most people can take two doses of either adderall or dexedrine XR per day with no bad side effects. I'm Rxed for 2 doses of dex a day and usually only need the one but if I have a long day (12 or more wakeful hours needed) I take the second about 6 hours after the first. It helps a great deal.
You can mix XR and IR with no troubles - just gap it out and watch for any jittery feeling. You should lose that feeling of the meds "working" as that's a side effect not the work you feel. After 3 months all you should feel is that great feeling of no fog and clear thought.
You can switch to dexedrine XR - the benefit is it is a 6 hour dose, can be taken twice a day and incidentally is cheaper than adderall as is now considered a generic in all forms both XR and IR.
I had the same thing happen to me when I started on Adderall 20 mg. xr. It wore off in about 6 hours...not the 10-12 claimed. So, my doc changed my prescription to two 20 mg. xr/day. I take one at 7 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. and that works fine for me. I've also heard of others that take a standard release, as you're considering, and that seems to be another acceptable way to deal with the issue. My doc was not comfortable in giving me a prescription for both Adderall xr Adderall ir, which is what I originally asked for.
I've been taking adderall xr 20mg for about a week. The first couple of days, it made me a bit jittery, but now, that side effect has gone away completely. The only problem is that I take it around 7:00am and by 2:00pm, it's wore off and I'm ready to fall asleep and am somewhat cranky. Would anyone suggest a higher dosage or possibly taking an Adderall IR in the afternoon so that it wouldn't interfere with me going to sleep??? Does anyone know how long the Adderall IR lasts? Yeah, I was also having that same problem. Like John D, my doc broke up my dose from 15 once a day to 10 twice a day. I take one at 7:30-8 am and the other at 1:30 or 2 o'clock. This seems to work great. I work the 2nd shift on a IT/Network help desk and by 10pm i'm winding down. I'm in bed before 1am. monoceros38970.8643634259It is possible that a higher dose in the morning may last longer - and if this works, then it may save you the hassle of having to remember a pill twice daily.What led you to have to up so soon? Did you no longer feel it was working or was it that it seemed to level out? I'm curious - but it's no big deal as an XR dose it's actually 15x2 that you are getting so it's still fairly low.
Focalin is still very new but promising. It has far less dependency issues even in abuse situations and is potentially a good ADHD med. Jury is still out - check with your MD to get all the facts.