Meds not working anymore | ADHD Information

I've been on Dexedrine for a few weeks now. The first couple of weeks I noticed a slight change - I found I was getting more work done between window-gazing/daydreaming sessions. I was still losing focus, but not as severely or as frequently as before.

Then my doc put me on the time release form, and any benefit that I felt before was gone. So then she put me back on the regular release, but asked me to start taking one dose in the am, and another in the afternoon. For the first few days, that slightly focused feeling came back, but for the past few days I've felt nothing again.

Could it have been wishful thinking (like a placebo effect)? Or do meds really stop working that fast? Surely my body can't have adjusted already. It's only been a few weeks. Do I need a higher dose? A different med?

Anyone else have experience with this?

My guess is you are not on a high enough dose. The final therapeutic dose is determined by continually increasing the medicine until either you get no further benefit or have intolerable side effects. Good Luck.

Hey BC! :)

I've been away for awhile (it's a long convoluted story that I know no one here has the attention span to read )

At any rate, I just popped in for the first time since hmmm, March I guess and I saw your post! Glad to see you are finally on some meds!

I am also on Dexedrine, the long acting spansules did nothing for me (Superstore gave them to me instead of my regular 5mg tablets so I decided to try them anyways...again that is another long story ). At any rate, I am on 10mgs twice a day and that works great for me. I went through the same as you, where I thought it wasn't working as well before, so what I do actually is take 15mgs (3 tablets) in the morning and then I only need one in the afternoon around 3 or so. So I would talk to your Dr. about trying 10mgs twice a day or mix up the 20mgs total and see how that works. I know when I started on Dexedrine my Dr. said I could take up to 40mgs a day I think? I tried 20mgs in the morning and 20mgs in the afternoon just to see what would happen and all I wanted to do was sleep alllllllllllllll day long. So I guess for me, the 20mg total works the best and it might for you too?

Let us know how it goes, but try a little bit higher of a dose before going to the "big guns" LOL

Hey CC!!! I thought you were gone for good! Great to see you back!

I knew you were on Dexedrine too - and that you loved it.

Maybe I could try a higher dose - I'll mention it to my doctor. It's frustrating because I know it WAS doing SOMETHING and it would be a shame to give it up and go on the "big bad Ritalin" if it turned out this could have worked.

Wow -- 40mg a day sounds like so much, considering that on that very first day 5mg nearly put me to sleep! I was sooo tired on that first day - maybe it was a coincidence, or my body just adjusting to its first dose, but thank goodness it went away.

LOL -- if I could find myself a better job, I don't think I'd need the meds at all!!!!

bcgirl, maybe the "big guns" will work better for you? let us know...I was on the time release dexadrine for 4 years untill I changed doctors and my new doctor recomended that I try concerta. I am much more satisified with concerta. I found the side effects to be much less. depression was less. appitite was not as suppressed. and I still recieved the same bennifits. I haven't gone a day without it for quite a while. my work requires me to be 24 hour on call and so I haven't had that oppertunity.[QUOTE=sonya_h]may i ask what reasons you think it stopped working? like, how did you know it was working, and how did you know it had stopped working?[/QUOTE]

Well, it feels like it has stopped working, because I feel like I am back to gazing out the window, and reading a line or two of a report over and over until I get it... just like I was before. When I felt like it was working, I noticed that I was able to get through pages of a report before I "drifted off".

Maybe I won't take the meds tomorrow and see what happens. I see my doctor again on Thursday (getting REALLY tired of going back every two weeks). She said last time that if I wasn't satisfied with the results, she may try me on Ritalin (or, "the big guns", as she called it).

BTW, I am on 5mg, twice a day.

yes, maybe you need a higher dose...

may i ask what reasons you think it stopped working? like, how did you know it was working, and how did you know it had stopped working?

the reason I ask this is because, I have a friend who has a child with ad/hd on meds, and she said something to me that got me to thinking:

I told her my meds seemed to have stopped working, and she told me that sometimes it SEEMS like they have stopped working after a while, because you are becoming used to feeling what it's like being on meds, and forgetting what it's like NOT being on meds.....She said she went through this with her son, and it seemed like the meds had stopped working for him, so she stopped them, and THEN the effects of NOT being on meds REALLY HIT HOME, and they realized that the meds WERE working, it's just that they had "forgotten" what life was like WITHOUT them....

even with meds, life is a constant struggle and battle for the ad/hder.....the meds give us a little boost, or brace, but sometimes life is still difficult for us....meds don't cure us completely...

But there are times when the effects of the meds DO actually wear off, so I was just wondering.....what dosage do you take?

anyway, my brain is in a cloud today....it's early. hope that was readable...

sonya_h38501.1859722222 I'm taking a generic for adderall, and I find that the dosage I need can vary from day to day. I'm at about 45mg/day (15mg 3x) - sometimes going as high as 60mg or as low as 30.

I get about 3 to 4 good hours, usually about 3 1/2 hours after I take it I start to feel it wearing off and take the next dose.

So it seems strange to me that the maximum daily dosage is 60mg, and that anyone would think I can get by taking it 2x/day? (I weigh about 125lbs.) That covers 1/2 of the waking day at best! I asked my doctor last time I saw him about the logic behind that, he said break it up smaller and spread it out more for more coverage. Sometimes I do that, but it's already a hassle medicating 3 times a day!

While it's working, the addreall is great, but I wish it lasted longer, and I think the dosing guidelines are too conservative - for me anyway?

chinchilla38501.3705439815[quote=Sonya_H]I told her my meds seemed to have stopped working, and she told me that sometimes it SEEMS like they have stopped working after a while, because you are becoming used to feeling what it's like being on meds, and forgetting what it's like NOT being on meds.....She said she went through this with her son, and it seemed like the meds had stopped working for him, so she stopped them, and THEN the effects of NOT being on meds REALLY HIT HOME, and they realized that the meds WERE working, it's just that they had "forgotten" what life was like WITHOUT them....[/quote]
I feel sometimes that the Concerta (milder stimulant than adderall/ritilan and taken only 1x day...extended med) I'm on is not doing anything for me, although at first I thought it may have been helping me focus some. So, I'm thinking of trying what your friend suggested, Sonya. I may try not taking it for a couple days, to see if there really is a difference. I've never 'crashed' at night or feel worse at night, as some have said they do on Concerta, and sleep well these days, which I wasn't before Concerta. So that's a definite plus!