Hi all,

Everyone on this board seems to have valuable experiences and opinions to share, so I thought I'd post my question on here.

I recently was diagnosed w/ ADD and was put on a prescription for Dex spansules - 10 mg for 1 week to be increased to 20 mg the week thereafter.

The first 2 to 3 days, it seemed to work decent. Kept me alert and active but didn't notice any startling improvements in focus. No side effects except for dry mouth and some erratic sleeping.

Since then, the medication has been doing some strange things to me. I get tired easily, can't think critically (it makes me cloudy and dazed) and almost feel like I'm stoned without the euphoric happiness. It's like being in a daze and it's having a very irritating affect on my personality; feels like I'm not as fun as usual and am just somber and walking around in a stupor. I've been getting enough sleep and I eat enough during the day, so I know that's not the problem. I even tried bumping up the dose to 20mg and still nothing. Even tried opening up the capsule and reducing the dose to 5 mg; still cluttered and unorganized thinking.

This is really frustrating. I had some high hopes that I could actually get a lot of studying done and be completely focused and organized in my thoughts. This medication is actually detrimental; all it's doing is eroding my teeth away.

i'd appreciate if someone could let me know if these are just 'side effects' or should i tell my doctor i want out.

Three possibilities:

1) You need to give it more time. Stick with it a while longer.

2) Try a higher dose still yet, if your doctor will approve it. 15mg instant release, or 30mg in spansules.

3) Amphetamines may not be for you. Try methylphenidate.

-Chad

If I was in this situation the first thing I would do is stop taking them and see how I feel for a couple of days. If it's the Dex, you should be just as before the next day - it does not stay in your system for very long. Your reaction is odd, & I don't think that more would help - but this is just a guess really.
Have you tried Ritalin?
Are you taking anything else that might interact?
You should talk to your doctor.

Hey thanks guys!
I agree that I probably need to try Ritalin because from the research I've done it appears that both methylphenidate and amphetamines only work on 40% of the people or so. Usually it's one or the other. I've just been taking Dex for 8 days or so now, so I'm hoping my doctor will be willing to switch me so quickly.

Gregster, with respect to your response, the only thing I can think of that maybe interacts with the Dex is cigarettes and soda. I smoke like 10-15 a day and drink maybe 4 diet cokes during the course of a day. I don't know if that's what is doing it, but I just hate this feeling of having a light haze over my brain and not being able to process stuff like I used to.

I'm kind of going through the same deal--though I don't know if it's truly happening or it's something due to stress/lifestyle/eating habits/other PRN meds/etc...

It's like tolerance or something.

Remember, guys? I went on 5, then upped it eventually to 15 and I think that seemed good for a while...the 25's been great, but today we upped it to 30, 'cause it's like I'm getting fuzzy again, going in reverse all of a sudden...?:confused:

Chrys

p.s. On a good note, I filled the 15 mg. script my shrink gave me a couple of weeks ago just in case I did end up switching to 30s...now I'm taking 2 white pills over a white kitchen floor instead of what would have been 6 (I was on the 5 mgs) which is a bit less worrisome with the kiddo around!

I believe nicotine is acts on the dopamine system just as ADHD stimulant medications do. I don't think smoking necessarily contraindicates stimulant medications but the commonality is at least worth pointing out.

Hey thanks Chad.
Yeah, days 4 to 6 were bad because I think my doc started me off pretty high at 10-20 mgs and since I've never been on this medication, I felt like this kid that I got to know while doing volunteer work whose mom had him on a high dose of Ritalin and he just looked he was in a daze the whole time. I mean I was sitting in class and the professor was speaking and I literally had to squint to concentrate to process just about any information.
That dazed/dopey stoned feeling is dissipating slowly as I continue to take 10-20 mg spansules per day, but I still feel like when I'm on it, I can read but my processing isn't as efficient as it was before. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Who knows?

I believe nicotine is acts on the dopamine system just as ADHD stimulant medications do. I don't think smoking necessarily contraindicates stimulant medications but the commonality is at least worth pointing out.
Yeah, I posted something about that in the Adult ADD forum...(smoking, I mean.)

dexnotworking,

I am having the same problem with the haziness and critical thinking ability too. I have adderall and dex and when I first take it during the day it works great for a few hours. And then I get that feeling which you described where I just feel dumb and can't understand or reason through anything in my head. Taking adderall or dex after this makes no difference. Let me know if you find something that helps. I posted about my experiences in the Adderall forums.

Dear DNW-
I would think it would be really hard to determine an effective medication and dosage when consuming caffeine and nicotine, as they both act as stimulants. On the good news front, however, I found it really easy to kick my mocha habit once I went on dex b/c I didn't need coffee in order to concentrate and wake me up any more.
Also, I hear some docs don't often prescribe the dexedrine spanules b/c its release mechanism isn't very sophistocated compared with Adderall XR and may dump a little/too much at one time. You might want to try the immediate-release tablets and experiment with amount of time between doses.

