Adderall | ADHD Information

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Then up for church on Sunday....and felt almost NO effect of the meds for the whole day.

I thought it must be the food...  So, this morning I ate a banana with my morning dose, and had a sweet role shortly after.  (Has to be at least as healthy as pancakes and syrup).  I felt NO benefit from the meds, and again...I felt almost as if I were inattentive than ever.

The doctor expects me next week to evaluate the dosage, etc.  Prior to this Saturday, I would have said that it was having an opposite effect.

Any thoughts?

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It is apparent that the medication has worn off / is wearing off. You will need to ask the doctor for a higher dosage of adderall (remember that the max is 60 mg until seeing a shrink). As time goes on, you will see that you will need to continue increasing the dosage until you have reached my current situation.

Currently, I take around 80 - 90 mg of Adderall a day (3 x 20mg + 10 in morning and + 10 in evening) ... I've found that it is best to not take the meds on days that you REALLY dont need them (I.E. weekends). It is best to take a "drug holiday" every so often.

In my case (ADD symptoms), I have also noticed that caffeine only makes the Adderall less effective in my system - I recommend drinking mostly water. The caffeine also enhance the "cotton mouth" effect as well. Remember that by eating food, your body will digest the medicine more-so as opposed to when you dont eat. Ive found that the Adderall works best in my system if I take it 30 minutes after I eat. *Note that sometimes Nicotine will help, however, its never a good habit to get into...


I know with my son he has to eat plenty of protein to get all the benefits, so I've been pushing the milk and yogurt and protein bars, shakes, etc. I've read that a high fat meal will also affect the absorption of the med, as well as citrus and ascorbic acid, so I've been giving that in the evenings.

Also, like the other poster, stress really affects it too. If he's bothered about something or worried, he just doesn't have a good day no matter what we do. 

The way the dose works is definitely affected (for me) by what i have going on for the day - i have never noticed food affecting the effectiveness of it.  I take concerta.

Some days I get so hyped on what I have going on and my stress level that it feels like I took no meds at all, some days the med effect is evident in what I get accomplished in paperwork and in being able to sit in a long, long, long meeting and in not being impulsive. 

The dose was something that I had to get to the right level before it helped me - hopefully my body will not become tolerant to the dose I am on now, cause it seems high to me when some folks are on 1/3 or what I take!!!! 

Have you found that the circumstances of the day affect how well the dosage works for you?  Here's my example:

For about 1.5 weeks my doctor has me on 20mg Adderall in the AM then 15mg at noon-ish.

My normal routine is to take my morning dose with no breakfast,  Drink coffee all day long...maybe eat a donut at work.  Take my lunch dosage with a decent lunch.  We are still experimenting with my dosage, so I don't have anything to compare it too.  But, I never really felt that sense of "attention" or calm that i expected.

But then, this Saturday was the first time I took the dosage on a day where I had little to do.  Took my morning dosage with pancakes & coffee.  Then calmly sat and listened to my son practice his trumpet.  Sat and read a book all morning (i never would read a book like that un-medicated).  Mid-afternoon ate a nice lunch and took my lunch-time doseage.  Remained calm and content all after noon.  I was cool and collected when dealing with problems in the house.  Had self control to diffuse situations between wife and kids...  Totally felt like the meds were doing their job.  It was a WONDERFUL day.

Then up for church on Sunday....and felt almost NO effect of the meds for the whole day.

I thought it must be the food...  So, this morning I ate a banana with my morning dose, and had a sweet role shortly after.  (Has to be at least as healthy as pancakes and syrup).  I felt NO benefit from the meds, and again...I felt almost as if I were inattentive than ever.

The doctor expects me next week to evaluate the dosage, etc.  Prior to this Saturday, I would have said that it was having an opposite effect.

Any thoughts?