for the first time, i have a grip over myself. now i can say to myself, NO, DONT GO ON MESSAGE BOARDS, DON'T MESSAGE PEOPLE, DONT DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE DISTRACTING. STICK TO THE TASK AT HAND

After day 2 on adderall I've concluded that I still can talk a lot or spew out 5 pages worth of an over-explanation (something I do a lot with no drugs, it converts to time wasted) while on adderall, however, the difference is, if i make a conscious decision (on adderall) to NOT do that, and carry on with the (task at hand), then i'm actually able to do that. whereas off adderall, even if i make the decision to not over explain or even bother to type 5 pages worth, or even bother to type anything period, i still do it. often times i dont even get the chance to decide, as i rush it out and start typing then think about it later like wtf did i just do.

so adderall is still awesome. It has changed my life. I have felt no side effects, I do not feel any crash or anything like that. All I feel is the improved concentration, focus, ability to sustain attention for hours upon hours, disappear.. that's all I feel. I feel it leaving me, and that's it. Come back dopamine!

There's obviously a lot more, but put it this way. Every single add symptom I had, that I considered a problem (at times), were all eliminated on adderall. That's not to say other drugs won't do the same, just saying that adderall has done wonders for me.. It's only day 2 though. 15mg IR

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=06-124

dopamine transporters in non-add and add brains
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/photos/2006/ADHD-DAT-w.gif

i can focus, pay attention, concentrate, and perform at incredibly high levels, WITHOUT ADDERALL

the problem is, i can't sustain that for very long. i mentally burn out (even if i dont want to), it always ends up being that way

adderall took care of that. adderall made it so that the whole time it was having its effect i did not burn out, i sustained attention, didn't care for distractions. I felt like, i can do the things that i consider to be distractions, LATER, after im done 'work'

whereas without adderall, id jump right to the distractions, without really even realizing

i am just so drawn to anything that requires little mental effort, and i dislike that. I always feel like, if it was up to me, i'd do nothing all day. To me that's wrong. That's not good. In this world we live in, we cannot afford to just do nothing all day. I recognize that, and so that's why I've battled the add symptoms for so many years, thinking I could fix it..

2 months ago is when I realized that I have add. Up until then, I knew what my problems were, I just didn't know why or how to fix it.

Thank you SHIRE I LOVE YOU

I plan on taking drug holidays every 3 months, for a duration of 4 weeks, to promote a balance.. after 3 years, I may never take these drugs again, simply because my life will be molded in such a way where it wont be so demanding

Hello, I'm glad to see that you got the help you needed on adderall after only a couple of days. Good for you!!

I thought that I was going to have close to the same response as you when I first started on adderall. I've been on it for 1 week and a half at 10(mg) twice daily. But having a success story like yours wasn't the case and now I am very dissapointed.But reading your story has given me back a little bit of hope that I had once before, concerning the medication.

You see how you noticed that adderall helped all your ADD symptoms after only a few days, thats the response I want to have.

My psychologist did say that I had a severe form of ADHD, which made me sad.

Do you or anyone else reading this have any words of encouragement to tell me, because I would like to one day be able to give the same success story you have.

Nobody really understands what I am going through. I want to be able to function so badly like how I see other people but I can't and that just makes me not want to be around anyone.
But I don't want to be isolated either.
I just don't know what to do??

Yolanda, I hear you. I bang my head against the wall miserable, angry, frustrated...that my brain doesn't work the way I want it to.

I've been working on coming to terms with some things lately. The first lesson my psych told me was "Medication gets you to the starting line, the rest is how you run with it."

No medication is going to fix it all. Some people find the right med and do great, sometimes things go downhill down the road, others spend a long time finding the right "cocktail" that their body responds to. For me staterra has worked fine so far, but it has not been magical.

In the end, still frustrated at times feeling like "my brain is broken", I've also been learning to make peace with myself. I've been relieved at those times when I can just laugh at myself. "You're not stupid, your brain just works funny." Those are the loving words of my husband who is used to my memory problems, disorganization, lack of motivation (the only one that bothers him), confusion, etc etc etc.

It's ok to be feeling the way you are, but look for those openings when you can laugh, accept, and enjoy your uniqueness. Some things cannot be changed, and that does not necessarily mean that's a bad thing. This is what I tell myself, so I hope it helps a little.

Hello, I'm glad to see that you got the help you needed on adderall after only a couple of days. Good for you!!

I thought that I was going to have close to the same response as you when I first started on adderall. I've been on it for 1 week and a half at 10(mg) twice daily. But having a success story like yours wasn't the case and now I am very dissapointed.But reading your story has given me back a little bit of hope that I had once before, concerning the medication.

You see how you noticed that adderall helped all your ADD symptoms after only a few days, thats the response I want to have.

My psychologist did say that I had a severe form of ADHD, which made me sad.

Do you or anyone else reading this have any words of encouragement to tell me, because I would like to one day be able to give the same success story you have.

