Would Adderall help the pro golfer?

[Furrankee]

Let's discuss

Adderall is known to help college students get thru their studies. Med students often take Adderall. Fighter pilots in Iraq take Adderall during their rounds of combat. Writers, mathematicians...

Why not golfers?

There still is no testing.

http://www.slate.com/id/2118315/

The Adderall Me
My romance with ADHD meds.
By Joshua Foer
Updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 7:26 AM ET

Depressives have Prozac, worrywarts have Valium, gym rats have steroids, and overachievers have Adderall. Usually prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (read Sydney Spiesel in Slate on the risks and benefits), the drug is a cocktail of amphetamines that increases alertness, concentration, and mental-processing speed and decreases fatigue. It's often called a cognitive steroid because it can make people better at whatever it is they're doing. When scientists administered amphetamines to college shot-putters, they were able to throw more than 4 percent farther.* According to one recent study, as many as one in five college students have taken Adderall or its chemical cousin Ritalin as study buddies.

The drug also has a distinguished literary pedigree. During his most productive two decades, W.H. Auden began every morning with a fix of Benzedrine, an over-the-counter amphetamine similar to Adderall that was used to treat nasal congestion. James Agee, Graham Greene, and Philip K. Dick all took the drug to increase their output. Before the FDA made Benzedrine prescription-only in 1959, Jack Kerouac got hopped up on it and wrote On the Road in a three-week "kick-writing" session. "Amphetamines gave me a quickness of thought and writing that was at least three times my normal rhythm," another devotee, John-Paul Sartre, once remarked.

If stimulants worked for those writers, why not for me? Who wouldn't want to think faster, be less distracted, write more pages? I asked half a dozen psychiatrists about the safety of using nonprescribed Adderall for performance-enhanced journalism. Most of them told me the same thing: Theoretically, if used responsibly at a low dosage by someone who isn't schizophrenic, doesn't have high blood pressure, isn't on other medications, and doesn't have some other medical condition, the occasional use of Adderall is probably harmless. Doctors have been prescribing the drug for long enough to know that, unlike steroids, it has no long-term health consequences. Provided Adderall isn't snorted, injected, or taken in excessive amounts, it's not highly addictive—though without doctor oversight, it's hard to know whether you're in the minority of people for whom the drug may be dangerous.

As an experiment, I decided to take Adderall for a week. The results were miraculous. On a recent Tuesday, after whipping my brother in two out of three games of pingpong—a triumph that has occurred exactly once before in the history of our rivalry—I proceeded to best my previous high score by almost 10 percent in the online anagrams game that has been my recent procrastination tool of choice. Then I sat down and read 175 pages of Stephen Jay Gould's impenetrably dense book The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. It was like I'd been bitten by a radioactive spider.The first hour or so of being on Adderall is mildly euphoric. The feeling wears off quickly, giving way to a calming sensation, like a nicotine buzz, that lasts for several hours. When I tried writing on the drug, it was like I had a choir of angels sitting on my shoulders. I became almost mechanical in my ability to pump out sentences. The part of my brain that makes me curious about whether I have new e-mails in my inbox apparently shut down. Normally, I can only stare at my computer screen for about 20 minutes at a time. On Adderall, I was able to work in hourlong chunks. I didn't feel like I was becoming smarter or even like I was thinking more clearly. I just felt more directed, less distracted by rogue thoughts, less day-dreamy. I felt like I was clearing away underbrush that had been obscuring my true capabilities.

At the same time, I felt less like myself. Though I could put more words to the page per hour on Adderall, I had a nagging suspicion that I was thinking with blinders on. This is a concern I've heard from other users of the drug. One writer friend who takes Adderall to read for long uninterrupted stretches told me that he uses it only rarely because he thinks it stifles his creativity. A musician told me he finds it harder to make mental leaps on the drug. "It's something I've heard consistently," says Eric Heiligenstein, clinical director of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. "These medications allow you to be more structured and more rigid. That's the opposite of the impulsivity of creativity." On the other hand, lots of talented people like Auden and Kerouac have taken amphetamines precisely because they find them inspiring. Kerouac and the Beats ingested the drug in such heroic quantities that it didn't just make them more focused, it completely transformed their writing. According to legend, On the Road was drafted in a 120-foot-long single-spaced paragraph that burbled down a single continuous scroll of paper.

