For a student, what's safer, adderall or caffeine? (poll)

[Shankmasterflex]

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

So I am obviously a student, made apparent by the title. I find myself being extremely tired at various (consistent) points throughout the school day. I'm wondering if it's more dangerous to take caffeine or adderall on school days as a pick me up. I can't say if I would take everyday, or not, it really depends on what you guys say for the "real deal" questions below.

I would be taking 10mg or less of adderall, or 40-80mg of caffeine or two throughout the day. It's extremely hard to describe how and whenI'd be taking these things so I'll leave that for another time if necessary. I don't like being extremely jittery, and I'm not trying to get high.

The real deal here is as follows:
1. Addiction, which one is more addicting? I know for a fact caffeine can get pretty addicting, having been accidentally addicted to the caffeine in Excedrin Migraine when I hadn't gone to a doctor yet about my migraines. I wasn't super addicted, but I was popping them almost daily and started to get rebound headaches, and become lethargic if i didn't have it. Please refer to both mental and physical addiction/withdrawal symptoms.
2. Dependent Learning, which one is more likely to cause dependent learning? Dependent learning is when you learn something under the influence of something, and have trouble remembering the information learned unless under that influence. This can be anything from being high, listening to techno music, or even something like being in a hot room.
3. Actual Helpfulness, will it cause me to be more awake or is it more likely to do something else? I know that adderall can make you feel more intelligent, but I've never understood if that's just because of the extra energy, or some other x-factor. I would rather not have fake intelligence, which relates back to dependent learning as well.
4. Duration of Effects, which one is better for which type of duration (1-3 hours, or 3+ hours).

With said information, share your two cents and tell me which one you think I should take, keeping in mind that the real question is which one is safer
Please vote and then explain your answer.
Huge appreciation to any of you who help.

[Nathan]

Though I voted Caffeine, I don't recommend either. Exercise, eat healthy, take a multi vitamin daily and try to get 8 hours of sleep each night. You'll have plenty of enegry and rarely get sick.

[XPiRX]

Well, First off why are you always tired? Have you tried changing/adjusting your sleep schedule at all? That plays a big role in being tired. I used to be tired all the time, i found out it was because i was waking myself up in between my sleep cycles and having irregular sleep schedules. I sleep by 3hours increments now(usually sleep 6 hours a night) and im never tired anymore. A steady/regular sleep schedule helps A LOT.

I don't find adderall physical addictive, there is a little mental addiction though, but nothing where I feel the need to do more. The adderall may help you focus more in class and pay attention more, but you may end up trying to find something else to do. I would rather be more productive than sit there and listen to a professor groan on about some boring shit.

IR is about 6hours and the XRs are meant to last about 12 hours.

And for which one being "Safer". No repeated use of any drug is "safe" imho. Everything in moderation. You said you got addicted to caffeine before, you might have an very addictive personality. So i wouldn't be doing adderall every day, only use it when you really need it(same with the caffeine).

[Danklicious.]

Neither is good for you at all. But adderall will help you much more in school as I used to use it for just that reason. Caffine seems to wear off rather quickly and provides quite a crash. Taking adderall will keep you wide awake all day. It also helps you concentrate and your "dream situation" is having a deep, intellectual conversation. I always seem to ask lots of questions on any material I learn instead of just absorbing it into my memory.

So if you want my opinion, adderall is much better but don't abuse it's powers. First off, when doing adderall for a job/work/etc, never do IR. People tend to take IR or crush up XR because it hits them all right away. This is the more abused form. XR will last you all day. Randomly throughout the day, I feel the hair stand up on my neck because some adderall is released. That happens over about 10 hours.

Next thing, don't take it every day. I usually go on "baby binges" where I do adderall once a day for about a week then take anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months off". This way I don't end up like my friends who are prescribed adderall and hate taking it because their body is so used to it, the drug just makes them feel like sit. With short binges and long breaks, I don't end up hating such an awesome drug. I took 60mg's of adderall XR at 7a.m today and parachuted 40mg's of crushed up adderall at 4p.m. So sorry if my wall of text pisses some of you off, I just can't help continue typing.

[Shankmasterflex]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Though I voted Caffeine, I don't recommend either. Exercise, eat healthy, take a multi vitamin daily and try to get 8 hours of sleep each night. You'll have plenty of enegry and rarely get sick.

Originally Posted by XPiRX

Well, First off why are you always tired? Have you tried changing/adjusting your sleep schedule at all? That plays a big role in being tired. I used to be tired all the time, i found out it was because i was waking myself up in between my sleep cycles and having irregular sleep schedules. I sleep by 3hours increments now(usually sleep 6 hours a night) and im never tired anymore. A steady/regular sleep schedule helps A LOT.

I don't find adderall physical addictive, there is a little mental addiction though, but nothing where I feel the need to do more. The adderall may help you focus more in class and pay attention more, but you may end up trying to find something else to do. I would rather be more productive than sit there and listen to a professor groan on about some boring shit.

IR is about 6hours and the XRs are meant to last about 12 hours.

And for which one being "Safer". No repeated use of any drug is "safe" imho. Everything in moderation. You said you got addicted to caffeine before, you might have an very addictive personality. So i wouldn't be doing adderall every day, only use it when you really need it(same with the caffeine).

No mental addiction, i was speaking purely physical. Mental was who gives a shit, it was that I had massive migraines continuously all day everyday, so I would take two Excedring each with 60mg of caffeine them, about twice in one day. I realized it was bad when I began getting rebound migranes when I didn't have it. I never WANTED it, know what I mean?

