Need some advice. I was recently prescribed 120 tabs of the generic Barr d-amphetamine. I'm on 2 5mg tablets, 2x per day. Now, my reaction is not what I expected at all. It's almost comparative to a large cup of coffee. Thats it! Lack of concentration, etc... I even messed with my dosages, but the anxiety and paranoia increase.

One worthy note: I recall about 3 years ago a friend of mine handed me a brand name 5mg adderall. I felt great!

Since then it's been extremely difficult with obtaining this particular prescription. My list of past medicines have been, Ritalin(terrible), Provigil(didn't socialize with anyone) Strattera(no change).

I've been hearing how bad the Barr brand is, but I always thought generic was identical to the name brand.

Since my prescription, I have stopped consuming the d-amphetamines. I have about 100 remaining, and I refuse to consume anymore If I'm going to feel like I'm on a caffine high.

Any suggestions? Dexadrine, Adderall, etc...

I forgot to mention, I understand everyones reaction to a medication varies, but I really believe Adderall, dexadrine, etc.. can be more of a help then the others I listed.

Also, because of d-amphetamine being a highly controlled medication, is it true I must wait 30 days before making another appt to see my doc?

If not, should I bring in the unused pills and discard them in front of my doctor>

I'm not sure if taking the pills back to your Dr is necessary or not, but it sure seems like a good idea. I would definitely suggest that you try and see your Dr about this so that at least your Dr can be made aware that this generic version is not working for you.

I have taken many different generics over the years, and I find that the Mallinckrodt dextroamphetamine 5mg tablet is the best of all the dextroamphetamines.

It's much smoother than the Barr brand, at least for me it is. It's also difficult to obtain since the Barr brand of dextroamphetamine is so much more profitable for a pharmacy to sell than the Mallinckrodt brand of dextroamphetamine.

Don't despare if you can't find a pharmacy that carries it though until you have called all the pharmacies in your area. It has been my experience that most of the privately owned pharmacies are your best bet when it comes to ordering a specific brand of generic that you want to try. The big chain pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, etc, usually are very limited in what they can or can not order for you based on how much, or how little profit is in it for them.

Lars,

I appreciate your reply. I'll call around and give it a shot. Another thing I noticed is my insurance will not cover any type of d-amphetamine. So, I was forced to purchase the generic Barr at a cost of $167.00. By curiosity, I also called Costco, there non-insurance charge was $41.00.

It was to late, but moving forward I know who I'll be going to for my prescriptions.

BearsSome insurance plans require a pre-approval for certain types of meds. Call your insurance to ask. I have Blue Cross and on their list of meds requiring this are amphetamines. All the methylphenidate meds are excluded from the list for some reason meaning I don't need authorization.
Also, I recently got a script for Mallinckrodt dex 5mg capsules. My local Rite Aid had them. I didn't get pre-approval yet so I paid out of pocket. It cost me $72.00 for (60) 5mg Mallinckrodt capsules.
I'm on a tiny dose, 5mg 2x a day and it is doing NOTHING for me. Not even close to my old dose of 25mg Adderall XR twice a day. Guess I'll have to move back over to Adderall.

J

I think you need a trial of adderall or generic. Barr indeed is horible. I don't why. I have used the same dex you speak of and I hated it. Barr adderall is simaler for some reason.... If your like me then your doctor recomended dex based on cost. Adderall is now generic, give some of the generics a try. You doctor has no reason not to perscribe it if he/she will write for dex. Once again mallinckrodt is highly recomended as well as sandoz/eon (my current script). It's also very cheap if you look around.... I'm getting mine for around $30 (10mg x 90)... this seems unusual however.

Hello Freinds,

I just tuned in to this dialogue so pardon any over lap. I've enjoyed knowing I have a unique gift in ADD for about 15 years, during which I've gained a higher education (non formal) in the cognitive mechanics. It's been a wonderful process... and I've learned a lot of valuable things.

That said, I'm under absolutely no mistaken assumption of what works for my unique chemistry, and what does NOT. I've tried about every-single-f%&$&$*n-thing... and what I know works, 100% of the time is BRAND name, 5 mg. Dexedrine tabs.

Not time released and NOT generic.

I known this and experiemented for years... but as the brand has evaporated (damn, that's criminal) I've come to try generics of all sorts again.

This is me... catching butterflies... unable to move, frozen and completely over stressed... it's absolutely absurd. It's like buying bad street drugs - or so I can imagine.

I will not ever let anyone tell me they are the same... they are not. There's something very wrong here...

Has anyone else suffered with this? Sure, that's what I'm answering... but what about a solution?

Anyone know where to find the real thing?

