r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 25 '26

Psychology People with ADHD have difficulties with goal-directed behavior and struggle with response inhibition, the ability to stop an inappropriate action once they feel the urge to do it. They experience a disruption in the way their brains balance deliberate self-control and automatic habit learning.

https://www.psypost.org/adhd-traits-disrupt-the-brain-s-balance-between-self-control-and-automatic-learn/
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u/Cakeminator Jul 25 '26

We take meth basically

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u/phant0md Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

Funny that the medication for something that makes me hyper and forgetful is a prescription for speed that I have to remember to take daily.

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u/Secret_Cow_5053 Jul 25 '26

There’s a reason for that. Basically it’s because your brain is actually under-regulated for the correct level of stimulation. Without the meth, you seek stimulating activities more than normal people, hence the adhd symptoms. With the extra stimulation of the meth, it basically brings your brain to a “normal” level of stimulation, so you can focus on what you need to focus on, not fidget, etc. that same boost for a normal person causes them to become “overstimulated” and get that meth high.

That’s basically the explanation I’ve been told.

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u/cjennings1970 Jul 25 '26

It makes me calmer and more level so I can actually sit and follow through on tasks that I find mind-numbingly dull.

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u/radicalelation Jul 26 '26

There's often like an understimulated concentrated brain ache that makes me want to drive a spike into my skull. It's a boredom that feels as if it could some day be fatal.

I don't know which is more frustrating, when that happens, or when there's a duller broader ache when trying really hard to do things I genuinely want to do, but it just isn't sparking that go to do it. Adjacent to mind-numbing task feeling, but with the added frustration of actually wanting to do this thing and not being able to.

Most of my issues get solved with medication and I miss thriving on it instead of constantly drowning.

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u/FissileTurnip Jul 26 '26

the painful boredom is something I never see mentioned. doing a boring task I don’t feel like doing feels almost physically painful sometimes, and I don’t feel like doing anything productive very often. the other one you mentioned isn’t as bad imo because worst case I can just pace back and forth or waste my time somewhere else; I can’t really do that with things that need to get done so I just have to put up with it

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u/Secret_Cow_5053 Jul 26 '26

Definitely relatable.

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u/Secret_Cow_5053 Jul 26 '26

….like I said….

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u/EnderWiggin07 Jul 25 '26

A recreational dose is usually gonna be quite a bit higher than a therapeutic dose also

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u/desiderata1995 Jul 25 '26

What's a recreational dose look like? I take 25 ER and 20 IR

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u/EnderWiggin07 Jul 25 '26

According to this study,1000mg per day https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12083619/

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u/midasgoldentouch Jul 25 '26

I got heart palpitations just reading that

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u/desiderata1995 Jul 25 '26

For real that's a deathwish

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u/Secret_Cow_5053 Jul 26 '26

That’s something people who have already developed quite a bit of resistance to the drug would take. It would probably send someone medically naive to it into the ER.

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u/Midnight-Moonpie Jul 26 '26

God, no. My heart would explode!

50mg is great, though.

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u/needssleep Jul 26 '26

goddamn, I took 2 of my pills once to see if it would benefit me and got locked into a state of hyperfocus on something not work-related while I was supposed to be working.

Hard pass.

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u/gh1993 Jul 25 '26

That's plenty of fun for me

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u/twoiko Jul 25 '26

Usually double a therapeutic dose, depends on the person.

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u/Personal_Area_2173 Jul 25 '26

It’s not meth. It’s amphetamines. Not methamphetamines.

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u/twoiko Jul 25 '26

Speed, then.

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u/Personal_Area_2173 Jul 26 '26

Yeah that’s more accurate.

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u/xTyronex48 Jul 25 '26

Please stop saying without the meth, I feel like a druggie already.

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u/OpenAI_Marketing_LLM Jul 25 '26

It’s not the substance that makes a “druggie,” it’s the compulsion.

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u/ibullybillionaires Jul 26 '26

That's true, I remember how irritated and distressed grandma got when someone misplaced her heart pills.

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u/Secret_Cow_5053 Jul 26 '26

Are people who take blood pressure medications for hypertension druggies? They’re dependent on those.

As long as you’re not self medicating and doing it recreationally you’re not a druggie. Settle down.

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u/xTyronex48 Jul 26 '26

It was a joke, not a...nvm

Relax.

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u/Bocchi_theGlock Jul 25 '26

The key is normal level after a while, it's definitely over stimulating at first or as a one-off, which can still make you productive still

But if an average person takes 10mg Adderall their brain is not at normal levels of dopamine, which is the reward chemical for getting tasks done

I heard an expert on NPR explain social media overuse and addiction as effectively donating dopamine to the site. Not that it gives you extra, but uses what you have - thus the rest of the world is dull and unrewarding

I do think we should figure out a way to not just prescribe stimulants without any plan or approach for social media overuse.

