Skipping Adderral doses | ADHD Information

Well, my mom has thought that I was add for pretty much all my life we just never got it tested. Got on it like maybe a month into this semester. my past 3 semesters have school have gone pretty much d c  c c d f c c b c d. A month into this semester I had maybe a c-d average based of what we had done so far. after starting adderral i now have an a a b a. i would say the results speak for themseleves. i was just wondering if there is any physical problem that could happen by skipping a few doses once in a while. i heard someone say something about blood levels or something. thanks for the help all. I have been on adderral for some three months now and it has improved my  grades drastically. I am now up to 40 mgs. Even on this does though I find myself becoming very tolerant to it after only a week of consecutive use. I have been skipping doses(usualy 2-3 days) and take no adderral at all. I get back on it after this time  break and are much less tollerant  to it. I was just curious if there is any kind of health risk with what I am doing. Thanks i'm on adderall xr 20mgs and i've grown quite a tolerance to them! i was on 10's the first month, 15's the second. i started growing a tolerance the third week of the 15's. i'm almost done with my third month, my first on the 20's. but my psych. gave me another precription for 20's. he told me not to skip but didn't specify why. i went online to find out that depression can set in after quitting suddenly, but if you feel ok i guess it should be fine.[QUOTE=GlenW]If you find you are getting a "tolerance" - which over a week I find doubtful - it may be more likely you aren't feeling the "buzz" that you did before.  [/QUOTE]

Totally untrue! I was 10mg the first week, 20mg the second, 30mg the third and so on.  I've "settled in" to about 50-60mg, and it seems to be holding at that point.  You can tolerate so much "focus" at one point in the beginning.  It takes a while to get used to, and that is seen as "tolerance" but it is not.  Adderall is a powerful medication, and it takes a while to get used to it.  Give it time, talk to your Dr. etc.

Risk - no not really but you are losing a lot of the benefits of the meds by not building a certain level in your body.  You are basically working off the "high" of amphetamines.  Are you actually ADHD??

If you find you are getting a "tolerance" - which over a week I find doubtful - it may be more likely you aren't feeling the "buzz" that you did before.  The way to tell if it's working isn't the buzz, hyper feel or other side effects but rather how you focus and how others see you and your actions.

Talk to your doctor.  See about maybe taking a bi-monthly or even monthly med vacation or even just the weekends off.  Are you just taking the meds for study? That doesn't sound like you have much ADHD.  I trust you are honest with your MD and aren't lying or being deceiptful in order to get meds you truly don't need to live well.  Study alone isn't ADHD.

There's nothing wrong with skipping doses, but check with your doc first. Med holidays aren't right for everyone or every situation, as everyone's body chemistry is different.i tend to judge effectiveness buy the buzz i feel but reading these posts make me realize that's probably a mistake, i usually stop using  few days a week but i think i'll take them every day now, thanks 

There's a couple of aspects of what a stimulant medicine does and I think you're potentially confusing them.

The buzz is a result of the stimulate in Adderall, which for ADD, helps to activate you -- meaning that you are more likely to do tasks versus put them off. The other aspect (and the important one in my opinion) is increasing a brain chemical that regulates info moving between synapsis. That is what improves focus and attention which is often the basis for most ADD symptoms.

A better way to understand if you are getting a benefit is to journal your activities and see if, over time, you find that you are performing better. What you are after is the ability to focus and improve attention ... not to feel a buzz. 

 

A stimulant medicine

[quote]i tend to judge effectiveness buy the buzz i feel but reading these posts make me realize that's probably a mistake, i usually stop using  few days a week but i think i'll take them every day now, thanks[/quote]

A good resource is "Thomas E Brown: Attention Deficit Disorder, The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults." When he discusses "determing effectiveness" he makes no mention of the "buzz" and only discusses things like noticing better behavior, reduced distractability, improved attention to tasks and improved overall functioning.

Best of luck to you.