Thanks!
PWRbldg

pwrbldg:

It sounds like a terible situation to be in. I would not wish this upon anyone. You only option in the short term may be to call around to every phamacy in town until you find one that has stock on hand. it's too bad they destroy most stocks after a year. Most drugs are good far longer than this. There may be generics you don't know about. Due to the nature of the drug you certainly don't have the option to "stock up" while supplies are still avaiable. You may want to talk to a phamacy about having them stock up on some kind of prepay arrangment. All these options only buy time however. You may need to seriously concider dysoxin. Have you tried mallinckrodt dex? Rumor has it abbot supplied the dextro for this perperation. Good Luck!.

BearsSome insurance plans require a pre-approval for certain types of meds. Call your insurance to ask. I have Blue Cross and on their list of meds requiring this are amphetamines. All the methylphenidate meds are excluded from the list for some reason meaning I don't need authorization.
Also, I recently got a script for Mallinckrodt dex 5mg capsules. My local Rite Aid had them. I didn't get pre-approval yet so I paid out of pocket. It cost me $72.00 for (60) 5mg Mallinckrodt capsules.
I'm on a tiny dose, 5mg 2x a day and it is doing NOTHING for me. Not even close to my old dose of 25mg Adderall XR twice a day. Guess I'll have to move back over to Adderall.

J
Just curious why you stopped taking the Adderall and also why wouldn't you try a higher dose of the dex.

Hello Freinds,

I just tuned in to this dialogue so pardon any over lap. I've enjoyed knowing I have a unique gift in ADD for about 15 years, during which I've gained a higher education (non formal) in the cognitive mechanics. It's been a wonderful process... and I've learned a lot of valuable things.

That said, I'm under absolutely no mistaken assumption of what works for my unique chemistry, and what does NOT. I've tried about every-single-f%&$&$*n-thing... and what I know works, 100% of the time is BRAND name, 5 mg. Dexedrine tabs.

Not time released and NOT generic.

I known this and experiemented for years... but as the brand has evaporated (damn, that's criminal) I've come to try generics of all sorts again.

This is me... catching butterflies... unable to move, frozen and completely over stressed... it's absolutely absurd. It's like buying bad street drugs - or so I can imagine.

I will not ever let anyone tell me they are the same... they are not. There's something very wrong here...

Has anyone else suffered with this? Sure, that's what I'm answering... but what about a solution?



Thanks!
PWRbldgYour post really hit home with me. Although I am new to meds, sometimes a simple answer is the best.

Just trying to imagine a simple 5mg pill that really works extremely well and has very little side effects...

Sorry, I didn't see the question.

Well my primary care doc decide to 'punt' because he finally admitted he had no real idea how to titrate meds or properly tread ADD. I'm seeing a Neurologist now, gave him my history of meds since last summer. He said he gets best results from Adderall but wanted to know if I wanted to give Dex a shot so I agreed.
Well, 5mg twice a day didn't do squat so he just put me on Ritalin LA 10mg twice a day and that sucks even worse. He did give the option of upping the Dex but I don't want 3 doses a day. I'd forget to take the mid-day dose so I'm hoping for long acting, twice a day dose. He did give me permission to play with the Ritalin dose which I have been. 30mg twice a day seems to be best so far. I don't like the Ritalin LA 50/50 release profile. The peaks and valleys are way to noticable (same with Focalin XR).
My best meds in the following order are:

Adderall XR 25mg twice a day
Focalin XR 20mg once a day
Concerta 54mg once a day
Ritalin LA -->still working on it but it sucks :(

I might just ask the doc about going back to Adderall after this round. I'm getting tired of all the trial and error.

J

Pwrbldg Here...

Thank you for the replies on my insert to this thread. Yes, it's a lousy place to be -- but I'm very appreciative of the lead to the Mellinkrodt (sp?) brand - generic. It sounds like it may be the stuff. I'm looking at getting some tomorrow.

What's wild is i've been dealing with this generic thing for years... many, many. Every now and then some foolish Pharm would slip a generic into my script, in place of brand. And each time I tried one or less I'd be a mess. Totally spaced out, no movement, no action... unable to see straight. Crazy.

Now, genius team as GSK decides to stop making the preferred brand of Dexedrine... great!

What infuriates and amazes me is that the generics get away with this crap!!!! I can not believe it's possible let alone legal. I hope like hell that one of the executives kids or families members finds themselves needing med's for ADD and they come to find out, for real, that this crap is crap.

I'd like to get ONE MORE real Dexedrine and then send it in with an assortment of generics for some intensive, testing... see what comes up!

Onward... and upward...

~ Shawn ~

I'm on Barr and it's fine... think you guys need some double-blind tests ;) If you're angry/upset/nervous about taking Barr, of course you'll feel jittery when you take it.

You say "combo 5mg tabs"... are these blue? If so, you've gotten generic Adderall, which is way more anxiogenic and "jittery" than plain dexedrine.

Barr's generic dexedrine is orange.