Better living through chemistry

[clevermanka]

Back in my frivolous days of youth, I had a particular affection for this little thing called an ECA stack. Being a frugal DIY-er, I made my own with ephedrine tabs (I preferred Mini Thins, but would also use Truckers Luv IT brand), No-Doz, and baby aspirin. One tablet of each in the morning after a particularly late (or rough) night and I was good for the day. Alert, focused, and happy. No shakes, no jitters, no headache-nausea from multiple cups of coffee...ECA stacks were the shit. Then of course, ephedrine became illegal and the replacement (I can't remember its name) wasn't the same. I haven't taken an ECA stack in over a decade.

Well.

Last night was bad. Real bad. Between the coughing (still) and the itching from these fucking mite bites (worse), I got maybe three hours of cumulative sleep last night. I felt horrible. Just wretched. I should note, I went to bed at 9:00 last night because I was so tired from walking back and forth to the union twice yesterday for meetings. This morning I could barely climb the stairs to wake up mckitterick to ask him to give me a ride up to campus. No way I could call in sick, since the other secretary is out.

Before we left, I rooted around in our medications drawer for an Emergen-C packet. I saw a bottle of this stuff that I bought mckitterick ages ago. There was still one tablet left and I thought Well Why Not. I brought it to work with me, popped it in my tea mug full of water and drank it first thing when I got here.

Holy Fucking Shit y'all. Z-I-N-G! Energy and euphoria just like what I remember from my ECA stacks. I am happy! I am motivated! I am looking at my to-do list for today and thinking Hooray! Filing! My Favorite! (I actually do love filing, but it's a weirdly exhausting task when one is chronically tired and brain-foggy.) I'm looking around my office and there is just not enough here for me to do. I can tell I'm not going to be content paging through screen after screen of Tumblr. I want to be making things, talking about things, doing things. I want to go to the gym!

I feel so damn good. I honestly don't remember the last time I felt this basically...great. I mean, it's Friday, and that helps, but you guys I could barely string together a sentence when I left the house and now I've cheerfully helped two people with the copier, chatted with someone about art projects, answered all my work email, gossiped with someone about her weekend plans, and just generally been Let's Do Today, Folks! on three hours of sleep. While itchy. And still coughing/stuffy. I feel like a normal person. A normal, happy person. This is amazing.

It's gonna be difficult not to take one of these things every day.

Comments

[splix.livejournal.com]

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

I used to feel that way about one cup of coffee, when I would abstain 95% of the time. This reminds me I should get back to that point.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the fact that I rarely use caffeine anymore is helping a lot with the effectiveness of this shit.

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

I miss having the option of that totally amaaaaaazing feeling when you really need it - like that exhaustion you had today. It's like magic.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Especially when I literally do not remember the last time I felt this good.

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

wish I could get that kind of high from caffeine! it always gives me panic attacks...

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Too much caffeine makes me queasy, but this mixture of whatever is really working for me. Two and a half hours later, I've come down a bit from the state of bliss, but I'm still pretty peppy and focused!

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

reminds me of my old adderall days... now that was a hell of a drug.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeeep. mckitterick needs Adderall, and seeing how hard it is for him (and other friends who deal with ADD) to get it makes me feel shitty for the rare times I used it instead of ECA. That stuff is just crazy difficult to buy legally. Oh the poor decisions of youth!

[msmitti.livejournal.com]

that is totally how I felt with adderall. it was fantastic!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, anyone who feels like this on Adderall should probably not be taking it for medical reasons. =D Seriously, for everyone I know who takes it for legitimate reasons reports that it actually slows them down, mentally. I think that's fascinating.

[msmitti.livejournal.com]

Yeah--it was *very* apparent that I did not need it. Although when I did tell a person who has a legit prescription, he said it was like that for him until his body got used to it and then it settled stuff down. It is a bizarre thing that speed for one is not for another.

[write-out.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, I need to buy me some of that NOW.

[sherwood21.livejournal.com]

That sounds GLORIOUS.

[pointoforigin.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, that is . . . extraordinarily tempting. I want a new drug! Anyway, I'm glad you had a decent day.

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. My thing was some kind of trucker speed after late nights. I'd feel GREAT until I crashed. Now I just muddle through.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I can't find it locally anymore, so I ordered four bottles of it from drugstore.com and got free shipping!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

TBH, it's a good thing I don't have any in the house right now.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Me, too!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

That was what I loved about my ECA stack. No crash. I just got tired at bedtime, like I would've anyway after a busy day.

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Maybe I will invest in some of those. All of my toddlers have turned into tiny plague beasts, and life is miserable.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

If it helps your decision to try it, i slept just fine last night.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

For me it's less of a "settling down" feeling, and more of a literal focus feeling. It feels like I put on my brain's glasses.

My biggest, worst symptom many days is transitioning from an easy task to a less-easy task, and it makes that much, much easier. (And it's STILL hard!)