Posted by mistermindmasta on April 23, 2004, at 10:22:35
In reply to Re: Hey Bipolars!, posted by utopizen on April 23, 2004, at 2:22:29
More than 3 red bulls have no possibility of killing anyone, as far as I know. Let me know where you got your source on that, because I'm curious. 3 red bulls has, at the most, about 600mg of caffeine. This is 6 cups of coffee, which is indeed about 44 away the lethal dose needed to get caffeine toxicity.
Maybe you're thinking of the alcohol-red bull combo? That has given people heart attacks, but most certainly not red bull alone.
Another thing is - concentration difficulties occur in anxiety, bipolar, depression and schizophrenia, not just ADD. And, they all seem to occur via different mechanisms. The general idea buzzing in the community is that ADD results from a globally lower level of dopamine. Anxiety can cause low dopamine via lack of GABA, common in anxiety disorders. Taking a benzo and therefore increasing GABA will then go on to increase dopamine (w. regard to concentration), as well as lower norepinephrine to a level that allows for smooth concentration. This same idea follows w. depression and schizophrenia and bipolar... all feature concentration difficulties as a symptom, but they tend to occur through different pathways.
Someone with bipolar might experience a loss of concentration with an antidepressant as they are shot into hypomania. However, someone with true depression might normal concentration when they take an antidepressant because of the pathway that is corrected through antidepressant therapy.
On another topic, someone might be able to focus perfectly fine at any given time. However, when a tough situation comes up, he/she has caffeine. Does this, by the explanation that they want to increase their concentration via caffeine, mean they have ADD? Certainly not, I would think.
My advice to you, man_oh_man, is to just spend more time studying! If you were sure you could induce a bit of a hypomania, then I might say, yes, give it a whirl, experiment on yourself... but you can't be sure what will happen! You might actually experience a DECREASE in cognitive function from too much serotonin, or whatever really. It's too hard to say that you WILL be hypomanic, in the beneficial way.
I can't imagine any doctors OKing your thing with the upping meds, and you might not even want to tell them, if you're totally set on doing this. You might run out of meds sooner than you would have expected, and he might be less willing to refill you sooner, knowing you abused the meds for 'recreational' purposes.
However, I completely understand where you're coming from. I tend to send myself into hypomania via caffeine sometimes... but, i pay the price with a lower mood later, and you might have to pay a price with upping your meds. No one really knows what the price may be.
If you can do it, try going cold turkey with caffeine right until you have to study. That way, you're extra sensitive to caffeine! It works well for cramming tons of info into my head at once.
I also use kava when heavy studying time comes. It makes my upper limit much higher. :) Which is nice. That way I can abuse my body a little bit more without suffering, haha.
But, all that said, be smart about what you choose to do and prepare to accept any consequences that come your way, however bad they may be.
poster:mistermindmasta
thread:339002
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040423/msgs/339128.html