Nobody really understands what I am going through. I want to be able to function so badly like how I see other people but I can't and that just makes me not want to be around anyone.
But I don't want to be isolated either.
I just don't know what to do??Do you have AIM, MSN, or anything? PM ME

Either way, if your psych says it's a severe form of ADD, then you do realize, that if the 10mg twice a day isn't working, inevitably they're going to up the dosage, right? Which means that sooner or later, you're going to land on the right dosage that gives you the relief you need

so if 10mg x 2 isn't doing it for you, then ttell them that and suggest that maybe its a low dosage and that if you were on 20mg x 2 or something better you might have a different effect

so just because it isnt working now, dont assume thats it. its over. it isnt over. there's still 5-10 other add drugs to try. adderall should work for you though on a higher dosage. if it doesnt, then adderall isn't for you. something else will be, i.e concerta

tellin ya, dont let it get you down
its hard i know
just as long as you understand why you even need to take a drug to begin with

it is a neurological problem
the drugs even you out (in laymans terms)
the drugs 'complete' you in a sense. give you whats missing
give you whats lacking
give you that increased dopamine

severe doesn't mean ****, dont worry. it just means that 10mg x 2 may not do it for you.

there's a slim to none chance that no addd meds are going to work for you. i just don'ts ee how. so there you have it, you are for sure going to get long term relief, steadily, sooner or later

just keep thinking about that

for the first time, i have a grip over myself. now i can say to myself, NO, DONT GO ON MESSAGE BOARDS, DON'T MESSAGE PEOPLE, DONT DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE DISTRACTING. STICK TO THE TASK AT HAND

After day 2 on adderall I've concluded that I still can talk a lot or spew out 5 pages worth of an over-explanation (something I do a lot with no drugs, it converts to time wasted) while on adderall, however, the difference is, if i make a conscious decision (on adderall) to NOT do that, and carry on with the (task at hand), then i'm actually able to do that. whereas off adderall, even if i make the decision to not over explain or even bother to type 5 pages worth, or even bother to type anything period, i still do it. often times i dont even get the chance to decide, as i rush it out and start typing then think about it later like wtf did i just do.

so adderall is still awesome. It has changed my life. I have felt no side effects, I do not feel any crash or anything like that. All I feel is the improved concentration, focus, ability to sustain attention for hours upon hours, disappear.. that's all I feel. I feel it leaving me, and that's it. Come back dopamine!

There's obviously a lot more, but put it this way. Every single add symptom I had, that I considered a problem (at times), were all eliminated on adderall. That's not to say other drugs won't do the same, just saying that adderall has done wonders for me.. It's only day 2 though. 15mg IR

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=06-124

dopamine transporters in non-add and add brains
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/photos/2006/ADHD-DAT-w.gif

i can focus, pay attention, concentrate, and perform at incredibly high levels, WITHOUT ADDERALL

the problem is, i can't sustain that for very long. i mentally burn out (even if i dont want to), it always ends up being that way

adderall took care of that. adderall made it so that the whole time it was having its effect i did not burn out, i sustained attention, didn't care for distractions. I felt like, i can do the things that i consider to be distractions, LATER, after im done 'work'

whereas without adderall, id jump right to the distractions, without really even realizing

i am just so drawn to anything that requires little mental effort, and i dislike that. I always feel like, if it was up to me, i'd do nothing all day. To me that's wrong. That's not good. In this world we live in, we cannot afford to just do nothing all day. I recognize that, and so that's why I've battled the add symptoms for so many years, thinking I could fix it..

2 months ago is when I realized that I have add. Up until then, I knew what my problems were, I just didn't know why or how to fix it.

Thank you SHIRE I LOVE YOU

I plan on taking drug holidays every 3 months, for a duration of 4 weeks, to promote a balance.. after 3 years, I may never take these drugs again, simply because my life will be molded in such a way where it wont be so demanding
Great link node, thanks for posting that.

So you take Adderall in Canada? I thought that Health Canada suspended that drug back in 2005? I'm glad to hear that it is back in use up there.

Keep up the great post node, and certainlly keep up the cool links like that one!

Hello, I'm glad to see that you got the help you needed on adderall after only a couple of days. Good for you!!

I thought that I was going to have close to the same response as you when I first started on adderall. I've been on it for 1 week and a half at 10(mg) twice daily. But having a success story like yours wasn't the case and now I am very dissapointed.But reading your story has given me back a little bit of hope that I had once before, concerning the medication.

You see how you noticed that adderall helped all your ADD symptoms after only a few days, thats the response I want to have.

My psychologist did say that I had a severe form of ADHD, which made me sad.

Do you or anyone else reading this have any words of encouragement to tell me, because I would like to one day be able to give the same success story you have.

Nobody really understands what I am going through. I want to be able to function so badly like how I see other people but I can't and that just makes me not want to be around anyone.
But I don't want to be isolated either.
I just don't know what to do??I was first diagnosed in 1992 with ADD at the age of 22. Since then I have been on every stimulant drug that is prescribed for this dissorder.

Adderall was not a good fit for me. It was not an unhealthy fit like the methylphenidate was, but rather the Adderall simply made me very sedated which at the time no other stimulant drug had ever done.

