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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Best medication to combine with Adderall, need input asap thank you

A

adhdanon

Greenlighter
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Jun 14, 2016
Messages
39
I'm prescribed Adderall XR 30 mg and Adderall IR 30 mg for my ADHD in law school and the anxiety was hell before my doc added Lexapro (SSRI) 10 mg to my mix, but it makes me too lethargic and emotionless in a way, although anxiety is gone and I don't care about small things anymore.

My doc put me on low dose klono 0.5 mg to get me off the Lexapro and SSRI withdrawals and I felt better internally, but externally my relationship is now falling apart and I'm sufering from anxiety again (def. suspect possible bipolar but he laughs when I mentioned it).

I have the bar exam coming up and I need to get this right because I failed the first time on that combination of Lex and Addy. I've tried Vyvanse and it didn't give me the kick I needed to study.

I was suggested gabapentin, but not sure if there is a better alternative.
 
Try taking a lower dose of amp. I assume you are scripted at least one of the 30 ir's and xr's a day so that's 60mg which is quite a bit assuming you don't have a large tolerance. Even if you do have a tolerance that much adderall is going to cause some anxiety.

You have to learn to study without the amp. You can't keep going like this forever, you might be able to get away with it for a while at whatever job you get into, but not forever. it's going to wear on you whether or not you get a good anti-anxiety med.

Onto the question, it's hard to say what will work for you. A lot of drugs that are used for anxiety cause a dull, emotionless feeling in many people which you already said is something you won't deal with. I'd stick with whatever your doctor wants to give you and if that doesn't work move onto the next thing. This method kind of sucks due to biases doctors have towards certain drugs that you might want to try but it's a better choice then pulling random benzos off the street.
 
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OP please be more specific with your question. What is the specific symptom you are trying to treat? Is it the anxiety or the lethargy and emotionlessness. Post back and we can try to help you out.
 
Anxiety is what I'm trying to treat, the panic/fight or flight mode state that Addy puts me into, even at a low-dose. I suspect I may be bipolar which would be why something like Lexapro makes me super aggressive but careless at the same time. Today, I'm not on Lexapro and just took 0.5 klono with Addy XR 30 mg and feeling better, although I spent most of my day inside studying. Basically, what would be best antidepressant/anti-anxiety to go with Addy or I'm going to change Addy to Dexedrine or try Evekeo. Thank you
 
He didn't want me to come off Lexapro, but I feel better off of it. I should prob switch doctors
 
If you're trying to treat the anxiety specifically, there are a few obvious suggestions that I can think of. Firstly, I think if you're looking for a more mild remedy to your problem, you could try pairing Clonidine with your dose of Amphetamine (Adderall). What the Clonidine can do, is smooth out some of the annoying peripheral side-effects of Amphetamine like twitching, fidgeting, anxiety, blood pressure and tachycardia. Clonidine is actually used fairly frequently for this purpose. It's a good choice, that doesn't carry with it the risks of addiction/dependence that say, Benzodiazepines do.

Which brings me to my second suggestion. A small dose of a long-acting Benzodiazepine could help you out with your anxiety. Benzos are a kind of magic bullet for anxiety as they are so effective. The downside of course is that you could become potentially addicted or dependent.

Have you ever considered a Gabapentinoid? You could give Gabapentin (Neurontin) or Pregabalin (Lyrica) a try. Both of these are anxiolytic for a lot of people, myself included.
 
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The lexapro will help with your anxiety; but it will take time to start to work. If you do decide to stop taking it, tell your doctor first.
 
Gabapentin VS Clonidine VS SSRI/SNRI for mixing with Adderall

I've heard and read numerous suggestions and obviously everyone has a different experience. I just wanted to hear from those of you that have tried at least a few of these options and see what worked best to combine with ADHD medication for co morbid anxiety and possibly depression (more anxiety related though).

Lexapro 10 mg is what I'm going to be back on real soon if all else fails, I just felt very lethargic, careless, and irritable on it. Probably isn't the best bet when trying to study for huge exam I have in a month. I also live in a toxic broke home environment which has alot to do with my anxiety on top of my own personal issues.

Also, I should mention my libido might have been higher on Lexapro which is odd because on Adderall alone, I don't really have a sex drive. I've seen my doctor plenty of times and he kind of trusts my research and is open-minded when it comes to prescribing me something. I sincerely appreciate your input.

EDIT: I also want to mention I've heard some good things about Cymbalta? Not sure if you can mix that with Adderall either.
 
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Between you and your doctor it may take a few medication tweaks to get the desired results. It's a good thing he is understanding with this issue. Myself, I did not like Cymbalta that much because of side effects compared with Lexapro. But it is supposed to be helpful with nerve pain. I have never used these drugs with Adderall so maybe someone else can tell their experiences. (I'm going to merge this with your other thread.)
 
