I've never tried meth but I've been on quite a Dexedrine binge for the past month that has veered over, here and there, from "functional use" to "dysfunctional abuse" for me (unfortunately). I'm learning something interesting about amph/stim abuse. What I've learned is that the most pernicious aspect of it is something that seems pretty infrequently discussed, it's not something many talk about--it's not the physical impacts of the drug (though it definitely takes a toll on appearance, even w/good harm reduction it's noticeable), not the change in attitude and outlook it effectuates (though that can sabotage relationships), not the obsessive fixations and compulsiveness, not even the way it turns eating and sleeping into "manual" rather than "automatic" functions that have to be done deliberately and become less appealing. For me at least, the most startling part is how it imperceptibly eats time the way a Super Muncher eats words in set categories (thumbs up if you get that reference, haha). A month just disappeared into a wormhole. I thought it was just time dilation, but I've found that it has a sneakier and more insidious way of disappearing blocks of time--past a certain level/dose it actively interferes with productivity because you're flooded with monoamines and think everything's going to be fine and work out great and you'll get everything done...eventually, soon soon soon. Perpetually. Your dopamine/reward system is hijacked so you have little motivation to actually do the things you need/want to do as that dopamine is already there, your brain's already registering "task achieved, reward phase!" So you stay stuck in that hollow reassuring mirage-cloud while time keeps passing, life proceeds on the periphery--that's why it feels like time zooms by and when you come out of it, it feels like "waking up in the future", because you haven't done what you intended to do by that point as the amph was telling your brain that you already accomplished it.

Dang, folks. IDK, that's just...problematic. Definite downside. This might be obvious to everyone else on here, the veteran users, but it's an insight that really sunk in for me recently, perhaps a naive one, but an insight nevertheless. Ah well. I feel like if only someone figured out how to mitigate this effect and reliably/consistently control it by steering oneself towards the tasks that need to be done so that they can be accomplished during that euphoric lift, one would have mastered/perfected amphetamine use. Other than "just force yourself to do it", and "more judicious/moderate use w/t-breaks" (which is probably the only real answer, tbh) how does one deal with this? Any suggestions?