ups and downs with medication abnormal? | ADHD Information

Hi, I'm an 18 year old and new to any forums like this and feel somewhat awkward posting it, but I really want to know what's going on with me.  I went to see a psychiatrist about 1-2 months ago and told him why I suspected I had ADHD.  From my answers, he said that there was a 50/50 chance that I had ADHD and I would have to trial to see if I had it or not.  He then started me on 2.5 mg Focalin -Dexmethylphen (generic version).  The 2.5mg had no effects on me whatsoever, except causing me to become extremely sleepy.  About 4 days later, I tried taking 5mg, and man oh man, did that help.  I'm not sure if I was supposed to react to it like this, but I felt like I could focus forever.  So the psychiatrist began prescribing me 5 mgs of the drug, and that is what I'm currently on right now.  When I initiated 5mgs, the drug lasted for hours and now it only lasts for like 1-2 hours.  I then take another 2.5 mg (I'm still on trial) to get the effect for another hour or so, then it wears off again and I'm tired and unable to read even easy context stuff without zoning out.  I tried taking 10 mgs, but it didn't work and it made me feel..I'm not sure how to explain it, but depressed? I think.  It was a really bad feeling, where I felt tired, but couldn't sleep and stressed or something.  I tell my psychiatrist this and he doesn't tell me anything except that it's different for everybody.  I'm just wondering what should I do to be able to focus like I was able to in the beginning or should I considering switching to a new drug, or are these symptoms normal in the beginning of adapting to the drug? 
Also, my school schedule is really messed up so I'm taking about 12-14 hours of school M-R and on Fridays I have a 2 hour class.


-There are also days where when I take 5mg of the drug it doesn't have any effects except making me extremely tired, causing my ability to pay attention in class to be much worse.  Could this be because I don't eat enough before I go school?  My eating habits haven't changed from when I first started the drug and felt the good feeling right now.
Thanks a lot
sz918239544.6254398148

I'm 31 and recently switched from Strattera to Adderall.  I'm having the same thing happen with Adderall XR, I started on 5mg in the morning and felt pretty focused but by 3pm I was getting really bad rebound.  My doc upped me to 10mg in the am and 5-10 in the afternoon and it felt like it worked for a week or two but this week I feel like it's not doing anything.  I get horrible rebound and can't go to sleep-can't stop spazzing out at night from the rebound in order to go to bed even though I'm exhausted.  I'm going to talk to my doc on Friday but long story longer I share your concerns about meds feeling like they're doing something one week and not another.  I was on Strattera for almost 3 years and then it decided to stop working.  The first 2 years I was on it I felt awesome, all of the time, no rebound or anything but then it just quit on me.

Anyway, I think your issues are common-You've got at least one person out here who is experiencing similar things.