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Stimulants Adderall effect reduction

SOM31391

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
4
I have taken Adderall for 7 days straight (today is Day 7) since I have a really bad case of ADD. Anyway, from Day 1 to Day 6, I took 20mg IR daily. On Days 1-3, the effects were great. I felt the "rush" but more importantly my ability to focus was much better and it was easier for me to get much more work done in less time.

On Day 4, it was still pretty good - it lasted me a good 5-6 hrs as opposed to the usual 8-12 hrs. Had a full 8 hours of sleep for the first time in days, and then Day 5. The effects lasted maybe 2-3 hours hours and I was exhausted at night, even though it was only around 9-10 hours after I woke up! (I'm usually wide awake for at least 16-17 hrs, all before taking any medicine let alone Adderall)

I tried 20mg again on Day 6 (BTW I had only about 3.5-4 hrs the night before Day 6) and it was very short-lasting - like 90 minutes or a bit more. I came home from school exhausted and more depressed than usual, and went to bed really early and woke up around 4 AM.


Day 7, today, I made sure to take a a 500mg magnesium supplement a few hours before taking Adderall to help with tolerance and I took it at around 9 AM and it lasted only until around 10:30 PM or 11 PM. So I took an extra 20mg at around 2:30 and another 10mg around 5:30, and I was able to fare pretty well, got around 6.5 hours total of it, but the effects are still not nearly as good or effective as the first 3 days where I only 20mg daily. Normally I would never, ever do this, but it was such a busy day with so much to do, including an exam that I really needed to review for, a Calculus 3 quiz, and other class assignments.


I'm going to go without Adderall until next Monday to get it out of my system and remove some tolerance, and take 400mg Magnesium supplements daily (I'm supposed to be anyway) until then and get plenty of sleep and eat healthy like I normally do. Will this help me get back on with good effects? Any advice as to how to maximize effectiveness when I get back on? By the way, I took 170mg total of Adderall over the course of 7 days if you have not been counting, (6 days x 20mg + 1 day 50mg). If it helps, I have not been eating much while on the medication either. I'm also 19.5 yrs old, 5'4-5'5 'ish and weigh 162 lbs.

Please help, as I am a college student who struggled very hard in high school, constantly pulling all-nighters, and is now struggling to stay off Academic probation in college. I was diagnosed with with ADD since I was in high school, but did not take any medication at the time because the medication would have stunted my growth.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.


Sorry to repost this, the previous thread had a misleading title.
 
Low blood sugar on amphetamine is never pleasant.

If you are unable to eat on the medication, I would consider eating a full meal before taking the medication. If you can't eat for an entire day after taking the medication, it isn't a good medicine for you, and I would consider finding another substance to assist in your studies, that you can eat on.

You also mention not getting 8 hours of sleep the first few days on it - how much sleep did you get? If it wasn't at least 5 to 6 hours, I would consider getting off the drug for this alone. Not sleeping doesn't help how you feel; missing one night's sleep can throw off a lot later in the week; your body/mind will need to make up for this sleep.

Have you been exercising this week? This is something else I would strongly consider doing.

Lastly, I find tachyphylaxis is almost inevitable with Adderall and my previous experiences with it. This is unusual as I don't find the same level of tachyphylaxis with just dextroamphetamine sulfate. Nor d-methamp.
 
I see. Yeah, I can eat no problem, it's just that I have been lazy not to due to the decrease in appetite. :P I will fix that though.

Yeah, I have not been exercising lately much either since I've been swamped with schoolwork. But I'll be making more time for it and will get more sleep.

And I hope to God that I don't result in having permanent tachyphylaxis with Adderall since I hear that most medications don't do as well as Adderall in helping with concentration. For now I'll just stay away from it for 5 days (until Monday), and get sufficient sleep, exercise, take magnesium supplements, along with fish oil, and eat a healthy diet.
 
I see. Yeah, I can eat no problem, it's just that I have been lazy not to due to the decrease in appetite. :P I will fix that though.

Yeah, I have not been exercising lately much either since I've been swamped with schoolwork. But I'll be making more time for it and will get more sleep.

And I hope to God that I don't result in having permanent tachyphylaxis with Adderall since I hear that most medications don't do as well as Adderall in helping with concentration. For now I'll just stay away from it for 5 days (until Monday), and get sufficient sleep, exercise, take magnesium supplements, along with fish oil, and eat a healthy diet.

Everyone reacts uniquely to all drugs. Some people's most effective ADHD medicine will be Adderall, and for others it will be Dexedrine. While yet even other people prefer Vyvanse, or Ritalin, or Focalin, maybe even Desoxyn, etc.

