ADHD and Sedatives | ADHD Information

I had the slight stony feeling when I first started taking methylphenidate. For my body, it took 2 weeks for the clarity and feeling of being myself to kick in.

Once it did, I didnt even realize it was in my system. Except for the fact that I have a sense of internal motivation. That's the only way I know.

Sherry

In response to the original poster, I think the over sleeping is normal when starting a stimulant med. IMO I think its the "crash". Your body, your whole CNS was stimulated, so when the med wore off your body was ready to shut down from, my guess would be exhaustion. Then when a sedative was added you slept like a baby I bet. I sleep just fine, but then again I'm on a high dose of xanax for anxiety and also adderall xr 20mg and 5mg short acting PRN if I want/need to take it. So, you are normal!! From what you have described, that is classic ADD/ADHD reactions to stimulants.

I am a 36 year old woman and was just diagnosed with ADD and am currently on Wellbutrin 300mg a day.  When I started Wellbutrin ( for depression ) , I began to feel normal and alive again.  However, my ADD was just out of control, so my Dr. put me on Stratera 40mg a day to start and then to go up to 80mg in a week.  I could not even get through two days!!!! I feel terrible, after 30 minutes of initially taking it.  I am in a sad, drunken state all day, I feel like I have a tight metal clamp on my head, my eyes feel weird, then I come home from work and cry and feel a huge lack of motivation.  I am not going to take it tomorrow - I know that some say to try and get through it for a few weeks, but I can't.  I don't even talk when I take it, I am like a zombie.  I am just going to take the Wellbutrin, which has worked wonders for me and hopefully, when I go back to my Dr., she will be able to do something different for the ADD.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I am really concerned and would like to get these ADD symptoms under control (obviously without taken Stratera).

Thanks, Pam

Clearly ADHD people respond differently to stimulants.  It calms us down when it makes everyone else keyed up.

I've also noticed that personally sedatives hit me INCREDIBLY hard.  The doctor prescribes a sleeping pill for me to counteract the strattera, which makes it very hard for me to sleep for longer than six hours.  We've gone through a couple, and on every one of them I have to take a half or even a quarter of the lowest dosage pills.  Anytime I take anything that knocks me out, I stay out for far longer than most people.

Anyone else notice this?  Or is this just another fun quirk of my body?

 

i think i am the same as you. 

i took some 'nighttime' cold medicine in the US and  it was like someone had shot me with a tranquiliser dart.  really.  that strong.  my eyelids felt like they weighed 100 lbs!  i was sleeping and that was it!

and as for the Adderall (other post) i guess you should try 15 mgs????  or your body'll probably adjust to the 20 and it'll be perfect.

it's curious but i wonder whether going down to the 10 (when your body might have been expecting the 20) and the consequent jumpiness was not your body already adjusting.  you had felt a little 'over-sleepy' --- so perhaps your body realised that and when it felt the intake of Adderall thought okay - we need to compensate a bit here... add some extra tension/adrenalin to keep the balance.  but when you only took half the dose it had over-compensated?

unlikely scenario - i admit.  but i suppose it coulda been that, maybe (not).

Possibly?  I don't know.  I'm not sure I've been taking it long enough for my body to have adjusted.  I mean, a week? 

I'm going to 15 mg tomorrow; we'll see how it goes!  If that doesn't work, I'll need to do some reconsidering.  I haven't asked my doctor for a prescription yet (I go in next week).  If I'm not comfortable with the med during this trial period, I'm not going to ask.  Though I can't keep taking the strattera due to the abdominal pain, so I don't really know what other options I have at this point.

i am sure you have probably heard this a hundred times before --- but be careful when coming off the strattera (only from i have read, no personal experience at all, but a few people have posted that they had terrible withdrawal symptoms from Strattera) - good luck.

was it SO bad that feeling of slightly stoned-ness.  i am sure it would calm down after a few days, or don't you think so.

(oh sorry, now i re-read you had already been taking it for a week)
chjones38785.0933796296

No, that calmness wasn't really bad.  It just seemed like slightly too much.  We'll see how everything goes on 15mg today.  I'd like to be a little bit more clear headed since that's the point of the medication afterall.  But if 15 mg doesn't work, perhaps 20 mg for a bit longer would be fine.

 

Every sedative I have ever taken has knocked me out to a ridiculous extent.  Nyquil to Atarax.  I'm constantly having to either reduce normal doses or give myself an extra 8 hours to be awake.  I may be a slow metabolizer.  It seems to take forever to get that stuff out of my system.  I am seriously taking 8 mg of seroquel to sleep at night, and even that is hard to wake up with.

 

so what all are you on, when I was on strattera it knocked me out so it didn't take much to make it worse.  What kind of sedatives were they, when I take darvocet it seems to clear up and slow down my mind but still have the bodily energy the the adderall supplies.

15mg seems to be the perfect dose, as long as I take it with food.  I'm calm and serene, though still a bit foggy.  I think it may just be a matter of time before that fogginess leaves me too.  But the calm...my god, is this how normal people get to feel?  What've I been missing out on all of my life?  I was walking down the street, and I actually managed to not think about anything for like ten seconds.

It may have been the only ten seconds of my life (not counting being passed out from alcohol heh) <g>