Posted by SLS on March 4, 2001, at 10:19:13
In reply to Re: I don't know about that, posted by Aurelie on March 4, 2001, at 0:25:32
Hi Aurelie.
> Well, meet a Ritalin addict. The reason I posted my concerns is because I wanted to save someone the trouble that I've had. I was put on Ritalin as a pick me up, (as an addition to the Prozac, which I still take IN COMBINATION
This was understood. I should have perhaps included this in my wording.
> with the exercise) and became addicted not long after. Because the drug makes you feel so good, so alive -- which was amazing for me, as I had been depressed for years -- it was hard to resist taking more and more.
> In addition, tolerance builds up pretty quickly. Soon, I was snorting upwards of 15 20 mg. pills each day. Of course, a horrible crash does eventually occur, and your depression just deepens
I think your description represents well the difficulty in trying to conceptualize the issue as black-and-white.
What does it feel like to crave Ritalin? What does it feel like to "crave" rather than "want" or "need"? At what point did you begin snorting it? Did the nature of your cravings and desire for the effects of Ritalin change in some way once you began to snort it?
I think that this is a good point to stress again that our biologies are as unique as snow flakes, and are differentially responsive to any one medication (compound). In my mind, it is easily conceivable that for some people, Ritalin acts and feels much like cocaine and is nearly as addictive as cocaine. Both Ritalin and cocaine do very much the same thing in the brain. Both inhibit the reuptake of dopamine in those limbic structures responsible for reward, drive, and vigilance. Perhaps, for some people, Ritalin acts very much more like cocaine than it does for the majority of people. Perhaps we can say that Ritalin is a non-addictive drug that infrequently produces the side-effect of addiction. ???
black-GREY-white
I have abused antidepressant medications in the past just to maintain the wonderful effect of reducing my pain of depression. This was especially true of drugs that would produce an immediate brief "blip" of improvement simply from changing the dosage, either up or down. I would self-medicate such that I would do just about anything to get back that good feeling. However, I can say that the word "crave" didn't sit right me. I'm not sure why. I wanted it real bad, though. Meanwhile, the whole time, I craved donuts.
> In no way do I feel that anyone has a right to deny anyone else from feeling as good as they can. This drug took me so low, I was just trying to help someone else avoid my mistake.
What exactly was your mistake?
> I sincerely hope that everyone finds the right combination of things that will work for them -- be it exercise, or drugs or anything else. If Ritalin works for you, that's wonderful; but be watchful of the sneaky ways of addiction.
For me, I would like to thank you for posting such an important caveat.
Sincerely,
Scott
poster:SLS
thread:55413
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010302/msgs/55522.html