I work an afternoon shift at a nursing home (2:00 to 11:00 pm). On days I work I try to take my Adderall XR 30 mg at 10:00 am, so it will last longer throughout my shift. It does not last my whole shift. I was wondering what others do that work an afternoon shift. Do you take another dose of a med early evening? I was thinking about asking my doctor if taking a smaller dose of the Adderall XR at about 4 pm would help? Any ideas would be appreciated.
I was on 20mgXR in the morning(8am-ish) and added a 10mg XR around noon. I usually work from noon to 10p. I need the productive time before work, but also have a job where I'm constantly dealing with emergencies. I've only been on the extra noon dose a few days but I've already noticed it working a bit better. I'm thinking of switching from 20/10 to 10/20. I find that I get too agitated in the morning otherwise. So far no sleep problems. I'll let you know how this develops. I started out on 54 mg of concerta once in the morning. This did great for a couple of weeks. Doctor changed me to Adderall Xr 25mg once in the morning. Works good but does not last all day. I am now prescribed one Adderall XR 20mg in the morning and one at 2:00pm...This seems to be working very good. By the way I am a 20yr old Female and I only weigh 110 lbs 5'4". The doctor told me it is due to my metabolism burning the medication off too fast. He said a lot of people have this problem. The only thing that was kind of bad at first is that I did have problems falling asleep on different days. The drug seems to affect me differently on some days. My friend had the same problem with the Adderall and the same doctor put her on 20mg xr in the morning and one 10 mg instant release pill in the afternoon. It is really different for every person I would say. Hope this helps.
I, personally, take both adderall and adderall xr. However, I do vary my dosages of each/ timing of doses depending upon life's demands. I would recommend that you talk to your doctor about either adding an additional dose of adderall xr in the late afternoon/early evening or else adding an immediate-release (IR) dose when needed.
As addbec mentioned, however, some people find that afternoon/evening doses interfere with their sleep (either they have troubles falling asleep, or they have problems staying asleep).
Another possibility would be to take a small dose of IR for the morning/early afternoon and then time your dose of the XR so that you make it through your shift.
Definitely talk with your dr., as I'm sure he/she will help you find what's best for you! Good luck!
Many take regular Adderall when the XR wears off in the afternoon/evening. If you take another XR, it may keep you up after your shift is over.ok, I tried going from 20mg morning/10mg noon(xr), to 10/20. Not a great day for me. I felt like I couldn't sleep for the first time since starting and I got a bad case of wanting to munch my lips. That hits me periodicly anyway, but seemed like it was a response this time. I'm sticking to 20/10. I might make the second dose later tho... maybe 1 or 2 instead of 1130.