I am having a similar reaction to the Spansule. After 40 years of denying it, I finally realized I definitely have ADD and got my doctor to start trying things. Strattera was a joke. No response whatsoever to it. So I asked her to let me try dextroamphetamine. She put me on 5 mg Spansules.... also a joke.

I work midnights, typing, at home. I started the pills two weeks ago. Took one at 10 p.m. By 4 a.m. I was asleep at my computer. This went on for the entire week. I took them for a total of 17 days with pretty much the same reaction - tired, falling asleep after 5 hours, absolutely no "buzz" as I hear people talk about. Not sure my thinking was any clearer at all. In fact, I felt like I was typing slower, making more errors and my concentration seemed to be worse. (Not that I can focus long to begin with!). However, now that I think about it, I actually did read a book last week and I haven't done that in a year or more. Once upon a time I used to read a book a day!

Anyway, I really would like to bump up the dosage of the dextroamphetamine Spansules to see if that may be the answer. I stopped them for four days and really didn't see much difference, other than my jaw wasn't so tight and I had stopped clenching my teeth.

I got a new RX mailed out to me from the doctor last week, for another 30 pills of "dextroamphetamine 5 MG ER spansule by BARR. I asked the druggist if I could get them filled using a different manufacturer since I had not heard good things about BARR, but he said the pharmacy only stocked one mfg and BARR was it. So, I went ahead and filled it, and decided I would call around before I filled the next RX and make sure I get them from a different manufacturer.

I don't believe 5 MG is the answer for me. I have no health problems, just passed a stress test with flying colors - (which doctor insisted I get before prescribing this medication).

QUESTION:
What's the best way to bump this medication up to see if it's going to work or not. I only have 30 pills here to work with. Surely I would think if it was going to work I would see/feel more than what I'm seeing right now.

Also, why am I so sleepy after five hours on it. I don't get hyper when I take it, so why am I "crashing".

If I decided to take two of these, is it better to take them at once or take the second one after four hours so I don't "crash".

Any help will be appreciated. I really want to get my life together. Thanks

For me, 10 mg Dexedrine Spansules never acheives lift offf, it never get to the same intensity as 10 mg off plain Dexedrine. Despite the advantages of sustatned release, i don't think I'll continue with Spansules. I'd rather live with the extra pills and more doses that the Spansules which I find are fare less efffective. I'm not sure why this should be so.

"Packrat"
5mg spansules are not very strong - they release 1/2 of the dose when taken and the other 1/2 about 4 hours later - so I'm not surprised that you don't see a huge effect. I suspect that the pills are working - since you do notice a difference in reading and when they wear off - but I suspect that you aren't at the optimum dose yet. You should consult with your doctor before increasing the dose, but it doesn't sound like there will be any problems since you are healthy. Generally doctors wil start a person out slowly to see how they react to the medication. Some people only need a very small amount, whereas others may need much more - it depends very much on the person - so what usually happens is the dose is increased until the optimum level is reached. This is the dosage where you get the maximum positive effect - too much stimulant is as bad as none at all, so there will be a point where you start to see negative effects - and you'll know you've taken too much. The only way to determine what works best is to experiment a little and find out. I think this is easier to do with tablets vs spansules, since the second release of drug isn't precise and makes figuring out effective dosage harder.

When i voiced my concerns to my doctor today he said to just take the plain Dexedrine since I had no problems with it and actually preferred it to the Spansules. So I probably won't go back to spansules at all.

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I am quite intrigued by all the different points of view I am reading in this forum, its definitely a tough disorder to cope with. I am in awe that you are taking Dexedrine for your ADD if you were just diagnosed with it. Not that I am in favor of the 5 years of HELL my 3 doctors put me through, trying everything under the sun before trying amphetamine based meds, but Dexedrine out of the gate is hardcore. Dexedrine is powerful and does a lot more then allow you to stay focused at the task at hand, as most of us know that are taking it. I have two things I would like to share from personal experience. First of all, the Generic form of Dexedrine spansules made by (Barr) for me are $5 for a months supply compared to the Brand name Dexedrine (SB) at $55 a for a months supply. After spending the first 2 months on the generic and now a month into the Brand name, its worth it to me to pay the extra because it feels "Cleaner" to me. I felt like I was "Almost there" most of the time on the generic version and it was frustrating. I too was having problems feeling like I was tired at times after taking my morning dose of 30mg. For the most part I take my meds at about 7:00am when I first wake up, then I go back to bed until it wakes me up. I can actually sleep on it if I want to at times and it makes for a difficult day with the rollercoaster ride from the spansule time release. What I have been doing (I don't recommend this) is smashing the time release little balls in the spansule into a powder then stuffing that back into the spansule. This method is quite tedious and some may say why not switch to a non-time release tablet? The reason is its working for now and quite frankly I am sick of changing my meds. Lastly, for those of you that are drowning yourself in coffee while taking Dexedrine and wondering why you feel "Hazy" it probably overstimulating you. Coffee ramps straight up and then straight down quickly..... doesn't make sense to stimulate stimulation I wouldn't think, but thats just me. Thanks for taking the time to read this, good luck to you all.

-Flavor