Thread: Can ADD Pills Improve Lucid Dreaming?

This is just a question that came to mind today out of curiousity. I was wondering if my ADD medication could increase my chances of becoming lucid during an afternoon nap. If my medication increases my attentiveness, would that extra attention carry over into my dream? Would I become more aware of my dream environment and easily find something out of place?

My idea:
1. Take my pill at noon like I'm supposed to (but don't always do).
2. Maybe wait for about 30 minutes to be sure that the pill is taking effect.
3. Take a nap and fall asleep like normal.
4. My extra attention would increase my chances of picking out dream signs. If I take notice to a dream sign, then I would become lucid.

I'm thinking about trying this next week just to see if there are any changes in my dreams.

So what do you guys think? Do you think it would make me more or less aware in my dreams? Will it have any difference on my dreams at all?

My medication is dexmethylphenidate by the way.

I honestly doubt it would work as these meds are amphetamines and so spark a lot of uppers in the brain and I imagine that it would make it very difficult to sleep. I mean, you can try it, but I suspect you'd have much more success with it as WBTB technique.

I've seen Galantimine suggested for WBTB in the Thomas Yuschak book (and I've tried it with some success) but it makes it very difficult to sleep at times. I think you'd be better served by trying to go about it the old fashioned way.

No.

Chances are nobody here is a pharmacist and knows the ingredients in such medication. But logically speaking, there is basically no chance this will help. No reason it should. At best, you might get a placebo effect.

The flaw here is that rather than find a substance has properties that help lucid dreaming, you are trying to stretch lucid dreaming to fit the drug you are (presumably) already using. Never good to think that way.

That makes sense. Thanks for the help guys.

ADD pills are not amphetamines. They may help you, but not during naps, as during naps there's not enough time to get into deep dreaming state.

You may also find this post interesting, because ADD is connected to RAS: reticular activating system http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/not-cl...em-ras-125795/

Originally Posted by Ev

ADD pills are not amphetamines.

False. Almost all pills prescribed for ADD are in the amphetamine family (ritalin too).

I was wondering the same. I was thinking of taking a low dose of Concerta to test it

*Moved to Lucid Aids*

Cmind is right and concerta is indeed an amphetamine.

In my experience, they did not. Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts) kept me from sleeping, but ultimately did not effect my dreams unless I stopped taking it. I later found out when taking Adderall that Focalin (dexmethylphenidate) would make me sleepy, like taking a sleeping pill only no hangover effect the next morning. This had the same effect on my dreams as Adderall--none, save for when I stopped taking it. After stopping taking one or both, my dreams would be exceptionally vivid but would have almost with 100% certainty, negative content. They wouldn't necessarily be nightmares, but the overall "feel" of the dream was negative and the occurrences were also often negative.

Cmind is correct. Adderall is mixed amphetamine salts, ritalin, concerta (methylphenidate) and focalin (dexmethylphenidate) are all substituted amphetamines. Vyvanse is just dextro-amphetamine bound to the amino acid lysine, making it a prodrug. This basically means that until the stomach cleaves the lysine from the amphetamine, it is inactive, making the abuse potential lower. There are really only a few ADD medications that are not substituted amphetamines, so EV, you are incorrect.

Concerta doesn't allow me to nap, so I say no.

Originally Posted by Lucidis

This is just a question that came to mind today out of curiousity. I was wondering if my ADD medication could increase my chances of becoming lucid during an afternoon nap. If my medication increases my attentiveness, would that extra attention carry over into my dream? Would I become more aware of my dream environment and easily find something out of place?

My idea:
1. Take my pill at noon like I'm supposed to (but don't always do).
2. Maybe wait for about 30 minutes to be sure that the pill is taking effect.
3. Take a nap and fall asleep like normal.
4. My extra attention would increase my chances of picking out dream signs. If I take notice to a dream sign, then I would become lucid.

I'm thinking about trying this next week just to see if there are any changes in my dreams.

So what do you guys think? Do you think it would make me more or less aware in my dreams? Will it have any difference on my dreams at all?

My medication is dexmethylphenidate by the way.

If I take my ADD meds anywhere near 4 PM I can't sleep. Never have been able too either.