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u/somuchsunrayzzz Nov 09 '24
I feel like everyone is different. Some people legitimately need adderall. I knew a few who didn’t need it and took it anyway because they felt it made them study better. Some folk I’m surprised passed the bar because they were only ever drunk/high in school. Meanwhile I’ve never had caffeine or alcohol and I did very well for myself. I think it’s all situational.
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u/Figs_for_the_dogs Nov 09 '24
Slow down Joseph Smith, save some riz for the rest of us.
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u/CockroachNew574 Nov 09 '24
Na man wrong religion that’s allah
1
u/AwwSnapItsBrad Nov 10 '24
I don’t think you know what a Mormon is.
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u/CockroachNew574 Nov 10 '24
Lived in slc met a few jack Mormons not many are are as orthodox as we think
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u/novabomb42 Nov 09 '24
Caffeine. With occasional alcohol to take the edge off.
Otherwise you do not need supplements or drugs to succeed unless you legitimately need them.
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u/Little_Bishop1 3L Nov 09 '24
False. The reason for this increase trend of students taking adderall is to get them through, because they can’t function. The adderall and other ADHD meds work to increase focus and help you study. Caffeine cannot be used as an alternative treatment to ADHD symptoms, in fact, they worsen the symptoms. However, caffeine is useful if used right, such as taking it when you need the boost
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u/Busy-Standard-1687 Nov 10 '24
Umm idk what you mean caffeine is also a stimulant and I definitely drank insane amounts of it in undergrad before I was diagnosed with adhd because it helped some. It's certainly less effective than my medication and I only drink it now in normal amounts because I like coffee, but it wasn't totally useless for me at least. I wouldn't say caffeine worsening symptoms is a universal experience for people with adhd
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u/Little_Bishop1 3L Nov 10 '24
Caffeine worsens ADHD symptoms and cannot be used as a treatment. Look it up…
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u/Busy-Standard-1687 Nov 10 '24
I am a person with adhd who has friends with adhd who's symptoms are not made worse by caffeine sooo
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u/unwaveringwish Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 09 '24
Have you considered actually getting tested for a learning disability?
I’d encourage you to try and find the root of your lack of focus rather than rely on a drug first. Is it just the workload? Are you depressed? Have you talked to a counselor about your lack of focus? How are your study habits? Do you have difficulty concentrating? Do you have “systems” in place to get you through the day?
The work doesn’t get easier after school - you still need to be able to function during the bar, and in practice. If you don’t want to rely on adderall (that is, if you don’t actually need it) then you’ll need to find other ways to cope.
I will say if you try adderall and end up acting… normal, you might have needed it in the first place. It’s better to go through proper channels first.
ADHD is also fairly common, and just because someone has accommodations doesn’t mean they’re taking it. I also know a lot of people who take advantage of accommodations just to “get ahead”. But unfortunately practice doesn’t really have accommodations… so it’s best to get a handle on what’s really going on now.
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Nov 09 '24
[deleted]
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u/unwaveringwish Nov 09 '24
See if your school has a counseling center or whichever office handles disabilities in your university or school. You might need an evaluation and it might cost money, but they should be able to provide some resources for you to check out.
If the issue is more personal, like if you’re having trouble adjusting socially or the stress is interfering with your daily activities, I’d also check with the counseling center for counseling services. I always recommend this because therapy can be expensive by itself, but many schools have it included in your tuition at no additional cost. Sometimes they can provide resources as well. For me I needed a difference in perspective and that helped me take a lot of pressure off!
1
u/lottery2641 Nov 09 '24
I’ll add that I wasn’t diagnosed until 1L—so if this is something you’ve struggled with, it’s absolutely worth getting tested!! Personally, I used Zocdoc
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u/lottery2641 Nov 09 '24
I mean, consider whether you have adhd and need it???
But I can tell you, if you’re using it bc you need it you truly don’t have an advantage. You’re just being brought up to normal levels of productivity. On days I don’t take it, I genuinely cannot do work most of the day bc I get distracted by 50k other things and scrolling on my phone—and it’s not “haha omg I’m so addicted to reddit lol” it’s “every single fiber of my being is telling me to get up right now and do work, I don’t want to be scrolling on my phone, I know I’m going to be stressed if I don’t stop, I truly want to stop, but I am physically incapable of forcing myself up.”
Not to mention how long readings take (studying for several hours over the weekend and only making it through two days of readings).
Also, medicine isn’t some cure all. Personally, mine lasts maybe eight hours. That’s great for weekends—but what am I supposed to do when I have class at 9am and more class from 320-7??? Either I take it for class so I can focus, and maybe get an hour of work in in between while it’s still working (I take it twice a day and each one works for 4 hrs max, more like 3.5). Or I sacrifice class time and accept I won’t be able to focus, and take it at a time where I can get a lot done (but I’m even less focused when it wears off, so if I take it at noon I can pay even less attention in my 320-7pm classes)
It also doesn’t help much with focusing on the right things. Sometimes I start looking up things I’m interested in bc my brain is finally quiet enough to remember to look them up. Sometimes I end up wasting the entire several hours and then I have to attempt to work after it wears off 🙃🙃
Not to mention the fact that it is less effective when you’re sleep deprived, and may actually make you more tired 🥲 I can’t drink coffee on it bc I get anxious, and on days I get very little sleep I often just do coffee instead bc it’s more useful to help me stay up—same with days I have a ton to do that’ll take longer than 8 hours.
