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Stimulants Adderall/Lithium/Lamictal interactions

LaurenfromMI

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
44
Location
Detroit Metro Area
I think I know why my Adderall is no longer giving me any euphoria. I'm kind of bummed, but kind of know it's for the best. My doctor added Lithium about a week ago along with upping my Lamictal from 200 mg to 300mg. I am almost certain these two drugs which are mood stabilizers are blocking the action of the Adderall. Before I started on Lamictal, I used to get high as a kite on Adderall. (Not that that is the intended purpose of it--but it happened anyway.) Being Bipolar, I feel had a lot also to do with why I got so high which on Adderall. It could also be referred to as manic in my case. I never saw anyone get like me on it. Cocaine, now that's another story. I did a couple lines the other day and still got high as hell, even on these mood stabilizers. But then again, comparing cocaine to Adderall is like comparing apples to oranges. Last month was the same scenario. I felt high for a couple days and then it cut off almost completely. I thought it was just tolerance, but now I know it wasn't just that. I am also now on .5 Xanax twice a day because I started having anxiety issues all over again, though it was not entirely due to the Adderall. I was having horrible racing thoughts, worry, sleeplessness, obsessive thinking, paranoia. You name it. I stopped taking the Adderall because I was not on a benzo last month anymore and the agitation from the Adderall was unbearable. But even before that and weeks after that my anxiety was bad. I was off Adderall for months and still had shitty anxiety anyway. That said, I feel the Adderall is working okay for focus and attention, just not as well as it was even when I was not taking larger than normal doses. This is probably a good thing really, because I'm less likely to abuse it if I know it won't make me super high. The Xanax is helping TREMENDOUSLY with any agitation caused by the ADD meds and the other horrible anxiety I was having. I know Xanax is REALLY addictive, so I'm being very careful with it and I never take more than I'm prescribed. In fact, I ONLY take it when I really need it. That's the best way to not get hooked. I don't really care if I get high like that on Adderall anymore, because no way am I going to stop my mood stabilizers just so I can get high, manic and then lose my mind again. The one thing the Adderall does help with is depression, because I can't take any anti-depressants because it would drive me into mania. Anyway, I was just wondering, has anyone else had this problem on these mood stabilizers and how they affected their ADD meds?
 
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I know what you mean, on that same combo, I would take hundreds of mg's at a time to catch a buzz (dumb, I know). It must be the lithium, I'm on lamictal and amphetamines right now and the speed is working just fine, lamictal works mostly on parts of your brain that are not relevant at all for psychoactive effects from substances. I take adderall when I think I'm about to blow my brains out. Kind of like a last-resort immediate antidepressant.
 
Just to add...

BTW, that was the first time I did cocaine in about a year and it's really only because I drank, which I absolutely CANNOT do because I crave cocaine every time. I am not a normal drinker when I drink. I can go months without it, and then as soon as I start with just one drink I'm drinking 12.
 
LOL Cloudburst. Not to laugh at the "blow your brains out" comment, but that's EXACTLY how I feel. I take it when I'm super depressed and I have been suicidal many times. I hate being Bipolar! It must be the Lithium though...could be the Lamictal too and the dosage increase, but last month the Lamictal fucked up my Adderall high too. Stopped making me feel good after just two days. But I'm not stopping my meds just to get high that's for sure!!
 
The weird thing is, they don't even know how Lithium works so it's impossible to figure out what the hell is going on. Somehow it is blocking excesses of dopamine. Deductive reasoning should tell you that. Lamictal is an anticonvulsant which does not block dopamine but slows down electrical activity in the brain. Bipolar mania is right on line with an overactive brain, so that makes sense. And Adderall being a stimulant speeds it up. I don't know how much Lamictal you are taking, but 300 which I am on now is pretty high. I was on 200 mg for about two months and just started on the higher dose and the lithium a week ago and the lithium is not really that high 150 mg three times a day, for starters. Freaks me out though that I have to have my blood levels checked all the time to make sure I am on a therapeutic dose. Too little doesn't work at all and too high can cause a host of health problems. My doctor said there is a very small window in which the dosage works.
 
Exactly, I think it should be prescribed to all bipolars PRN. Many psychiatrists are starting to agree. I wonder how many times this shit has saved my life, and simultaneously completely fucked me up...