Since that time (mid 1990's) I have found Desoxyn to also be somehwat sedating (albeit mildy sedating), but it was not a pronounced sedation like I experienced with Adderall. With Dexedrine, Ritalin, Focalin, or even caffeine for that matter I never experienced any sedation what so ever. I would love to find out why my brain responds this way to some stimulants, and not others.

Anyhoot, the reason for my post Yolanda was to share some words of encouragement. You are early on in your journey with these drugs, and just because one may not be working out for you as hoped, then perhaps you might consider trying other versions of that drug. For instance, I have noticed that someof the different generic preperations of these drugs can cause dramatic differences in effect.

Perhaps it is as node suggest, and maybe this is an issue related to dosage. Your Dr would know best concerning which path you go down from here, but I strongly suggest that before anyone ever gives up on a drug, that they try and aquire as many versions of that drug as possible in order to rule out if maybe their first impression of said drug turned out to be a generic version that is generally not well tolerated by most people.

The brand name Adderall was the only version of that drug that I ever took because when I took Adderall there were no generics available due to how new it was.

However, I do know that there are several options availabe these days, and I hope that you and your Dr explore as many as possible, because finding the right drug just might be the answer to your prayers.

Drugs are usually not the end all be all therapy for ADHD, but for some people some of these drugs can end up being the end all be all that they need.

Please do not get discouraged, and please know that there are others who have been where you are now. Many of us went through the whole process of trying a certain drug only to find out it was not what was hoped for. It took me many years to find the right drug, and even after that it took several additional months to find the right dosage of said drug.

Don't get discouraged, and please consider trying another generic version of a drug (or the brand name drug) in order to rule out how you respond to different manufaturers formulas of that same active ingredient. They may share the same active ingredient, but they rarely share the same effect for many of us who have been able to compare their differences.

You have "internet ADD" too, I notice there is no such thing as checking email

For me, I found that Adderall (or Concerta) by itself wasn't a magic cure-all. But Adderall + a little bit of willpower works wonders.

Adderall definately helps sustain concentration, so I found that it works best for me if I take it shortly before I start working on what I need to concentrate on. Taking the pill is the very last thing I do before leaving for work. When I get to work, If I force myself to start working on my work as soon as I sit down (no checking internet sites or other distractions first), Adderall allows me to concentrate on the work through the whole day.

If I take Adderall and allow myself to check internet sites 'first', then often I find myself checking internet sites all day and it seems like it's harder to stop and switch tasks while on Adderall.

How do I avoid the temptation of the internet? Promise myself that I can check it after a certain amount of work is done. Often I'll find that once I get started on the other task, then the temptation to waste time on the internet is greatly diminished.

This is Yolanda, for every one of you who responded to my post I thank you for encouraging me to just keep on and just be patient. It's just that I have no one in my family or friends who really give me any support at all. They act like adhd is something I'm trying to use as an excuse for my behavior, but its not.

The only reason why I seem so ready to get the proper dosage is because the people who are helping me with my bills are bugging me about making things go faster, and I'm trying to explain to them that my mind is so all over the place that right now all I want to do is concentrate on me getting better even if it means not working right now, and all I want is to be able to function everyday without feeling like my brain is about to explode from all the incoming stimuli. So I just need a little more time.

I know that no drug will be able to take away all of my adhd symptoms, but I do believe that they should be able to help me in a way so that I can function everyday and take care of myself. Because there are some attributes about ADHD that I do like.

Well, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone and keep me in your prayers on getting the best treatment.

I'll be praying for all of you as well!!

Yolanda

For me, I found that Adderall (or Concerta) by itself wasn't a magic cure-all. But Adderall + a little bit of willpower works wonders.

Adderall definately helps sustain concentration, so I found that it works best for me if I take it shortly before I start working on what I need to concentrate on. Taking the pill is the very last thing I do before leaving for work. When I get to work, If I force myself to start working on my work as soon as I sit down (no checking internet sites or other distractions first), Adderall allows me to concentrate on the work through the whole day.

If I take Adderall and allow myself to check internet sites 'first', then often I find myself checking internet sites all day and it seems like it's harder to stop and switch tasks while on Adderall.

How do I avoid the temptation of the internet? Promise myself that I can check it after a certain amount of work is done. Often I'll find that once I get started on the other task, then the temptation to waste time on the internet is greatly diminished.exactly. people need to understand adderall doesn't make you do things. you have to have the direction, the idea, the thoughts, the plan

you have to decide what are you going to do

okay i am going to do work for the next 5 hours
so start doing it
and before you know it, the adderall is helping you stay focused on what you already want to do

it gives you control
if you have no direction you're just going to be on adderall sitting there wishing you had something to do
thats how itis for me
i always have something lined up that i could be doing to take advantage of the adderall
but i dont overwork myself just saying that you need to have direction

adderall or any add drug is just a tool
a vehicle

if you make a genuine decision to do something, adderall will help you go in that direction and stay there

people need to understand adderall doesn't make you do things. you have to have the direction, the idea, the thoughts, the plan

it gives you control
if you have no direction you're just going to be on adderall sitting there wishing you had something to do

couldnt have said it better :o