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Mental Health Adderall IR seems to be a no-go... Suggestions?

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I've taken up to 90mg Adderall XR at once, no noticeable effects. Now we're trying 40mg Adderall IR to see if we can get it to work before my body metabolizes it. No real difference to me. Seems like a huge let-down. I read about people on Adderall changing their life, making them more productive, helping the focus, all kinds of things... At far lower doses than I'm at. And I was hopeful this would be the solution to my issues, but I just get nothing at all.

Am I doing something wrong? Are there other things stronger that will do something? What can I safely do to get the results asap? I'm still trying for solutions but I can feel myself getting depressed about solutions. It's all just bland Grey every day, no real progress, no real motivation. And nothing I do ever seems to effect that way, I need progress I can measure soon or else it will be increasingly harder to fight negative thoughts when they come about continuing life as it is... Alternate viewpoints are much appreciated.

What beverage did you drink when you took your Adderall XR and IR? This is important because if you take it with orange juice, grapefruit juice, soda or any juice that's acidic, it will stop the medicine from working. I had to learn that the hard way. I remember taking it with orange juice in the past and I couldn't feel the medicine at all! I was so pissed.
Only take this medicine with water. To stay on the safe side, all I drink is water all day on Adderall. It dehydrates you so it's good to get in the habit of drinking water with it anyway. If you want an acidic drink later in the day, like at nighttime, that's fine. Just not around the time you take it.

Check out this site because there are also certain foods that stop the absorption of Adderall. If you were eating or drinking any of these things, that's why it didn't work:

https://adhdrollercoaster.org/medication/can-foods-acids-and-antacids-interfere-with-stimulants/
 
I take Dexedrine 10mg I almost always take life 6-7 and up tweaked as I never knew about food interactions but I take so much I my body doesn?t take anything in
 
Man you all got to try Dexedrine lol plus are all talking it regular and close together?because if you have the brain of addict you?re tolerance will be high i finish my bottle within a week and have to wait along a time for next so get wrecked every time and stay up for 3! Days
 
Amphetamine has never benefited my mental health. Whilst I was using it, my mental health was worse overall. It didn't improve my depression except in very high dosages.... which made me feel 3x worse in the evening once the comedown kicked in.
 
Disclaimer: I'm new to BL and I have the tendency to write super long posts (not just on BL), but out of the few posts that I've made so far, one person PM'd me and said that my super long post was also super thought-provoking. I like to think that I'm good at thinking outside-the-box. I know my post is long, but please read it OP. I spent a lot of time writing it, and it's all for you.

Hey MrBacon, I have a couple theories that come from a different perspective than a psychiatrists'. Well, not my first theory/question. Unless I missed it, I didn't see anyone that asked you if you're taking any other meds or have recently come off of some. I may be wrong, and I'm trying to google this right now to confirm it but my internet is being slow, but I believe that Adderall is a drug that interacts with norepinephrine and dopamine. I have two things to say about this. Firstly, I used to be prescribed rexulti (technically I'm still prescribed it but I don't take it) and I noticed that while under the influence of rexulti, I get essentially no effects from opioids such as roxicodone or kratom when I use them orally. I did some research on it and I don't remember the specifics, but rexulti and opioids both work with dopamine, and there's something about an enzyme that rexulti works with that cancels out effects from opioids. I experienced this more with actual opiates than kratom. So I had this wild idea that I didn't think would work, but did... I started snorting roxicodone. Somehow it bypassed whatever the rexulti was doing to diminish the effects of it, and I got the full effects that come from snorting roxis. I'm not trying to promote self-harm, but if you're taking any similar acting medications to adderall, they may be interfering with one another. Snorting the adderall may or may not bypass that interferance. And if you do try snorting it, snort the IR, not the XR. Snorting Adderall XR gives no beneficial effects. The main effect is you just wasted your adderall lol.
The other thing is, I recently stopped taking Straterra and more recently started taking 30 mg Adderall IR as needed. The first time I took one of the addys, I hardly felt anything. I tried it again the next day and I felt a little bit more. As time has gone by and the straterra has left my body, the effects of the adderall have increased. I believe this is because both drugs interact with the norepinephrine neurotransmitter.
So the other psychiatrist-like thing I'll say that I doubt most psychiatrists actually know is that particularly with opiates, you NEED dopamine in your body before you take the opiate in order to get a solid effect. I haven't researched if it's the same case with adderall, but being that adderall acts on dopamine, it may very well be a factor. I found this out by looking up how to get better effects from Kratom. I found an article that said it helps a lot to load the body with dopamine a few hours before you take kratom, that way whatever you take doesn't take up stomach space, and that way, to put it one way, the kratom has some dopamine to "fuel it". A few examples of how to increase dopamine levels included eating chocolate, working out, creating and using checklists, and in general staying productive. So maybe the reason why the addys aren't making you more productive is because you're not being productive to begin with. Just a theory.

