Hello. I was diagnosed with adult ADHD inattentive type at age 23. Initially I saw a Psychiatrist who had very little experience treating adult ADHD and who wasn't very helpful. She prescribed me 5mg/day of Adderall. After taking this dose for about a week with little effect, I took 10mg and found that dose to be much more helpful. Recently I have switched doctors, and see one with much more experience treating adult ADHD. He put me on 10mg x 2/day.
Here is my question. Today I took 10mg around 8am and another 10 at 11:30. However all day I felt lethargic, depressed, and withdrawn. I am wondering if this could be from taking a dose that was too high, or if this might be my body's response to this drug. It was quite helpful for the first few days at a lower dose. Has anyone had these side effects from taking too much?
Thanks for the replies,
In case anyone else is having issues like mine, I took a lower dose and it was definitely much better. I think 10mg am and 5/10 mgpm is a great amount. Also, I don't think I can take Adderall every day. After two or three days of taking it, I really need a day or two off of it. Does anyone else find that they really need to take days off?
My advice would be to stay on the lower dose for as long as you can, and take days off anytime you can. Because amphetamine-based stimulants like adderall exit your system so quickly, taking a few days off can cause your tolerance to build much, much more slowly than it would if you took it continuously. And of course the less you take, the lower your chances are of having any unwanted side effects =)Thanks for the replies,
In case anyone else is having issues like mine, I took a lower dose and it was definitely much better. I think 10mg am and 5/10 mgpm is a great amount. Also, I don't think I can take Adderall every day. After two or three days of taking it, I really need a day or two off of it. Does anyone else find that they really need to take days off?
[/QUOTE]MEEMNY...
My son,8 was just put on Aderall 1 week ago and the first day was truly scary, He came home from school and was very sluggish and very tired and lifless.. the Dr said it happens the first day as its the first does of your life. If you are feeling like this still, 4 days later, go back to the does you were taking.
Hope this makes you feel better.
I haven't had those side effects with adderall but I bet others have had them. Seems to me that I saw in some book or article indications that effectiveness these stimulants can take a "bell curve" look... as dose increases above trace amounts, response improves...to a point, and then, the more stimulant taken, the worse the response and, I assume, side effects kick in. Could be what you are experiencing. Russell Barkley claims that the effective dose of stimulant for ADHD predominantly inattentive types is much lover than for the other adhd types... if your inattentive, this theory may apply to you!
If the medication worked better at the lower dose perhaps you can lower the dose {with doctor’s permission of coarse}