I can quit whenever I want!!!
WHENEVER I WANT!!!Starting tomorrow…
Ok, so I wouldn't say that I'm an
addict, but I certainly like taking
Adderall® and the way it makes me feel. I’ve taken Adderall® in the past, but only during finals time. This semester, I took some so I could stay up all night studying for my orgo exam. As
exciting as organic chemistry must sound, I have a hard time concentrating if I’m not understanding material and have to repeat reaction/mechanism steps over and over—I lose focus. So, I’ve been trying to study for regular exams like I would the final, hence the pill-popping and all-nighters.
For those of you who have taken Adderall®, or any amphetamine for that matter, you know that it not only keeps you wide awake and alert, but that it also curbs your appetite (umm,
AWESOME??) Yeah, so in addition to being able to focus on nucleophilic addition and Diels-Alder reactions (my
FAVE!! No, really… they’re so much fun!!) I've also been
losing weight!! Ugh... you don't understand how happy this makes me!!
FINALLY, I can control my binging
and focus on school
and I have more energy to work out!!
Ok, so
^^^that^^^ was last week Wednesday... the days after that were a
little different...
First of all, I had been taking my brother's
Adderall® XR (I know it's unlawful; SUE ME) and finally got my own prescription on Thursday. Since I haven't met my $1200 deductible on my insurance, the Adderall® XR costs me $145 for a 30-day supply of the
GENERIC. Me at the register ---> O_o
Umm...
YEAH and
RIGHT!! So, I went back to my doctor and she suggested I try the regular Adderall®, which is $13 for the same supply, and see how that works for me.
So yeah... regular Adderall®
totally pales in comparison to its extended release sibling. The first two days on it, I was
exhausted!! What the F*CK??!! Usually on the XR, I was noticeably more alert within 10-15 minutes of downing the pill;
this crappy drug took more than 3 days for my body to get used to. To coupled with being tired, I was also always hungry :(
You all know
iHate making myself vomit—but for three days straight, that's exactly what I did after I binged on everything from enchiladas to walnut rum cake. I even threw up
twice in one day, TWO days in a row—it was awful. I seriously never want to do that again...
Sidebar: one of my co-workers mentioned to me that I was losing weight; she jokingly said, "What are you doing? Purging?!" and laughed. I was shocked for like 0.2 seconds then I realized "You better laugh, TisbA, or she'll get suspicious!!" *Potentially awkward workplace moment adverted*
So, now it's Tuesday and things seem to finally be getting back to normal. I've lost the 1.4kg I gained over my binging episode and I feel a bit more focused and I'm not feeling hungry today at all after only having 2 sugar-free Fudgsicles® (80 cals.) Nevertheless, I think I will still ask my doctor for the XR prescription since I feel that it works so much better and keeps me alert longer. I have an HSA account I can use for doctor's co-pays and medications which I don't use much, so I might as well start using it now!
Don't get me wrong—I know I
have to eat, so I still make myself sit down to a small, low-cal meal at least three times a day (usually 2 fat-free yogurts) or other good-for-TisbA foods. I also know that some might view my use of Adderall® as abuse—I won't disagree with you but I do believe that this is something I need to take to help me concentrate better and have the energy to study
massive amounts of organic chemistry and actually have it stick in my brain. You've heard of Rogaine®, right? Well, this loss of appetite is a normal (and welcomed!) side effect just like how those men in clinical trials for a heart medicine discovered they were growing hair atop their formerly bald heads.
SAME DIFF!
My only regret in taking Adderall® is not doing it sooner; maybe some of these B-minuses on my transcript could have been A-pluses and department store mirrors would be nicer to me. Hindsight is 20/20...
TisbA
-♥
p.s. I never did catch you all up on my
doctor's visit: she said that she could hear a small "click" when she listened to my heart. What the
FUCK is a "click" and why is my heart
clicking, you ask??!! Believe me, I asked the same thing!! She meant that I have
mitral valve prolapse.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov for Google Health says: "The mitral valve helps blood on the left side of the heart flow in one direction. It closes to keep blood from moving backwards when the heart beats (contracts). Mitral valve prolapse is the term used when the valve does not close properly. It can be caused by many different things. In most cases, it is harmless and patients usually do not know they have the problem. As much as 10% of the population has some minor, insignificant form of mitral valve prolapse, but it does not generally affect their lifestyle."
She said I was fine and the palpitations I was having were probably due to me stressing over the fact that
I was stressing. They haven't occurred since, but I'm still being mindful of it and keeping the vomiting at bay. I'm going to get an EKG soon just to be on the safe side... so, it's all good :)
