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Stimulants Adderall for depression?

GetMeOutOfThisCRAP

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 20, 2017
Messages
1,925
I was wondering overall how most of you feel in regards to adderall being a good remedy for depression. The "up" is great and cures sluggy grouchy moods but then the crash is just so severe when I'm actually depressed, and without the use of a mild benzo to come down I feel like I'm in hell sometimes for a couple of hours. I don't know if ppl are physically more prone to harder crashes but adderall produces quite a hellish/dysfunctional period for me later in the day.
 
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it, just like most recreational drugs, its shitty for depression. *says this as i just popped on opiate for "depression"* - which is effectively treated my by antidepressant, that I'm on for pain caused by trying to use Ketamine as an antidepressant...but that i haven't taken for a week because even antidepressants have shitty side effects (acid reflux).

i never used antidepressants for 20 years, self medicating with drugs. Now that I'm on a real antidepressant I can say i feel like a normal person for the first time in my life and have far less urges to self destruct with drugs or lash out at others.

TL DR: it will just twack you out in the end giving you a very short fuse and psychosis. How many speed or meth heads seem like people who have a balanced mood?
 
In the 50's they used amphetamines for depression. You OP however are already talking about how bad the crash is. If you have a "bad crash" from Adderall, that already shows you can't use Adderall for depression. All you would do is start a viscous cycle. It is generally a bad to try to use any form of amphetamine for depression. If you need some antidepressant with some subjective stimulation, I suggest Wellbutrin. This medication has stimulant effects and good antidepressant activity. As you know, your mileage may vary, but as long as you are not trying to abuse it, a lot of folks consider it an excellent medication. It is not known to have a crash, however it all depends on your specific body chemistry. A physician can help you decide if it is right for you.
 
On top of what others have said, I think it also depends how you're using it. If adderall is your own DIY remedy for depression, it probably won't work well compared to getting the support of mental health professionals and creating a long-term treatment plan. For example 'crashes' can be largely avoided by maintaining more stable blood levels during the day and only tapering off just before bed, sometimes combined with the use of clonidine.

However, I think there are more suitable and reliable meds for depression and you should be discussing those with your doctor if you haven't already.
 
My experience (amphetamine sulphate) is this:

Amphetamine (adderall) is initially a mood enhancer, generally leaning more towards the positive. If your mood is neutral or positive, you could end up feeling really good. But if your mood is negative or low, it could maybe make you feel good, bust quite likely will make you feel significantly worse. And every possible combination in between, but mostly it follows this pattern.

However, the negative side effects of amphetamine are quite acutely accumulative. When I first used amphetamine (2003) I couldn't imagine getting anxiety or a comedown. I used it sporadically (never staying for up for more than a night and never more than 1 days use in a row), and everything remained the same. I also experienced no anxiety and depression in day to day life.

I re-acquainted myself with amphetamine in the spring of last year, and I'd say I've bought it on 5-6 occasions since. I had already developed depression/anxiety prior to using all it on this occasion, whereas I had none in my earlier usage. I never missed more than one nights sleep, but I did use it for sometimes consecutive days on end, somewhat sporadically, and usually for 1-3 weeks until I ran out. I would build tolerance and in the times of the most heavy usage, feel shit for about a month (anxiety, depression, fatigue). I would also often feel depression and/or generally extremely anxious upon using it.

This all happened cumulatively, so it got worse each time. These days I find that the first day I use amphetamine, if I'm in a good mood, I will probably feel great, but might experience anxiety. Day two, I'll probably feel okay, and experience quite bad anxiety. Day three, I'm wondering what the fuck I'm taking it for given I feel that bad, but I usually start feeling so fatigued I feel I need it to keep me awake. It gets worse until I run out and feel like absolute fatigued crap for 1-4 weeks.

If amphetamine noticeably improves your mood, you will probably continue using it for that purpose until something causes you stop. It will most likely be pretty much the same thing that happened to me, but at a different rate depending on your usage and how often you re-dose. If you stay up for days on end (or are simply pre-disposed), then psychosis might also be a factor.

Ultimately this will serve to be counter-intuitive to any persons battle with depression, and will add a whole host of other issues to the mix.

Can amphetamine remedy depression? Yes. Will it probably make things worse, eventually? Likely so.
 
