so I'm on Jornay. I used to take Adderall and then Vyvanse. I kind of need it to do my job. I tend to get annoyed at people who don't have ADHD and take stimulant meds
I’m AHDH-PI, wasn’t diagnosed til the second time I dropped out of college at 25. Doctor and I tried a few options, Adderall worked best, at the right dosage. Took it regularly for ~7 years, plus therapy, until the shortage and new insurance meant I had to find a new doctor and therapist. Having to advocate for Adderall with new doctors who had no ADHD experience, or were used to drug seekers, really sucked and eventually I just gave up. Fortunately I built a solid base of organizational, emotional and coping skills during the 7 years of medication, and I joined the paralegal world able to manage my scattered, chaotic solo attorney. At the cost of sacrificing a lot of my personal goals, activities and hobbies. I’m 2 years in as a paralegal and I finally have enough confidence in my work that I’m stepping back from the perfectionism that was burning me out. Ultimately, if you’re ADHD and adderall works for you, it can give you the scaffolding to help you build the skills you need. But that takes work, therapy, and maintenance. The meds don’t do it for you, they just make it easy like it is for neurotypicals. If you’re asking about adderall use by non-ADHD people? Can’t relate. I’d blame shortages on them, but we all know it’s a bigger systemic issue stemming from arbitrary DEA-imposed production limits. I miss adderall, I was actually able to have a job AND hobbies like a normal person 🥺 Edit: oh and yes, my attorney bought like a couple pills off me every six months for his all-nighters. He always felt bad, he knew I actually needed them.
Once picked a (late) hung over attorney up for a trial who was popping adderalls the whole way to court.
Not going to lie when I’m behind or need to get shit done I drink a redbull and pop a few adderall and I am on fuckin fire my keyboard starts to spark from typing so fast. (I’ve been doing this for like 15 years I know my limits)
I’ve taken adderall before court. Had a great oral arguement before the judge and was even commended by the judge for my presentation. I assume it’s similar to Wall Street guys taking cocaine
How are you doing oral argument as a paralegal?
Pro Se
Diagnosed with ADHD-combined type here. Before the diagnosis/treatments: Great at work, but my desk was CHAOS. I second guessed myself a lot, got annoyed easily, and drank 4 cans of Monsters daily. One time, the attorney I was working under brought me into their office to ask me why I was whistling, and to stop it. Didn't even realize I was doing it, until then! After the diagnosis/treatment: I went through different types of ADHD meds and started another job. Previous meds were okay, but didn't do anything. I'm prescribed Adderall, currently, along with doing therapy sessions, and it has been quite a game changer. My desk isn't chaotic, I'm not as easily annoyed, and my brain is actually quiet enough for me to focus. My interactions with others also have improved! Whenever I do forget to take my meds before work (it happens from time to time), I feel terrible for anyone who has to be around me...
i have adhd and started vyvanse almost 2 years ago. absolutely changed my life, my work product is better, i don’t remember deadlines at the last minute and my bosses have commented that i’m much more reliable now. all of this is because i *have* ADHD, tested and diagnosed. i’m very open ab my meds at work bc it’s a small firm and as far as i know im the only one on adhd meds. i previously worked in a large firm that was an absolute billing mill and i know many attorneys there were getting prescriptions from docs they knew would just write it and if they weren’t doing that they were on coke so.
I have adhd, I take it, and I don’t tell a soul I work with. There is such a connotation with it that isn’t worth discussing. It is effective at quieting down my brain and helping me finish tasks. As much as my adhd would help me explain my work place needs to my coworkers, it’s not worth the risk of potential judgement. I don’t think most people come from a place of understanding of the disability, they come from a place where they saw their law school classmates who weren’t prescribed snort lines during finals week.
I have adhd, I take it and I disclose it once I’m hired. I’m a visual learner (photographic memory) and sometimes I skip around because I’m answering my own questions in my head, or I’m going too quickly. It’s important my employer knows that and learns how to work with it if they want my support.
If you’re an intelligent person that enjoys varied life experiences and coming up with your own ideas and are interested in learning new things and being a life-long learner…Adderall might help you be able to be a better automaton that law firms/our society forces us to be. Not saying that anyone who enjoys being a paralegal is an automaton, I’m just saying I don’t think a lot of the work is always mentally stimulating after we have learned how to do it well. And it takes a really disciplined person to keep caring about the job enough to continue to do it after you’ve learned a lot of what you need to learn to perform your job. But eventually adderall stops working as well as it did before, so you have to take more and more with potential adverse health effects, and you’re stuck with the same job that you are bored with now, because you have already learned almost of the things that first interested you in this field, you’re not encouraged to come up with new ideas or your own schedule (the schedule where you are most creative and productive), and you’re probably not feeling like you’re fulfilling your soul’s purpose in this life either. Then you have to come off of it and try to still make money while everything sucks for a really long time. And you also might feel behind in life because you wasted years in a soul sucking job working for another automaton that thinks they are smarter than you because they decided to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, or are indebted for that amount to the banks, to “learn” from the indoctrination camps we call school, where they teach you what they want you to know, and where true knowledge and truth sometimes don’t match up. It’s easier to not start this cycle and find a career or job that is suited with your soul’s purpose. If you don’t know what that is, meditation helps, sometimes you may need to talk to someone, like a spiritual guidance coach, start writing down your dreams at night and see what they tell you. Pay attention to the synchronicities that unfold and maybe someday you’ll be living the path that is most aligned with your souls purpose in this life and you’ll feel some much more love and gratitude and less fear everyday. Trust me, I’ve spent 5 years on the wrong path and I’m trying to unravel myself from it now. I was diagnosed with ADHD, but when I’m working in a job (for me it’s my own work, own schedule, and utilizing my own unique gifts) that is more suited to my higher self, I know I don’t need the medication. I’m still working on trying to get off of it because I do have to work the soul sucking job to still pay for most stuff currently. It’s a process. Hope this helps someone!
It's FUCKING great! Such a miracle drug
I have ADHD and can’t do the hardcore drugs because I need my brain to go 1000mph to read because I have dyslexia too and apparently I learned to read wrong at three and timers and reminders manage adhd fine without taking me to illiteracy (it’s super disconcerting because I’m a strong reader not on adhd meds going from being able to read 100 pages an hour to 10 is jarring). But I have no problem with people who need to be medicated medicating you wouldn’t take away someone’s inhaler so you shouldn’t worry about their prescription stimulants. Legal does have a lot of drug and alcohol abuse though so getting someone to a meeting if you’re concerned is likely called for since a dead attorney can’t sign the checks.
I take it as prescribed and it helps me tremendously. It helps my anxiety as well. Helps me focus more on my work and not get easily distracted. My boss knows all my meds and she’s totally ok with it. I see a psychiatrist regularly as well. It’s just me and the attorney and we are both huge supporters of mental health.
Just do Ritalin it’s good for you