Here's What Every Stimulant Taker Should Know About Tolerance
Are you increasing your dose often, and are you doing so with the help of a trusted medical professional? We’d like to think the pharmaceutical industry has our safety in mind, and more often than not, it does. Even so, drugs are still known to present all sorts of unpredictable side effects, reactions, safety risks, and ups-and-downs when used irresponsibly.
One type of drug known for particularly intense highs, lows, and dependency patterns is prescription stimulants. Also sometimes known as “uppers”, stimulants are a class of drugs that raise the alertness and nervous system activity of the person taking them. Perfectly legal or illicit, it’s a wide drug classification that encompasses everything from caffeine, to Vyvanse, to Adderall, to cocaine, and even MDMA.
Prescription Stimulants Therapy
Prescription stimulants can have good therapeutic efficacy when administered properly, responsibly, and with the careful assistance of a trusted therapeutic professional. Adderall has long been known to be an effective ADD/ADHD treatment, for example, and even though the DEA still classifies MDMA as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, the drug has been showing immense promise as a PTSD therapeutic in clinical settings and across reputable research journals like JAMA.
Further time, research, and drug law reforms will tell whether or not MDMA breaks through as a legally accessible breakthrough behavioral health treatment. But what separates life-changing breakthroughs from potentially life-ruining side effects? Tolerance. In almost any other context, tolerance is a good virtue, but not in the context of pharmacology.
Can You Build A Tolerance To Adderall?
Yes. Tolerance diminishes a drug’s therapeutic benefits, which may, in turn, exacerbate an unhealthy, unsafe dependence on the drug. Stimulant dependence is not a trivial issue; even caffeine is capable of killing someone in large enough dosages, and even if death isn’t one of them, stimulants can still present a whole host of additional unpleasant side effects.
Side Effects Of Stimulants
- Amplified anxiety
- Sleep disturbances
- Weight loss
- Appetite loss
- Headaches
- Stomachaches
- General nausea
- Irritability
- Short/Long Term Heart Damage
How can someone reap the aforementioned therapeutic benefits of prescription stimulants without all of the aforementioned therapeutic baggage? Your best bet is starting with the assistance of a doctor: they can help through safely prescribing, tapering, or switching medications as needed. Even if you’re content with your medication, it still helps to have someone who can help you reap the most therapeutic benefit out of your medication.
If you ever find yourself struggling through some pretty heavy stimulant tolerance and dependency, you may want to consider checking into a substance abuse treatment center or working with a therapist who specializes in treating addiction. According to the Surgeon General, over 21 million Americans are believed to suffer from a substance use disorder, yet only roughly 1 in 10 of those people are seeking help for it.
It’s easy to look at those numbers with a glass-half-empty mindset, and easy to feel pessimistic in the face of such negative headlines and news stories about addiction. We don’t hear quite as often about the upbeat headlines, and in the world of recovery, there are many. Even though that 1 in 10 number might look disheartening, you should also consider that 1 in 10 Americans have reported resolving substance use disorders, per the Recovery Research Institute.
Can You Reduce Building Up Tolerance To Stimulants?
If you are currently struggling with stimulant tolerance issues and/or stimulant dependency issues, know that you are not alone. Far, far from it. There are plenty of people in this world who would be happy to help you safely, carefully, and informedly wean off your dependency. In tandem with professional assistance, you may also want to consider taking nutritional supplements and vitamins to fortify your body’s resilience to dependency.
Vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium are all important vitamins and nutrients that long-term stimulant dependency depletes the body of. By re-upping the body’s supply of these essential chemical elements, you may bring it closer to a state of equilibrium, and further away from the states of instability that lead to tolerance and subsequent dependency. Of course, all of this should be done in tandem with the recommendations of a trusted medical professional. Recoop is one company that makes nutritional supplements including the aforementioned ingredients to help reduce the build-up of tolerance for stimulants.
Millions of Americans rely on prescription stimulant medications as a tool to help them focus throughout the day. While they can have great efficacy, they can also present great challenges if misused or used to the point of building tolerance, and that tolerance can quickly lead to a slippery slope that spirals into greater dependency and addiction problems.
Fortunately, you wouldn’t be alone in dealing with these struggles, and there are plenty of people ready and willing to help you. We’re happy to point you toward some of these resources and happy to point you toward some of the most affordable, accessible relief on the market.
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