I have been prescribed Adderall XR, Concerta, and Methylin ER throughout my life. Adderall XR is definately the best out of the three and helps me the most. I was first prescribed Concerta which was complete crap.. For those that don't know, Concerta is methylphenidate (ritalin) with a strange extended release mechanism which makes it impossible to abuse. Methylin ER is methylphenidate with a more reasonable extended release mechanism which would release half of the medication over the first four hours, than the other half over the next four hours, I believe. It was also in pill form and abusable. When I say "abusable" I mean it can be crushed to a powdered form and has recreational value.
At first I suffered through many painful side effects and mood swings. After a month or two, the side effects calmed down dramatically and for some reason I started to feel a great sense of well-being when I took them. It mostly made me much more outgoing, talkative, and in a better mood. It was great since I suffer from social and generalized anxiety disorder. Of course after some time, the great way I felt on it went away. There was a good four to five months where it kept me in a good place.
I talked to my doctor and told him how weak it became and that I would need a change. I mentioned the possibility of Focalin after hearing good things about it. He instead brought up Adderall XR which I preferred to be on anyhow and I jumped on that. Since I have already taken Adderall IR and XR in the past, I knew how it affected me. I am still on it to this day and it has been at least a year and a half since starting the Adderall XR. Just like my previous experiences with stimulants it worked great in the beginning and just got weaker over time. I have even brought this up on several occasions, but most of the time he just offers putting me on another anti-depressant, because it will "strengthen the Adderall." I'm already on five different medications already, that is more than enough as it is.
Instead of 30mg of Adderall XR once daily, I would prefer two 30mg Adderall XR, or better yet switch to Dexedrine. Dexedrine doesn't seem to go well with this guy. He has the thought of it being much more abusable than Adderall. Adderall is just a remade, ripoff off of Dexedrine anyhow. Being Shire's way of making tons of cash while having doctors force their newest drug down children's throats because they happen to be hyperactive. A child being hyperactive? Who's ever heard of that?