Adderall | ADHD Information

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I've been taking Adderall for 2 weeks now. In the beginning I had a not-so-good experience, but the posts on this forum have been instrumental in helping me get through the process and now I am having a completely positive experience with Adderall. So, I wanted to post my experiences and what I've learned, in the hopes that it will help someone else. I've put a lot of information on here, but I don't want anyone to think I'm some kind of doctor or expert. I got my information from my experiences, other people's experiences, and information I looked up online. So please don't substitute what I say for your doctor's input. Always ask your doctor if you have any concerns.

Experimenting with Adderall (as prescribed) can be a two-step process. First you might find yourself balancing out your dosage and certain other aspects of your life in order to work with and decrease the side-effects. After you've done that and you're at a point where you are at least comfortable throughout the day when you're on Adderall, then you might start trying to get it to do what it's supposed to do - help you concentrate. For me I have only just begun the second step, so this is really just information about dealing with the side-effects.

Side effects tend to decrease after you've been on Adderall for a couple of weeks. Your body needs time to acclimate to (get used to) the new change to your system. If you find that you have a bad experience at first, don't give up on it just yet. Don't judge the drug on a day-to-day basis, because much of the way Adderall affects a person has to do with your mood and other aspects of that particular day. Take it consistently as prescribed for the amount of time your doctor tells you to, and after that, look back on the general experience and make your decision as to whether or not you want to continue taking Adderall.

When I first started taking Adderall I took one Adderall XR 20mg pill once a day. I found that it made me very hyper and tense. I would take the pill, and in a half hour to an hour, it would hit me like a freight train. My heart rate would increase suddenly and dramatically. It scared me a little but I also liked it a little, at the same time.

Other somewhat undesirable effects I experienced in the beginning included a sharp chest pain right over my heart for about 3 minutes a day during the afternoon every day, difficulty urinating, complete and utter loss of appetite, and very dry mouth and throat.

I went to this forum to see if these effects were common, and quickly found out that they were (sigh of relief). Many Adderall users have that same chest pain - it is characterized as a sharp pain directly over the heart or the left-middle of the chest, that worsens if you take a deep breath. This is apparently nothing to worry about, as long as it is short-lived and goes away within minutes. It's caused by the physical stress (not mental stress) that Adderall's stimulants apply to your muscles, especially the chest muscles. Of course if you experience pain that is different, more harsh, longer-lasting, or if you're concerned for any reason, you should definitely speak to your doctor, especially if you have any history of heart problems.

The urinary problems are also common among Adderall users. As far as I can tell it's caused by dehydration. Same for the dry mouth and throat. Adderall sucks water out of you like a straw. Make sure to keep yourself hydrated - constantly take sips of water throughout the day. I find myself drinking something like a half a gallon a day, sometimes more. If you don't like water (some people hate it), get yourself some Crystal Light powder. It barely adds any calories and a very tiny amount added to water makes it taste great (I recommend pink grapefruit flavor ;)). If you end up doing something during the day that has a further dehydrating effect on your body, you need to make sure you drink even more water afterwards or during. Drinking alcohol, especially when you drink enough to get you drunk, is a massive dehydrator because it partially inhibits your body's ability to absorb water. You might urinate a lot when you drink, and you might think that's because the alcohol is "going right through you", but that is a myth. What's really happening is that your body isn't able to absorb as much water anymore so more of the water in your system gets excreted (urinated out). So if you find yourself drinking a lot of alcohol one night, make sure you keep drinking even more water between those whisky shots :). Drinking coffee, drinking carbonated beverages, and of course athletic activity will all dehydrate you even more, so again, drink more water of you do those things.

Complete loss of appetite is also a standard effect of Adderall, reported by nearly everyone who takes it. After breakfast I have absoutely no desire to put food into my mouth. It's as if someone cut the wire in my brain that was connected to the "hungry" indicator light. It's nice for people who want to lose weight, but the effect is far too dramatic to ignore. Don't say, "Great, I'm fat, if I don't eat, that's a good thing." You need to eat.

