Hi,
I'm 30 and am on my 4th day of Adderall XR, 20 mg. I have a couple of quick questions, if you don't mind :)
1. So far I am pretty happy with the medicine. However, one side effect I am concerned about is the difficulty with sleep. The first 3 days I was on it, it really didn't seem to be a problem, I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night but went right back to sleep. However, last night was terrible!! I probably only got 2 hours of sleep, ugh!! Is this a side effect that will "get better with treatment" ? I make sure to take the Adderall early in the morning, usually by 7:30 a.m.
2. I don't feel like I'm going to "need" the Adderall every day. Is it okay to only take maybe 3-4 days out of the week? Or is this unsafe? Or maybe that will affect it's effectiveness? I have been on Lexapro also for over a year now and I make sure to take that every day since I know that is one of the meds you need to take continuously but I was not sure about Adderall.
Thank you all soooo much in advance!!
Lisa
Melatonin might help too.Hi there, I'm on 25mg, 2x/day of Adderall XR. I too had a difficult time sleeping, though not as rough a time as you seem to be having. (Has it gotten better?) I found that drinking Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea everynight has improved my ability and quality of sleep. I get the regular sleepytime tea but they make an "extra" version that has valerian root--a natural sleep aid, but I drank the tea one night and felt totally weird and sluggish the next day (kind of like I felt after taking NyQuil). I tossed the tea and went back to the regular.
As for not taking your Adderall everyday, I agree with deang008--if your doctor prescribed it, it is best to take it as prescribed. Adderall has a short half-life so it doesn't stay in your system for too long. There are days that I forget to take my second dosage and I find that I feel down later in the day or the next day. Talk with your doctor though, he may have alternatives and/or suggestions.
I have been taking Adderall xr 20 mg for about 2 months now. At first getting to sleep was hard but now I make sure I take it by 7 am and only have a 1/2 a cup of coffee. Bed time tea is also a life saver. I really like how adderall was working.
BUT, now Im starting to notice something VERY scary. so I have just stopped taking it. I am losing my hair rapidly and I dont know what else it could be from. I normally have or had alot of hair, so much it was hard to blow dry etc.... now I cant believe how much is coming out. I normally lose alot when the seasons change, but this is insane. My husband is even strting to notice...I will speak to me doctor this week, but I cant seem to locate hair loss as a side effect. Anybody else experience this??????????????
help?
AS far as your sleeping is concerned, I too was fine the first few days, but on the next four consecutive days, I would have been lucky to get two hours sleep. I'd stay up all night watching TV and then try and sleep around 3am and found myself wide awake. But I have to say that this stage has passed as I'm hoping it will in your case.
As far as the taking Adderall every day thing goes... I'm going to first tell you to consult a physician because yeah, they would know best... but at the same time I do know quite a bit about the medication itself as I would never ingest anything prior to knowing its effects. Like someone has already mentioned, Adderall has a short half life. In other words, it is not the type of drug you need to let build up in your system before it starts to work. If you're doctor eased you onto the drug, that's only because if s/he started you on higher doses you may get a little bit of an amphetamine buzz the first few days which is the disired effect when abusing the drug. My psychiatrist told me that if I did not want to take the Adderall I do not have to. In fact I was even persribed dexidrine tabs in case there was a day in which I only wanted to have the desired effect (focus, sticking at task at hand etc.) for 3 hours (Adderall lasts 2-3 times longer) or to get an extra 3 hours out of my day when the Adderall wore off, if need be. These are schedule II perscription drugs people, it's easy to become dependant. Two or more cups off coffee a day is bad on your heart, these are potent amphetamines... two cups of coffee doesn't have sh*t on your meds. I'd say taking time off would give your heart a little time to rest if anything and I'm suprised it isn't encouraged... but then again I don't have 10+ years of schooling under my belt so I'd ask your doc to be sure.
Also, I would not recommend only taking it 3-4 days a week. To my knowledge, taking ADHD meds is something that you should do daily. MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE from not taking Adderall everyday: Just as any amphetamine, you could experience SEVERE depression. When I stopped taking Adderall XR it was one of the worst experiences in my life. I would recommend that you take it daily in order to keep a balance in your brain. Fluctuations may be compared to a rollercoaster for your brain...(from my experience)I took Adderall XR and didn't like it: 1-Dose: I took 30mg at 7am and 20mg at 1pm daily. 2-I never had trouble sleeping 3-Side effects caused me to switch medications. These included: 1st and foremost, it didn't prove to be effective. I started with 20mg in the morning with nominal results. It took nearly 2 hours to take the nominal effects it had and lasted for only a few hours. The dosage was adjusted a couple times, but headed no positive results. 2nd it caused twitches in my right eye 3rd it caused a different type of headache 4th it had sexual side effects that were bothersome 5th and beyond, it just wasn't the drug for me. 4-I switched to Concerta. It is known to have a quicker release after consumption, however, it also has a reputation of not being as effective as Adderall XR. Due to the fact that each of our bodies work differently, each person will see different results. Concerta has given much better results in terms of the duration of effects, lower side effects, better concentration, the list goes on. I would recommend switching to Concerta if Adderall XR doesn't work for you.