Hi everyone,

I don't have ADD (well, I haven't officially been diagnosed for it yet) and i'm not actually on 'Adderall'.. so what am I doing here?! Well, this forum seems about a hundred times more active than the one for the methylphenidate variant i'm on, which is Methylin. I hope it's okay for me to post this here.

I've been sick for a number of years, and this is one of the latest things we''re trying. My two main problems are fatigue and concentration issues. Basically after around an hour of concentrating on anything, i'm out of it. Zoned out, reading speed cut in half, nothing sinks in, fatigued etc. This interfered with schoolwork in high school, and if i'm ever able to physically attend college, i'm afraid it will there too. We're hoping this might help at least the concentration issue if not the fatigue to. (Could I really be that lucky?)

I picked up the prescription today from my Dr.'s office. I didn't get a chance to ask the doctor this, so i'm wondering, how many days should I have to take this before I should see an improvement? I'm on 20mg, 1 tablet a day. I've read somewhere of people having a near 'instantenous' effect after the first day. Is this the norm? What is around the 'longest' time I should expect to have to take it before seeing result? My next doctor's appointment is in a week and a half (I was late picking up the prescription), but I would really like to know what to expect before starting this. Some of the side effects have me concerned and I would prefer not to take this any longer than what is necessary to determine if it will help or not.

If you have any personal experience/advice to offer I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Hi Mark:

With a stimulant medication, you should feel the effects immediately. Basically, as soon as it hits your bloodstream.

The effects might still not be enough if the dose is too low, but you should feel something right away regardless.

Best of luck to you.

I'm not trying to contradict Uminchu, but that was not my personal experience with Adderall or my boyfriend's with Ritalin. It took him 4 days of taking Ritalin daily to notice a significant change, and it took me almost a month of taking Adderall. I think that Uminchu's right that it will affect you physically right away, but it could take a while longer for your brain to process exactly how it is affecting you, if that makes sense. This could be even more true for you if you're someone whom stimulants make really sleepy initially (I couldn't stay awake the first week on Adderall).

I just wanted to add that you should not feel discouraged or disappointed if it doesn't work right away. I read a lot on the forums of people having same-day transformations before I started Adderall, and I felt really frustrated when nothing seemed to happen for me. I wanted my doctor to increase my dose after 2 weeks, but I'm really glad that he didn't; I saw results not too long after that without an increased dosage (and what amazing results!).

I hope you have the wonderful immediate shift that lots of others here did, but I would hang in there with the medication for a little while even if you don't.

I'm not trying to contradict Uminchu, but that was not my personal experience with Adderall or my boyfriend's with Ritalin. It took him 4 days of taking Ritalin daily to notice a significant change, and it took me almost a month of taking Adderall. I think that Uminchu's right that it will affect you physically right away, but it could take a while longer for your brain to process exactly how it is affecting you, if that makes sense. This could be even more true for you if you're someone whom stimulants make really sleepy initially (I couldn't stay awake the first week on Adderall).

I just wanted to add that you should not feel discouraged or disappointed if it doesn't work right away. I read a lot on the forums of people having same-day transformations before I started Adderall, and I felt really frustrated when nothing seemed to happen for me. I wanted my doctor to increase my dose after 2 weeks, but I'm really glad that he didn't; I saw results not too long after that without an increased dosage (and what amazing results!).

I hope you have the wonderful immediate shift that lots of others here did, but I would hang in there with the medication for a little while even if you don't.Er I don't take adderall or ritalin, but I think maybe the Ritalin took longer to hit your system because its a different chemical, not belonging to the '-amphetamine' family. But ritalin is a very similar chemical.

You'll probably feel *something* after your first doses but it may not be the way the medicine will make you feel once you even out on it.
I had an immediate positive reaction to Adderall but didn't get evened out for a couple weeks. If you have no bad reactions, I'ld say give it a month or so before you make any big decisions one way or the other.

type zero, I'm not sure I understand your post. Ritalin is similar to the drug he's taking or is not?

To clarify, I've taken both ritalin and adderall. Ritalin never had any good effects for me (just made me sleepy). Adderall had very good effects for me, but not noticeably for a few weeks. My boyfriend started ritalin and felt a huge change after about 3 days. I have no personal experience with the stimulant the original poster is taking, but if it is similar to either ritalin or adderall, my guess is it's possible he might not notice effects for a few days at least.

ditto to meriellyn's hang in there if the side effects don't suck.

type zero, I'm not sure I understand your post. Ritalin is similar to the drug he's taking or is not?

To clarify, I've taken both ritalin and adderall. Ritalin never had any good effects for me (just made me sleepy). Adderall had very good effects for me, but not noticeably for a few weeks. My boyfriend started ritalin and felt a huge change after about 3 days. I have no personal experience with the stimulant the original poster is taking, but if it is similar to either ritalin or adderall, my guess is it's possible he might not notice effects for a few days at least.

ditto to meriellyn's hang in there if the side effects don't suck.I meant as in they're both CNS stimulants like various other ADD medications, but like some medications like prozac, you need the medication to be in your system in awhile to let your body familiarize itself with it --Or at least thats my assumption of it :P sorry for any misunderstands or adding further static to the question ><

ah, gotcha. That makes sense. Now if only there was a pill that made me patient.

Thanks, I'm going to start it today I think. I guess i'll stick it out at least the 1 1/2 weeks till the appointment, then see what the Doc has to say.