In fact you lose more weight if you eat, because your body needs nourishment to keep your metabolism working, and higher metabolism burns more fat, plus you lose weight in a more healthy way. You must either put yourself on a strict three-meal-a-day schedule and force yourself to eat, or substitute one or two meals with a good "meal replacement" shake. You should eat at least one solid-food meal a day though - I prefer breakfast, since I usually eat it before I take the Adderall, as is recommended.

(The shake recommended to me by my friend who is a health nut is Myoplex MRP (meal replacement plan). You can get it reasonably priced at The Vitamin Shoppe. It costs about for 20 meal replacements - that might seem like a lot, but really it's only about per meal, and considering you won't be eating anything else for those meals, it's really not a bad deal. It contains all the calories, vitamins, carbs and nutrients you need for a complete meal, and trust me, if you're overweight, you will still lose a massive amount of weight very quickly.)

As for the hypertension - if you experience that hyper feeling and very increased heart rate, and you are a caffinated coffee drinker like me, even if you only have one or two cups a day (also like me), try going off the coffee or switching to decaf. I was never affected much by caffeine, but Adderall apparently makes you much more susceptible to the effects. As soon as I stopped drinking coffee, the hypertensions was gone. Coffee also adds to the dehydration, so going off the coffee is probably a good idea for that reason as well.

My last side-effect is actually a good one - it's an anti-depressant. I feel a lot happier, content, energetic, physically agile and willing to be social, when I'm on Adderall. I especially feel like I always want to talk to people - I talk a lot more now than I used to. While this is not what Adderall is generally meant to do, it is quite a delightful side-effect. Adderall increases your dopamine and norepinephrine levels. Those of you on anti-depressant medication might recognize those terms, because some anti-depressants like Wellbutrin also do that - increase dopamine and norepineprine levels in your brain. So it makes sense that Adderall would have a similar effect.

Take my advice on this if nothing else: Don't take Adderall while you are sleep-deprived and you want to stay up. Adderall is popular among college students (who don't have a prescription) because it allows them to pull all-nighters full of ferociously focused studying. If you want to use it for that it's your business, but I strongly advise against using it when you haven't previously gotten enough sleep lately. I was up all night for whatever reason one time, and I didn't want to fall asleep during the day, so I took my regular Adderall dosage int he morning, without any sleep. Big mistake. It was like a "bad trip" - a drug-induced schizophrenia, lasting all day, and it was not pleasant. If anyone had been with me in my house they would have dragged me off to the looney bin. I would not want anyone to have to go through what I went through that day.

Some people experience a "drop-off" or "rebound effect" as the Adderall wears off at the end of the day. That can feel especially bad, because losing your "high" doesn't just feel like going from "high" to "normal". It feels more like going from "high" to "I really don't want to be alive right now." One person on this forum described it as feeling like you don't want to be in your own skin. There are two ways around this.

One is, if you're taking regular Adderall (not the XR version) or some other form of shorter-acting ADD drug like Ritalin, switch to Adderall XR. It generally lasts around 10-12 hours for most people, so it could last you up until bedtime, so you might never really feel the drop-off. The XR version also has a more gradual drop-off, instead of a sudden one, making the drop-off process a much less harrowing experience.

The second thing you can do, even if you're already on Adderall XR, is divide up or add to your dosage throughout the day. If you normally take a 40mg pill once a day in the morning, for example, you might combat the drop-off effect by taking an additional 10 or 20mg pill sometime around noon, to carry you through til bedtime. Or if that's too much for you, you can take half your regular 40mg in the morning (20mg) and then the other half in the afternoon (another 20mg). You can also ask your doctor to prescribe you a separate shorter-acting drug for the afternoon or evening time, to fill in the "gap". These are just examples though - work with your doctor and experiment yourself to find the best dosing schedule for you, since it's different for everyone. Be careful to time your dosages correctly so that you won't still be feeling the effects of Adderall when it comes time to sleep - trying to fall asleep before Adderall wears off can be an excersize in futility. Meaning it just won't happen. Remember that Adderall XR lasts around 12 hours for most people, and regular Adderall lasts around 8 hours, so time yourself accordingly.

