I haven't been on the board for a few years, I guess cuz my ADD was under control with my Adderall....
But its stopped being effective. I was taking regular Adderall 20 mg twice a day with my weekend vacations.
That being said, I discussed some alternative that I was interested in but my PCP said that she was only familiar working with the Adderall Family, Straterra, Ritalin Familiy and now Daytrana; otherwise she recommended a psychatrist collegue to go to explore other alternatives.
I was interested in Dextroamphetamine, and since she didn't have any experience with Dexadrine etc she didn't feel comfortable prescribing it to me and suggested Daytrana. She said she had numerous adult patients with great experiences with it so far, including a psychatrist patient of hers.
My hesitancy with Daytrana is that it is effectively an all day release, controlled release whatever of Ritalin. I initially took Ritalin when I was originally diagnosed with ADD 3 years ago and I didn't fair well. That may have been because it was generic or because I was in the multiplying the low prescribed dose stage to find out what dose worked. Well, it didn't really work. It was choppy at best, peaked early, made me anxious and jittery.
I then went on Adderall, got comfortable with 20 mg twice a day and it worked for a few years. Now its not, it takes a while to come on, the effect is way more mild and doesn't last long. And I really need it to work!
So, in sum, while Daytrana isn't marketed for adults, have any of you had any experience with Daytrana or know of any ancedotal evidence? Thanks for listening.
Roya75
Thanks JoeJoesMom for your reply....
Unfortunately I wasn't diagnosed as a child but only a few years ago as a 29 yr old adult woman. But, as you know, that doesn't mean I wasn't an ADD child, just undiagnosed. Which is unfornately typical of girls especially of my generation. Back then, unless you were the "typical unruly boy" you weren't going off on the ADD radar. But we know that by discussing my developmental years and education all through high school and even college that I was and most certainly still am ADD.
I felt just the way your husband does 3 yrs ago when I was finally diagnosed with ADD. First it was relief - hey I am not crazy. Then there was the playing of my life back to myself and thinking duh no wonder why. Finally, what could have been had I been diagnosed and TREATED as a child. But I didn't dwell on that too much because A) I did manage to "manage" all those years (B.A. and a J.D.), it was a struggle but I didn't quite realize that and I was able to cope but more importantly B) had I not experienced what I did, struggle and take the path I ultimately did then I wouldn't have naively gone to Law School which led me to meet my incredible husband.
Talk about a struggle, I went to Law School and I passed but since I still hadn't been diagnosed and treated I never passed the Bar and I am not practicing today.
But since my diagnosis and treatment my life has taken a 180, my ADD isnt' gone but it is managed, my life is managed and not so overwhelming. What I didn't mention earlier that speaks to your husbands struggles is that I was often diagnosed with depression and anxiety off and on through college and Law School. But low and behold, once I began my treatment for ADD all that went away. My anxiety and depression was the misdiagnosing off my ADD. Once treated, no anxiety, everything stopped being unsurmountable and overpowering. My depression from my sense of being a failure dissappeared because now I could manage my life properly and succeed.
Good luck to you, your family and your husband.
My son takes Daytrana and since my husband has seen how focussed our son has been my husband has asked me if he can try one of our son's patches. My husband has undiognosed ADHD and I've thought for years that he had it. Since our son was diognosed my husband started reading books about ADHD. He said to me he wonders if his life would have been different had he been given ADHD meds. My husband has taken prozac for depression for years but he has all the symptoms of ADHD. He has an appointment in a week to see his psychiatrist and ask about taking the patch. I did not want to give him any to use until he gets approval from his doctor it's too scary to mix meds without a doctors advice. If he tries it I will keep you posted. Our son only takes 10 mg and it isn't really enough for him but he gets a rash from it so I have not been able to go up in his does. The 20 mg patches are huge for kids so I would think they would be more suitable for adults size wise but I'm not sure if the dose would do much for an adult. I think in comes in 30 too, I say try it and give it a week because the first week my son had big mood swings but they mellowed out as he went on. I'm praying his rash does not get so bad that we need to stop because he won't swallow any pills. Did you have ODD as a child along with ADHD? My son does and it's pretty unbearable at times. I'm interested if it mellow out as one becomes an adult. Good luck to you if I see any other threads from adults I'll pass them on to you. Seems to me I saw some in the past.