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Comment by zafka | Hacker News Reader

One thing I hardly find documented is: what is the daily usage of the hard core users? How does it compare to the 10-60 mg daily dosages prescribed for ADHD

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With high doses every day you can develop an insane tolerance to amphetamines. 500mg in a day wouldn’t be that unusual.

Even at low, prescribed, dosages, I find myself needing to take a day or two off each week to avoid building a tolerance.

I'm not sure if others experience the same thing, but I can absolutely feel the effects slipping away, even after just 10 days of continuous use.

For what its worth I've had good luck switching to Modafinil (And extra caffeine) on the weekends, to keep my tolerance down. I also like to take ~4+ day breaks every ~3 months or so, which helps a ton.

Same here, but found out that chelated magnesium puts a stop to this.

I think that's a great practice and not uncommon.

I know it affects everyone differently, but I was prescribed Adderall for ADHD and at 30mg my heartrate was elevated by 25bpm, I didn't feel tired for ~28 hours and I was unable to drive because my brain would get convinced that I was standing still and the road was moving towards me.

I didn't take it a second time, and am now on Focalin.

You should have started with just 5mg. 30mg is a lot for an initial dosage.

Great that an alternative seems to be working for you though.

It's difficult to tell since so many street users of amphetamine are taking 200-500+mg of "street speed" per dose, which could be anywhere from 10-50%+ in purity.

Hi Everyone, Thanks for the insight. More than I have seen in the many articles I have scanned. I have seen quite a few suggestions to take a break periodically from AHDH meds to help keep tolerance down in other places, but I always wondered what the heavy users were doing.

I've read the opposite. You don't want to lower tolerance cause of the high.

Tolerance builds very fast in a matter of days, so you'll have normal effects.

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