adderall dosage question | ADHD Information
Ok let me give an example:Lets say your supose to take 5mg Adreall XR and you take it once a day. Then XR actually contain more than 5mg BUT it releases only 5mg at time to your system and does that several times during the day without you knowing or notice it. So you will have a constant dosage of 5mg in your system cos the rest isn't yet release and still in the pill in you stomache. That's why it says it's a 5mg pill cos that's the dosage it will releas at time.
When you get Aderall regular 5mg the pill immediate takes up of the body and gets in your system with the dosage of 5mg. But after a while the meds wears off and leaves you system and the concentrations of Adreall goes down to 0 so you need a new 5mg pill to get the dosage 5mg in you system.
Was that clearer? Or is it so that I totaly missunderstand your question? Sorry for that in that case :-)
/Kaks
Ok. no one answered my original question still!!
[QUOTE=jman05]Why does XR and normal come in the same dosages if XR is taken once and regular is taken twice a day? Shouldn't the regular come in half the dosages then if u are taking it twice a day? [/QUOTE]
This is your original question...what is it that you still don't get? I don't know how else to explain it...I'll try one more time
Lets say you have one capsule of the Adderall XR(extended release) 20mgs. and one tablet of Adderall SR (regular/quick release)10mgs........................
The Adderall XR 20mgs. will give you two doses at 10mgs. per dose spread out over about 7 to 8 hours.
The Adderall SR(regular/quick release)10mgs. will give you one 10mg. dose of Adderall that will last about 4 hours.
So...you can take the Adderall XR once a day or the "regular" twice a day..depends of your preference...And yes the "regular" is half the dosage of the XR times 2. Sheesh! 
After reading your last post jman05 I actually starting typing my user name in as " good Lord" ! 
Please don't take offense b/c if I don't laugh I may cry . I'm one of the most determined people on the planet so I refuse to give up! You better not just be pulling my friggin leg! Misunderstandings do happen..I know, I've been there..and I guess I'm here now!
[Quote jman05] U still dont get it..
Adderall XR and adderal both come in the same increments (5,10,20,30,40 mg)
But adderall is taken twice a day and XR once. So if u got 5mg prescriptions of both u would actually be taking in 10mg a day of adderall because u take it twice but only 5 mg of XR.
If u got the 40 mg of both u would be taking in 80mg a day of adderall and 40 of XR. It doesnt make sence. [Quote jman05]
Yes, if your take 5 mgs.of the regular Adderall and 5mgs of the XR together, that would be a total of 10 mgs. The difference is that all 5mgs of the regular would be released into your system all at once and with the XR 2.5 mgs would be release immediately and the other 2.5 (half) would be release into your system approximately 7 to 8 hours later.
Yes if you take the regular Adderal 5 mgs twice a day that would equal 10 mgs total. And if you take one Xr 5mgs., once, you get 5 mgs total..spread out over 7 to 8 hours hence XR=extended release.
okay..give me a sec. to process this.....yes, if you got 40mgs of both... and you took two of the reg. Adderall then your total for the day would be 80mgs. If you took one XR 40mg then your total for the day world be 40mgs...so...It all depends on what you need as your single dosage.
If you need 20 mgs as a single dose then you would take a 20 mg tablet of the regular Adderall twice a day, that equals 40mgs total for the day.
But if you prefer to take only one "pill" per day, and need (as with the regular Adderall 20 mgs twice a day) you would only need to take one Adderall XR 40mgs.
So, like with me, I have the XR 30mgs that I can take knowing that I'm getting a single dosage of 15mgs twice during the day (while only having to take one capsule) and I'm covered for around 7 to 8 hours... or I can take 15 mgs of the regular in the morning and then another dosage 4 to 5 hours later.
I got this information from www.adderallxr.com
A single dose of ADDERALL XRŽ 20 mg capsules provided comparable plasma concentration profiles of both
d-amphetamine and l-amphetamine to ADDERALLŽ (immediate-release) 10 mg bid administered 4 hours apart.
(bid means twice a day)
u messed it up. Read the post again. U just said u need to take 2 pills if its not xr. So why do they both come in the same dosage amounts.Well, they don't come in exactly the same amounts, but.....Although I'm not on the Shire Pharmaceuticals team, I would venture to say: because they are common doses and convenient increments. An individual can also take more than one pill, or fractions of pills in order to reach their ideal medication level.