How much of both doses are you taking? Pardon me, but my brain was scrambled, I was never on lithium and lamictal at the same time... I think (you know how you change meds so fucking often you can't even remember). When I had 1800mg lithium carbonate, jack shit. 400mg lamictal and I didn't notice any change in adderall effects, strange.

Good on you for not fucking around with your meds like most bipolar people do. It must have taken me 400 times to learn my lesson.

EDIT: Most questions answered. Lithium is dangerous territory. It is by far the best mood stabilizer there is, bar none. Yet even at normal blood levels I developed diabetes insipidus which would have killed me in about 10 years. Somehow I did recover from that. Still, so therapeutic I'm thinking of taking the risk of trying it again considering my current regimen isn't gonna keep me alive for 10 years.
 
Taking 150 mg Lithium Carbonate three times daily and 300 mg Lamictal (200 mg in the morning and 100 mg at night.) I take 15 mg of Adderall twice daily and Xanax .5 mg twice daily. Also, forgot Ambien 10 mg at night if needed for sleep. Lol. I have a freaking pharmacy going on in my brain I swear to God. I too screwed with taking my meds, then not taking them and all that. Well, seven years later and I realized I was a total mess and better start listening to the doctors. I work now and I don't want to mess it up. I didn't work for quite some time because I was too busy self medicating and depressed and not taking meds. Stay on your meds if you can. Take the Adderall if you get depressed, just don't stop the other ones!!
 
Sorry Cloud...can't PM yet...I'm too new...don't worry though...this is just about my psychotic behavior...LOL. ;-)


You just told my story man. I have to take Adderall with a benzo or I flip out--anxiety wise. I can't tolerate it. I have thrown it out before when I was didn't have a benzo. Xanax is the best. You can take less and still take the edge off when your head feels like it's going too fast...that's when you NEED to get off the phone and get off Facebook for awhile before people suspect mental illness/and or substance abuse. Adderall makes me manic, bottom line....then I get paranoid that people think I'm either nuts or on drugs because I have so many ideas/deep thoughts and whatever. I do this mainly on Facebook with a lot of other very intelligent, successful people. Some I have to be careful with because they are the "higher ups" of the media world. Not that I really give a shit, because they are just a bunch of posers anyway. I know. I worked with them. In fact, I had an affair with one of the anchor guys at my local news station...LOL. Yes, before drugs it was sex. It's just that usually I say pretty boring mundane things like, "what a beautiful day!" Or maybe a bitch fest or two about something political. I think only other pill poppers who know me would catch on though, because all that time I stayed clean I was up at all hours talking about all kinds of stuff. I thought they thought I was high then...LOL. At least my one friend. Even when you stop using your sleep is all messed. As to "recreational drugs" other than the pills....I will not TOUCH alcohol or any other illegal substance or opiate (don't like them) . I don't like dealing with drug dealers, I don't like the chance of going to jail, and I don't like dealing with shady peeps period. I rationalize my scripts. Wrongly so? Yeah. But I do it anyway. Better than getting drunk, going on a coke run, getting car jacked in Detroit or robbed at gunpoint or killed by someone for $10. Not to mention, a felony drug conviction would pretty much resign me to cleaning toilets at Burger King...cuz drug court probably would just piss me off and I would flunk my tests. I been on misdeameanor probation before for DUI and got in more trouble while on probation then when I got off....did a nice 30 days in the county jail for it too. That was three years ago....I do not wish to return.

In all honesty, I should not be on Adderall being a bipolar/addictive personality....but damn if feels so good when you are depressed. Although after two years off and on, it does not work like it used to. I get more paranoid now and more guilty, but that's partly I think due to the fact I'm not taking 7-8 mg a day of Klonopin with it. Dude, I was so messed up. Once I was up for FIVE DAYS. I took a video tape of myself for God knows what reason, and when I played it back the next day...I looked like a zombie. I was just staring in space...confused. Lack of sleep..ugh. Never been that bad since. That was last summer. I got down to 110 pounds which for me, is pretty much anorexic. I think sooner or later you start to learn your lessons....even if you don't stop it entirely.

As for the nut ward...been there. But the only times I ended up there was cuz I was abusing cocaine or got drunk and blacked out and tried to off myself. Either that, or ran out of benzos...LOL
 
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New doctor suck

My old doctor had me lithium adderall lamictal and xanx but i had to move and this new doc is not listenig. This is the second doctor I have been to here so now thry say the only way i can get my addys back if i go to carey counseling. So any ideas on how to get this therapist to give me shit back lol :?
 
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