Adderall is supposed to be effective for four to six hours. (An extended-release version of the drug, which as Spiesel explains was recently banned in Canada, lasts 12 hours.) But I found the effects gradually wore off after about three. About six hours after taking the drug, I would feel slightly groggy, the way I sometimes get in the early afternoon when my morning coffee wears off. But when I'd lie down for an afternoon nap, I couldn't go to sleep. My mind was still buzzing. This withdrawal effect is common. Adderall users often complain that they feel tired, "stupid," or depressed the day after. After running on overdrive, your body has to crash.

For me, the comedown was mild, a small price to pay for an immensely productive day. But there are larger costs, and risks, to Adderall. Though the Air Force furnishes amphetamine "go pills" to its combat pilots in Iraq and Afghanistan, possessing Adderall (or a fighter jet) without a prescription is a felony in many states. And the drug has been known, in rare cases, to make people obsessive compulsive, and even occasionally to cause psychosis. Several years ago, a North Dakota man blamed Adderall for making him murder his infant daughter and won an acquittal.

There's also the risk that Adderall can work too well. The mathematician Paul Erdös, who famously opined that "a mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems," began taking Benzedrine in his late 50s and credited the drug with extending his productivity long past the expiration date of his colleagues. But he eventually became psychologically dependent. In 1979, a friend offered Erdös $500 if he could kick his Benzedrine habit for just a month. Erdös met the challenge, but his productivity plummeted so drastically that he decided to go back on the drug. After a 1987 Atlantic Monthly profile discussed his love affair with psychostimulants, the mathematician wrote the author a rueful note. "You shouldn't have mentioned the stuff about Benzedrine," he said. "It's not that you got it wrong. It's just that I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics to think that they have to take drugs to succeed."

Erdös had good reason to worry. Kerouac's excessive use of Benzedrine eventually landed him in a hospital with thrombophlebitis. Auden went through a withdrawal in the late 1950s that tragically curtailed his output. That's some trouble I don't need. Perhaps I could get a regular supply of Adderall by persuading a psychiatrist that I have ADHD—it's supposed to be one of the easiest disorders to fake. But I don't think I will. Although I did save one pill to write this article.

Correction, May 18, 2005: The original article incorrectly stated that the lap times of Stanford varsity swimmers who were given amphetamines improved by 4 percent. The source of that statistic is a Web page by Dr. Lawrence Diller of the University of California, San Francisco, that misinterprets the findings of a 1959 study. The study found that the speeds of Boston-area college swimmers improved only by a mean of 1.16 percent, a statistically significant figure. It also found that collegiate shot-putters were able to throw 4.6 percent farther on amphetamines. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

[jimbonecrusher]

Wow, what a statement. Where did you get the information regarding fighter pilots taking Adderall? I would love to find this out as pilots health is strictly monitored and their medication is even more strictly monitored.

[PeteMTG]

yeah... I highly doubt skilled fighter pilots take adderall

[billsboy]

No idea where you got that information, but Adderall is a mixed amphetamine medication. It is a stimulant. Students don't take it to help concentration, but to stay awake all night. Might help with staying awake for studying, might help with dealing with fatigue in the short term, but it would, if anything, likely be counterproductive to golfers or anyone performing a fine muscle control task. A stimulant may make one a little jittery. Not a good thing with a golf club in hand.

[Bomb and Gouge]

Yes, Adderall can help golfers.

 

We used to take it before/during rounds when I was in college and it definitely helped.

