I was diagnosed with ADD about 5 months ago. For years people use to call me special, dumb, burnt, spaced out, lazy and said that I have no interest in what anyone says to me. Finally I moved away and then some people told me that I am ADD. It all made sense then when I read the symptoms and it sounded like someone describing me. Also when I was child I was the class clown for years. My father also has most of the symptoms and is an alcoholic. When I said I though I was ADD he said that he thought he was when he was young also. Enough rambling. So I saw a doctor and have been taking ritalin and it does seem to work well. My family has noticed that I am calmer and my girlfriend says that I am focusing more and I have no craving anymore for pot and little for alcohol which I did heavily before. I tried the ritalinSR but I found it to be pretty inconsistent. The short acting ritalin is better and I have been taking 50 milligrams a day. When I am at work I take 15 or 20 milligrams at a time 3 to 4 hours aparet and when I am at home I take 5 or 10. This week my doctor prescribed me Concerta and although it does work I find it really slow for the first few hours. I have been hyperfocusing and obsesses about what would be the best for me. Ritalin works but I want to make sure I am getting the best. My doctor doesnt really seem to know much about ADH/D and I am worried about asking for an ampetamine. I have heard alot of good things about Dex and Adderall and I was wondering what some of you think. What drug or dosage seems to work better. I have mainly inattentive ADD although I still have many hyperactive symptoms but most of those seem to have disappeared with age. Any help would be great guys and gals. Its great to be in a forum with so many others with the same type of problems.

dexedrine is superior for me to ritalin/concerta or the adderall in my opinion

From a neuropharmacological standpoint, there really isn't much difference between the two drugs. There are some minor differences in how they interact at the cellular level, but they generally tend to produce very similar results. One of the main differences between them is pharmacokinetics, how your body absorbs and excretes the drug. Ritalin has a shorter half-life, which is why there are so many long and intermediate length preparations of this drug. With dextroamphetamine, there's just immediate release Dexedrine, Adderall, Adderall XR, and Dexedrine spanules.

Those are the major differences that apply across the board. Individually, some people find that one drug or the other might be more effective or have fewer side effects, but there's no way of saying which one will be more effective or have fewer side effects for you individually, whereas it's much easier to make a broad generalization about which would last longer for you. Sometimes the dosage level and frequency makes a bigger difference than which medication you're taking, and sometimes one medication or the other will be more effective. If you find that the Ritalin is helping, but you don't believe that it is fully dealing with your symptoms, then it might be worth trying Adderall or some other amphetamine medication.

The important thing, though, is to be seeing a doctor who specializes or at least has a lot of experience with ADD/ADHD. They are better able to help you find the right dosage level and frequency, because their experience has helped them figure out the difference between a problem that could be corrected by altering the dosage or when a different medication might be more helpful.