The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Notes -
Dextroamphetamine report:
I finally got my first supply of dextroamphetamine, the cool enantiomer. This wasn't as simple as I'd like, I've previously kvertched about my psychiatrist making a minor prescription error that delayed things by a week, but I finally picked up the amended prescription, looked and it sideways and upside down, and then took the long bus ride back home and my local pharmacy.
I submitted my new prescription, and then found myself waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting some more. I could hear the rattle of lock boxes, and harried pharmacy technicians muttering under their breath as they figured things out. One of them scooched past me, carrying a box of what I hoped were my tablets, as well as what was clearly my prescription, before disappearing into an ominous 'Consultation Room'.
He proceeded to come and go several times, and for the short snatches of time the door was ajar, I managed to catch several glimpses of a senior-looking pharmacist doing inscrutable pharmacist things (I just write prescriptions, whatever happens afterwards isn't my forte).
Eventually, after a good twenty minutes of waiting, this senior pharmacist comes out. He asks me to confirm my name. I do. Then my date of birth. Which I do too.
Then he asks me if I've written this prescription myself.
Huh. No, I say, I mean, I very much wish I could have, it would have saved me a great deal of bother.
He puts on his reading glasses and peers at the label, then looks back at me. You sure you didn't write this?
Pretty sure. Though I did explain I'm a psychiatry resident myself.
Then he goes ahh, realizing the error. The Nigerian psychiatrist I saw, through some trick of the phonetic gods, happened to have a name that resembles mine. I mean, it's a very, very distant resemblance, you'd have to be half deaf to confuse the two of us.
You could also be half-blind, as they're spelled nowhere near alike. The GP practice that I signed up for was kind enough to append the actual "Dr." prefix before my name, and for a good 20 minutes, I presume the pharmacists had been arguing amongst themselves about whether I was writing myself a prescription for controlled substances, and whether they ought to do anything about it.
I mean, it is technically legal (with the possible exception of stimulants unless you're a licensed psychiatrist) for doctors to write themselves a prescription for anything. The GMC are just prudish assholes who frown heavily upon it, and hence everyone who values their license avoids it unless it's clearly unimpeachable. I doubt they'd fire me if I'd written myself up for paracetamol.
Anyway, I cleared up that mixup, but was informed that unfortunately, they didn't have enough tablets for an entire month's supply. Fortunately, they did provide me enough for three weeks, and more should come in soon. Half the reason I opted for dexedrine/dextroamphetamine is because it's rarely prescribed, and wouldn't be as likely to be in critical shortage.
I've taken a single 5mg tablet so far, and I can tell you it feels way superior to methylphenidate/Ritalin. 5mg of dexedrine is roughly 10mg of the latter, but even that low dose of Ritalin makes me feel sick, jittery and anxious, and yes, even using the sustained release formulation. This feels almost mellow, just the focus without the palpitations and headaches. Me likey.
It's too early to make a conclusive judgement, but so far I'm glad I didn't just stick to the drug I was familiar with.
Edit:
I took a total of 10mg, and while it did make me hyper-focus, I'm afraid that it doesn't entirely solve distractability. I ended up procrastinating quite a bit, and only read a few pages of my textbook. To be fair, I was interrupted, and just wasn't feeling like studying after a hectic morning.
At that dose, it became very slightly less pleasant, but still nowhere near as bad as the lowest dose of Ritalin. I think it's been long enough for it to start wearing off, and to my great relief, it's nowhere near as harsh when it comes to comedowns. Ritalin would leave me feeling absolutely burnt out and irritated.
Dopamine-release 1, dopamine-reuptake-inhibition 0 (this is grossly simplified pharmacology)
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