Okay, now to talk about something else that is not psychiatrist-y. If you watch Rick and Morty, which with your intelligence there's a chance you might, you've undoubtedly seen the pickle rick episode. In that episode, the family goes to a therapist and the therapist points out that intelligence is obviously very valued by the family. And Beth, Rick's daughter, says something along the lines of "well yeah, it's better to deal with my own problems by myself than to burden other people with them". That's not the exact quote. Forgive me hardcore Rick and Morty fans. But as a non-psychiatrist, I think you have that diagnoses too -- you seem to really value intelligence. And although you've said that you don't think you have anxiety, anxiety can express itself in many ways, sometimes in ways that give none of the physical symptoms of anxiety. For instance, a lot of people with high intelligence are unconsciously anxious about being the smartest person in the room. Maybe "anxious" isn't the perfect descriptor, but I think you get what I'm saying. I think that on some un-seeable level, you care about being seen as intelligent. And, for the record, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm not trying to shame,undermine, or invalidate you, I'm just trying to look at your issues from another perspective. So, if my theory holds true, I think the first step is to ask yourself "why is being more intelligent than everyone else so important to me"? I have a few more short things to say. I hope this connects with your struggles -- I was once arguing with my uncle, a very wise member of the Hare Krishna community in Alachue, Florida. And he asked me in the middle of our argument, "look, do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy"? I pondered what he meant for years, and I still don't fully understand it. Maybe with your all-knowing observational skills you can figure it out. ;) Just teasing. I think what his point is, is that even if being right makes us happy, it has other effects too. Like if I were arguing with my wife and won the argument, I might be happy that I won, but I would be pushing my wife away, which would ultimately lead to me being unhappy. Same with if I were acting like a know-it-all on BL threads (forgive me if I'm coming across that way). It might make me happy to be right about everything, but like you said, it could very well lead to everyone hating me. So to kind of sum up this theory, I think that you care a lot about being intelligent and it seems like you think that being the smartest will make you happy, but in the end it won't. Use your intelligence to think about brilliant people that you know, either in-person or by watching TV or reading history books. How many of those people suffered from depression? How many of those people are obviously unhappy? In highschool I knew this guy that loved being a know-it-all, and on the outside he seemed very happy, but after years of knowing him I realized that it was just a mask. He hated himself to a very high degree. To reference Rick and Morty again, Beth once asked her dad, "am I evil"? And Rick replied, "Worse, you're smart. When you know nothing matters the universe is yours, and I've never met a universe that was into it. The universe is an animal, it grazes on the ordinary. It creates infinite idiots just to eat them, not unlike your friend Timmy".
"Tommy", Beth replied.
"
[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Yeah hardly matters now sweety. You know, smart people get a chance to climb on top and take reality for a ride but it'll never stop trying to throw you. And eventually it will, there's no other way off"[/FONT]
[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Take from that what you will. What I take from it is that intelligence is a burden, and in collaboration with my uncle's wise words, it means that intelligence can get in the way of happiness. I don't know what our purpose on this Earth is, but I like to think that it's simply to live and experience life, not to be a super genius. Being a super genius can get in the way of experiencing life because in my past often rather than experiencing life, I evaluated it instead. That only made me happy for so long.[/FONT]

