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ContactVIDEO: Reader Chris dumps his pills down the drain on Christmas morning
December 29th, 2008 by MikeReader Chris from South Carolina posted this video of himself dumping his Adderall down the drain after saying a few choice words.
He made this as a video reminder to himself. A reminder not to go back; to remember his decision.
I hope you don’t mind me posting this, Chris, but I think a lot of other pople could benefit from watching it.Â
To read more of Chris’ story, see his post in the comments thread on the Your Challenge page.
There’s a scene in Chris’ video when he points the camera at the clock and says “It’s four-forty-eight in the morning on Christmas”. That hit home the most for me.
As an Adderall taker, how many times have you been awake when you didn’t want to be? How many times have you found yourself staring at that bastard clock at some ungodly hour, strung out to the point of being scared for your health, utterly incapable of going to sleep?Â
The difference is here that Chris decided that this was the last time and did something about it.
Thanks a ton for posting this, Chris. And like I said in my reply in the comments: Please make a sequel to this movie 6 months from now so everybody can see the contrast.
Related post: Throw away your crutches. Now move.
What an inspiration!! I’ve been on this evil drug for a decade, and I’m quitting in about 2 weeks. I’m scared as all hell, but I CAN DO THIS! How will I survive? I don’t know. Will I be able to walk my dog, cook meals, drive without falling asleep at the wheel? Ten years on this shit; high doses….I’m a complete addict and it’s totally ruined my life. But if you can do it, I can do it. Thanks for this video. I’ll shoot one and post it as soon as I throw away my crutches.
ok so i understand this adderal world, but do you think that ADD is a real mental illness? You say when your on adderal you feel strung out and in your own world.. from what i have read a person that really has add is one who feels like they are lost in a pool of thoughts regularily, not when they are on adderal. How can you be sure that adderal is a cruth for everyone.. I am diagnosed with adderall and going to the doctor in a few days and ive been trying to figure this whole thing out before i go on adderal. my dad has a freind that has had ADD his whole life, been on the pill his whole life, and is fine. hes not “strung out”. you dont have adderal, you have a mental addiction to the high. I do believe there are poeple that actually develop ADD from being raised without the attention that they are supposed to revieve from their parents. is there anyway to fix that? when a kid is raised and thought things there is no way to go back and change the way they view things. or is there? unfortunately i dont have the answer yet but i will in a few years.. hah that that makes this writing worthless.. oh well my main point is that there are poeple that do have ADD, and that arent just lazy or suseptible to an addiction of a high because life isnt “good enough” already
Hi Tony,
Thanks for all your comments. I think you’ve raised a lot of points that other people are probably wondering about. If you don’t mind, I’d like to respond with a few posts inspired by your comments (rather than me writing a 3-page response in this comments thread). If you haven’t gotten your Adderall prescription yet, give me the chance to talk you out of it. Check this site again Monday night of next week (so 1/12/2009) and I’ll have made the new posts. If those posts don’t do the trick, either asks more questions or go ahead and start popping the pills. Fair enough?
Just did this last night! It felt great.. and I used a toilet instead.
Dude, Chris.
You rock!! I don’t know you man but YOU RoCk! I been struggling as a college student for 5 years now, 2 of those years + 3 months were on the evil blue and orange pills. I hope you are still doing well and off of this sh*t Chris. I feel like I know you kinda cause I went through the same thing and still struggling with it – but not nearly as much! And even if you’re not doing well with it, you still rock ha.. for real – I mean it. I’m going to show your video to my mom, my boyfriend, the whole f’in world haha. That’s SO awesome, you are awesome!! I love that video and I am gonna make one too to help me.
Thanks,
Catherine 🙂
It’s been over 2 years ( 2 year anniversary was Christmas Day ) and I am now working remotely living on the beaches of Costa Rica, surfing, waterfall chasing, scarlet macaw viewing, running in the jungle.. in the best shape of my life.. life is good! Thanks again Mike, for taking the time putting this site together. I am still very grateful for coming across it during my time of need and it giving me the edge i needed to dump those little pills down the drain! be well all and remember its worth it.
Stopping by again. I wanted to share a link to a documentary I have been working on the past year while in Costa Rica. Its aimed for younger kids.. in an effort to showcase a group of people that have overcome almost impossible obstacles in their lives to live their dreams. Quitting adderall was definitely one of those obstacles for me and actually one of the main people in this documentary. Its been nearly 2 and a half years since I quit. And I am living my dream every day. Please share this inspiration documentary if you like it on Facebook, Twitter, email, or any of your favorite Social media platforms. It would mean so much to me and everyone involved. It’s 38 minutes long so please sit back when you have enough time to enjoy it all the way through. Keep in mind the target audience is kids around the ages of 11-15 so somethings may seem silly.. but I think by the end you will get the point. Hold on to a dream and never let go, because there are too many people and things in live that will try to drag you down. Thanks everyone! and I wish you the best!
