Profile For Anthony T.

Right. In other words, to get them to quit behaving like kids and instead sit down, shut up, and do what they're told all day, every day, you have to drug them.

I'm almost 52 years old, and you'd have to drug me, too. I still won't sit down, shut up, and do what I'm told all day long. I would flip out if I didn't get the exercise I needed to manage my energy levels.

Nope. I'm talking about the upper range of severity, aka the kids who need it, they need it to literally be able to have a conversation. I'm talking life stuff. To be able to focus enough to take care of themselves through the day. Or be focused enough to get their basic driver license. To be able to hold down a job at McDonald's.

I used meds for a little while going back to school, cycled through a few different meds, then ultimately stopped taking them, because mine wasn't severe.

For what it's worth, I posted on here 7 years ago asking about whether Adderall would disqualify me. I went to ahead and had my physical. Initially, the physician (who seemed quite old-school) said he couldn't clear me. I asked why the medication would DQ me? He said that it's because it's a schedule I drug and almost the same as meth. I took a beat to think about what tone to take, but screw it, if he was about to DQ me anyway.

I told him, "No, it's actually closer to cocaine. Ritalin is the one that's structurally similar to meth. Also, it's a Schedule II drug." He argued that it's definitely Schedule I, to which I had to remind him that it's *prescribed*, so it can't be schedule I, because the description of that category is drugs consists of drugs that cannot be prescribed. If it's schedule II, it by definition has some medical benefit.

He didn't counter back and that and stayed quiet for a bit. He said that the drug might have some side effects on me. I reminded him I had been taking it for almost a year now without any negative side effects. We went back and forth a little. He eventually said he would need a note from my physician saying I haven't had any side effects that would make it dangerous to drive. I had the doctor send the letter and make a new appointment. I came back in, and they just handed me a one-year cert at the front desk. I guess he could have made a case that ADHD itself made me unfit to drive, though he honestly probably didn't want to deal with me. I imagine his main worry was protecting himself legally.

As far as that side-discussion on alternate medications, remember that there's a whole range of ADHD severities. As a teacher, I've seen and had to discussions with many students on the severity of their symptoms. For many, it's extremely severe and medication is the only thing that keeps them focused for the day. For some ADHD makes it so they can hardly hold a normal conversion and for others it's just difficult to hold longer attention spans for long tests and such.

Sorry to re-has this topic, but thought it better to ask there than create a new thread.

Is there anyone here who is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that DOT will allow Adderall use if their prescribing physician is wiling to back them up? At my last physical, the DOT physician had a real problem with it and told me that it is absolutely not allowed and that my doctor was required to change to a non-amphetamine if I wanted to get re-certified. This doctor seemed to believe every stigma about ADD.

I'm on a super low dose and don't even really like taking the medication. The only ADD problems I have seem to come up since I'm also back in school as an adult. It finally made sense when the learning center explained why I wasn't able to ever just sit and read through a textbook (cause of my poor grades the first time around). I'm not taking it because I can't function in the world. I'm taking it because I can't spend hours reading a textbook, no matter how much I really really want to.

I can drive just fine (and don't actually even take it at work, because I have no need). Long drives are not a problem because there's something to actively keep me engaged (the moving road).

Anyway, back to my original issue. I'm going to be forced to discontinue it. I read the DOT rules and it seems like there aren't exemptions available, but it seemed like people in this thread were stating there were with a doctor backing you.