My experience (amphetamine sulphate) is this:Amphetamine (adderall) is initially a mood enhancer, generally leaning more towards the positive. If your mood is neutral or positive, you could end up feeling really good. But if your mood is negative or low, it could maybe make you feel good, bust quite likely will make you feel significantly worse. And every possible combination in between, but mostly it follows this pattern. However, the negative side effects of amphetamine are quite acutely accumulative. When I first used amphetamine (2003) I couldn't imagine getting anxiety or a comedown. I used it sporadically (never staying for up for more than a night and never more than 1 days use in a row), and everything remained the same. I also experienced no anxiety and depression in day to day life.I re-acquainted myself with amphetamine in the spring of last year, and I'd say I've bought it on 5-6 occasions since. I had already developed depression/anxiety prior to using all it on this occasion, whereas I had none in my earlier usage. I never missed more than one nights sleep, but I did use it for sometimes consecutive days on end, somewhat sporadically, and usually for 1-3 weeks until I ran out. I would build tolerance and in the times of the most heavy usage, feel shit for about a month (anxiety, depression, fatigue). I would also often feel depression and/or generally extremely anxious upon using it.This all happened cumulatively, so it got worse each time. These days I find that the first day I use amphetamine, if I'm in a good mood, I will probably feel great, but might experience anxiety. Day two, I'll probably feel okay, and experience quite bad anxiety. Day three, I'm wondering what the fuck I'm taking it for given I feel that bad, but I usually start feeling so fatigued I feel I need it to keep me awake. It gets worse until I run out and feel like absolute fatigued crap for 1-4 weeks.If amphetamine noticeably improves your mood, you will probably continue using it for that purpose until something causes you stop. It will most likely be pretty much the same thing that happened to me, but at a different rate depending on your usage and how often you re-dose. If you stay up for days on end (or are simply pre-disposed), then psychosis might also be a factor. Ultimately this will serve to be counter-intuitive to any persons battle with depression, and will add a whole host of other issues to the mix.Can amphetamine remedy depression? Yes. Will it probably make things worse, eventually? Likely so.
QFT. This hit bulls eye. All the other information here should make things very clear for you now.
 
I was wondering the same thing today. My psych prescribed adderall to me last wednesday. I had an episode of mania that kept me awake for 3 days and I ended up in the ER to get IV ativan because I'm pretty drug resistant. I took ambien, 3mg Klonopin, seroquel, trazadone, robaxin and clonidine and I still couldn't sleep. After the ER visit (which was Saturday) I kept taking the adderall and it made me fall asleep 3 days in a row when I took the morning dose. I saw my psych today and he increased my dose which surprised me. Anyway I'm getting a bad feeling about it. I have a long history of Major depressive disorder, panic disorder and PTSD. I did find a study online about using adderall for depression, which is why I talked to my psych about it. I have been on every antidepressant there is. It's a struggle for sure. So far it just makes my heart race and makes me emotionally kind of stale if that makes sense. Not happy, not sad, just here. I don't think it is going to help with depression so far. It also makes it harder to sleep at night and gives me an antisocial feel.
 
My experience (amphetamine sulphate) is this:

Amphetamine (adderall) is initially a mood enhancer, generally leaning more towards the positive. If your mood is neutral or positive, you could end up feeling really good. But if your mood is negative or low, it could maybe make you feel good, bust quite likely will make you feel significantly worse. And every possible combination in between, but mostly it follows this pattern.

However, the negative side effects of amphetamine are quite acutely accumulative. When I first used amphetamine (2003) I couldn't imagine getting anxiety or a comedown. I used it sporadically (never staying for up for more than a night and never more than 1 days use in a row), and everything remained the same. I also experienced no anxiety and depression in day to day life.

I re-acquainted myself with amphetamine in the spring of last year, and I'd say I've bought it on 5-6 occasions since. I had already developed depression/anxiety prior to using all it on this occasion, whereas I had none in my earlier usage. I never missed more than one nights sleep, but I did use it for sometimes consecutive days on end, somewhat sporadically, and usually for 1-3 weeks until I ran out. I would build tolerance and in the times of the most heavy usage, feel shit for about a month (anxiety, depression, fatigue). I would also often feel depression and/or generally extremely anxious upon using it.

