A revelation

[WeirdWiredWolf]

I've been growing for 2+ years, and microdosing for just under a year. I feel safe saying that both practices have done far more for me in a year than all the ill-prescribed psychotropic drugs I was on from age 6 until 17. Long story short I was born at 26 weeks and did have some brain damage that resolved, later diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia at an age when that diagnosis should not be made and started on a class of drugs that should never be given to children. Eventually (after I was taken off of all the drugs) the diagnosis morphed to Aspergers, then a nonspecific learning disability.

(on occasion I wonder if said drugs actually caused all the 'issues' that cannabis has now resolved...sadly there's no way to know that for sure) If this had been legal/available when I was a stupid teenager would I have turned out differently and been in a better situation now? Probably. Not that I'm complaining where I am now, more like "why the F did it take this long?"

[SirSmksAlot]

I fucking hate how doctors are so quick to prescribe these harsh drugs who's side affects are often worse than the condition a person has. My daughters seem to want to be diagnosed with something to explain why they feel sad sometimes. The prick doctor gives them both anti depressants and anti psychotic drugs. They don't need them. Sorry about the rant.

[Obi-Wan]

My brother and I were diagnosed with ADHD in the same year, he was 11 and I was 9. The doctor put us both on Ritalin and we spent our adolescent years in a hell that I cannot truly explain. Testing suitable dosages of both fast acting and slow release formulas simultaneously for the “best” full day effects left us both not knowing how the drug was going to make us feel. After the first year things got really bad for my brother because he hit puberty and the doctor’s answer was to keep increasing his dose so my brother spent most of his time in a lethargic daze. When I hit puberty at 12 I flat out told my parents that I wasn’t going back to see that doctor because I had already seen what his solution did to my brother and that wasn’t going to be me. Different doctor, same result so I spent the next 3 years fighting with my parents about not taking it. I learned how to catch a pill in my throat and cough it back up a few minutes later so I basically stopped taking the Ritalin around age 13 but continued to fight with my parents when they suspected that I wasn’t taking it. At 15 I smoked my first joint and like most first timers I didn’t feel any different, I got high the 3rd time I smoked. I started to notice that when I smoked a joint alone I would get high but when I smoked with friends it just relaxed me. What I was experiencing when I smoked with friends was everything the doctors had promised from the Ritalin. To this day I use my one hitter everyday throughout the day giving myself just enough to keep me relaxed and focused. I still get high all the time but by managing my dose I can function at a level that was impossible when I was a child. My brother spent most of his teen years on high doses of the Ritalin and developed a dependency that led him to find other ways to self medicate. He’s a recovering opioid addict that’s been clean for 3 years. I’ve never liked doctors and I avoid their drugs whenever it’s reasonable to do so.

[smoorman]

Glad to hear you're both doing ok. Big pharma needs to have it's business practices examined and then public hangings if appropriate. They are behind the Drs. motives and practice of prescribing this BS. Listen to med ads on tv. They usually include something about suicidal thoughts. I understand most of these meds do something good for some of the people some of the time but they've got investors to worry about so they rush things to market. Hopefully as pot is legalized throughout the country it can replace some of the BS drugs out there. Rant over. Peace

[Rwise]

My brother put his son on Ritalin, it was like the lamps behind his eyes were turned out. Bad shit for sure, the "Fingold Diet" worked well for him. It is amazing how many bad things come from our food, even good food like an orange.

[billyboy]

What is bad about an orange?

[WeirdWiredWolf]

Pesticides, soil contaminants most likely.

[Rwise]

They set off hyper active kids, just like red 5 or white cross.

[WeirdWiredWolf]

@Obi-Wan: I was put on Risperadone (did I even spell that right?) when it had JUST been approved for autism...which the prescribing doc wasn't even sure I had. I think I was on that shit for all of a month, my mom was the one to take me off it cold turkey after she got reports from my teachers of my passing out in class--at the time I was in a theater tech program and obviously zoning out when working with power tools would be BAD. The one funny thing about all that was the doc couldn't even tell I'd been off it for a month the next time he saw me...lack of withdrawal side effects should have told him that I didn't have what it was supposed to treat (coulda had a decent malpractice case or three if we'd been on the ball about it back then).

The only other drug I can remember is imipramine which was prescribed when I was 7 or so when I was diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia..I believe that was when my brain was just starting to 'rewire' itself from infancy so of course I was a bit odd but nowhere near schizoaffective level.