Also about the sleep, I don't really have a choice. I'm a senior (18), so I wake up for school at 6:20am every morning, and with my schedule, the best time I can get to sleep at is 12am/midnight. I'm actually writing this post while doing work, how's that for proof hahah I really can only get six hours of sleep each night, I wish I could get more but there is no way. I also don't have any sleeping problems like waking up in my sleep and such. Just some minor problems falling asleep.

You guys are definitely right on the frequency thing, it wouldn't be an everyday thing, but probably once or twice a week. I mean, i know people have a cup of coffee, morning, how bad is that?

Originally Posted by Danklicious.

Neither is good for you at all. But adderall will help you much more in school as I used to use it for just that reason. Caffine seems to wear off rather quickly and provides quite a crash. Taking adderall will keep you wide awake all day. It also helps you concentrate and your "dream situation" is having a deep, intellectual conversation. I always seem to ask lots of questions on any material I learn instead of just absorbing it into my memory.

So if you want my opinion, adderall is much better but don't abuse it's powers. First off, when doing adderall for a job/work/etc, never do IR. People tend to take IR or crush up XR because it hits them all right away. This is the more abused form. XR will last you all day. Randomly throughout the day, I feel the hair stand up on my neck because some adderall is released. That happens over about 10 hours.

Next thing, don't take it every day. I usually go on "baby binges" where I do adderall once a day for about a week then take anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months off". This way I don't end up like my friends who are prescribed adderall and hate taking it because their body is so used to it, the drug just makes them feel like sit. With short binges and long breaks, I don't end up hating such an awesome drug. I took 60mg's of adderall XR at 7a.m today and parachuted 40mg's of crushed up adderall at 4p.m. So sorry if my wall of text pisses some of you off, I just can't help continue typing.

Taking all that into consideration, that's why I thought I would only take 5-10mg of adderall in order to avoid tolerance and such. I'm also thinking that would make ER a better choice.

edit in bold

[Danklicious.]

IR will cause you to consistently having to redose through out the day. With XR, you can take 20mg's a day for about 2 weeks before you need to up the dosage. Then you can take a short break and come back to it two weeks later. Or you can just up your dosage a little and continue going forward.

[Emblazened]

Don't take Adderall.

Just have a cup of coffee a couple times a day.

[Shankmasterflex]

Originally Posted by Emblazened

Don't take Adderall.

Just have a cup of coffee a couple times a day.

A-thank-ya-vera-much for the input.
You think having that much caffeine per day is better than an XR adderall?

[Emblazened]

You know something I've noticed about people who start taking Adderall?

They don't stop taking Adderall.

[Kaya girl]

Definately caffeine, I've been perscribed adderall for several years now and I had heart problems from taking it too often, and I was perscribed it. I drink coffee now and it works, I don't feel like I'm having a heart attack every day now. Don't do adderall.

[Shankmasterflex]

Originally Posted by Emblazened

You know something I've noticed about people who start taking Adderall?

They don't stop taking Adderall.

Originally Posted by Kaya girl

Definately caffeine, I've been perscribed adderall for several years now and I had heart problems from taking it too often, and I was perscribed it. I drink coffee now and it works, I don't feel like I'm having a heart attack every day now. Don't do adderall.

Enough to convince me!

Any last words anyone?

[therealbman]

I've been prescribed a generic form of adderall IR at 20mg twice a day since September 1st of this year. Worked great for a while but now I have a really hard time staying on task when doing homework. This usually ends up with me taking more adderall (I don't take it on the weekends) and me not going to sleep so I can try and finish it. Tonight's about to be one of those nights and I'm kinda pissed. Last time I stayed up all night I gave up around 530am and slept for a couple hours before class. I think it's probably just a matter of willpower but when I first started I didn't need to force myself to start. I just wanted to.

However, it does keep me awake during class. I also take better notes and don't daydream as easily (although I have slowly started to again).

Caffiene doesn't ever really help me. I might be a little more awake but unless I take one of the 200mg pills I can still fall asleep during class. Obviously not a problem since I've been on adderall.

If you're absolutely certain you can keep your addy use to only when absolutely necessary then I'd say go ahead. Otherwise just do as someone else here said and exercise and get 8 hours of sleep. Then you can supplement that with caffeine on off days where you're still tired.

[kishou]

i would say caffeine for just a regular school day. But adderall for only tests/studying for tests.

[TheHitman47]

Originally Posted by Emblazened

You know something I've noticed about people who start taking Adderall?

They don't stop taking Adderall.

You know something I've noticed about people who start drinking coffee everday?

They don't stop drinking coffee.

See what I did thar?

Listen, whatever you chose, moderation and understanding limits is the most important thing. Adderall and caffine while not the healthiest choices are not really bad in moderation. I would say adderall definately helps me focus a lot more than caffine would. Caffine, I get pretty bad withdrawl symptoms and even when I am at the peak of a caffine rush it doesn't compare to the hours of focus I get from adderall.

It's all up to you though.

[TenMac]

I haven't ever taken adderall. About caffeine though I find it usually gives me some energy but after a while I get annoying tachychardia - my heart will start to beat irregularly, and its hard to stay still without jittering if I take high doses. The mental stimulation is very short-lived compared to its side effects most of the time.

Beer is always a fun way to handle the jittering after a day long caffeine binge Lol.