Also, have you heard of "neurogossip"? That's what neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee (real name!) calls the media's rabid interest in this drug trend.

The most popular reason for taking the drugs was to improve concentration. Improving focus for a specific task (admittedly difficult to distinguish from concentration) ranked a close second and counteracting jet lag ranked fourth, behind 'other' which received a few interesting reasons, such as "party", "house cleaning" and "to actually see if there was any validity to the afore-mentioned article".

I've been diagnosed by three psychiatrists as manic-depressive with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and so I take a powerful antipsychotic drug, a small dose during the day and a big one at night, so that it knocks me out and I don't have the nightmares that have plagued me the better part of my life. But I wake up groggy, so to counter that in order to write, I double my dose of Wellbutrin (an antidepressant with stimulant qualities, and, I might add for the men out there, little to no sexual side effects as with so many SSRI's), drink two cups of coffee, a third while I'm writing, and a scoop of No-Explode, which is another stimulant concoction typically used pre-workout for weight lifters and body builders. The thing is, although I'm clean and sober and have been for some time, I need my mania to write just as the narrator in A Fine Madness needs his to live to tell the tale.

1) Adderall may make you disloyal and not to be trusted!:
"this is probably not what Nick wanted me to say; but I find sleep and meditation works much better then adderall, although more people swear by the adderall."

2) Adderall is basically Titanic:
"The half life of Adderall is about 4 hours, that means it'll stay in your system for 8. You will only feel it for 4 though, but it's still there."

3) Adderall will help you write about your friends' rock bottoms:
"Not from me, but I've seen people pass out, take to much. One of my dearest friends almost committed suicide because he was taking to many peoples, he didn't want to, but he just kept on popping them like candy. So that's where a lot of the inspiration behind my poetry and short story book comes from. The late night parties, the insanity that can be NYC."

"that's what it's about, this drug is a passing fad, just like many others. But it's indicative of a greater challenge, in society as a whole. I'm not preaching. By no means, my writing and thoughts come from an observers stand point. For me this is a fascinating concept and phenomenon."

4) Adderall makes you a big, circular thinker:
"We're willing to put almost anything in our bodies; that doctors prescribe to us, we even ask for scrips, watching commercials for sleeping aids and the like ... this is taught to us from an early age. 'A pill will cure everything.' But then we eat all organic, are concerned about cloned beef. This is one of, the great paradoxes in our culture."

5) An Adderall user may actually not actually use Adderall:
"...for the art set, that magic, that makes something amazing, can't come from a drug. Well, not in my case. I think it's a great illusion, and Big Pharma totally wants everyone to buy a pill to cure them."

This is probably the worst idea ever, opening myself up to potential Gawker scrutiny. But fuck it, why not tell the truth? This is a huge part of my life that I can't, or don't, talk about.

I started taking Adderall and Dexedrine in a recreational capacity when I was a sophomore in college. I liked it. A lot.

So when my friend who had introduced me to the drugs left town I decided to get a script of my own, and I've had one ever since. It's been about 6 years now. And I don't just have a script, I have a HUGE script. I've always been the bossy type with doctors, believing that they're just like everyone else ( i.e. you, or at least I, can push 98% of them around), and as a result I've consistently gotten doctors in all 3 states I've lived in since to prescribe me quite a bit above the supposed maximum daily dosage.

Is this a good thing? Well it is and it isn't. On the plus side I fucking love it. I love my orange pills, they mean I don't need to sleep (or at least not for a long time) or eat (or at least not very much) and my kitchen is always very clean.

Clearly I should be thinking about my future though, right? What I'm doing to my body, my mind... what sort of effect an amphetamine addiction this large has on one's relationships, both personal and professional? How will I ever stop? Will I ever stop? I assume I will but can't imagine it, not quite.

I am addicted to Adderall, there's no doubt in my mind. But I'm functioning at such a high level it's hard to feel motivated to stop. And then inevitably I have to wonder if it's a problem if it doesn't cause problems... I've seen this drug wreak havoc on people, but generally I think it makes me happier than I would be without it. I think.

But yeah, I'm a 27 yr old girl, I live in Manhattan, and everyday I wake up, pop some amphetamines and go to work at a big, fancy job. Beats the fuck out of coffee.