Adderall XR fading? | ADHD Information

I have noticed that I am becomming "used" to my prescription. I don't feel the effects the way I did the first couple of weeks; and it seems to be wearing off earlier in the evening (Like right around rush hour) Might this be normal? I sure don't want to keep increasing the dosage.

Ok, this is my 5th try at posting reply. damn pop-up keep making this computer freeze!

Have you ever tryed "regular adderall"? I asked my theripist about XR, and my main concern was just what what your discribing. I dont do well with these once a day meds. i have a high tolorance to meds. The first couple of DAYS, not weeks, these all day meds seem to work, then taper off. She said alot of people seem to build up a tolerance and find they are less effective. I'm sticking with 20mg of adderall 3times a day. I've learned to space them so i won't feel any let down when when i really need them.

Once a day would be alot eaiser, but not having to worrie about them not being effective when i really need them. You may be one of those people who need to space their meds. I wish i could tell you more, but i did hear this from someone who has alot of expierience with these meds.

Good luck with whatever you decied to go with. It's worth looking into. You diden't say what mg. your taking. you may not have to take a higher dose, just beable to space them out

I'm actually taking 15 mgs XR in the morning, and by 5 pm or so they start to wear off. My fear is that if I take regular Adderall (say 10 mgs, 3 times a day) then I am using 30 mgs per day of amphetamine. I really don't want to keep increasing my dosage if I can help it. The XR is working well, but wearing off by 5 puts me in traffic unmedicated; thus , a return of being an angry driver. (My biggest weakness) I can still focus fine; but the calming effect isn't working. I've started to wait later in the morning to take my meds to see if I can offset the fade time. I'm considering scheduling anger management sessions so that maybe I can deal with bad drivers better. (better than tailgating and name calling that is) I'm fine as long as I don't get cut off; or get behind someone going 10 mph UNDER the speed limit with a cell phone attached to the side of their head.

Have any of you had problems with being aggressive on the road due to ADD?

gr8art,  Have you considered taking the regular Adderall at 5:00 PM when the Adderall XR where's off.  You would only need to take one extra dose and it should be out of your system by 10 PM.  Just a thought, my sons physician suggested it for him.  -Gettingagrip-

Yeah, I have found myself slipping into my depression again and not having my meds be very effective. I am loosing controll and begnning to have the same nightmares of horrible things happening that I can't do anything about! I have heard that taking a drug holiday for a month or so can really help with tollerance build up. cherub65, good luck, that may be the only way to go. At first until your use to it, try to space it so it's not close to bed time. I can take it 4 hrs. before going to sleep, but at first it was at least 6hrs.I have the same problem.  I take 20 mg. of Adderall XR ( and also Wellbutrin) and I find it wears off quickly and I get moody.  I am also taking night classes, which makes it more difficult.  When I mentioned this to my doctor, she said although the medicine is supposed to last for 12 hours, everybody is different.  Her reccomendation was to take it around 1:00 instead, so it will help me through my night classes.  The problem is, I feel as though I need it when I wake up and would like it to last all through out the day.  I would like to have a very small dosage to take later in the day, but my doctor seems unwilling.  Her response was that, Adderall is highly addictive and 30 mg is the highest dosage aloud, she then wrote me out a prescription for just the 20 mg. XR once a day. I would never want to become addicted to this or any medication, but it is hard when it works so well,you become use to it, and it is only effective through part of your day.  Between work, school, and writing papers there is always a time of the day that I benefit from it.

Lizzy--
Question: Did you experience depression before you started taking
Adderall? I have noticed that since I started taking it and becoming
tolerant, I'm starting to become irritable and very depressed. I'm just
really trying to figure out if it's the medicine that's affecting my mood.
I've been on Paxil for anxiety for a while now, but I'm wondering if a
possible anti-depressant will work with the Adderrall to make the side-
effect go away.

Latina--That sounds like a really good idea. I started to become tolerant
to the XR within the second week, so I'm really going to take your advice
into consideration. That might really help!! Thanks!

I, too, was feeling a tolerance after only a couple weeks.  Then I took a 2 day "holiday."  Well, that was when I realized how the Adderall was really working for me!  Sometimes I think that maybe we become so used to feeling "normal" that then we think the meds aren't working.  I hope that made sense. 

I take 10 mg XR in the morning.  I, too, am having issues with it wearing off too soon.  I take it at 8 am and by 4 pm I'm pretty much done.  I have an appointment with the psych on Wednesday so I'm going to ask her about taking a booster dose at 4 pm.  Seems that a lot of people do that. 