[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]I'll give you a sort of counter-example. I consider myself to be in a similar boat as you, and I think that something that could get me out of my head and help me relax a little is taking up photography or videography. One time I was giving my friend a ride, and he said "whoa, that cloud looks really cool". And I said, "you know, I never really look at clouds. Or look up in general". But photographers aren't generally like us. I have a photographer friend and he's one of the most chill and content people that I've ever met. My theory about photography is that when you're taking pictures of stuff, you're forced to kind of pause your brain and appreciate what's in front of you for a second. In my observations, overly-intelligent people seem to observe themselves and other people very well, but they don't spend a lot of time focusing on other stuff, like how good your dinner tastes, how beautiful the nature around us is, how good we have it, and what the clouds look like. This goes back to what you were saying about getting out of your head. I'm no expert at that, but I think that grabbing a camera or smart phone, going to a park with a friend, and taking some pictures of random stuff together would be a good first step to escaping that prison of a mind that we have. Or you can go by yourself to take pictures. Alternatively you can go bird-watching or sightseeing. These are just examples. You get the theme -- there are lots of simple activities that can help you get out of your head. My favorites exercising, teaching, playing music, and playing with my daughter. Just try to remember my uncle's words... "You can be right, or you can be happy". Let me know if you figure out what he meant. And try being more observant of the world around you, and not just the people around you and what they're thinking.[/FONT]
[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]I always write a lot when I post about things I'm passionate about and can relate to. Sorry if I'm coming off as annoying or redundant. I have to force myself to stop writing soon, but I have a few more short things to say:[/FONT]
[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Firstly, I know that being a genius can really suck sometimes. But there's nothing wrong with it. It's an obvious gift from the universe. Find a way to use your intelligence to make you happy. You don't need drugs to do that. Personally, I invest my mental skills into being a kickass musician, a kickass dad, and learning how to program video games. [/FONT]
[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]But as far as drugs go, I definitely agree with what somebody else said -- sedatives, especially benzos, can make some people kind of... lame. I forget what adjective the other poster used. Boring? Something like that. That being said, the whole point of most drugs is to give your brain a TEMPORARY relief from whatever it's suffering from. For instance, I don't know of any anti-depressants that are meant to be taken for more than a couple years, maybe a decade at the most. Meds give us temporary relief that allow us to reflect on our condition(s), figure out what's wrong, and the hope is to be able to find a way to cope with our issues -- then we stop taking the medication and start feeling normal again with our newfound knowledge. So in terms of giving your brain some relief from overworking itself, I would recommend... shit, am I not allowed to recommend meds? Well I was going to recommend a specific mild long-acting benzo. It's not as addictive as xanax, the withdrawals take much longer to kick in and are generally WAY less severe, and it's super easy to get prescribed if you're diagnosed with anxiety. Speaking of which, not that labels matter, but I think that like me you have (obviously) social anxiety and (not so obviously) social OCD. Not necessarily typical OCD, just social OCD. I think that here I'm likely to be wrong, but look it up if you're curious. For me, social OCD makes me spend a lot of time thinking about the right words to say, and in cases where I'm typing, I often go over what I wrote several times and edit it at least thrice before I finally post it. You may not be able to relate to that aspect of social OCD, but it may be worth looking into. Another med that I often recommend to people is... f*ck, yeah I just read somebody else's post and I'm pretty sure i'm not allowed to recommend meds. To be kind of vague, what I was going to suggest is a very weak opioid. It's often viewed as a light drug, and it kinda is, but to me it's as light as weed. It can have tremendous effects on social anxiety and depression, it feels good as shit, it's legal and available over-the-counter everywhere in the US as far as I know, and, most importantly for you, like most opioids it slows your brain down, but not so much that you become dysfunctional. It's a little addictive and SOME people get withdrawal from it, but it may be worth checking out. For you, I'm not allowed to recommend a brand but I can recommend a strain -- I'm thinking Red Malaysian. The red strains are the most opiate-like and generally more sedating than green and white strains, and Malaysian is typically considered one of the most sedating strains. Red Borneo or Red Indo might also be good for you. Maybe even White Maeng Da or White Borneo. The white strains tend to kind of give you "mental clarity", so to speak. I think white is technically considered a mild upper, but it still calms the mind to some degree. I would avoid green strains in your case, though.[/FONT]

[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Okay I've gotta stop talking now. I'm surprised there's no "max characters" for posts. The most important things that I want you to remember is: there's nothing wrong with being an over-analyzing genius. Being a genius can be freakin awesome, and it makes many areas of life really easy if you apply your genius to them. There's nothing wrong with it, even though it can be inconvenient sometimes. You're fine just the way you are. And also, try increasing dopamine levels by doing things other than drugs. Create checklists, have sex, workout, eat chocolate, basically just do anything. Preferably productive things. Idk about you, but the curse of many geniuses is that we spend a LOT of time thinking and planning, and not enough time DOING. If that description fits you, go DO something and stop thinking so much! And if that's not you, have your doctor prescribe you some light sedatives and give your brain at least a few months to calm down a little. Your brain deserves a break. [/FONT]

[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Okay, signing off. Thanks for reading, if you did :) If you didn't, your loss. My posts may not always fix people's problems, but I've been told by readers that they generally learn at least a few new random facts about drugs and/or the mind. Good luck on your journey. [/FONT]

