Looking for an Adderall alternative

[Jstew318]

Here is the skinny...been diagnosed with every depressive/anxiety/bi-polar disorder known to man for the past 14 years. Not much relief unless I self-medicate, and that leads me down a super bad road when I enter certain chemicals for relief into my life. I live in an area where Psychiatrists are far and few between. They all work in dual diagnoses clinic or are two hours away. Found one who is ow my current psych, 20 mins away. She has me on 4 mgs of a xanax a day, 200 mgs of seroquel xr at night and 600 mgs of triclectal 2x's a day (anticonvulsant because she now thinks I'm I have Cyclothymia). Oh, and I'm on testosterone replacement therapy two times a month. I'm on my 7th or 8th injection, not sure how high the does is.

My psych gave me an ADHD test, passed, not diagnosed. So I'm an executive at a software company, smoke herb at night...still with all these meds, still super anxious, irritable unfocused, zero motivation. I wake up everyday in tears, fearing my day, anxiety to the point I can't leave my house most days even with the meds.

But hey...a friend gave me a 30 mg adderrall a week ago, and guess what? I didn't need my benzo, anxiety went away, I completely became relaxed, focused, kind, talkative and actually wanted to leave my house.

Can someone give me some good advice here please? No jokes, meth is out, please don't suggest. Should I tell my doc what I experienced straight up or will I sound like an addict or is there a real OTC alternative?

Thanks in advance community!

 

[samadhitrance21]

There's no real alternative to amphetamines. I also struggle with anxiety attacks which can be severe, like I would be too anxious to watch TV or go out of my house, I'd be lying there with my eyes closed and proper struggling. Now, when I take amphetamines I never get anxious, at all. Even when I feel anxious and I take amphetamines then the anxiety goes away.

You would not be able to upkeep that effect for long though, tolerance would build up really fast with every day use and you're not going to get any recreational effects, but rather low level stimulation that will just work on your ADHD (if there is such a thing)

 

[Jstew318]

Why is it the aderal has that reaction, i.e. reducing my anxiety, allowing me to get out of my house without falling apart in tears, etc? Wouldn't it tweek me out?

 

[gmlifer]

Why is it the aderal has that reaction, i.e. reducing my anxiety, allowing me to get out of my house without falling apart in tears, etc? Wouldn't it tweek me out?

Adderall is calming at those doses for some people. I don't have ADD and I found it gave me extreme focus and I was very calm on it. I'm sure if you got in to the higher doses you may tweak.

 

[kgeisel98]

There are two threads in Drug Culture about replacing snortables with regards to addiction to the behaviour. Check them out. I believe they were on the 1st page of threads.

 

[kgeisel98]

Sorry wrong thread. Ignore my previous post!

 

[Jstew318]

Good point...I never exceed 30 mgs twice a day when they're readily available. I just bought some new thermogenic from a vitamin shop...I can't get the same mental focus, calmness with motivation and friendliness that I do with adderall. Taking the Xanax just makes me want to sit at my desk and do nothing...but my doc really won't listen to what is making me feel better.

I want to tell her what works, but then I fear she would think I'm just an addict looking for a rush. But,I want to be honest.

 

[subotai]

Ok well if Adderall really works that much better for you than I would go one of these two routes

1 - continue to purchase Adderall illegally, taper down off your Xanax dosage, *sell Xanax for bonus points*

2 - go to your doctor and tell him you stopped taking Xanax because you were feeling tired all of the time. Tell him that you were having problems focusing on anything at work and that even after stopping your Xanax usage, something still feels off. Make sure to stress that you have tried all sorts of remedies such as Coffee, 5 hour energy, Caffeine pills, anything that people take to focus better, make sure he's aware that you tried it. Stress that you just want to be able to go into work, be productive, and come home.

You never go to a doctor and say "Hey, Adderall works for me, let me get that"

you just have to finagle your way into getting them to have the light bulb go off and say "hey, maybe Adderall would work!"

key points that make them prescribe Adderall

- trouble focusing
- feeling of lethargy
- jumping from task to task erratically

Make sure you let him know (if he asks) that you DON'T have

- trouble sleeping
- low appetite
- heart problems

even if you do have these things, don't tell them that. Because then they might not offer Adderall

they might also throw out the names Vyvanse or Ritalin instead. Vyvanse is very similiar to Adderall and would be a good alternative, but I was disappointed with Ritalin personally.

but I don't know if Doctor's generally prescribe Xanax and Adderall at the same time because they are almost opposite drugs in a way. That's why I'm saying you might have to cut ties with the Xanax in order to get on Adderall.

Honestly, I've taken a lot of Adderall and never been prescribed it in my life. They give this stuff out like candy to people when they are younger, keep them on it into their 20's, and usually by the time they're around 22-25 years old, they don't even really like taking it any more.

If you can find someone like that, you can usually get a good amount of them for a pretty good deal. That's what I always tried to do at least

good luck though

 

[Keif' Richards]

There's no real alternative to amphetamines. I also struggle with anxiety attacks which can be severe, like I would be too anxious to watch TV or go out of my house, I'd be lying there with my eyes closed and proper struggling. Now, when I take amphetamines I never get anxious, at all. Even when I feel anxious and I take amphetamines then the anxiety goes away.

You would not be able to upkeep that effect for long though, tolerance would build up really fast with every day use and you're not going to get any recreational effects, but rather low level stimulation that will just work on your ADHD (if there is such a thing)

That about sums it up. In terms of stimulants that are typically available to the public, there's a pretty large gap in terms of intensity of effect. Say, there's a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum you have relatively weak stimulants like Caffeine or Ephedrine. As you move up the spectrum, there's very little in between, and the next step up is going to be something like Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) or Amphetamines (Adderall, Vyvanse, Dexedrine) with Dextromethamphetamine and/or Cocaine at the far end. My point is that you don't have a lot of options in terms of stimulants. You have either the very weak or the very powerful and make no mistake, Adderall and Amphetamines in general are powerful stimulant drugs. Just because they are liberally prescribed to both adults and children doesn't mean that their use is always legitimate.

I would say that if it genuinely helps you and you're afraid to leave your house otherwise, you might consider broaching the subject with your doctor. We can't give you advice on how to talk to or direct your doctor, but I will say that telling your doctor that you have abused (any use outside of prescribed, dictated use is considered abuse by most MD's) these drugs in the past is probably a bad idea. But, in general, I think it's probably not going to work for you to have a full bottle of Amphetamines at your disposal taking into account how severe your psychological issues are. I can say that I personally cannot handle having a prescription for Amphetamines, even though I know for a fact that if I took a normal, prescribed dose, it would probably improve my concentration and work output.

The ball is in your court, but as I've said, there's really no "substitute" for Amphetamines.

 

[keeping]

forgive me for my candor, but i can't think of a worse medication for anxiety/ paranoia than amphetamines?

 

[Jstew318]

Thank you...I really appreciate that...I need to take this info in. Again, much, much appreciated.

 

[Jstew318]

Agreed...not really sure why they calm me...but I've been backing down on the Xanax, I take less than what she prescribes because it's really not hitting the problems, which I explained to her. She doesn't think it's an issue.