 

That said, Adderall is some nasty s***! Amphetamine salts are bad for your CNS, cardiovascular system, GI system, can mess w/ your libido and are incredibly addictive.

 

My brother was prescribed HIGH doses of Adderall in college. He decided to stop taking it after his heart started hurting. And it took him 3-4 months to kick the habit...it was hell!

 

So be advised, it can be extremely dangerous!!!

[JoeF]

Adderall is known to help college students get thru their studies. Med students often take Adderall.

 

Fighter pilots in Iraq take Adderall during their rounds of combat.

 

Writers, mathematicians...

 

Why not golfers?

There still is no testing.

 

 

So because there is no testing you think it is OK to use it? That is some kind of flawed logic.

[Furrankee]

Adderall is known to help college students get thru their studies. Med students often take Adderall.

 

Fighter pilots in Iraq take Adderall during their rounds of combat.

 

Writers, mathematicians...

 

Why not golfers?

There still is no testing.

 

 

So because there is no testing you think it is OK to use it? That is some kind of flawed logic.

 

This is meant to be an open ended question for discussion. Facts still remain that testing still has not been implemented by the PGA, and if a golfer has a legitimate medical reason for taking Adderall, getting clearance to take the drug may work well for him in his personal life. Just wanted to know how it translates to scoring.

[MGWP]

without a doubt it can benefit golfers,,,but only those which it would help...sounds stupid but that is the reality.

A previous posterw as in correct, some students do use the drug to improve concentration in a similar manner to ritalin....a stimulant yes but in people with adhd tendencies it improves concentration.

Some fighter pilots do indeed use the drug, because it does help them...some glfers would benefit to, just as with beta blockers...it is all individual diaginosis....not for recreational usage but can be very effective in prescription doses for what it is supposed to be used for.

[freelanceterry]

Popped a buddies ritalin once before a round as an experiment.

All "benefits" of the drug pointed to it helping my game.....aiding in concentration, etc.

 

Didn't help. Made me think about my feet alot.

 

Wouldn't do it again.

[jimbonecrusher]

without a doubt it can benefit golfers,,,but only those which it would help...sounds stupid but that is the reality.

A previous posterw as in correct, some students do use the drug to improve concentration in a similar manner to ritalin....a stimulant yes but in people with adhd tendencies it improves concentration.

Some fighter pilots do indeed use the drug, because it does help them...some glfers would benefit to, just as with beta blockers...it is all individual diaginosis....not for recreational usage but can be very effective in prescription doses for what it is supposed to be used for.

 

Are you smoking crack? Show me the proof that USAF fighter pilots that Adderall. I tell you what. When you are flying such a precise machine as an attack fighter, you need fine motor skills to work the stick, throttle, and computer controls. Have you ever seen how strictly a pilots health is monitored? Pilots are grounded for as simple as thing as a head cold or taking an ibuprofen pill without doctors permission. Pilots are not sent up in the air in combats operations unless they have had a prescribed amount of sleep and their health is darn near perfect. When flying CAS (Close Air Support) and munitions drops, these pilots can't afford to be on any stimulant that affect the CNS, other than coffee and maybe the occasional Red Bull. I know darn well that when you are dropping munitions and providing CAS that requires you to drop bombs, fire missiles, or strafe within 100-500 meters of troops on the ground, that you better be razor sharp in your skills. The only things that will allow this are a proper diet and proper rest. If you think you are still correct, then I will get up with a friend of mine who has been of flight status and can give me the correct answer along with some USAF flight doc's that I work with.

[MGWP]

Crusher...

I know one personally currently serving in afghanistan, who has been taking adderal for the past 4 yeras...prescription use that he says"improves my concentration and objectivity whilst flying"...take it or leave it man...just stating what I know!

[MGWP]

Also...crusher...as a DR myself, I dont understand why this is such a huge deal....prescription drugs to iad in a job performance are not uncommon...if the initial post had used Ritalin instead of adderal would your reaction be less sensitive?

what about pilots using beta blockers..or even anti depressants....they are only human and respond to medications just like the rest of us.

