I've been on adderall off and on a few times, but today I switched over to XR to try to get something that lasted longer (normally adderall gets me for all of 3 hours). When I start adderall I tend to get a little jittery and edgy, but mostly I'm much more calm than usual (sounds like a contradiction, I know, but the latter is mostly physical I think while the former is mental). On XR today I felt completely out of wack, very edgy, and very unable to focus. I've never reacted so severely to regular adderall. Anyone have any ideas on what happened? Did you all react differently to XR? It feels like I should be reacting identically since it's the same drug.
I did have quite a bit of caffeine beforehand, which I'm learning isn't a good idea. So maybe that was part of it. But it wouldn't explain all night. I'd love to hear how people reacted to XR when they first took it.
I don't take Adderrall, but I take Paxil, an antidepressant. When I take regular Paxil, I'm good. The doc wanted me to try new long acting Paxil. I felt sicker than a dog and had to go back to the faster acting stuff. I don't know why--same med--but I have to only take regular Paxil. Maybe it's the same for you and Adderrall. OlderMom38849.3492708333KDL,
I started XR, 5mg about three and a half weeks ago, titrating up 5mg a week. On five and ten I started out a little edgy physically, but it generally calmed my mind, helped my mood and made it possible for me to focus on one thing at a time. It also fixed my sleep cycles and knocked the fog/groggyness out of my head. It did not help with motivation, however. Instead of studying for law exams, I was intently browsing the 'net for AD/HD info, or nonstop editing wikipedia. The physical effects seemed to disappear after a couple of days at each new dosage.
I titrated to 15mg a week before exams started and felt like I was hit by a brick. I didn't move out of my chair for four days, couldn't focus on studying, got really jittery and anxious, wasn't eating, had chest tightness, and my moods became somewhat unstable. Was it exam anxiety? Was it the drugs? No one seems to know. I'm guessing the Adderall XR exacerbated my existing anxiety, given the stress I was under. Caffeinne definitely made the physical effects much worse. Now, under doctor's orders, I'm off the Adderall, which has just brought back the AD/HD symptoms and ruined my sleep.
Standard advice, but you should ask the prescribing doc if you're having anxious symptoms. While some of the physical effects seem to wear off, and coffee only worsens them, Adderall definitely increases anxiety.