A note on smoking - if you're a cigarette smoker like me (I know, shame on me), you will find yourself smoking a lot more while on Adderall. One of my friends who has been on Adderall before describes it as feeling like "smoking is your job". This is entirely accurate. You feel very dilligent about it. If you're not careful, you could end up smoking much more than you would have liked, and spending more money on cigarettes, and killing yourself faster than you normally would be. Or worse, you could run out of cigarettes (joking). Adderall is an amphetimene (it's actually a bunch of different amphetimenes all mixed together) - it speeds everything up in your body. The faster, more awake, and more hyper your body is physically, the less you feel the effects of cigarette smoke. So while on Adderall you end up smoking more to try and get the effect you're used to feeling from smoking. You probably will not be aware of this at first, so make yourself aware, and keep track of how many cigarettes you've smoked throughout the day. And if you're so inclined, of course try and cut down, but that's up to you. I won't preach :).

As of now I'm taking 40mg of Adderall XR once a day, no coffee, and lots and lots of water. I feel about ten times better than when I first started on Adderall two weeks ago, and I have the people on this forum to thank, both for advice and for easing my worries about the side-effects I experienced. So I hope I've given something back and maybe helped some of those who might be new to Adderall. Good luck.
AWESOME!!!!!

That is GREAT to hear. I'm glad you're feeling so much better. That gives a lot of us on here hope. :) Thanks equazcion! Glad it is going well. I am on Adderall also and have all those side effects, but they are getting better.I am 20 years old and have just stared Adderall XR 20mg. The first day I took it I felt great and it helped me a ton untill later when I had something like what people had explained in my experience to be hot flashes. I instantly started to sweat, got very dizzy and felt that I was going to puke. This only lasted about 3 minutes and then quickly went away. It only happened twice: that evening around 8pm and right when I woke up the next morning about 8 am. The doctor tells me that I have normal blood pressure and a normal heart. I have read some forums about the side effects of this drug and have never heard of something like this. I thought hot flashes only happen to older people? Is this weird? Good Post!!!  I needed to read that!! And does the depression wear off like a side effect or not? Hi everyone. It's been a while since I looked at this. I figured I'd post an update in case anyone's interested.

It's about 9 months later than my original post, and I've been on the Adderall the entire time. My experience has changed dramatically. I realized that until you reach about a 3 month period, you'll still be dealing with temporary side-effects. After that point though, the effects seem to flatten out and become more predictable.

I've learned a lot about dealing with Adderall so I'll share what I know. Keep in mind that different people will experience different effects, so this is by no means a definite across-the-board guide, however some people will identify with my experience and may be able to find some useful tips in my handling of things.

I'll start with caffiene, because for me that was an incredibly important aspect. Don't take anything with caffiene in it when you take adderall. Even after my own advice in my original post, I started my regular morning caffiene regemine again, because I liked that hyper feeling I got. The problem with that actually starts with how unhealthy it is for your heart. The effect may feel pleasant, but so does flooring the pedal in your used '95 Ford Taurus for 10 minutes straight. It's nice to go fast, but not at the expense of red-lining your tachometer and siezing your pistons. I think even the non-car people will get the point here.

The reason the Adderall/caffiene mixture makes you hyper might surprise you. It isn't so much the mixing of two stimulants. Caffiene is a "catalyst" for drug absorption in your body. Meaning that whatever drugs you're taking, including non-prescription drugs like Tylenol, taking them with a caffinated drink will cause those drugs to be absorbed much faster into your body, and you'll feel the effects much quicker than you normally would.

For an over-the-counter pain reliver like acetaminophen (tylenol) or ibuprofen (advil, motrin), this can be a good thing. In fact some doctors recommend taking some caffiene with your pain reliever, and some pain relievers already have some caffiene included within the actual pill (Excedrin, Bayer).