This all happened cumulatively, so it got worse each time. These days I find that the first day I use amphetamine, if I'm in a good mood, I will probably feel great, but might experience anxiety. Day two, I'll probably feel okay, and experience quite bad anxiety. Day three, I'm wondering what the fuck I'm taking it for given I feel that bad, but I usually start feeling so fatigued I feel I need it to keep me awake. It gets worse until I run out and feel like absolute fatigued crap for 1-4 weeks.

If amphetamine noticeably improves your mood, you will probably continue using it for that purpose until something causes you stop. It will most likely be pretty much the same thing that happened to me, but at a different rate depending on your usage and how often you re-dose. If you stay up for days on end (or are simply pre-disposed), then psychosis might also be a factor.

Ultimately this will serve to be counter-intuitive to any persons battle with depression, and will add a whole host of other issues to the mix.

Can amphetamine remedy depression? Yes. Will it probably make things worse, eventually? Likely so.

Let me ask you: how many days a week do you think it's safe to take any of these Amphetamines (Dexadrine, Adderall and Vyvanse...I currently have prescriptions for both Dexadrine and Vyvanse) without it causing the kind of issues you are talking about?

And do you think everyone experiences these problems?

Also, what dosage of pill were you taking and how many per day for how long that it made you feel like that?

I've only been prescribed Amps a few months but I really want to make sure this does not happen to me and the way you are describing it is kind of scary cause I HATE it when I become reliant on substances for energy and feel like shit when I don't use them.

This has not happened to me yet with amphetamines, but I do find myself using them to try to feel better when I either haven't slept well or am tired for other reasons and sometimes it works but other times it makes me feel worse.

It's really bizarre, cause like, today I use Dexadrine and felt great (along with Kratom), because I only slept 2 hours last night, but I have consistently found that if I get a good night's sleep that amphetamines often do not work for me or make me feel MORE tired.

I don't know the reason why, but I think maybe I should be glad this happens because I think maybe it will lead me to use it less often as I wont' want to feel bad, and obviously I wouldn't intentionally deprive myself of sleep to get high.

I mean, I know that they can cause these problems, but according to my psychiatrist, by and large, amphetamines like Adderall, Dexadrine and Vyvanse are not supposed to be really all that physically addictive in terms of dependence that leads to that kind of withdrawal in the same way as opiates.

I really hope it never happens to me, so if you have any guidelines for often you think I can get away with taking it without running into problems, and how to know if I'm using it too much and should take a break, I'd appreciate it.
 
I find no antidepressant effect from amphetamine whatsoever. Euphoria, yes, but an antidepressant effect? No.

There?s a difference between feeling good or being happy and antidepressant effect.

Low doses of MXE (ie <10 mg), for example, have an antidepressant effect but cause no euphoria.

Perhaps someone who has struggled with depression could explain the difference between happy/sad and not depressed/depressed better than myself.
 
So I tried Adderall for depression and it doesn't work. It did not make me happy. It did not make me want to get out of bed and go hang out or go shopping. It did make me feel like I was super focused, but after a good solid week trying it did nothing for me. Depressed is not wanting to ever do anything and only doing the bare minimum to make it by, which in my opinion leads to sadness. Happiness is enjoying life. Adderall did neither for me.
And if you have ANY history of drug abuse/dependence, Adderall will most definitely not work for you. I read all these threads about abusing adderall and how great it felt. I tried it, I took about 120-140mg in a 24 hour period. Same result, just felt "cracked out" and lost a lot of sleep and then ended up feeling more depressed then when I started.
 
So I tried Adderall for depression and it doesn't work. It did not make me happy. It did not make me want to get out of bed and go hang out or go shopping. It did make me feel like I was super focused, but after a good solid week trying it did nothing for me. Depressed is not wanting to ever do anything and only doing the bare minimum to make it by, which in my opinion leads to sadness. Happiness is enjoying life. Adderall did neither for me.
And if you have ANY history of drug abuse/dependence, Adderall will most definitely not work for you. I read all these threads about abusing adderall and how great it felt. I tried it, I took about 120-140mg in a 24 hour period. Same result, just felt "cracked out" and lost a lot of sleep and then ended up feeling more depressed then when I started.

I'm not speaking about myself here, but I am not sure why you came to this conclusion and I disagree.

I know a guy who's a really bad alcoholic but Adderall works well for me.

I don't know him well so I don't know exactly what it does do for him and I'm sure it does not make him happy as no drug makes anyone truly happy, but obviously he's able to have it in his life to some extent and get effects from it without it causing him too many problems even despite having been an alcoholic.


