As someone who used to be on (a low dose of) Ritalin, the wost side effect I can describe (aside from appetite fluctuations) is that being on Ritalin trains your brain to expect a certain level of stimulus. Before Ritalin, you weren't getting it, and so you would do lots of things ("hyperactivity") to bring the level of combined input up to the point where you can really "feel it." When on Ritalin, it's like you have to reach 100 before your brain is happy, but the Ritalin starts you off at 50 instead of 0, so it is easier to reach the point where your brain is "satisfied." However, once the Ritalin is removed, the booster seat gets yanked out, you start off at 0 again, and your body is still so used to being satisfied by adding +50 that it is extremely difficult to figure out what to do to add +100.
Now, later in life, it is extremely difficult to get motivated or excited*, at least to the point where the reaction can sustain itself. This is different from adolescence, when I could get wrapped up in
a video game and play it for 36hrs straight until I had solved every nook and cranny, or so into
a book that I would finish the entire thing in under 18hrs even though 8hrs of that was my shift at work. I suppose it's a bit like depression, except that a mental activity level measuring "depression" for an ADD/ADHD is more like "normal" for normal folks, since an ADD/ADHD person has to keep more plates spinning to maintain the same level of functionality as the average person. I suppose this would be true for any sort of recovering amphetamine user,
no matter the age, but of course the majority of stimulants** are considered Schedule II Controlled Substances, and so are not available to the general public, so it's exceedingly hard to self-medicate.
I'm of two minds, really. There are advantages to not being a Robin Williams*** during daily life, but I miss the ability to multi-task on a dozen things simultaneously.
--Patrick
*Unfortunately, this also includes the fight/flight response, though this
does mean a very high resistance to panic.
**Except for Caffeine and Pseudoephedrine, but
Pseudoephedrine is tightly regulated, and
Caffeine tries hard to get itself excreted, meaning it has a short half-life.
***Though granted, Robin Williams was someone who managed to obtain the means to self-medicate, so not sure if endorsement or condemnation.