[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]God, sorry, I have one last super short thing to say. The MOST intelligent people are often perfectly content being silent. Silence, in a way, can show people that you have inner peace and wisdom. That may be something worth striving for. The diagnoses that I gave you were because you write almost as much as I do. [/FONT]

[FONT=Noto Sans, sans-serif]Good luck. [/FONT]
 
I am constantly analyzing everything around me unintentionally, and not in the way you think of. I mean... super in-depth meticulously detailed. When I see a sign on a building pass by on the train, I'm analyzing all the damages on it, the rust, the scratches, what caused the scratches, how the scratches were created in slow details, how the two objects interacted on a molecular level and the damages to the foreign object, how it might be repaired, how much it would cost to repair it, how much it would cost to make a new one, how a new sign might be manufactured, and then probably inventing some new way to quickly manufacture the sign or repair the scratches. All of this and more in the space of half a second as the sign passes by the window.

Just wanted to say that this more accurately describes my brain better than anything I've ever read. I couldn't put it into words on my own very well but this is it. I attribute my racing thoughts to my ADHD.
 
Funny thing about Adderall is when I first started taking it, it stopped the racing thoughts and helped with ADHD. The longer I took it, it did just the opposite and gave me racing thoughts all the time. It made me serious because I was overthinking everything going on around me. You become a prisoner of your own mind. Your brain doesn't shut down and you're full of anxiety as well. Moments that should be fun aren't fun anymore because you're busy rationalizing everything instead of just enjoying yourself and feeling real emotions.

It seems like a miracle drug at first, but it's not.
 
I realize that my previous post was too long so I'm gonna sum it up. Sorry it was so long, I've been struggling with abusing adderall lately.

Basically, MrBacon, are you taking any other meds now or have you recently gotten off of any drugs? In my experience, that can sometimes harshly affect the effects of drugs like ADHD meds and opiates. I'm currently in such a situation where as the strattera is leaving my body, my adderall is becoming more effective. I also had an experience where while taking rexulti, normally opiates wouldn't give me a single damn effect. I found a way to bypass this: snorting roxicodone. I didn't think it would work but it did.

The other part of my post is harder to sum up, but this Rick and Morty quote sums up most of it:
Beth once asked her dad, "am I evil"? And Rick replied, "Worse, you're smart. When you know nothing matters the universe is yours, and I've never met a universe that was into it. The universe is an animal, it grazes on the ordinary. It creates infinite idiots just to eat them, not unlike your friend Timmy".
"Tommy", Beth replied.
"
Yeah hardly matters now sweety. You know, smart people get a chance to climb on top and take reality for a ride but it'll never stop trying to throw you. And eventually it will, there's no other way off"
Take from that what you will. I referenced another Rick and Morty scene that I was essentially talking about to make this point: you seem to really value being intelligent.

And here's a helpful suggestion to get you out of your head: go do some photography, or bird-watching, or hiking or something, and just start LOOKING at the world around you. You'll start to appreciate it a lot more, and it'll really help you get out of your out head, speaking from experience.

My final point is that you seem to be stressing about your genius-ness. To put it plainly and not in a super long post, there's nothing wrong with you. So you over-evaluate things and can't pin down your conditions. I say the following as a compatriot, not to be condescending: welcome to the club. Sometimes it sucks being a hyper-attentive genius, but it's not as abnormal as you think. Nothing that you say can make me think otherwise. Everyone's special. Which also means that no one's special.

And finally I have a challenge for you, since you seem to understand things just by looking at them. My very wise uncle and I were once arguing and he stopped me abruptly and said, "look, you can be right, or you can be happy". I challenge you to explain to me what that means, cause in over five years I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of it.
 
I've tried Adderall and Ritalin - Gabepentin and Strattera. I believe also Invega. Relatively short time, over 3 months. NOT high dosages by any means. I have severe ADHD and am autistic. The ADHD is disabling more than anything to me. Cannot tolerate mood stabilizers or SSRI's. The ADHD meds all contributed, in that short of time, to my now feeling on the borderline of psychotic, most of the time, every day. I WAS a very high functioning, extremely intelligent woman. Now, all day and evening, I use tiny bits of benzos and anti-psychotics just to keep from breaking completely down. NO IDEA what those ADHD drugs did to me. And in such a short time. And I am in DESPERATE need of some med to fix it. Looking at alternative meds that often work for it. I'm 61 years old. Didn't know I had autism or ADHD til about 3 years ago. I google "Severe ADHD" and keep coming up with "Adderall". Which is what basically messed my brain up - seems like "for good". Thinking about other meds like Topamax, or open to others. Maybe someone knows of a thread here.
 
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