OK this regimen I take has to change. I was better off before any of these:

[Nevernot]

Prescribed:

• 60mg Vyvanse (it replaced 20mg AdderallXR & twice daily 10mg Adderall IR)
• 1.5mg Klonopin (bottle says to take daily, but in practice--and doc knows and approves, I take it as needed, maybe 3 times a week. Recently I've taken it to fall asleep from Adderall
• 40mg Prozac (don't feel a thing but supposedly it helps with "baseline anxiety" and obsessive thoughts

I used to take the Adderall "as needed," even though I was prescribed it daily, but eventually took it daily because I was totally useless on the days I didn't take it.

But if that's not enough, I also take the following OTC items to "supplement" Klonopin & especially Vyvanse/Adderall:

• Tagamet (to boost Klonopin and also reduce stomach acid, which also boosts Vyvanse/Adderall
• Zantac (to reduce stomach acid, boosting Vyvanse/Adderall)
• Magnesium, Calcium, and Zinc: Supposedly they help with Adderall tolerance and its cardiovascular side effects
• Fish Oil: to be "smart," don't actually know what it's good for, but it supposedly goes good with Adderall.
• Vitamin B
• Arginine & Citrulline as vasodilators to counter Adderall's vasoconstriction
• 5HTP (as a "building block" for Prozac
• Tyrosine & Phenylethylamine (as building blocks for Adderall

So my routine would be to wake up, take Tagamet or Zantac to lower my stomach acid, Magnesium & Arginine & Citrulline "to brace myself" for Adderall's bad side effects.
Then Vyvanse/Adderall daily.
Take Klonopin as needed (less than daily) if I need to be "chill" around others.

Then, at "bedtime," which is just whenever I fall asleep, usually early morning hours, I flush down Magnesium, Fish Oil, Arginine & Citrulline, 5HTP, Prozac, Tyrosine & Phenylethylamine, and a multivitamin. All at once.

Since starting everything above (almost a year ago now), I'd get either constipation or diarrhea (mostly constipation) pretty much every day. And my stomach is always "lurching" as if churning what's inside, not growling in hunger.

So I eat less to try to avoid the GI side effects and just drink protein shakes. I've lost 10-15lbs in the 9 months and 25-30lbs in the last 12 without really trying to lose weight. Went from 200-->175, and I'm at a height where I look rail thin.
I didn't think I did. I thought I had yet more weight to lose until someone told me I looked pretty anorexic (I'm a guy).

But beyond all that, what I hate most is how all of the above would improve my mood, life, performance.
Instead, they've made me worse off in pretty much all respects than before I even started them (anxiety, ADHD), and I was someone who visited his 1st psychiatrist appointment "knowing what to say and what boxes to check."

Should I quit everything abruptly?

 

[P.o.T.u.S]

The prozac i wouldnt stop abruptly,u should see a doctor for that.. if u really only take tbe klonopin 3 days a week u can stop that with mild if any withdrawal..but if u take the klonopin more than the 3 times a week i would do a taper by cutting ur dose a little every few days or maybe take .5mg less every week...the adderall u can stop abruptly and the sooner the better stopping that..i would maybe stop the adderall for a week and see how u feel,then worry about the prozac and klonopin.

Im not a doctor and its best to see a medical professional when stopping medication

 

[tracedwards313]

I dont think any person is going to have positive effect, especially long term, on that type of regimen.

Your taking too many drugs. Your body has no time to regulate its natural chemisty. Taking drugs to counter act the other drugs is a VERY short term solution.

Im not a doctor either, but if it were me, I would stop taking all of the RX drugs, maybe keep a couple benzos in case of severe discomfort. It may take a good while to reach a more comfortable daily routine but if you focus on a healthy diet and EXERCISE you may be surpised how fast you could see significant improvement.

I dont know your personal situation, so take my drug advice with caution. But the exercise and diet regulation, I guaruntee will improve how you feel drastically.

Good luck and remember, most of the drugs that western medicine so quickly jumps for are very unnatural for our bodies. Very often letting our natural chemisty regulate itself is much more effective than synthetic alternatives.