For Adderall, this is not a desirable effect. Adderall is no over-the-counter medication. It's a pill that's delicately balanced and designed so that a certain amount of the stimulant is released into your system at a certain rate. Speeding up that process is not good in this case. With pain relievers, you want all of the drug to take effect all at once. But if you did that with Adderall, you could send yourself into a coma -- people have done that, like the morons who crush it up and snort it (no offense if any of those morons are reading... hey maybe you know something I don't, I won't judge you).

So what does caffiene and Adderall do to you when mixed? I don't know, you'll have to try and see. But for me, the effect was a nice hyper feeling, but it only lasted an hour, maybe two. That's because all the Adderall in the pills I took got "used up" by my body in a couple hours' time, intead of the 12 hours it's supposed to take. And the rest of the day after that initial "high", well, the rest of the day was pretty much pointless. I felt completely restless, unfocused and tense. I didn't feel like walking, sitting, or moving, but I also didn't feel like sleeping. I didn't even feel like standing still. No matter what I did I felt uncomfortable. And I didn't realize the connection to caffiene until I tried going off it.

Therefore I no longer drink caffiene. I haven't had it in a few months now. That's not to say I don't have a cup of soda here and there, a cup of regular coffee once in a while, a Powerade on occasion. But I don't drink that ritual cup of something caffinated in the morning around "Adderall-time". I recommend that to anyone who currently does have that ritual and is experiencing early-day jitters or worse.

Next is eating. You need to eat, or you just won't feel right. Trust me on this one. I know how it feels. You'd rather chew tin foil than swallow food around lunch time. Adderall does that. But if you do skip those meals, you might find that Adderall's focus and anti-depressant effects wear off very early. That's cause you didn't eat.

Eating isn't the only thing to worry about. Adderall dulls you across-the-board as far as those feelings that normally tell you you're hungry, you're thirsty, you need to go to the bathroom, you need some fresh air, you need to get up and stretch your legs. I guess that's partially how it helps you focus -- it blocks anything that would normally interrupt your trains of thought. The way I deal with this, and this has worked for me for a long time now: there's a certain point while you're working on something (such as studying or writing very long posts to message boards) when you will suddenly hear yourself think the following sentence: "What was I just (doing, thinking, saying, going to do)?" Watch out for that. That's your brain trying to get your attention, a general notice that something needs to be done for your body, and that it has nothing to do with work. This is where you stop what you're doing. Turn off your computer screen, close your laptop, cap your pen, close the text book, and start thinking about what your brain might be asking for. It could be something as simple as a bathroom break. However even something that seems so simple can really cause some bad effects if you don't take care of it, because you're brain doesn't give up. Eventually even when you're consiously aware that you need to go to the bathroom, you'll be so whacked out of your mind from depriving yourself of that certain something, that you won't have the presence of mind to give in. So whatever it may be, figure out, and do it NOW. Go through a list if you have to: "When's the last time I ate? Went to the bathroom? Had a drink? Got some air? Stood up? Sat down? Walked around?". Chances are you'll figure it out fairly quickly, and brain will be so greatful that it will reward you by releasing endorphines. And that's not a joke -- once you take care of whatever needed to be taken care of, you will feel more than just nourished or relieved, you'll feel the nice Adderall effect kick back into full gear.

Next is smoking. This unfortunately is one thing I haven't learned to deal with, but I'm at least not smoking any more than I was when I wrote my first post (which in itself is a miracle). However my theory right now is that the more active your body is, the less of a need you'll have for cigarettes. I believe it has more to do with the need for physical movement than it does for nicotine, even if that movement is nothing more than picking up a cigarette, lighting it and smoking it. I find that on the days when I'm more social and more involved with talking to the people around me and keeping busy in a physical sense (rather than just mentally busy) I wind up not even thinking about smoking all that much.

My recommendation is therefore that if you're doing schoolwork, try doing it with a friend, even if they're just hanging out while you study and only making idle chitchat here and there. You'll see, you won't think about smoking as much. If you're at a job, especially one that involves sitting for hours on end in a cubicle doing paper and/or computer work, get out and take a walk or even a jog once in a while, or go over to a friendly (or attractive) co-worker's desk for some small-talk. The best thing though would be to get some socialness mixed in with the work, but in a cubicle situation that may not be possible. Maybe you could chat on the phone with someone, using a headset to keep your hands free -- that could work also.