So the xr actually contains double the listed amount[QUOTE=deang008]Actually, Adderall XR contains the listed amount. Half of the mg's are immediate-release beads while the other half are delayed-release beads.[/QUOTE]
Yes, that's right. I take Adderall XR 20mgs. It's the same as taking 10mgs. of the regular adderall twice a day.
Actually, Adderall XR contains the listed amount. Half of the mg's are immediate-release beads while the other half are delayed-release beads.No, cos the point is for you to have a constant dosage in you.The XR have a controlled release so you have that dosage the whole day but the normal gives you the amount at one time and then it wears off so you don't have anything left in you and then you need to get a new pill to get up that dosage again.
Did that make any sence of did I just mess it up? :-)
/Kaks
Why does XR and normal come in the same dosages if XR is taken once and regular is taken twice a day? Shouldnt the regular come in half the dosages then if u are taking it twice a day? Same here... The XR doesn't last me the whole day. I take it at around 8:00 am and then I take Adderall SR (immediate release) between 3:30 and 4:00 pm.U still dont get it..
Adderall XR and adderal both come in the same increments (5,10,20,30,40 mg)
But adderall is taken twice a day and XR once. So if u got 5mg prescriptions of both u would actually be taking in 10mg a day of adderall because u take it twice but only 5 mg of XR.
If u got the 40 mg of both u would be taking in 80mg a day of adderall and 40 of XR. It doesnt make sence.
*cackle* I see yall have discovered the reason I gave up trying to get it straight. I take an orange capsule in the AM and a half an orange tablet at 1PM. Then all is right with my universe.
The end.
jman - the reason an XR is labeled 20mg because in TOTAL there is 20mg. You get half now half later. If they labeled it 10mg then it would be 5 now 5 later. It only shows how much is inside - not how much each individual dosage actually is!
They should have 2 numbers maybe - what you have in total (so you don't OD) and how much each dosage is.
I have been confused and reconfused over this very thing. I gave up trying to straighten myself out. My dose works, that is the important bit. *grin
I see a psychiatric nurse practitioner and we discuss everything.
She did tell me that my Adderal XR 20mgs. worked the same as if I took a 10mg of the regular Adderal twice in one day.
bepatient38798.3447916667For everyone that takes the XR, does it get you through the day completely? I was just wondering, because it doesn't me and I always feel the need to take the short acting version later on in the day. Am I addicted to Adderall, or could it be that I'm so severely ADHD that I need more than the average person? I'm so confused about this I wanna cry. I don't want to be an addict, but I feel as if I can't function normally without it now.I know you would think that you would need more of the XR because it's only once a day, however it's simple it just is the same thing,just one last's all day and one dosent so Reguler Release has more potentiol to be abused, because you have to take so much more of it for it to last all day, the majority of docter's only will give you the XR version, i went through it all big time and now i am at a whopping60 milligram's once in the morning.
It doesn't last the whole day for me either, I take an afternoon dose to finish my workday. Lots of people metabolize it faster than the label says, apparently. Unless you take it at higher doses than prescribed, I doubt you are addicted.
I am addicted to being able to think, not addicted to the adderall. All of the things I used to do before I started meds - triple checking things, losing anything that wasn't attached, going through life in a fog and wondering what the he** happened all the time.
Now that I am used to NOT doing things that way, it sort of seems like I am a basket case without meds. Really, I am the same basket case I always was - I just notice it now, since I have medicated thinking to compare it to.
WEll the guy above u said the opposite. Also it says that the pills contain the amount they state on the site. Adderall XR actually has two doses of the same miliigram in the capsule. For example, Adderall XR 20 has 2 doses of 20 mgs. There are 2 types of beads inside the capsule. 20 mgs are realeased into your system immediately and approximately 4 hours later another 20 mgs. is released. It's immitating taking 1 20 mg pill twice a day.Kaks-
yup, I'm 100% positive about that. Have you tried checking Adderall XR's website? It should say somewhere on there...or in the prescribing information.
jman-
The only way you'll find that answer is if you talk to the individuals who decide what pills to make. I ask you, however, why not sell them in the same doses?
So then I ask again.....Why are they sold in the same doages? bepatient and deang008:Are you really sure of that? In that case I got it all wrong but I'm uncertain about that. Guess I have to look it up again :-)
If you have any good sites, please tell me
/Kaks