[-jimi-]

I know people low in dopamin might experience the world as duller as others, and they don't at all have the same motivation. So much I can understand.

If I take Ritalin I can sometimes just up and do something without terrorizing my mind first. This I don't think is a fake feeling, because many people without ADD can do things without procrastinating or suffering inbeforehand.

But if I take Ritalin the sun is brighter and warmer, the grass is greener and the people are kinder. I wonder if normal people feel this. Or if it is just me being high. Just a normal day, can a person just feel this depth and beauty, or is it simply impossible without something extra in their life (like something good happening to them) or meds?

I first felt this is how normals feel. But no, they don't act like they feel that, maybe once in a while. So I'm leaning towards this is simply being high. And that its not something that is at all easy to reach even for a normal person.

I'm a little disappointed because first I thought it proved you can actually feel really good by yourself, but now I just feel this is an extreme that demands meds.

A bit of a downer.

What do you guys think? Can this be a normal state of mind?

[Desoxyn]

I've been on Concerta, Adderall and Vyvanse. I've also tried other similar stimulants.

For me it's just being able to function. I'm on Vyvanse right now and it doesn't get me high - Even if I take a couple. I still have trouble with motivation and get really tired.

It helps to get me out of bed in the morning. Like, I just magically want to get out of bed instead of sleeping in for the rest of the day because I also have chronic fatigue syndrome or hypersomnia.

Stimulants are like drugs that make you MORE sober imo.. They sober you up from benzos, alcohol and opiates.

As long as you're on a therapeutic dose and not abusing it, it should allow you to get high from the relief of being able to function where a regular person would take it for granted.

I agree that there's a lot of people that are on stimulants that don't need them. Society wants people to be on them though for more productivity, to work, go to school and people look down on others that are lazy.

I have schizophrenia and they say that that means more dopamine in the brain than normal. Maybe I just have low dopamine and overactive serotonin 2a receptors which antipsychotics antagonise and psychedelics agonise. I think that's why psychedelics give me psychosis and stimulants never do.

[sarahsweets]

I have been on amphetamines for about 13 years. I am also guilty of not getting my rx in time sometimes so I end up with breaks and feel awful. I do not know that stimulants are sometimes used in treatment resistant depression so the mood lift where as you say the grass seems greener isn't abnormal.

[-jimi-]

I absolutely do not abuse Ritalin. I have ADD and the days I take it, it makes me being able to start and go through with projects, just as the med is intended for.

I'm probably very low on dopamin without, because I don't really seem to have much of a reward system. People feel rewarded by a thing well done, or from candy or a good movie. I really never had that. Even when I'm not depressed, the world is never really warm and nice, and people aren't either.

So I kind of wonder about people who seem fairly happy, they are motivated but also they can be a lot happier than I can. So I'm sort of wondering if I just reach up to how they feel... When I take the med I also feel better about other people around me.

I've basically stopped the med because I feel it makes my feelings fake. Maybe these days once in a month.

I take 5 mgs. Sometimes I need to take a second time because I take IR, and then I take 10 mg in one day. I basically never met anyone who's on that little.

I still have this feeling that the pills take me to places most people never go, if that is the case, no one can feel truly happy without pills.

[still_crazy]

ritalin was once heavily marketed (to doctors, not the public) for depression, as a milder alternative to amphetamines. even now, amphetamines and the ritalin preparations are often used in people with mood disorders and other problems, usually with other drugs on board.

so...i dont really know what to tell you, lol. no psych drugs 'fix' anything, obviously. the idea is to alter brain chemistry to improve someone's life, hopefully without running into terrible adverse effects and/or drug addiction, dosage escalation, etc.

if anhedonia and such are ongoing problems, then it stands to reason that something stimulating--ritalin, an amphetamine, even a stimulating antidepressant--might brighten one's outlook, at least for a while. the question for each individual is obviously do any risks or obvious adverse effects outweigh benefits? are there benefits? etc.

[-jimi-]

Sure it brightens my outlook. But more than normal? It's actually quite an important question for me since I slipped into an addiction of another drug. I was told about that one this is nothing you CAN experience without it. It's basically the only thing making me want to quit it. I simply don't want to go where a normal mind can't take me.

If that is my reason for getting sober, I really have to ask myself about the Ritalin as well. If I use Ritalin and it causes something that makes me want to quit a drug, this is a total head on collision in my mind.