My issue with Adderall

[TheGame985]

I will make this as brief as I can. I am currently on 30 mg a day and every month I overdo it in the beginning and end up hurting myself, overdoing it by taking an extra half to a whole 30 mg depending on how I'm feeling. All I do is I play call of duty and keep to myself. Anyway here's my problem. Right now I'm already having to make up for 5 pills. That is to say I need to have at least 5 days where I only take 15 mg (half of the 30 mg prescribed daily) but it's not quite enough. I end up being lethargic and whatnot and sometimes I take some Xanax to help me feel a little better ( this is the only thing available to me drug wise).

And so, I know the average person with some self control would say well just take 30 mg a day and don't over do it and you won't have this problem. Every month I do the same thing and increase tolerance, lowering the effects of the drug and not to mention I make it so in the worst of times I have to go sometimes 7 days without my medication which I need to just function normally. It's great once I do get my prescription filled, because my tolerance is lowered and the effects are increased, but what I have to go through is hell.

This is the addict's dilemma and I know there's no easy answers here but what should I do?

 

[TheAcetylationGame]

I spent the first six months of 2020 doing that with my methylphenidate (Ritalin etc), you just get stuck in that cycle. Only once my partner found out and I had someone to keep me accountable and make sure I wasn’t abusing them was I able to stop it.

Now he doesn’t need to keep an eye on it and I take the correct dose because it just works better that way, can someone dole out your meds? At least for a few months?

And I was way worse, was shooting them up in the first week and having nothing for the rest of the month, so I’m sure you can get back on track too

 

[Jabberwocky]

Perhaps you were incorrectly diagnosed with ADD or ADHD in the first place and Adderall is an inappropriate medication for you? Even with ADHD there are alternative meds to try if you struggle with Adderall.

I don’t have any personal experience with Adderall but it seems to cause people way more problems than straight dexamfetamine. Let alone the non-stimulant options for ADHD.

 

[TheAcetylationGame]

Perhaps you were incorrectly diagnosed with ADD or ADHD in the first place and Adderall is an inappropriate medication for you? Even with ADHD there are alternative meds to try if you struggle with Adderall.

I don’t have any personal experience with Adderall but it seems to cause people way more problems than straight dexamfetamine. Let alone the non-stimulant options for ADHD.

I wouldn’t see abuse of stimulant medications as a sign of misdiagnosis. In fact substance use disorder is one of the disorders with the highest level of comorbidity with ADHD. It almost warrants an ADHD assessment by itself, let alone with a handful of other characteristic symproms. They’re both disorders of impulsivity and a dysfunctional reward system.

And no other treatment has the kind of empirical assurance of safety and effectiveness in treating ADHD that stimulants do. But I certainly encourage people to try the non-stimulant medications - I just think they’re a lot more hit and miss (like antidepressants) than stimulants.

Also drug dependence (and many other negative life outcomes) are far more likely when ADHD is inadequately treated. IMO OPs impulsive nature is getting him into trouble with the meds rather than the meds being the issue.

I think you should get someone else you trust to dispense your meds - at least until you break this cycle

 

[Jabberwocky]

That is true. I have discussed this a lot with my psychiatrist who specialises in ADHD. His view is that as a general rule people with genuine ADHD rarely become addicted to dexamfetamine or ritalin (we don’t have Adderall in Australia) and they don’t develop tolerance past the effective dose to treat their symptoms. He also noted that for people with genuine ADHD taking stimulants generally reduced their intake of all other substances including other stimulants.

It’s hard to know the truth of it because ADHD is diagnosed primarily on self-reporting. Often this reporting leaves out information that can result in a misdiagnosis- such as that the patient regularly smokes weed or takes benzos.

However my personal experience of taking dexamfetamine for 4 years was exactly as he described. Never took more than prescribed, stopped drinking and taking any other substances, and never experienced any kind of withdrawal if I missed a few days. Yet, I have had addiction problems with cocaine and meth at other times.

 

[TheAcetylationGame]

That is true. I have discussed this a lot with my psychiatrist who specialises in ADHD. His view is that as a general rule people with genuine ADHD rarely become addicted to dexamfetamine or ritalin (we don’t have Adderall in Australia) and they don’t develop tolerance past the effective dose to treat their symptoms. He also noted that for people with genuine ADHD taking stimulants generally reduced their intake of all other substances including other stimulants.

It’s hard to know the truth of it because ADHD is diagnosed primarily on self-reporting. Often this reporting leaves out information that can result in a misdiagnosis- such as that the patient regularly smokes weed or takes benzos.

However my personal experience of taking dexamfetamine for 4 years was exactly as he described. Never took more than prescribed, stopped drinking and taking any other substances, and never experienced any kind of withdrawal if I missed a few days. Yet, I have had addiction problems with cocaine and meth at other times.

Yeah that’s how I find it too, as long as I take my meds correctly that is!

it’s easy as an addict to get stuck into this more is better or sensation seeking behaviour though

It’s funny though due to the subjective nature of the diagnosis sometimes I question whether I really have it and go off meds for a while and when I eventually go for a rediagnosis and he’s asking all these questions on a scale of one to five and I’m just going five five five five five because he’s describing me to a tee

We only have dex and methylphenidate here in NZ too and dex prescribing is very restricted too

 

[TheGame985]

Perhaps you were incorrectly diagnosed with ADD or ADHD in the first place and Adderall is an inappropriate medication for you? Even with ADHD there are alternative meds to try if you struggle with Adderall.

I don’t have any personal experience with Adderall but it seems to cause people way more problems than straight dexamfetamine. Let alone the non-stimulant options for ADHD.

Doubtful I was always struggling with certain things and it wasn't until I got clean that I was able to see certain symptoms more clearly and got put on this medication. Without it I am not myself and really have a hard time with the basics of life, not to mention almost definitely going to go back to drugs.

 

[TheGame985]

I spent the first six months of 2020 doing that with my methylphenidate (Ritalin etc), you just get stuck in that cycle. Only once my partner found out and I had someone to keep me accountable and make sure I wasn’t abusing them was I able to stop it.

Now he doesn’t need to keep an eye on it and I take the correct dose because it just works better that way, can someone dole out your meds? At least for a few months?

And I was way worse, was shooting them up in the first week and having nothing for the rest of the month, so I’m sure you can get back on track too

That's crazy that you had to go the rest of the month. What were you prescribed for a dose? I'm guessing 30 since that seems to be the magic number. My doctor won't go above 30 mg I tried.

As far as what you said-I almost always.at the end of the month wish I had done this, but then there are certain days (this happens throughout the month but most often right in that first week of getting my prescription filled. Did you use other substances to help you through the rest of the month? Did you feel sluggish and lethargic when you didn't have your medication like I do?

 

[TheAcetylationGame]

That's crazy that you had to go the rest of the month. What were you prescribed for a dose? I'm guessing 30 since that seems to be the magic number. My doctor won't go above 30 mg I tried.

As far as what you said-I almost always.at the end of the month wish I had done this, but then there are certain days (this happens throughout the month but most often right in that first week of getting my prescription filled. Did you use other substances to help you through the rest of the month? Did you feel sluggish and lethargic when you didn't have your medication like I do?

I’m prescribed 90mg of slow release methylphenidate (think Ritalin). I generally just had to deal with it and go without or borrow more off my partner (also has ADHD). Not having my meds is very disruptive for me - I stop wanting to do anything productive, my memory issues are much worse etc..

it’s a really shitty space to put yourself in and IME very hard to get out of on your own