Adderall XR once a day or twice a day? | ADHD Information
Hey all,
I don't suffer from ADHD (I have a slew of other problems) but I take
Adderall XR to help me with extremely low energy and motivation levels
which have resulted from 11 years of Chronic Lyme Disease and reading
over the discussions here I see that many of you are quite
knowledgeable about the medication itself.
I started taking Adderall XR after my last bout with Lyme, 10mg once in
the morning. I kept careful track of when I took it, how long the
effects seemed to last, and how potent it was. At 10 mg the
effects were minimal but noticeable and seemed to last 8-9 hours
maximum. Increasing to 20mg gave me a more noticeable difference
and enough energy/motivation/focus to really get a ton done during the
day, however once nighttime hit (after the 8-9 hours were up) I would
become markedly tired and not feel up to doing a thing. We
finally settled on 20mg in the morning followed by 10mg in the early
afternoon and I found it kept me going long enough to do things during
the day and feel up to going out in the evenings as well.
Recently I've been seeing a pharmocologist my psychiatrist recommended
for a second opinion on medications to help possibly with issues I was
still having. The pharmocologist seems to think it's absurd to
take the Adderall twice a day and suggested I take 30mg once a day in
the morning. I've tried it for the past four days and while each
day has been great, each night by dinner time I start feeling like the
walking dead: I lose all energy, I don't want to do anything, I don't
want to talk about anything, I become extremely irritable, and somewhat
depressed. I talked to the pharmocologist tonight and he's
sticking to his guns about taking it only once a day, saying it should
maintain a fairly constant level in my bloodstream throughout the day
and evening and that I should try prolonging/reviving the effect of it
by taking a couple grams of L-Tyrosine supplements in the
afternoon. I'm going to give his recommendation a shot, but I
have serious doubts about this helping.
Has anyone else had problems with the effects of Adderall XR wearing
off after a certain point in the day? Does anyone take it more
than once a day? I've got two doctors telling me two different
things and I'm really trying to find out the proper way of taking it to
get the effects to last most of my waking hours without interfering
with my sleep.
Oh, also, if anyone happens to know somewhere that people more
specifically discuss the use of such medications for supplementing
energy/motivation, I'd really appreciate being pointed in that
direction. I searched for such a forum but found nothing and I
feel as though I'm a little off-topic here.
Thanks for any input...
Jason
Jason I take 30 mg of Adderall XR each morning at 6:30 and every day by
5 pm I crash and burn. Im not so much tired as I am irritable, depressed,
and just left feeling inadequate and incomplete. I didnt have these side
effects when I was on Dexendrine which is very closly related to Adderall.
I started off with the controlled released version of Dexedrine which I
took once in the morning, and found better results with taking 10 mg at
630 am, 10 mg at 1030 and then another 10 mg around 130pm and
found I could stay on task and remain focused until around 830 pm each
night, without all the moody side effects. However, I had been on
Dexedrine for so long (nearly 2 yrs) that it was starting to lose it's
effectiveness. I have also tried Concerta (gave me terrible migraines),
Ritalin, and also Strattera. I am going to stick with Adderall for a few
months and hope that these side effects will subside. Good Luck
AshleyThanks for the response!
I hadn't thought of taking the regular shorter acting Adderall in the
evening. I'll have to talk to my doctor about that. It
makes a lot of sense.
As far as my Lyme goes, thanks for the concern, but yes that is
definitely being taken care of as my primary issue. Right now the
levels of the bacteria in my body are the lowest they've been in about
10 years. About two months ago I ended 9 weeks of IV antibiotic
treatment for a pretty bad bout with Lyme and since then I've stayed on
oral antibiotics daily to keep the bacteria level down and the Lyme
from becoming active again. I'm also on a fairly strict diet, not
eating sugar, staying away from starchy foods or foods that cause blood
sugar spikes, and just common sense healthy eating in general as well
as taking certain vitamins daily and I'm trying to start exercising a
bit. Unfortunately, my energy/motivation levels haven't come back
at all yet (my Lyme specialist said it could take a year to regain
natural energy levels) and she (as well as my psychiatrist) suggested a
stimulant to help me to function on a daily basis in the mean time.
Jason
The longest adderall xr has ever lasted for me was 8 hours, most days it only lasts 7 hours. I don't know anyone that the med lasts all day for. Most people crash in the afternoon or early evening and take a second pill usually a regular (short acting) Adderall after the adderall xr wears off.
I'd be more concerned that your taking Adderall for Lymes Disease then anything else though. I hope your getting treatment for the lymes in addition to looking for energy boosters.
So glad to hear the Lymes is going into remission. It's a horrible disease, I got it when I was 13 and have some lasting effects from it. I have relapses every couple of years but manage to do pretty well when it goes into remission (aside from some problem from the original infection). If you ever need someone to chat with feel free to contact me.
You can also check out the link below. There is a forum about Lymes Disease along with forums for just about every other medical problem or health condition.
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/index.php?