Let us know how it goes. Remember getting the dose right can be very easy (you luck out and the first dose is perfect for you -- that was my experience) or more commonly it's going to take some tinkering to find the right dose. Dr. Dodson a researcher on ADD medication says that as little as 2 mg can make a difference in effect -- too much or too little and it won't work as well. Both my daughter and my experience on Ritalin was that the first 15 minutes we felt kind of funny, but then felt fine and functioned much better.

Good luck!

Scattered

Mark, please give us, particularly me (:D) a detailed, if you can, report of your experiences on Adderall. I'm going to speak with my doctor to see If I can begin a trial run of it when my 30 day prescription runs out, and that way If I do get to start that trial, I can expect what to come. Also please elaborate more on the side effects :P

Mark,

My son's dr. said that you should start to see some better concentration immediately, within 20 min, however, he also said that the full benefit won't show up for two weeks. It needs to get into the system.

My son had no luck with adderall, but we found that to be true with metadate. In fact, when he went off Metadate, we did not see a decline for a week. It seemed to still be in his system. Now we realize he needs to stay on it.
I will be curious to hear how adderall works for you, my son seemed to have more frustratoin and less focus on it, almost like he was having a "meltdown". Perhaps we just didn't experiment with the dosage enough.

Best of luck.

Well, things haven't been going too good. I've been on it 3-4 days now, and the side effects are getting me down.

Had a lot of stomach upset since day 1, nausea mainly, cramps, but today also diarrhea. My appetite has really worsened too. This might just be because of the nausea. It's hard to eat when sick to my stomach.

Having a few other less significant problems too but they might not be related to the methylin.. i'll give it another day or two to make sure. Haven't noticed any 'night-and-day' difference in my concentration problems above, but haven't really put it to the 1-hr test yet.

Has anyone else had these side effects on it? Did they usually disappear soon after starting the medication in your experience?

Diarrhea appears to be gone thankfully after two days. Still having the nausea and cramps. Only eating about half of what I normally do which is bad because i'm underweight to begin with. I do feel hungry, but after I eat a little bit I just can't swallow anymore, and end up having to gag it down. I'm also having sleep problems that I think I can attribute to the methylin now. Many of the nights since starting it, i'll go to bed and then wake up right about 4 hours later and can't sleep anymore.

What I don't understand is why i'm still having the side effects 15-20 hours after taking it? What i've read says it should be almost completely out of the system after around 5-6 hours. It's not any sort of extended release pill from everything I can tell. Yet it seems like it's sticking around for a very long time (maybe interfering with sleep) even though I take it soon after waking up.

Concentration... I think it's improved. I took a three hour practice test at home yesterday and seemed much more alert than usual.. none of the blanking out i'm used to. But it's kind of hard to tell if it's actually *helping* when i'm getting almost no sleep and am lacking energy due to eating almost nothing. I feel like my brain is wired awake even though my body is completely exhausted.

Last pill today then I see the doctor tomorrow. Unless the side fx go away very soon though, I don't think this is going to work. I can't keep sacrificing the body for the mind as much as I want this stuff to work.

Wow, I don't know how I managed to miss this multiple times, but while idly looking at the bottle today I noticed the little 'ER' on the pill bottle. Apparently it IS the extended release version. Definitely going to see if the doc will prescribe the normal one.

My doc prescribed Adderall ir 30 mgs once a day for me and it is all I need. The first week I crashed a bit in the early evening, but not anymore. I don't feel the need for an extra boast at all. The only time I really notice the medication is when it starts to kick in in the morning...I am able to focus.

Hi Mark,

I'm a lot like you -- my ADD struggles are fatigue and fuzziness. It was hard to concentrate on anything because all I wanted to do was sleep, but when I got to bed, it would take hours to fall asleep. Fatigue, fatigue, fatigue.... Naps, even when I had the opportunity to take a nap, were downright impossible. No matter how sleepy I was, my mind would not stop racing on random thoughts.

I've been on 20mg Adderal XR for three weeks and the results have been good. I feel more "level" and "steady" and also more alert. Could be better -- it poops out too early in the afternoon, so I'm upping the dose to 40mg. Oddly, I have been sleeping better. I used to take sleeping pills 3-4 nights per week, since I started Adderal, I have only needed one on Sunday nights.

The only side effect that I can attribute to Adderal is dry mouth. I've had a lot of headaches in the last three weeks, but that could also be due to the jaw/neck problems I also have.

I noticed a difference with the first dose. My body seems to have adjusted to it over the last few weeks, so I don't notice it as much anymore.

Well, things haven't been going too good. I've been on it 3-4 days now, and the side effects are getting me down.

Had a lot of stomach upset since day 1, nausea mainly, cramps, but today also diarrhea. My appetite has really worsened too. This might just be because of the nausea. It's hard to eat when sick to my stomach.

Having a few other less significant problems too but they might not be related to the methylin.. i'll give it another day or two to make sure. Haven't noticed any 'night-and-day' difference in my concentration problems above, but haven't really put it to the 1-hr test yet.

Has anyone else had these side effects on it? Did they usually disappear soon after starting the medication in your experience?
This generally will go away after a few weeks. If you can though, try to eat just before taking it. This will really help with the nausea and cramping. If you can't eat, at least try to drink some milk with it.

The appetite loss is pretty normal. It helps to eat in the morning before taking your meds, and late at night after they wear off. Then during the day when you really don't feel like eating, just try to eat small, frequent meals or snacks to keep your energy up.

Most of these types of side effects though do level out in about a month. Hang in there!