 

I am not talking about recreational usage here...that was not stated in the intial post...everybosy here seems to jump on that fact...prescription usage of ADDERAL CAN AND DOES HAVE BENEFITS...

[KMeloney]

Don't take adderall.

 

Don't take anything.

 

Amen. I don't like taking anything if I can avoid it. I'm not "one of those people" who doesn't trust the FDA, or who thinks that pharms are the Evil Empire, or that doctors are out to screw us -- I just don't like the idea of depending on (or possibly getting to the point of depending on) any kind of substance for any reason. I certainly can't imagine using a drug to help me in golf, doing well with it, then feeling like I need it from there on out IN ORDER to do well -- especially if there was simply a placebo effect with it initially.

[MGWP]

KM I agree...that would be the difference between true diagnosis and prescription usage and what I call semi recreational...wanting the drug instead of truly needing it....a huge difference..and then recreational which is out and out abuse of the drug......ie high schoolers and adderal parties...heaven forbid!

 

The idea of "using" a drug like adderal to simply improve your golf, would not be something that I WOULD ADVISE AT ALL...dont get me wrong...I was simply statin atht it could be used to help certain individuals to perform....as with steroids...would really be chaeting though.

[freelanceterry]

Where's the line then? You've got Amino Vital being touted as improving concentration - people guzzling that.

Red Bull..coffee in the morning to wake up....I know people who literally can not function w/out caffeine in the morning.

How about pain relievers for back pain? That "improves" the game of thousands of golfers.

 

I guess you could draw it at prescription...but even then, you absolutely have people taking those drugs - as prescribed - and golfing.

You can't just tell those people that they can't golf now because that drug is illegal or whatever - it would be un-fair to say...people with a mental illness. So that would be protected under ADA.

 

Taking a prescription drug that you are not prescribed is against the rules already...so get them on that...but I think that's the only leg you can stand on. Illegal drugs and non-prescribed prescription drugs. Other than that it's fair game I'd say.

 

If I find some flower that makes me drop every 6 footer if I eat it - I'm eating it.

[Baconator]

Are you smoking crack? Show me the proof that USAF fighter pilots that Adderall. I tell you what. When you are flying such a precise machine as an attack fighter, you need fine motor skills to work the stick, throttle, and computer controls. Have you ever seen how strictly a pilots health is monitored? Pilots are grounded for as simple as thing as a head cold or taking an ibuprofen pill without doctors permission. Pilots are not sent up in the air in combats operations unless they have had a prescribed amount of sleep and their health is darn near perfect. When flying CAS (Close Air Support) and munitions drops, these pilots can't afford to be on any stimulant that affect the CNS, other than coffee and maybe the occasional Red Bull. I know darn well that when you are dropping munitions and providing CAS that requires you to drop bombs, fire missiles, or strafe within 100-500 meters of troops on the ground, that you better be razor sharp in your skills. The only things that will allow this are a proper diet and proper rest. If you think you are still correct, then I will get up with a friend of mine who has been of flight status and can give me the correct answer along with some USAF flight doc's that I work with.

 

Ok, this isn't Adderal but another prescription amphetamine - read this: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/02/mistaken.bombing/

 

In particular, this quote:

 

Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Jennifer Ferrau acknowledged the pills are used as a "fatigue management tool" to help pilots stay alert through long missions. But she said that use of the pills is voluntary, and that their effects have been thoroughly tested.

 

"There have been decades of study on their efficacy and practicality," she said. "The surgeon general worked very closely with commanders on this."

 

Granted, this is from CNN, but regardless of that I think it's probably true.

[freelanceterry]

Granted, this is from CNN, but regardless of that I think it's probably true.

 

....because it would be much more credible from faux news....

 

 

I seem to remember a story on this that air'd on PBS - Searching now....

Think it had to do with that friendly fire incident.....