During the 2020 primaries, he was sleepy and not with it in all the debates, but when it came time for the one-on-one debate with Bernie, all of a sudden he was “fiery” Joe.

The same thing happened at the state of the union. They literally hide him whenever they can, even to the point of him declining a pre-superbowl interview. And then all of a sudden he’s “fiery” Joe again during the state of the union.

I have to believe that they are giving him some kind of concoction or drug or something, and I don’t think it’s conspiratorial to speculate that this is the case.

So to any biology/pharmacy/medical experts out there, what the hell is going on?

  • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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    8 months ago

    It’s almost certainly modafinil, a dextroamphetamine like dexedrine, and galantamine.

    The first two are commonly used/abused in DC and showed up often on the white house pharmacy report. The third is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor can be effective in treating some of the effects of dementia, and is especially effective at inhibiting AChE when used occasionally, occasionally being abused by weirdoes who want to lucid dream. (HOLY SHIT, DO NOT DO THIS) He’s almost certainly on memantine or memantine/donepezil combo therapy, and occasionally jamming the gas on the AChE inhibitors is very plausibly effective in boosting short term cognition.

    Then they hide him away for a few days while he basically openly flows from both ends of his digestive system. (This is especially why you shouldn’t abuse galantamine, you will shit the bed and if you’re also using sleeping drugs, you can aspirate vomit and dry drown in your own barf while sleeping.)

  • Omegamint [comrade/them, doe/deer]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Definitely some type of amphetamine, likely either Adderall or Dexedrine (Dexedrine being the better choice for zipping someone up). If it were me doing debates or speeches I’d be on some kind of amphetamine and a benzodiazepine to curb the edge. Honestly that combination of drugs is insane to be on when in social situations or just getting work done, but very susceptible to abuse and addiction.

    • livestreamedcollapse@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      Second this: the verbosity and mental acuity granted by the more bioavailable/potent dextro-rotrary isomer of amphetamine—combined with the anxiolytic effects of benzos—seems the perfect combination for giving critically important annual speeches upon which you’ll be judged by Capital; let the naval corpsman, flight surgeon, or whomever the fuck is handing out these scripts, deal with the comedowns.

  • MarxusMaximus [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    About a month ago a report came out showing the white house pharmacy was handing out prescription drugs like it was candy, including thousands of doses of the stimulant Modafinil. The pharmacy is also not staffed by actual pharmacists and it has effectively no oversight.

    So the answer to your question is “at least Modafinil, possibly more”

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    I would guess adderall. A stimulant that has a steady release rate. Modafinil might be another one. Keeps you awake but it’s not as uncomfortable as straight meth.

    • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      I wonder if modafinil would have much of an effect as it’s mostly useful for wakefulness so it’s primarily prescribed for narcolepsy although it’s a second-line treatment for ADHD. Afaik it’s also used by the US armed forces for fighter pilots and similar to combat fatigue.

      • LanyrdSkynrd [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        Modafinil also increases focus, like other stimulants, though to a lesser extent. It was big with tech bros for that purpose before everyone could get Adderall prescriptions through apps.

  • corgiwithalaptop [any, love/loves]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    The joke is amphetamines, but I recall hearing reports a few years back that TONS of the people in congress/whatever in DC see doctors that give them prescriptions SPECIFICALLY for events like the SOTU speech. Some sort of stimulant, nothing that I can recall the name of. But, the report came out under the Trump admin, so its probably coated in liberalism unless you find something scientific.

  • MaoTheLawn [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    possibly dexamphetamines - commonly used for narcolepsy and ADHD. One time I took some of my mum’s to perk me up on a tired morning before a cleaning job, and for the first time ever cleaning dust out of window crevices felt INCREDIBLE - like I was born to do it and I’d just realised my destiny.

    Maybe Lithium - super strong stuff that they used to use for ADHD but now don’t as often because it’s so strong.

    maybe farm stimulants

      • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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        8 months ago

        No. Lemme break down what’s gonna kill you in there just for funsies.

        In that 8oz bag, there’s an absolute shitload of Vitamin A (retinol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). I’m not even gonna bother breaking down the other vitamins because these will kill you way before your body would really even notice the others, based on the amounts there. Chronic vitamin A poisoning causes liver toxicity in people taking more than around 25,000 IU daily over an extended time, about ten times that much will send you into acute vitamin A poisoning which causes excruciating pain, vomiting, drowsiness, increased intracranial pressure, and a skin-peeling rash.

        Acute vitamin D poisoning causes hypercalcemia starting around 10,000 IU daily. Consuming 1% or more of this packet per day can result in both of these hypervitaminoses over a few months, consuming 10% in a day would kill you so hard you’d get your own chubbyemu video about how your liver shut down well before your bones dissolved and you pissed them out as rocks, and your skin rashed up and fell off so they had to keep the casket closed at your funeral.

        For basically everything else there, the entire packet contains about the amount you’d get either from regular daily multivitamins or the amount of a safe megadose by a doctor, so your liver is going to kill you long before you’d even notice anything else is there.

      • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        ½ teaspoon per quart, and drink no more than half a quart of electrolyte solution daily iff you’re in an absolute pinch and do not have access to any vitamin-containing food. I am not a doctor though.

  • Bloobish [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Likely Donepezil or any of the other current Alzhiemer treatments, alongside that some form of stimulant as many people have said alongside some form of benzodiazepine to allow for a reduction in anxiety/irritation that is really common for mid stage dementia (where I’d bet my money where Biden is at right now).

  • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    They got a big bucket of mixed pills where they grab a handful, ram it into his mouth and hope for the best. So far they’re batting a 1000