Dosage -- I started at 20mg and my prescription is now for 80mg. That's a lot. And believe it or not, it would make things easier for me if I had even more. The reason is because tolerance runs high. Everyone will eventually get so used to their regular dosage that their body doesn't even react to it anymore. So you need more, and you just wait til your body gets used to that. The only reason I'm not up to 20,000mg by now is that I take small "vacations" from the Adderall altogether. Sometimes I'll drop my dosage down to 20mg for a few days instead, but going off the Adderall entirely for one to three days will effectively put you right back at square one -- 20 to 40mg will feel perfectly fine for you.

I must warn you though, for my own peace of mind, don't ever go off any medication for any length of time without discussing it with your doctor first. Those of you who are taking Adderall for its heavy anti-depressant effect will want to especially listen now. The first time I went off the medication entirely, I cried. I'm a 24 year-old straight guy who hasn't cried since he was 12. I almost didn't know how to do it, but I felt like crying, and eventually it happened. It also happened the second time I went off the Adderall, and for some reason the second time it was worse. But the third time was fine. Now this could just be me -- maybe I hadn't done it in so long that I needed to get it out, and once it was out I was ok. However, there is also every reason in the world to think that going off Adderall will cause depression in all people, male or female, all races and colors, formerly capable of crying or not. Your body has gotten very used to its regular daily injections of happy-juice, and you've pulled the rug out from underneath it so to speak. You won't just feel less happy, but you'll feel downright sad. If it gets too bad or you start thinking dangerous thoughts, take the smallest dosage you can -- like one pill if you normally take 2 to 4. Stay on a low dosage or work your way down to nothing for a couple of days, or even one day if you can't last longer than that, or ask your doctor what to do. Chances are he won't keep allowing you to raise your prescription dosage forever anyway and may suggest a similar plan for you when he sees whats happening.

I'm now lactose-intollerant. Yes, Adderall is to blame. I used to be able to drink carton after carton of milk with no problem. Well, never actually drank carton after carton, but, whereas I could drink milk, eat cheese, etc, I have to be a bit more careful now about my milk products. If you find yourself having some uh, yeah, diarrhea, along with a lot of gas, think about what you ate for the last 3 meals. Any milk products? Scarf down a pizza pie or a tub of ice cream? Bingo. Cheese will do it too, because cheese is like concentrated milk protien. Also ALMOST ALL SHAKES AND BARS THAT ARE MEANT TO ADD PROTIEN TO YOUR DIET, ALL SUPPLEMENTAL BARS AND SHAKES FOR MUSCLE GAIN, ARE MADE WITH EXTREMELY HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF WHEY, WHICH IS THE ESSENCE OF MILK. DO NOT DRINK/EAT THESE WHILE ON ADDERALL. YOU WILL FEEL LIKE DEATH FOR MULTIPLE DAYS. I know because I did it. I knew before this incident that I was lactose-intolerant because of other smaller incidents involving milk, but I didn't know that these shakes contained milk. It didn't just mess up my stomach. I was pale and clammy and listless for an entire day, and when I started thinking I had accidentally dranken something poisoness, I read the ingredients of the shake and realized what had happened. Adderall makes many people lactose-intolerant. It also generally lowers your stomach's ability to handle heavy or spicy food. You'll have trouble or feel sick if you eat anything too oily, even things too heavily-"sauced". I find I sometimes have trouble with barbecue sauce, and also onions, any foods that contain large quantities of those things. You don't need to stay away from any one food entirely, just go easy on the things you know have given you trouble in the past.

