I was prescribed valium first for anxiety I started on 5mg and moved to 10 mg. then after a few months I was still having trouble getting the energy back that I used to have after my tragedy. So my doctor prescribed me Adderall. I am not a ' pill popper'. This is my first time using Adderall. She started me out on 10mg. She wanted to start me on Ritalin first but I had a bad side affect on it when I was younger so I told her no. I have severe anxiety and depression since I had to stop smoking weed, because of probation. And since I stopped smoking, I started getting all these symptoms all over again. And now I am on all these BS medications. I need to know why the Adderall is not working for me. Im a bigger girl, like 220 pounds, 5'7. And I want to know if I can still take my valium with it. I did google it first but didn't get the answers I was looking for. even tho my doc told me not too I don't want to stop because of my anxiety. Not that im addicted because I have stopped before without any problems. it just works to keep me calm. I just don't want to tell her that. And should I take more than 10 mg of Adderall, or just switch to Ritalin. And what will it do to me, as far as side effects and will it make me high? thanks.
A little about myself:
I also suffer with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. For months, I was prescribed Valium at 10mg 2x/day. My doctor ended up getting into some serious trouble, for other reasons, and ended up going to jail then losing his medical license which left me without a doctor nor was I able to get my refills. Talk about a nightmare when my Valium was essential for me to function like a somewhat normal person. I had found a new, and surprisingly caring, understanding doctor. I told her the story and why I was so desperate for my Valium's. She agreed to continue me on them, but also started to dig in deeper to my past, and I decided to be COMPLETELY honest. We talked about my childhood years (my parent's divorce, failing classes through all of my schooling years due to lack of concentration/focus/motivation/being physically sick from anxiety, being in a abusive relationship which led to hard drug use, my recovery, marrying and having my first child, and finally- my life now). Our 30 min appointment turned into a 2 hour, non-fictional, storytelling session. She cared that much, and was very into my drama filled life, to reschedule her other appointments. Keeping in mind that I am a recovering addict, but not holding it against me, came to the conclusion that I have been suffering with ADD my entire life. Before treating me, she had me fill out a really long questionnaire/test to confirm and go figure I tested high for ADD.
(Not sure if it matters much, but I'm 24 and weighed approximately 120-125 lbs. when my doctor started treating me.)
My doctor started me on 20mg Adderall XR 1x/day in the mornings. Prior to this, I always took my Valium at night before bed which kept me from waking up by a panic attack and having to deal with starting my days with anxiety, and with Valium being fast acting, I only took .5 during the day when I started to feel the anxiety/panic coming on. With that being said, I started my Adderall the next morning. With it being XR, it took nearly an hour to kick in. I found that it took my depression away, completely. It gave me the energy/motivation/focus to play with my son like I felt I was supposed to, get all of the backed-up cleaning and organizing done, etc. Yes, I was “high" for almost 2 weeks before that initial high subsided and I started to feel normal. While the high goes away, the motivation and focus does not...until you start to gain a tolerance and IF that happens, then your doctor may want to up your daily doseage. After my first two weeks, it started to feel like it was wearing off too soon and instead of talking with my doctor first (which was dumb on my part), I began to just take a second one when I started to feel the first wearing off. In doing so, I ran out early THEN call my doctor. I told her what I had done and why, so she upped my dose to 30mg 1x/day, still the XR. Same situation happened again. I, personally, didn't like how the Adderall hit me in waves through the day, due to them being the XR's. When I explained this to my doctor, she put me on 10mg Adderall IR 2x/day. MUCH, much better but I gained a tolerance to these fast and inevitably was upped, again, to 20mg IR 2x/day. I started to think, maybe, Adderall wasn't right for me and chose to try Vyvanse after reading about it being less addictive. I took it for 3 days. Everyday I took it between 7am and 8am and it definitely worked, until it started to wear off around 2pm and everyday by 3pm, I was dealing with a migraine which turned out to be a side effect. I went back to my 20mg Adderall IR twice daily and am still on them, but am considering giving Strattera a try after seeing my husband do so well on it. That and I'm back to taking more than prescribed due to my tolerance being sky high, apparently.
Back to the Valium's... I found that while taking my Adderall during the day, as long as it wasn't wearing off, I wasn't taking my Valium except for at night to make me hungry for dinner, sleep and so I wouldn't have anxiety in the morning. Occasionally, if I started to focus on a side effect I was experiencing, I would start to freak out and cause a panic attack then take .5 of a Valium. I don't recommend this unless it's absolutely necessary because it seemed to take away from the Adderall. Unfortunately, after my first two months on Adderall, my doctor took me off Valium and put me on 1-2 15mg Tamazepam before bed, which I love!.. Except it doesn't help with appetite like the Valium and I can't take it during the day unless I was to feel like a walking zombie. Here recently, she's put me on 25mg Zoloft once daily for anxiety, which isn't helping but that's in the near future to be discussed.
Side effects I experienced and still do from time to time:
Loss of appetite, trouble sleeping, headaches, dry mouth, and weight loss (from lack of appetite.) Also, irregular heartbeat, ocassional chest pains, constantly feeling cold due to hypotension (low blood pressure) and easily agitated.
Although most of my side effects wore off and stopped after a couple months, this is far from all of the possible side effects. For example, my husband can't take uppers and cause him to experience extreme psychosis, paranoid to the point of hearing and seeing things that aren't there but will act on them, which is super scary and dangerous!
Can't comment on Ritalin experience because I've never tried it.
Hope this is somewhat helpful to you. I apologize for this being so long. I had nothing to do this morning and well, this is what happens while on Adderall, haha! I've been typing for 2 HOURS! But I hope you get answers to all of your questions.