Almost always RX narcotics are a quick, short-term solution to issues that need long-term and natural solutions

 

[CrazyEngineer]

I'm not sure I would advise coming off of everything cold turkey, but I'd definitely advise coming off of most of those medications if you can. I'd start by dealing with the Prozac first, and there are a wide range of different tapering options here depending on what you do. You can in theory stop taking it cold turkey, and you're less likely to get hit with ugly withdrawal symptoms with it than you are with many other SSRIs; that said, SSRI withdrawal is no fun and there are definitely options for tapering down. You can find a general overview of tapering methods for Prozac here and a description of a typical sequence of dosage reductions here. If you find the second link's recommendations to be overly conservative you should be able to step down more quickly without experiencing full-blown withdrawal.

For the amphetamines, I'd start by cutting the antacids out of your regimen and see how well you do with unboosted Vyvanse for a few days to a week; once you've accomplished that then you can try tapering off the Vyvanse altogether. There's info about how to do that here that applies to Adderall specifically, but Vyvanse is nearly identical chemically and most of it should be applicable. Again, the proposed taper here is quite conservative; you're more than welcome to go for a much more aggressive tapering schedule if you feel like you can handle it. Once you've got the amphetamines out of your system get rid of the vasodilators and back off the tyrosine and phenylethylamine.

 

[Nevernot]

Hey thanks you seem to know your stuff.

Is it normal for me to not perceive Vyvanse as the "silver bullet" that I'll never want to leave?

Is it normal for people to want to quit their meds these meds because they don't actually help the ADHD, and the rebound ADHD & Anxiety are worse than never being on the meds in the first place?

I was someone who didn't truly think I had disorders. Instead, I went into the doc's office "knowing how to answer her questions to get the result I want." I thought I wanted them but now I think they've given me med problems where I didn't have them previously.

I'm not sure I would advise coming off of everything cold turkey, but I'd definitely advise coming off of most of those medications if you can. I'd start by dealing with the Prozac first, and there are a wide range of different tapering options here depending on what you do. You can in theory stop taking it cold turkey, and you're less likely to get hit with ugly withdrawal symptoms with it than you are with many other SSRIs; that said, SSRI withdrawal is no fun and there are definitely options for tapering down. You can find a general overview of tapering methods for Prozac here and a description of a typical sequence of dosage reductions here. If you find the second link's recommendations to be overly conservative you should be able to step down more quickly without experiencing full-blown withdrawal.

For the amphetamines, I'd start by cutting the antacids out of your regimen and see how well you do with unboosted Vyvanse for a few days to a week; once you've accomplished that then you can try tapering off the Vyvanse altogether. There's info about how to do that here that applies to Adderall specifically, but Vyvanse is nearly identical chemically and most of it should be applicable. Again, the proposed taper here is quite conservative; you're more than welcome to go for a much more aggressive tapering schedule if you feel like you can handle it. Once you've got the amphetamines out of your system get rid of the vasodilators and back off the tyrosine and phenylethylamine.

 

[CrazyEngineer]

My personal opinion on that matter is that there aren't really any silver bullets that will make your problems go away when it comes to dealing with your brain. For most psychiatric issues (including ADD/ADHD) it's entirely reasonable to go through five or ten different cocktails before you finally find something that works, and it's entirely possible that by the time that process finishes some people would have been better off not resorting to psychiatric medication in the first place. I can't tell you whether you fall into that category or not, but I can tell you that continuing to pile on more substances in increasing quantities isn't necessarily a great answer and I'm really glad that you're considering getting clean first before seeking more pills.

Vyvanse in particular seems to have a subpar tolerance profile; in general it's actually better if you take it as needed rather than every day so that you can increase the time before you build up a serious tolerance. If you went in to see the doctor as a means of obtaining pills then that's an understandable thing to do (considering the impossibility of legally trying things that might work without a prescription), but you need to be aware that a doctor in that situation is not necessarily going to be able to help you optimize your drug regimen all that much because you're not being honest with them. In your case, I'd advise trying to get clean and then reevaluating what substances you want to return to and in what doses after you've given your body a break. If you want medical advice, then you might be better off trying to find a practitioner who you can be upfront with about what pills you want and why, and then try to have them work with you to set up a drug regimen that works.