Another strategy is to eat more frequently throughout the day in smaller meals. You may also want to reduce carbohydrates in your meal, especially if you enjoy eating foods that are high in tryptophan. Here is some reading material about why.

Exercise is definitely the best thing you can do though. See if you can combine homework or studying in general with exercise, or at least a part of your exercise routine. This is a great way to get two things done at the same time. :)
 
Tolerance to amphetamine builds quickly, especially if you're using every single day. I'm a student as well, and my advice is to avoid becoming dependent on Adderall. The only way to maintain the euphoric, confidence building, and motivating effects is to slow your usage and allow time for your body to generate dopamine and upregulate dopamine receptors. If you use daily, eventually you'll get to the point where you're taking Adderall just to reach a basic level of dopaminergic activity.
 
Understood - man that sucks. In my case, where I used it daily - 6 consecutive days with 20mg a day plus 1 day 50mg - would you say that I have already built up too much of a tolerance considering I needed to take 50mg the 7th day to keep the effects going? Or would it still be possible, with a long break from the stuff (5-7 days) as well as sufficient sleep, exercise, and diet high in magnesium (400-500mg supplement daily), that I can get back to the medication with less tolerance? I also plan to take it only 3-5 days a week from that point, while alternating days.
 
In my experience amphetamine tolerance builds incredibly fast. My friend is prescribed adderal and always gives me a bunch. I am pretty sure I have ADHD as well, since yesterday I took 70mg of adderal IR after not taking it for about 5 days, and all I got was a mild stimulation then I was tired.

Adderal doesn't make me feel that good anyways, I definitely prefer dexedrine (dexamphetamine) over adderal (mixed amphetamine salts) I feel like the L isomer found in adderal accounts fo rmuch of the negative effects. The D isomer is what makes me feel good and stimulated/focused/talkative.
 
I'm currently taking lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) 30mg/day. This is roughly equivalent to 12.5mg dexedrine time-release. But the lysine protecting the dexamphetamine does help get it past your stomach acid and into your upper intestine to be cleaved by trypsin, so that bumps it up to maybe ~16mg dexedrine equivalence. Thats a complete guess as to how much the lysine shields the dexamphetamine. I pulled "~16mg" out of my ass. I haven't had too much of a problem with tolerance build up. I was actually on 30mg 2x/day for a while and then went down to 1x/day about 5 months ago. I wasn't in school and I didn't really like feeling amped up all the time. I didn't have much of a problem stepping down.

That being said, I also take 150mg bupropion SR and 3mg clonazepam daily. I'm sure the NDRI effects of the bupropion helped slow down the drop in dopamine and norepinephrine and the benzos would have partially masked withdrawal symptoms. Now that I'm back in school and working, I need more than just the ~8 hour focus the vyvanse gives me, so I have 20mg methylphenidate IRs for the evenings to get another 4 hours or so of motivation and concentration out of myself, without lingering insomnia effects. I don't take the methylphenidate everyday though, only when needed. I might as well also add that I take 100mg of lamotrigine daily, but I didn't when I cut my vyvanse dose in half.

I'd recommend vyvanse personally, it's not as long of a time release as claimed, but its a much smoother ride than any other ADD stim I've tried. Part of that may be because it's only dextroamphetamine and no levoamphetamine as BrokedownPalace suggested. It's also a lot less tempting to abuse, as breaking the time release is a pain in the butt. Also, maybe an NDRI like bupropion might help, I feel that it smoothes everything out and I don't notice coming off of the vyvanse except that my ability to focus drops. I was prescribed the bupropion after already taking vyvanse so I do have something to compare it against. Plus, on an NDRI you won't need as large of a dose of amphetamine, and lower doses are less prone to rapid tolerance increases.

To reiterate what Captain.Heroin said, EAT! I've lost a bunch of weight and am now working on putting weight back on. Not having enough calories will quickly reduced your mental capacity, you can't run on stims alone. Plus, this could be mistaken for reduced effectiveness in the medication. Just make sure you're getting at least 3 square meals a day, preferably healthy ones, also find something that's good for you and calorie dense, that you can snack on throughout the day. For me, that's mixed nuts and seeds with raisins, sometimes even other dried fruit if I'm feeling wild =D And make sure to sleep too! I'm going to end this overly long post now. As someone who deals with serious ADHD as well as anxiety, I can sympathize. Best of luck dude.
 
One of the things I make sure to do with adderall is only take it on the days i really need to so my tolerance stays low. I usually only take it on test days to study before the test and to be able to move through the test very quickly. Or if I have a large paper due but i usually try to do it little by little and not cram it all the night before so that i won't need the adderall. Basically I just try to use as little as possible and that has been working out for me. Hope that helps!
 
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