That's about all I can think of right now. Long enough? :) Let me know if I can answer anyt questions for you. I'd be glad to help out a fellow "druggy".
i happy for you, i've been on adderall for almost three months i'm on the 20's now and i feel that i'm growing a tolerance to them but some days are better than others, i'm a coffee lover and i wonder if coffee will buld my tolerance even higher. i bowl in aleague on thursdays and some weeks it seems to work some weeks  and some weeks it's useless. i took two doses at once to see if that would help but it didn't do a thing to help my focus. i was drinking beer and doing shots at the same time so i wonder if that was a factor. was taking two doses a mistake? is alcohol a mistake to take with adderall? please help

[QUOTE=crw3][Dosage -- I started at 20mg and my prescription is now for 80mg. That's a lot. And believe it or not, it would make things easier for me if I had even more. The reason is because tolerance runs high. Everyone will eventually get so used to their regular dosage that their body doesn't even react to it anymore. So you need more, and you just wait til your body gets used to that. The only reason I'm not up to 20,000mg by now is that I take small "vacations" from the Adderall altogether. Sometimes I'll drop my dosage down to 20mg for a few days instead, but going off the Adderall entirely for one to three days will effectively put you right back at square one -- 20 to 40mg will feel perfectly fine for you.
/QUOTE]

Just to point out how everyone is different...I take 20mgs IR 3-4x/day, depending on what I've got going on in my life. Sometimes I take 2-3 (usually weekends when I don't have to do anything important) and sometimes I take as many as 5. I've been on this dosage for about a year and a half. It's still effective. I consider only taking 2-3 pills on the weekend a 'med vacation'. (LOL). Right now I'm drinking an espresso. And I'll go to bed in about a half hour and fall asleep pretty quickly.

Good point paritthead. I neglected to mention that I change my dose from day to day depending on how I feel and what needs to be done, just like you. Another important thing I forgot to mention is the change in how Adderall has affected my sleep since my first post. It actually promotes better sleep in me now... I think it might have something to do with making my dreams less depressing. Sadly I'm not really joking.
Sometimes I will take a dose before bed, but having a limited prescription that only takes into account my daytime needs, I can't afford to do that often. But wow... what a difference it makes. Normally I can sleep for something like 12 hours straight and still wake up tired. If I take Adderall, I wake up after about 6 hours or so and feel completely rested and positive about starting the day.

Try taking a short nap, if you're past the "can't sleep on Adderall" stage. Naps are the best with Adderall. It's like you're not quite asleep and you're not quite awake. It's like sleeping, only you're awake to enjoy it. I'm being completely serious. You have to try it to understand what I mean.

Anyway, good points parithead. I don't think I could ever sleep after an espresso and Adderall but that's just me. Everyone's different.

Jerber, I can't tell if you're joking or not. But yeah, uh, try cutting back on the benders and maybe the drugs will work a bit better. Cheers.
And by the way if you werent joking, Jerber, cut out the coffee and try no alcohol for a couple days, in all seriousness, and see how you do. I'm betting you'll have a better experience. jman05, sorry, I totally missed your question. Thankfully yes, the depression you experience as the Adderall wears off and afterwards does subside after you get used to it. After that initial 3 months or so, all I felt after it wore off was the same way I feel when I don't take any Adderall at all -- "normal", as it were. That can still be a bad thing, but there are ways around it, such as spacing out your pills during the day. Best thing is to keep track of times during the day when you start feeling the "drop-off" and ask your doctor what he recommends. If he's one of those doctors who's shy about prescribing extra medicine (Adderall is, after all, not really meant to be taken as an anti-depressant), well, you can either lie and say you need a higher dose for the regular portion of the day and then save the extra pill for later, or you can try spacing out the existing dose like I said earlier. You'll find your way around it eventually, it may just take some time. One more thing I forgot to mention. Other sleep-related side-effects.

There are two things that happened to me and continue to happen on occasion while taking Adderall. Both are extremely scary and they deserve mention here because I couldn't find much information online about either of them, aside from accounts of the experience here and there.

One is called sleep paralysis. You wake up and don't quite feel fully awake. You open your eyes. You hear and/or feel a strange vibration in your head, a kind of humming. You can't move at all, and as if that's not bad enough, you feel something that can only be described as the presence of evil descending on your helpless body. Yeah it's that bad. Some describe it as feeling like a spiritual experience (hence the descending evil) and some say it feels more like you're being abducted by aliens. It only happens once in a while, at least to me, but this is something that has been documented as happening to even those individuals who are on no drugs whatsoever. I find it happens to me more since I started Adderall. It's nothing to be afraid of, nothing is wrong with you, and there are no lasting effects.

