BrainBlitz.org

It doesn’t take much browsing of drug forums and viewing search queries to realize that the most sought-after information regarding Adderall is related to tolerance reduction. There are volumes of amateur research to be found.

Magnesium is probably the dominant “cure” brought up in discussions. L-Tyrosine comes up often. Some users swear by these (and other) supplements. But when you take the response as a whole, the general consensus seems to be that there is really no way to significantly reduce tolerance.

But here’s the thing. When you do enough research to get a handle on what people are really after, it’s not actually the therapeutic value of the class of drugs. They are generally looking for the high.

Adderall is kind of mean that way. The first time you take it, it’s mind blowing. The second time… it’s almost mind blowing. The third time… well, it degrades rapidly from there. But what exactly is mind blowing?

I’ll tell you one thing for sure – it’s not the ability to focus.

It is the euphoria. The feeling of world-conquering motivation. Feeling like you want to give everyone a hug. The ability to carry on quick-witted conversation like you are reading from a fast-paced movie script.

Those few hours, when you first used amphetamines, are burned into your mind – only to tease you for the rest of your life (as far as I know).

But here’s the thing. And it is a goodthing, despite not being what most tolerance-reduction seekers want to hear: you were not prescribed Adderall for it’s mind-blowing effects. You were prescribed Adderall to help keep your mind on task, or (in my case), to help you get through the day without a 2-hour  nap.

I attached a graph comparing the therapeutic effects, “recreational” effects and other side effects (the unpleasant ones – cold limbs, appetite suppression, tachycardia, etc) over time. The graph is purely intuitive, and the relative levels of the “quantities” are meaningless. The levels per quantity, however, ARE meaningful. The graph is based on personal experience, and a lot of reading of other’s experiences.

Each vertical line indicates a new month. A couple of things to notice:

• “Recreational” effects are tolerated extremely quickly. Euphoria and such literally do not occur after a couple of days.
• An “abuse event” may provide a glimpse of the original “high”, but only a glimpse. Further, it severely attenuates the therapeutic effects for as much as several weeks, depending on the duration and magnitude of the event. Debatably, the brain never fully “recovers”, as the projected post-event Therapeutic Effects shows. If it does, it does so very slowly.

So, what is the point of all of this?

1. You’re never going to attain that initial high again, so forget about it.
2. Trying to attain a high has severe detrimental effects on the therapeutic value of amphetamines.
3. While the brain quickly tolerates the “recreational” effects, the physical effects (vasco, pulmonary, etc) seem to vary about linearly with the size of the dose. Obviously then, the higher your recreational tolerance, the more dangerous it is to achieve recreational levels.
4. On the extreme end, users have demonstrated tolerance for up to as much as 2 grams (!!) of meth (!!) per day. THAT is where the recreational road ends up. It’s futile… and… well, at 2 grams per day, that’s got to be getting expensive.

For those who are considering going on Adderall, here is a piece of advice I very much wish I had been given at the very beginning:

Do NOT start your use with a prescribed dose. Instead, taper up over a week, or even two. In doing so, you’ll be mitigating possible issues from the outset.

Of course, I have to say at this point – don’t do ANYthing other than what your doctor has told you, without discussing it first.

Further reading: All the amphetamine information you ever wanted.