Chris Trip
the link to the video is below:
http://vimeo.com/22575742
I did the same thing ! And for some reason, why do i feel i shouldnt have ? ..
Adderall not only gave me focus but helped with depression.
@ART – What made you dump them? It’s always a trade off. I don’t think there’s a person on this website that will say that Adderall has no positive affects. But in order to successfully quit, you must come to the conclusion that (for you) the positive effects of quitting outweigh the negatives. If you don’t feel that way, then you’re either meant to stay on it or you’ll keep relapsing when you try to quit. Same goes for Concerta. If Concerta would give you more positives than negatives, then go for it. But if you’re just going to end up quitting that too…
Personally, Adderall brought me daily contentment, freedom from depression, incredible focus, superstar work ethic, social confidence, and one of the great relationships of my life. I would not have been able to give up those things if I didn’t think that I would gain something more valueable by doing so. So I made my trade, and I still stand by it (more strongly now than ever).
You’re going to question the decision. That’s natural. The negative consequences of quitting are so immediate, and the positive effects (the reasons you wanted to quit) are excruciatingly slow coming…but they do come, and they do make it worthwhile. Just very gradually. At least, that’s how it’s been for me.
So don’t go back because you’re questioning the decision or because you lost your focus or because of depression…go back because you’ve decided that the things you traded for aren’t real, possible, or worthwhile. Chase the best you, no matter the extremity or duration of the struggle. And if that best you is back on Adderall (or on Concerta), so be it. Feel no shame in that. But decide based on that, not short-term pain.
Just FWIW. Also: The first two weeks are very rough. Gets a little better after the 30 day mark.
[…] A great aspect of social media is sharing.  You see a number of quotes that are positive and that is great but I think it can be a powerful in sharing actual life experiences.  I had a deep desire to leave the USA for a number of reasons.  Mainly to know what it feels like to get away from what seemed to me to be a routine and mindset that most people in general seemed to follow.  Growing up, going to school, college, job, kids. I know it’s not as simple as that and am not attempting to knock it, but I just wanted something different. I wanted to know what it was like to break that cycle, live in a place of natural beauty, away from honking horns – and the altogether routine and really here my own voice in my head. Learn to live simple, positve and healthy and be grateful and flow with nature.  Everything in my life has seemed to work out as imagined. It may not have worked out in the order or manner I imagined it but it worked out. I mean, I never thought I graduate early and not go to college right off the bat, but instead on some weird whim travel travel around the country going to a different city every week selling magazines door to door. Join the US Air Force with a ship date 2 days after 9/11, only to have a 5 month gap to wait in which I met and can still say one of the most genuine girls and people I have ever met (thanks for that Meghan). Only to run away to another beautiful city, because I couldn’t think about commitment so young. In turn had the chance to live with an old friend that taught me a little guitar and gave me hopes to my dream of being a musician! Months of red wine and Jeff Buckley and joints. I decided that I really wanted to be a healthy person @ that point and was going to get in shape and move to Hollywood @ the age of 21. When it fell through I enrolled into college (2nd time) met some old friends from High school cut the hair wore a tie and read business books just about every day for a couple years without partying or doing what the typical kid that age would be doing. You can’t suppress those urges too long in a 22/23 year old, so here we are with a group of friends taking acting classes going to photoshoots, and getting an agent. And right as the ball got rolling, getting an offer to hard to pass up financially @ that age of 23, cutting off the dream @ the time in turn for money.  This abled me to start my own business while the Doctor was prescribing me adderall and ultimately driving me into a 2.5 years work frenzy which no one saw my face but my girlfriend, which I also neglected for work. During that time I lost total sense of myself and who I was and essentially became a work zombie obsessed with getting rich and my soul sucked right out of me. Fortunately as timing was on my side I was able to develop and sell a software product and eventually the rights of that to another company, which abled to to knock work for a while and get away from the doctor prescribed Adderall after a scary incident Christmas morning of 2008. Which is described more in detail here and here. […]
I did the same thing recently! It’s a liberating, yet terrifying feeling all at the same time. I am SO glad that I came across this website. – Dave
Reading this makes me revert back to last Christmas, my boyfriend and I stayed up all night tweaking out. It was the worst Christmas I’ve had in my 20 years of life. 5 of those years have been consumed by the menacing black hole that is Adderall addiction. This Christmas, I will not be that person anymore. I need to end this cycle of spinning out of control, running out of pills, having withdrawals and repeating. Everyone around me needs Josh back, and more than them, I need to be Josh again. No more who am I, no more questioning where Adderall is taking me. I will decide the direction in which my life will proceed and progress, not that filthy orange pill (which tastes like shit in the back of your throat). Wish me luck.