Sleep paralysis is caused by a malfunctioning brain mechanism. Your brain controls your muscles, so when you want to, for instance, run, your brain tells your legs to run and they do it. But what happens if you're dreaming about running? When you fall asleep, a mechanism in your body cuts off a good portion of the muscle control that your brain has during your waking hours, ensuring that when the boogey man starts chasing you, you don't inadvertently run out of bed.

If you somehow manage to open your eyes before you're completely awake, you'll be conscious, but still in a dream-state, fully aware that you have no control over your muscles. Paralysis, in essence (you can see, albeit not perfectly, and move your eyes but not your head). It doesn't last long though, and there are ways of shortening it even further. Just hum. It's about the only thing you can do while in this state, so hum away. You might need to try to scream, but it'll always come out as a hum or a groan. It'll get louder and louder until your brain finally realizes that you want out, and your body will wake up pretty quickly thereafter.

The second sleep creepiness is somethign that doesn't yet have a name. Not too many people know about it, but I've read more than one account of it so I know I'm not the only one who's experienced it. You have a dream that starts out normally, but suddenly takes a turn for the worse. You have a siezure. Now in the dream you will percieve this as your body slowly drifting towards the ground and then vibrating violently. In every instance that it's happened to me, I can remember trying to call for help but my spasms keep me from forming coherent words, and the people around me go about their business.

I'm talking about a physical siezure though, so how do I know it actually happened to me physically and not just in the dream? Well, I don't. But every fiber of my being tells me that that's what happened. If you experience this you'll know it too. You feel it in the dream and when you wake up your heart will be racing faster and harder than you ever thought possible, you'll be sweaty and cold, and you'll be too freaked out to fall back asleep any time soon.

I told my doctor about this but he didn't seem too concerned, chalking it up to tension from the Adderall and mental stress. I can't say I agree about the stress, but the Adderall definitely had something to do with this, as it never happened before I started the medication.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had either of these experiences. Please post and tell us about it. I hate to think how many scared individuals might be having these experiences and not finding much information about them online.
equazcion38804.0719097222

I'm wondering if a lot of your side effects equazcion are adderall specific.  I am on dexedrine spansules and have been now since november '05.  I have been drinking coffee throughout and actually except for the odd shift (for example me on day shift right now and up nearly at 2:00AM lol) my sleep is excellent.  The coffee for me is both something I enjoy and a supplement that gives me a little boost in attention and energy during my work day.  Typically I have about a cup or two 2 hours into my dose and another 2 two hours later.  On days off I have a few cups at odd times during my day.  I stay away from it about 2 to 3 hours from bed as I know it can disturb sleep.

Urination increases with both dexedrine and coffee (both diuretic by nature) but it went down considerable over time and with my experience knowing to drink water by the glass as much as I can during any day.  Now it hits about 2 hours into my dose and that's about it.

Other side effects are pretty much gone - sex is back to normal (actually it's a bit improved as I actually can keep a woman and keep focused lol).  Appetite is fine - perhaps a bit more ravenous at times but more sensible (no carbs or candy).  No hallucinations, anxiety (less than every in my life now), jitters, etc.  Just stable.

Depression hit a little while ago but now I realize it was justified to a point and also I hadn't had a med holiday in about 3 months (normally take one every 2 months).  Had a short one and now I feel awesome!

Best part - I went from 10mg twice daily to 20mg once and sometimes twice daily and have stayed there now over a year.  No urge to up it except for that short time without a holiday.

If adderall is giving a real tough time perhaps try dexedrine.  It's purer in content than adderall, considerably cheaper and from experience fairly side-effect free.  Makes me happy too!!

Thanks for sharing - we all need to hear the good, bad and ugly of all the treatments.

