what are the interactions between street drugs and prescription medications?

soapbox

Member
I don't know at this point if he is using drugs or not. No direct evidence, and he is usually home early every evening and stays home all night. But. I don't like where things are going... and one of the possible pathways from where he is, is into street-drug use.

He is already on medications for ADHD, bi-polar, and depression.

What kinds of street drugs are major potential clashes?

We've already researched marijuana, and alcohol. No life-threatening interactions there, some interactions that could land him in hospital.

Not sure what would happen if he tried MDMA or other stronger street drugs...
 

soapbox

Member
It's not that simple. It's more a gut feel. Subtle changes - hard to put a finger on. I'm not sure he is using yet - if he is, it hasn't been long.

Majorly different attitude between Friday (daytime) and Saturday (daytime). Not exactly sure what he was doing Friday night, but whatever it was, it was out of character - he is usually the FIRST one in bed, not the last one, no idea what time he got home.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, APs would lower, if not kill, the high from MDMA. It would take more stims to get high, possibly a lot more. Forget about psychedelics.

His big risk is seratonin syndrome from taking SSRIs/SSNRIs with any drugs that also increase seratonin. This includes DXM.

Currently,the most popular street drugs ARE pharms, due to the crackdown on research chemicals, and increasing concerns about purity, especially with downers, which are more and more often contaminated with fentanyl.

My guess is that he's abusing his ADHD medications if on them, or is using some sort of stimulant, based on the behavior you describe.

"Molly" or MDMA is very often not pure, or not even MDMA these days. Chronic use can really screw up dopamine function in the brain and have long lasting, if not permanent, effects, such as depression and anhedonia.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I was thinking the adhd drugs too. Greatly abused by those who like the feel of speed. Snorting common. Could lead to stronger drugs or an over the counter drug that enhances the high.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, Adderal is the biggie for abuse. It's pure amphetamine. The next step up from Adderal is methamphetamine.

Vyvanse is also becoming popular as a drug of abuse.

In all honesty, I don't really approve of stims after a certain age due to how easy they are to abuse.

Also, it is VERY easy for kids to fake the sx of ADHD in order to get stims.

Unfortunately, the only non-stimulant drug for ADHD, Straterra, has nasty side-effects, and doesn't work very well.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Im at my daughters house today and just talking about adhd drgs. She just told me about some guy who fsked flinking the adhd computer test to get the diagnosis. I dont like adhd medications at all. They are abuse ed way too often. My gsnd can be difficult but she told me no stims for her daughter...ever. shr once abused them. She is very against stimulants.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, I've tried the "speed" that was around in the seventies and didn't like it at all.

My first psychiatrist diagnosed me with ADHD and depression and trialed me on Ritalin. I managed one dose of Ritalin. It was horrible.

I've since found out that I have ADD (NO H), but can't tolerate the medications due to the bipolar.

husband had severe ADHD. No rages or anything, luckily. He coped with lots of caffeine and whole bunch of lifestyle and management stuff that he'd developed over the years.

He did very well in the Army as it was very regimented and there were rules and procedures for everything.

When he was outprocessing on a medical discharge, he was put on Ritalin while 'clearing'. It did wonders for him. He tried some of the longer acting stims as they came out, but preferred Ritalin as he could take it when he needed to be "with it", and be "himself" when he didn't.

The only thing I didn't like about the Ritalin was that if he didn't eat as soon as the Ritalin wore off, he was crankier than all get out.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
husband could function without Ritalin, but he had a very rigid way of doing so. EVERYTHING was written down; to the point that he had invented his own "shorthand".

When he died, I found about 30 pocket notebooks full of gobbledegook and tiny, cramped handwriting.

Along with being rigid, he had specific routines for doing things that he had to follow exactly, or he'd get lost in the middle. Docs suspected he was autistic for a bit, but in actuality all this was a learned mechanism for coping with a very scattered brain and lousy executive function.

It got to the point where he would ask me,"Hon, do ya think I need to take a pill for this?"

He was extremely intelligent, which helped. And between his coping mechanisms and the medication, was able to hold down work as a chef first, and then in IT, in civilian life.

The hyperness? We just sort of put up with it. I'd known him since I was fifteen, and he'd just always been like that.
 

rebelson

Active Member
husband had severe ADHD. No rages or anything, luckily.
GN- I didn't realize ADHD can cause rages???
I can always tell when Hubby has missed his Ritalin. It's not good.
KTM- If you don't mind, what did you notice about your hub, when he missed the dose?

I'm fairly certain that I have ADD, likely ADHD...I'm very restless. Always have to be DOING something. Only time I can sit & relax, is near bedtime. I guess I exhaust myself. [emoji30]
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
He can't settle, unless he's holding a screen...cell phone, tablet...and then he hyperfocuses on it. The TV is blasting at the same time. Doesn't hear a word I say, forgets about everything I ask him to help with, and gets pissy when I tap his arm to get his attention, because he's in his own world. Decides to start a project and leaves it half finished, then somehow never gets back to it. Will do something completely unnecessary to the rest of us, like sort his magnet collection by size.

It's extremely frustrating, to say the least.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I'm sort of like that as well, except that I can only focus on one thing at a time. If I'm on the computer, for example, I can't "listen" to TV. I can listen to music in the background.

I do hyperfocus, which was a valuable skill in my IT days as I could remain focused like that for HOURS.

I'm terrible for starting projects and not finishing.
 
Top