# Does anyone know if Aderall medication really works for concentration and memory/



## mykefans (Oct 11, 2011)

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## Stillill (Sep 5, 2011)

It definitely helps me alot. I'm prescribed 20 mg XR's and without them I find it is virtually impossible to concentrate for any significant amount of time without my mind wandering all over the place. But after I take it I can study uninterrupted for hours. 

With that said, every person is different so what works for me might not work for you. Only way to know is to give it a try. If you have any family or friends that are prescribed it maybe they can give you a few pills to test but if not you'll have to go to a doctor and get tested, which can be a pain. Fortunately I have a cousin who has ADD also so she had given me some adderall to try so I knew it worked for me before I got my prescription.

Either way make sure you do your homework before trying it since there are alot of potential side effects.


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## Stillill (Sep 5, 2011)

> Hey Stillill, Does the Adderall make it easier to memorize what you read?


Yes, in the sense that you will be fully focused on what you are reading. What I mean is that if you have a bad memory to begin with I don't think Adderall will necesarily improve that, at least it doesn't really for me. But it will make it easier to memorize things since you will be concentrating totally on what you're reading without random thoughts popping in your head in the middle of a sentence. Meaning that I pretty much retain the same amount of information after 1 read through of something now that before I began adderall would take me 4 or 5 read throughs to get. If any of that makes sense to you (sorry, I don't think I'm articulating exactly what I'm trying to say too well).



> also, how soon does it start working once you use a pill a day? would it make you want to read more and easily get it memorize without reading over and over?


The full effects seem to come on within an hour of taking it and seem to last for about 8 hours or so (of course that depends on whether you get Extended Release pills or Instant Release). And yes it does definitly help motivate me to do, well really anything, but especially studying and reading.


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## Stillill (Sep 5, 2011)

> Ok, i have a quick question. If you don't know your multiplication from 2 to 12, and you use the Adderall. Can it help you memorize the whole multiplication from 2 to 12?


Like I said it's not going to necesarily improve your long term memory. What it does is help you concentrate. So if you are 100% focused on whatever you are studying you have a better chance of retaining that information in your head than you would if you were only half paying attention as you read. So if you are studying the multiplication tables then you would memorize them faster since you were completely focused on that without any distractions. But if you have a really bad memory then after a certain amount of time of not studying then you will still eventually forget that information and the adderall won't help with that. So basically it will help you memorize things initially but will not improve your ability to keep that information for long periods of time.



> Another question i have it. Would it make you act like zombie? i know that funny right, but someone wrote a comment about that and that kinda make me scared hahaha.


No, adderall is a stimulant so it won't make you act like a zombie while taking it. Just the opposite actually. Of course it is possible that if you take it for a while and then stop that the come down could be rough. I've noticed that if I don't take it for a day then I am pretty tired for most of that day but it's not too bad. I guess it just depends on the person, how much they take, and how long they've been taking it.


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## Stillill (Sep 5, 2011)

> You are so cool of explaining things. Thanks so much for the infos.


No problem!



> How many mg should i have my doctor to prescribe for me? i mean which one works better? Once you administer the adderall. How many hours does it stay in your system?


Hmm, that's not something I can really tell you. It's going to depend on how bad you think your ADD is, your weight, medical history and a number of other things. You should really just ask your doctor and see what he thinks. If you don't feel it's enough you can always ask to increase your dosage.

I can tell you that I'm 5'8 around 145 pounds with no medical conditions and 20mg XR's work great for me. But that's just me, for someone else fitting that same description 20mgs might be way too much and yet another similar person might not feel anything from 20mg. Everyone is different. That's why you really need to talk to someone who knows your medical history, like your doctor. Since you're just beginning it's going to take some experimenting to see what works for you and what doesn't anyway.

Once I take the pill it seems like the effects last between 6-8 hours for me.



> After it went away from your system, would you forget what you have read?


No because the adderall isn't affecting your actual memory it's only affecting your concentration and focus.

Most people tend to remember things from repetition, meaning that the more times you see or read something the better chance you have to retain that into your long term memory and what the adderall does is help you be able to focus so you actually "see" what you're studying.

For example let's say I'm studying calculus. Without adderall I would start reading a chapter but half the time my mind would be wandering or I could be reading but half thinking about something else at the same time. So even though I'm looking at the book I wouldn't truly be "reading" all of it. And by the time I got to the end of the chapter I'd realize that I didn't really take that much information out of that first read through. So then I would have to go back and try to read it again. And then repeat maybe 10 times just to get all the information down. Then, because repetition helps form memory, I would have to go back and read through it a few more times to make sure I really got it.

Now with the adderall I would be 100% focused on what I was reading and I would get all the information out of that chapter on the first read through. Then to really hammer it into my long term memory I could read it while fully focused a few more times.

So basically with adderall I'd get the same information and retain the same amount into my long term memory from only a few read throughs that would take me well over ten read throughs to get without adderall.

So if you take an adderall then study something and the next day you forget to take your pill you're not going to totally just forget everything you studied the day before just because you don't have any adderall in your system. At the same time, after reading that calculus chapter if I went a few months without looking at it again, even though I had taken a pill everyday since, I would still begin to forget it eventually because I don't have a great memory.

So do you see now what I'm trying to say about adderall and memory? Sorry again and hopefully that was a little more clear then my previous posts.


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