That is to say, having a normally functioning brain is a much bigger advantage than someone who needs adderall taking it as prescribed.
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u/strawberrymilk76 Nov 09 '24
It only gives you a better chance if you need it. The thing with Adderall (or any stimulant medication used to treat ADHD/ADD) is if you don’t have ADHD/ADD and take the medication it will not have the same effect on you. It’s a stimulant yes, but if you don’t need it then you are basically overstimulating your brain to the point where it doesn’t actually help you any better in school and if anything can hinder you.
So it’s only helpful to those who have issues with executive function, attention and so on. In addition it doesn’t help everyone with ADHD/ADD either. Everyone’s brain is different
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u/Reofan Nov 10 '24
So if you need Adderall you are at a substantial disadvantage and the advantage that Adderall gives you is that you can be functional for 6 hours a day. Even if they were twice as functional as you are when they are on Adderall you are still coming out better than them
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u/RNG-dnclkans Nov 09 '24
Not at all (and this is a regular issue that comes up in this sub. Not saying you are being resentful, but there is a lot of resent towards people with accommodations and those prescribed medications, such as adderall, that treat ADHD).
As said by another commenter, those with ADHD or other disabilities need these things to be normal. I am at a law school with a lot of neurodivergent people, and can point to so many examples of how people with such disabilities are still at a significant disadvantage even with accommodations and medication. A lot of folks with time and a half on tests still don't finish their finals. A lot of folks on adderall still have a tough time focusing (beyond what could be expected of neurotypical folks). Mostly anecdotal, but at least at my school (where I want to say 1/3 of the folks have such accommodations (based on my role doing disability advocacy)) the folks traditionally considered "top performers" (top 20% in grades, law review, moot court, etc.) are disproportionately not receiving accommodations for testing for other academics.
Especially for invisible disabilities like ADHD, I do understand the concern people may have. It can look like people who are "not really disabled" are getting an unfair advantage. It can also look like some people who do not need accommodations/ medications are gaming the system (although, considering the process needed at my school/ other schools I am in contact with, I personally doubt that is a massive issue). However, the vast, vast, majority of accommodations very much are about creating an equal opportunity to succeed. And, if that still does not sit right with folks, I would argue we should be advocating for more inclusive forms of testing/ academic activities rather than limiting access to accommodations (e.g., if you don't like time and a half for tests, taking that away from people will not help anyone. Instead, advocate for open note/ internet tests where everyone has 8 hours to finish it, even though it is designed for 4 hours. Or, one of my favorite answers, abolishing mandatory curves).
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u/lonesome_rambler 1L Nov 09 '24
I’m diagnosed ADHD and have to have medication to adequately function. I have one friend in law school who constantly chides me for taking performance enhancing drugs, lol.
My condition off Rx is pretty hopeless, but even I would be pretty tempted to resent someone whose condition is being pharmaceutically managed AND receives additional accommodations such as extra time or permission to take an exam outside of the community.
Part of taking an exam is finishing within prescribed timeframe. Part of the exam is coping the sound of peers clacking away on their computers or shifting in their seats or leaving (if they are either doing so well—but more likely poorly—that they can finish the exam early), or coughing or whatever.
The Rx is ameliorating the worst of the ADHD. In my opinion, over and above the stimulant medication, the ADHD person should still endeavor to handle the same distractions that neurotypical people handle. It’s not like a neurotypical person is completely deaf to those sounds or completely peripherally blind or whatever.
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u/ConstableDiffusion Nov 10 '24 edited Nov 10 '24
If you have ADHD then adderall may help. There are a handful of different drugs and adderall is one of them.
If you don’t then there’s a good chance it won’t do anything to help and may in fact hinder whatever you’re trying to accomplish.
The best way of describing it is like ADHD medication will untie your hands but you still have to do something with them. It’s not magic.
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u/ShaolinFalcon Nov 09 '24
Amph salts make me way more mentally rigid and less able to make connections to information that isn’t immediately relevant.
Eating well, stretching/breathing routine, having a handle on my drug use, and general exercise have all been massive in improving my life and my abilities.
Check out /r/nootropics if you want to hop into the search for the limitless drug.
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u/CockroachNew574 Nov 09 '24
This is why the next gen bar is coming …. All these accommodations are elitist
0
u/Lit-A-Gator Esq. Nov 11 '24
Yeah adderall abuse (amongst other substances) was running rampant … it was akin to PED abuse in early 2000s baseball
However a friend of mine came up with a funny hypothesis that our adderall zombie classmates were being counter productive as the adderall was causing them to hyper fixate on memorizing every detail from the casebook that they forgot the point is to learn how to ANALYZE fact patterns with a given rule set.
Which brings me to my second point the reasons your grades are different than UG is because law school is an entirely different sport
In UG:
1 + X = 3 X = 2
In law school you need to explain how addition works and how X is not 4
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u/Roselace39 3LOL Nov 09 '24
no. when i’m on adderall i’m “normal”. without adderall i forget everything, can’t think straight, forget what i just read, forget what i’m saying as i’m saying it. adderall works because my brain needs it. i know someone who takes adderall and doesn’t have ADHD and it makes them high. i had a 2.1 in undergrad when i was not diagnosed yet.