I think dexedrine is actually just the generic form of Adderall, but I could be mistaken. In any event, as for your suggestion: hell no. I finally got used to this stuff and formed a good knowledge base, and I'm not about to go through that again. The similarities between the drugs don't serve to comfort me enough into thinking I won't have to go through another life-encompassing adjustment when I switch. This is what I know, this is what I'm used to, and I'm at a point where dealing with the side-effects is no longer a conscious effort.

Good point though, in that there are alternatives to Adderall. Again I'm pretty sure the two are one in the same, Adderall being different only in that is has the word "Adderall" on the bottle and costs more. I also don't think that Dexedrine comes in an extended-release form. Adderall itself is basically an extended-release form of Ritalin, if not in its chemical composition than in its effects on the body, but Adderall XR is an even further-extended version. If Dexedrine isn't avialable in that form then I wouldn't be interested anyway. But if it is, then I'm still not, at least not at this point :)

Thanks for the comment though Glen.
equazcion38804.0945601852

[QUOTE=equazcion] I think dexedrine is actually just the generic form of Adderall, but I could be mistaken.

Actually I've been corrected on this one - adderall isn't dexedrine.  It contains about 50 percent dextroamphetamine saccharate (similar to dexedrine which is dextroamphetamine sulphate) and another amphetamine (name eludes me). 

 In any event, as for your suggestion: hell no. I finally got used to this stuff and formed a good knowledge base, and I'm not about to go through that again. The similarities between the drugs don't serve to comfort me enough into thinking I won't have to go through another life-encompassing adjustment when I switch. This is what I know, this is what I'm used to, and I'm at a point where dealing with the side-effects is no longer a conscious effort.

Fair enough.  Just remember that these meds flush out totally in days - so if you decided to trial out dexedrine it would be short-lived and if you didn't like what you got you could switch pretty much the next day.  No long-term worries like meds such as prozac, etc.

Good point though, in that there are alternatives to Adderall. Again I'm pretty sure the two are one in the same, Adderall being different only in that is has the word "Adderall" on the bottle and costs more. I also don't think that Dexedrine comes in an extended-release form.

WRONG!! Dexedrine comes in extended.  I take it - they are called "spansules" and last 6 to 9 hours.  I'd say 6 as it's pretty much pooped out at 9.  I usually only need the one though - I coast along fine 12 to 15 hours a day.  I don't need a lot of sleep at my age LOL!

Adderall itself is basically an extended-release form of Ritalin, if not in its chemical composition than in its effects on the body, but Adderall XR is an even further-extended version.

Woah!! Nope - Ritalin (methylphenidate) works very differently on people than adderall or dexedrine.  It works very well with Hyper ADHD and many with inattentive but each person reacts differently.  Ritalin possibly would have a radically different affect on you.  Dexedrine may differ for you but since they aren't drastically differing chemically it may be gentler in transition.

If Dexedrine isn't avialable in that form then I wouldn't be interested anyway. But if it is, then I'm still not, at least not at this point :)

Thanks for the comment though Glen.

Honestly if you are reaching a plateau in Adderall - rather than playing with increasingly higher dosages I'd consider one of three choices: Mixing adderall with another med ( many take ritalin and adderall, dexedrine and adderall, etc.).  It's being done more often every day.  Do it only with monitoring by a pro.

You could change meds - dexedrine, focalin - there are so many to try!

You could take med holidays - schedule a week off and then come back to your original dose.  I've stayed at 20mg daily dexedrine over a year because of my weeks off.  I miss a week and I know it as does everyone I care about and work with (boy do they let me know!)

Don't forget to get your butt into Therapy!!!! Cognitive Behavior Therapy gives you realistic tools to work with ADHD and overcome the habits of a lifetime.  Without therapy at some point honestly I consider your med intake as expensive urine production.  Eventually you will fail I'm sorry to say.

Best of luck - you can pm me or ask questions of me here anytime - on anything.  If I don't know I'll honestly tell you so.  But I have a pretty good experience base now - perhaps I can help you move to a more stable level?!?

A lot of this stuff is differences in opinion and I'm not looking to argue, so I'll just bow out now. Thanks for the suggestions.