ADHD or ADD

I had to drive my mothers car down to Florida years ago leaving Saturday and be back Sunday. 1,200 miles and catch a flight. Have a doctor friend. He got me 2 adderall 15mg. I took one right away. About an hour later I'm grinding my teeth, licking my lips and smoking one butt after another. I was like Beavis with his laugh on Beavis and Butthead. I was completely off the wall.

Drove 800 miles and figured I should stop and get a room. I was buzzing. Wasn't tired at all. Got a small bottle of tequila across the street from hotel. Drank it all. No effect. Two hours later took off driving then took the other pill. Got down to FL in record time. Got on plane later in afternoon sweating like crazy. Coming down was awful.

But, greatest drug since sliced bread for sure!!!! Coming down, the worst.

 

I take strattera which is non stimulant and Not an amphetamine
i have no drowsy side affects from it but KLLM wont accept me taking it to drive for them its on there list

 

Not everyone gets the same effects from adderal. I tried it years ago finding myself constantly looking for things to do didn't feel sleepy until 4am then crashed HARD. Never again lol

 

You should see your doctor. I just read on the Internets that people with those conditions often have NCAA or NAACP, too, but they won't test for either one unless your doctor specifically requests it.

 

Three things I can't remember people. Places and I forgot the third

 

Well said.

 

I asked at my med card testing place, the following question: "When a hiring company asks for med info on me, what do they get if they have already seen my med card?"
He replied, "There is no such thing as HIPPA in trucking. Most get the long form." (this is the paper form you fill out listing everything). And if you do not divulge everything on that form, then your med card is invalid, if you are tested after an incident etc."
IDK myself, some say that you should not write any drugs you take down on the long form, and discuss them only with the doc if they show up on the UA and the med person calls you about it. (I just got my CDL and am new to all of this, not yet employed)

 

The guy is right, there is no such thing as HIPPA in trucking. However, there is with the medical profession and any type provider had better have a release before they release anything back to the carrier. There are some common sense things that go along with this. However, don't try to hide behind HIPPA.

 

If you actually have ADD or ADHD, the stimulants used to treat it generally do not have the same resulting symptoms as in people who use it without the medical condition.

I have mild/moderate ADD. That's a bit odd, as ADD without the hyperactivity is far more common in women than men. I was never diagnosed in school, and developed sufficient coping mechanisms to live life without a prescription before I even knew what ADD was.

However, I do not react to caffeine like most people do. Caffeine does not make me less tired, but it does help me think more clearly. I can drink a pot of strong coffee and immediately go to bed and have no difficulty sleeping.

I do share your concerns about people abusing prescription drugs and driving, but I do not believe that singling out ADD/ADHD drugs is appropriate, if they are being used appropriately, by someone who has ADD/ADHD. Look at the laundry list of potential side effects of almost any prescription drug, even things like cholesterol medicines. Some of those are more than a little worrisome.

 

Civilization has lots of benefits. Believe it or not, it also has a negative side.

In a technologically advanced civilized society, we spend an enormous amount of resources on keeping people alive who would have died early in life, even just a few decades ago.

Allergies. Genetic cancers. Birth defects. We treat them. Those individuals grow and pass on their genes to their children. The gene pool of health problems grows larger, and the better medical technology gets, the worse the baseline natural genetic health of the people get.

The same can be said for ADD and ADHD people. Genes have been identified that are associated with ADD/ADHD expression. Some of those genes are the same genes that have been identified as being associated with abnormal risk-taking behaviors.

Before about seventy to a hundred years ago, explorers, soldiers, sailors, and other occupations were where ADHD and ADD people gravitated to. Professions that either required adaptation and constant change, or were extremely regimented with a strong chain of command. In most cases, the sorts of jobs that ADD/ADHD people could do well in, in more primitive societies, were dangerous jobs with high mortality rates.

That is changing. There are still lots of jobs out there that are good for ADD/ADHD people, and a lot of them are still dangerous, but the mortality rate is FAR lower in high tech societies.

TLDR: The better our medical technology gets, the worse our genetic health gets, and the more common risk-taking genes become in our population.