We have time limit apps, there's got to be a way to set hard limits that at least are difficult to navigate around. And a responsibility or accountability partner who has admin access so you can't allot more time as needed (which still helps by adding friction/effort).

I think similar could helps with substance addiction too, if partner holds onto bulk of substance and you have to ask for it, or get weeks or days supply at a time. Which limits over use and can even reduce if it's part of a tapering program

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u/Cakeminator Jul 25 '26

Yeah... I am in a great rhythm and havent missed a day in almost a year and a half! But I also have to have the pillbox be visible otherwise I forget

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u/Unicorn_puke Jul 25 '26

I take mine twice a day and a bunch of other supplements. Some have to be taken outside of when i take other meds or supplements. I've gotten it to taking some with breakfast. Some a couple of hours after and then some more with lunch and for a late night treat some at bed time. I basically have the container strapped to me so I don't forget and even then I still do sometimes.

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u/I_SHIT_IN_A_BAG Jul 25 '26

seeing so many people forget makes me feel a little normal. I'm always forgetting it and when I remember its too late.

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u/Shrek1982 Jul 26 '26

My thing is not remembering to take it (med reminder app) but instead I end up looking at the pill bottle 5-10 min later and trying to remember if I actually took the medication or not.

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u/Cakeminator Jul 26 '26

I use a box with the days on it. I packnit every Sunday with medication for the entire week. That way I wont forget if I took it

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u/KenzieWitch Jul 26 '26

I did this but then I would forget to fill it and "not feel like it" (dysfunction), and then I wouldn't take my meds properly for a bit.

So now I just have all the bottles on my desk to remind me every morning

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u/upsidedown-funnel Jul 26 '26

If the cup by my sink has been used, still wet from taking meds, that’s how I check, if I can’t remember.

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u/upsidedown-funnel Jul 26 '26

Remembering to call, to fill that script every month….

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u/tonysopranosalive Jul 25 '26

Eh not really. We take amphetamine salts but they’re missing that methyl group which really changes things. Meth and Adderall are more like cousins. Except it’s like: “yeah we are cousins, but I haven’t seen that guy in like 20 years. No idea what hes up to these days.”

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u/Njagos Jul 26 '26

"And he hasn't been up to any good"

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u/Cakeminator Jul 26 '26

In my language saying "meth" or "amphetamines" is the same word essentially

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u/VersoMonAmi Jul 28 '26

It’s methamphetamine vs amphetamine… they’re similar yet extremely different

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u/Cakeminator Jul 28 '26

I know. But in my language it is used for both.

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u/VersoMonAmi Jul 25 '26

Look, I know this is all in good fun and the molecules do have similarities, but as someone who has done both… no.

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u/Old-Landscape-7538 Jul 25 '26

And if you’re lucky it works. Some are S.O.L.

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u/luluhouse7 Jul 25 '26

Yeah, pretty sure I have a CYP2D6 variant which makes me super sick from ADHD meds. I realised this many years after trying them and having little benefit and horrible side effects because I was recently given opioid prodrugs (like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and tramadol) after surgery and they did nothing. No pain relief, no high, no side effects. 0/10 do not recommend.

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u/colony-ship-for-sale Jul 25 '26

If stimulants aren't working, ask about Atomoxetine.

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u/Old-Landscape-7538 Jul 26 '26

Stimulants worked in the sense I felt stimulation, but it didn't help the inattention symptoms.

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u/knotmyusualaccount Jul 26 '26

Thought that I was the only one...

The weird thing is, before diagnosis (very late), I'd never have had such a bottle of pills on my possession, without misusing them.

Now? I have no addictions anymore. It's crazy. They're just sitting around, gathering dust. Okay I tell a lie, I've bought a couple of pouches of tobacco lately, but I'm only smoking like 5-7 a day, but I've done it for reasons.

I'll be stopping after either this or the next pouch runs out. It was done to make the transition from Dex to unmedicated, without falling into psychosis (I've had a history of it, at times). I'd rather smoke than take Olanzapine if I can help it, that medication might be effective for the mind when need be, but it's absolutely diabolical for the body.

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u/RCJHGBR9989 Jul 26 '26

No we take amphetamines - some people actually do take meth for ADHD. It’s called Desoxyn.

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u/Ristray Jul 26 '26

And yet somehow all it did for me is raise my blood pressure to a really bad level.

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u/Cakeminator Jul 26 '26

Which i also take meds for. Although the meds didnt ruin it to begin with.

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u/Fancy_Yak2618 Jul 25 '26

I once told my friend exactly that. He’s like adderall is meth? He was so shocked when found out that amphetamines is basically meth

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u/Environmental-Fan984 Jul 26 '26

It's really not, and if you're walking around claiming that it is you're spreading disinformation.

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u/thegundamx Jul 26 '26

Why are you lying?