Question about extended release drugs

I was always under the impression that if you took an xr pill (for example adderall xr 20mg) you would get the instant 20mg release and a couple hours later you would get another 20mgs meaning the pill would contain a total of 40mg in all.

Recently I heard somewhere that if you take a 20mg Adderall xr you instead get 10mg instantly and the other 10mg later on.

Which scenerio is true?

I don't know where you heard this, but its wrong.

A 20mg XR Adderall pill contains just that, 20mg total. The 20mg is released over time. It's not 20mg now, then 20mg later. That would be a 40mg pill.

The idea that a pill contains more drugs than it says it does is complete and total misinformation. Pill/capsule/tablet/etc dosages are always the total amount in the pill. END OF STORY.

^ this

The time it's released over can vary, though is generally gonna be a few hours. And it's not something like half the pill immediately gets absorbed, then an hour later the other half, it's a gradual process. Would be better to think of it as 0.0001mg / second or something.
The only case where it would have dose/hour displayed instead of total dose is when you're on IV drips or transdermal patches, never with pills.

CheapHighMan said:

Which scenerio is true?

Click to expand...

Neither.

Extended release pills are formulated to release a steady amount of the drug over a set period of time. It doesn't release half instantly, wait awhile, and then release the other half. It's a steady amount, and you get it slowly.

As highlighted above they also would NOT contain anymore of the active chemical than the stated dosage.

^Exactly.

I'm going to close this thread because it is well, the perfect example of an open-and-shut case. The dosage the pill states it is...is the amount of drugs in the pill. Period.