I still wish someone would answer my questions as to how many days per week it is safe to take Dexadrine/Adderall/Vyvanse without getting an actual physical dependence.

I have prescription now for 10mg Dexadrine so that's mostly what I'm concerned with.

My psychiatrist told me some of his patients take it as many as 5 days a week with no physical dependence but I am not sure I trust that as I have heard of people getting it before and don't want it to happen to me.
 
Going by my experiences, Adderall and similar drugs can't ever be a real solution for major depression. Not only can the crashes be crippling, but the "high" itself can often be dysphoric when you're already depressed, making you obsess and ruminate over the thoughts and memories that are causing you stress and anxiety or are generally making you feel sad. The peripheral effects can quickly turn those thoughts into full-blown panic attacks, and coupled with sleep deprivation can easily leave you with paranoid and irrational thoughts that further fuel that anxiety and dysphoria.

Admittedly I've never responded positively to amphetamines or any of the phenidates, but even the stimulants that do work for me I can hardly see as a proper solution for depression. One major issue is tolerance; usually, even before you start suffering from bad crashes and often after just a few days of consecutive use, you'll feel a need to raise your dose to get the same level of mood lift. Tolerance to the mood-raising effects of stimulants, if you get them, develops extremely quickly - obviously, even by itself this isn't sustainable, and you'll eventually reach a point where you're getting very little if any mood improvement from them. Worse, the side-effects will still continue to increase; at best, you'll end up just feeling just emotionally numb and antisocial, and at worse you'll be crippled by all kinds of anxiety that'll leave you performing far worse than when you were just sober and depressed. Once physical addiction really kicks in (although thankfully this takes a relatively long time compared to most other drugs, e.g. benzos, opiates or even alcohol), you'll find that you're only continuing to take it in order to feel numb instead of depressed, and from there it's all downhill.

My advice? Save stimulants for helping with energy and concentration on an as-needed basis, rather than systematic, daily use.
 
I have found that amphetamines have made me feel a LOT better about myself. I struggle with real bad self-esteem issues and when I started taking amphetamines (vyvanse 40mg, now its adderall 30-60mg) I noticed a significant change in my outlook on life. I struggle with multiple drug dependence issues like alcohol, benzos, and kratom. But the adderall still works wonders for my depression and negative outlook on life. When I start hitting the higher doses of 45-60mg, I have a pretty bad crash, but ~30mg (15mg bid) seems to be the sweet spot for me. To each their own though!
 
To be clear, I didn't mean to imply that it couldn't work for anyone. Re-reading my post, I realise that my wording was pretty poor; I was only talking about my own experiences and the reports I'd read from a majority of users (especially w.r.t. tolerance). If for you amphetamine produces a sustainable remission/improvement of your depression, then definitely stick with it - the point I was trying to make was merely that I would not recommend it as a first choice of treatment for people suffering from depression.

The (unfortunate) fact is that people's brains vary a lot, and there are probably as many examples of atypical reactions to drugs as there are of typical ones - hell, I'm pretty atypical myself in that I never got even fleeting euphoria from amphetamine or Ritalin, and I've even heard of people being able to take benzos for years with virtually no tolerance or withdrawal issues. All this makes it quite difficult to confidently recommend something to any individual person, and ultimately you end up having to mostly resort to your own personal experiences and generalities based on the balance of probabilities.
 
To be clear, I didn't mean to imply that it couldn't work for anyone. Re-reading my post, I realise that my wording was pretty poor; I was only talking about my own experiences and the reports I'd read from a majority of users (especially w.r.t. tolerance). If for you amphetamine produces a sustainable remission/improvement of your depression, then definitely stick with it - the point I was trying to make was merely that I would not recommend it as a first choice of treatment for people suffering from depression.

The (unfortunate) fact is that people's brains vary a lot, and there are probably as many examples of atypical reactions to drugs as there are of typical ones - hell, I'm pretty atypical myself in that I never got even fleeting euphoria from amphetamine or Ritalin, and I've even heard of people being able to take benzos for years with virtually no tolerance or withdrawal issues. All this makes it quite difficult to confidently recommend something to any individual person, and ultimately you end up having to mostly resort to your own personal experiences and generalities based on the balance of probabilities.

I was actually commenting on Relfections post about how amps won't work if you have dependence issues. That statement was ludicrous ?
 
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