I also have road rage.  Oh boy do I!  I have noticed that the Lexapro (I also have anxiety with the ADHD and depression) really helped me to control my anger.  Big time!  I used to get angry very easily and usually at inanimate objects which have seen the results of my wrath.    But I'm way calmer with the Lexapro.  Don't flip out as much either when I'm driving.  Still swear a lot on the road though! 

 

i've been reticent on this one b/c i just didn't want to admit it to myself but::

i take 20mg xr of adderall every morning. i'm afraid to miss a dose it seems. not b/c i'll get the shakes or i'm fiending or anything..i just feel a bit sluggish and i have this ultra malaise hanging over me all day if i miss my dose. so i don't know how you guys are taking a 'drug holiday'. my attention just unravels at the slightest pin drop. its just so irritating. its like my attention dips to worse than it ever was before i started taking adderall if i miss a dose. i only take it once day. and i guess i've not been wanting to admit , ADMIT! that there are any bad effects b/c i've seen it as such a helpful thing. but i have to commute for about 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. so i leave work at 5 and i'm on the road, practically about to doze off in traffic. i'm also practically obsessing about what i can do occupy myself on the road.

my anger..my anger? LOL right now i'm absolutely fuming about : overdevelopment of my suburban area..used to be old farming fields that used to be marshland. very beautiful specific herbal smell out here. now: neighborhoods popping up like mushrooms in a flooded basement...and 'for sale' signs on every scrap of green land you could drive by. i've been seriously seriously looking for anti development groups to join. i have had fantasies of getting into all black and pasting pictures of dr. suess'  the lorax on every everlovin' for sale mixed use acreage sign i've ever seen. or maybe a photographic project with time elapse of every useless yet green meadow being developed for a pharmacy-a-corner..for a grocery store on every street and so on. i GRIT my teeth every time i drive around b/c i see this and i swear i'll get an ulcer! how dare they chop down a live oak grove for a fake tanning salon? what value is that?

and human rights issues. i'm about to join amnesty. i can't sit by and watch ppl suffer without helping in some small way. help one person anyone just something. its making me so sad to watch the news. and i do research on human trafficking and such b/c i am severely dissapointed with those 'haves' that take advantage of the 'have nots' in this world and purchase slaves in this day! yes my people! we have about 16000 ppl within our beautiful country who have been smuggled in against their will every year. could your neighbor be the filth that brought this upon them? i just hate this inability to prevent all these tragedies.

and the other thing that bugs me: my job. i' m in a tin can of an office and i'm starting to hate everyone in my office + all my freaking customers. right now i'm having such a bad attitude they could all go to hell and i'd be laughing while i was burning.

so yeah. i don't think my attitude was so nearly as all that before i got on adderall+ wellbutrin and i'm sure its evident from my intro rant of my ultra peeves that this stuff is eating away at me...

i can finish projects but i can sense my irritability creeping up to a watershed.  i think i'm going to have to add something in my mix to calm me down. my anxiety has always been an issue and i feel that this is where my irratability is coming from. its inescapable. i can't even face those ppl who to me. are a shade more than acquantances that used to count on me for a sympathetic ear. im in such a mood where i feel like we are all wasting our lives when there are others dying the wrong deaths. it is a nightmare walking for me. i'm just too damned sensitive. i find myself crying about all kinds of stuff other ppl just think is too remote to even feel a twinge. i can't stand it! i want to scream to everyone around me don't you see?

ahh! so maybe i'll get some lexepro ..that would be if my stupid psychiatrist would get her head out of her ass and call me back about the date of my next appointment. my pda was wiped out so i'm sans appointment time..

so yeah i don't want to take any more adderall than i need to. i'm greatly afraid of becoming some kind of junkie. i've read to many stories. but for now i'm just bordering on a road rager/ soap box rager/ human rights shriller!

yikes.

sumi

Cherub, I was depressed before taking ADHD meds, but none of the anti-depressants were working for me.  When I tried Adderall I found that my depression lifted within 2-3 days! I think I was depressed because I was not meeting the potential I knew I was capeable of. My life was this chaotic mess that I could not seem to take controll of. Now that I've been on meds for a while I have found that I do have a tolerance. I got really sick for a while and just started taking my medication again this week after a 2 week drug holiday. I realize now that I wasn't building a tolerance. Well I was building a tolerance to the euphoria and invincable feeling that the drug initially gave me. I have reverted back to needing 8-9 hours of sleep every night (instead of 6), being tired after a long day, having to say "no" sometimes. But I also found that my mind was working like it should! I wasn't frustrated all the time or disorganized or chaotic! I was just me like I always have been but with a "normal" head!