Honestly, i think what happenes a lot is different people end up finding most benefit from different antidepressants. Something dopaminergic, like Welbutrin, might benefit someone more than a serotonergic one. and even then the difference of Effexor and Paxil could be profoud for some and not for others. I personally found Zoloft to be very effective for my depression, big impact on anxiety reduction and even helping my ocd and ptsd. You may not feel as lethargic on a different type of antidepressant, you might feel better on an SNRI or Tricyclic. Another thing i want to add is i had a few unwanted side effects from zoloft, but after week 3 i noticed they all but completely went away. Also I do find Clonidine to help a lot, as well something really basic like hydroxyzine can make a difference with anxiety as well. Lyrica also has good results with anxiety, or eventually i took Lyrica and Depakote. if Gaba works well for you, you might look into Depakote. I dont know, those are just stuff i have experience with. I used to be heavy on Xanax for anxiety, and you want to avoid anything longer than short term benzo use to avoid severe dependence in my opinion. But yeah other SSRI's to look into could be Paxil and Zoloft, both of those are really popular from what i've observed.

Anyways... hope that helps.
 
Thank you, yeah looking into either Guanfacine or Clondine, but I don't like that Clondine is a patch not a pill (or is that just one form of it?) I've actually read Guanfacine being more effective for ADHD and Anxiety, but not sure which way to go. On second day back on Lexapro already irritable and lethargic, gotta get off it again.

ThatOneDude! said:
Honestly, i think what happenes a lot is different people end up finding most benefit from different antidepressants. Something dopaminergic, like Welbutrin, might benefit someone more than a serotonergic one. and even then the difference of Effexor and Paxil could be profoud for some and not for others. I personally found Zoloft to be very effective for my depression, big impact on anxiety reduction and even helping my ocd and ptsd. You may not feel as lethargic on a different type of antidepressant, you might feel better on an SNRI or Tricyclic. Another thing i want to add is i had a few unwanted side effects from zoloft, but after week 3 i noticed they all but completely went away. Also I do find Clonidine to help a lot, as well something really basic like hydroxyzine can make a difference with anxiety as well. Lyrica also has good results with anxiety, or eventually i took Lyrica and Depakote. if Gaba works well for you, you might look into Depakote. I dont know, those are just stuff i have experience with. I used to be heavy on Xanax for anxiety, and you want to avoid anything longer than short term benzo use to avoid severe dependence in my opinion. But yeah other SSRI's to look into could be Paxil and Zoloft, both of those are really popular from what i've observed.

Anyways... hope that helps.
Click to expand...
 
We've tried for awhile and I guess to him I seemed stable on Lex and Adderall because I've been in the bubble of grad school, living off scholarship and loan money with just internships in between. Now that I'm back in real world and need to function, it's hard finding what works best while trying to pass the bar exam.

T. Calderone said:
Between you and your doctor it may take a few medication tweaks to get the desired results. It's a good thing he is understanding with this issue. Myself, I did not like Cymbalta that much because of side effects compared with Lexapro. But it is supposed to be helpful with nerve pain. I have never used these drugs with Adderall so maybe someone else can tell their experiences. (I'm going to merge this with your other thread.)
Click to expand...
 
What's your take on Clondine VS Guanfacine ER? Gabapentin may be secondary option to these, but I suspect if I can find an SNRI or SSRI that will help me quit amps altogether, that may be the answer. I may have been misdiagnosed ADHD and something to help me quit all of it may be beneficial, as I'm entering real world after this upcoming bar exam anyway. thank you!

Keif' Richards said:
If you're trying to treat the anxiety specifically, there are a few obvious suggestions that I can think of. Firstly, I think if you're looking for a more mild remedy to your problem, you could try pairing Clonidine with your dose of Amphetamine (Adderall). What the Clonidine can do, is smooth out some of the annoying peripheral side-effects of Amphetamine like twitching, fidgeting, anxiety, blood pressure and tachycardia. Clonidine is actually used fairly frequently for this purpose. It's a good choice, that doesn't carry with it the risks of addiction/dependence that say, Benzodiazepines do.

Which brings me to my second suggestion. A small dose of a long-acting Benzodiazepine could help you out with your anxiety. Benzos are a kind of magic bullet for anxiety as they are so effective. The downside of course is that you could become potentially addicted or dependent.

Have you ever considered a Gabapentinoid? You could give Gabapentin (Neurontin) or Pregabalin (Lyrica) a try. Both of these are anxiolytic for a lot of people, myself included.
Click to expand...
 
How long have you been on adderall? After a couple months the high paced anxiety went away.

Same with lexapro? How long have you been on it at one time? Did you start on 10 mg? My Dr always prescribed half for the first week, or 5 mg. It made me very sleepy and lethargic at first but after about a month that mostly was gone. Just takes a while to adjust. But I never felt quite right on it. Wasn't terrible but didn't like it so I eventually stopped.

Good luck.
 
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