I have struggled with ADD my entire life. I began taking Adderall IR about 3 months ago. I was previously taking Ritalin, which worked well but seemed to wear off rather quickly. So my doctor switched me to Adderall at my request. For the first 2 months it was great. My doctor prescribed 20 mgs twice a day. I started taking one tablet a day and that worked great and within 2 weeks went up to 2. Everything was great--I produced some of my best work, was always in a great mood etc.

Now I have been on Adderall a little over 3 months and fell absolutely horrible. I feel horrible physically-constant aches and pains in my joints and constant migraines. I feel like total crap. Mentally, I don't feel like doing anything. To be honest I hate everything and everyone. I have no patience for people at all and the slightest thing ****es me off. I'm not sure why this is happening.

I stopped taking Adderall today and went back to Ritalin. I feel better but not as focused. I'm still in a rotten mood but no longer have the anger that I had over the past couple of weeks.

Why would Adderall turn on me just like that? Has anyone experienced something similiar?

I've only been on Straterra and Adderal. Straterra made me want to cry all the time for no reason, the slightest thing would scare me (like tripping over a tree branch while hiking my heart was racing as if someone pulled a knife on me).

With Adderal it worked really good, esp the name brand at 30mg for me. But now I'm on the generic which doesn't seem to work that well and I'm very depressed when the medicine starts to wear off. I don't like this depression I'm getting. Makes me very worried. Because it's intense. I actually put on my facebook status "She is Dead" and wrote a depressing poem getting some of my friends to call me in worry. They called me an hour after I posted everything and I didn't feel that way anymore.

I don't know I hope it's just reacting with the extreme stress I'm going through right now.

Thanks for your reply. I actually stopped taking it last week after posting that message and went back to ritalin. Although it does not seem to do much for me at least I'm not as angry as I was on the generic adderall. I yet to get back the feeling that I initially had on the adderall. I felt great when first starting out and everything went down hill.

Dang. That does happen with Adderall for some of us. It has kinda turned on me as I've been taking it longer. At the end of the day I'll still experience the 'levo-amp' effect (headaches, rapid heart flutter) even though it's not doing the mental portion anymore.

My suggestion is either try Dexedrine or Focalin XR. Both are very mentally stimulating with much less effects on the body.

J

I have had some similar issues with Adderall. When I take Adderall, it makes me feel kind of like i'm on speed. I feel really upbeat, and life is good. I want to talk to everyone, about everything, uncessingly lol. Normally I am somewhat of an introvert, and I am somewhat reserved around people I don't know that well. This is greatly diminished on Adderall, and I feel very comfertable talking to most people. It also increases my motivation and makes me feel like I want to get up and do something. Unfortunatly it seems to make my impulse control worse, so I tend to flitter from thing to thing constantly. It becomes really hard to accomplish anything and I end up talking on msn and surfing the net instead of writing the paper I was supposed too. Paradoxially I also get very anal and ocdish. I start obsessing on details and become over organized in an often counter-productive way. Like spending an hour trying to get a stain out of something, while the rest of the area is a huge mess.


After about a week of taking it, the beneficial effects of xr are gone after an hour and a half. I can tell It's still in my system, but the positive effects are greatly diminished and I start rebounding. I have horriable rebound on adderall. I always know when it's wearing off, because I can feel my happiness just slipping away. I do a 180 and I feel very depressed and get irritated by everything, especially noise. It's just hellish and sometimes it lasts for like 2 hours. I think part of the problem is I can't eat much on it. When I do eat on it, the irritation part of the rebound is diminished, but I still get this general bleak feeling. Life just seems blah, like all the color is drained out of it.

Adderall is really rouch on my system. My fingers tremble and I feel a bit shakey. Sometimes I feel really nervous, and my heart starts thudding in my chest, making it all worse. After about 2 weeks on Adderall I start to look sickly. I get bags under my eyes and just feel crappy. That depressed feeling lingers all day after my meds wear off, often the nervousness does too. I can not fall asleep for at least 12 hours after taking it (one of the ways I know it's still in my system). When I take breaks from the medicine I feel sleepy all day and all I want to do is eat. This usually lasts for about 2-3 days.

I am not an early person by any means, and I love the snooze button, but the adderall brings it to a whole new level. It becomes a nightmare for me to wake up, and I can easily sleep 12 hours, even if i've been getting plenty of rest lately. To deal with this I started taking my pill while still in bed, and I start to wake up shortly after. That's good and all but when you get 3 hours of effect from your 2 doses, it really sucks. It takes me 2 hours just to get ready and go to school. That leaves me an hour of actually class time, and then I have to try and pay attention in class while rebounding. Not very productive!

When I was on Daytrana on the other hand, things were completly differant. It improves my focus in a way that feels very natural(though it is not as strong as it was on Adderall). When it wears off I just get slightly sleepy. It makes me feel like myself enhanced, not like myself on speed. I suggest you try the Daytrana patch, especially since you've had good luck with ritalin in the past. The reason my doctor put me on it was because my medicine wears off so quickly. Daytrana worked for about 9 - 12 hours, depending on how long I left it on. The only reason I stopped taking it was it made me really agitated after 4 hours. I have a theory that the medication built up too much in my system at that point. I also think my cns is sensitive, a cup of coffee can give me the jitters. Another reason Adderall is a bad choice for me lol. I've only seen one person complain about Daytrana having this effect on them, so i'm assuming it's pretty rare.

Despite all this, I am defiantly not saying Adderall is a bad drug. I've read so many posts about Adderall working really well for some people. The truth is, they just don't know how something is going to interact with your neurotransmitters. People have vastly differant brain chemistries. Adderall just doesn't make my brain chemicals happy.

I have also had problems since switching to generic Adderall. These include back pain (more muscular and probably due to dehydration) and stomach pain along with an icky taste in my mouth. I currently take 15 mg 2x daily. Does anybody else have these side effects and have advice? BTW heart rate and BP are normal.:)

I think everyone takes to much Adderall. Initially my first doc that diagnosed me with ADD gave me 20mg XR and it was too much so I quit taking it. I was irritable and paranoid when it wore off. I switched docs and he gave me 10mg XR and I don't have any problems except I can't afford it anymore eh. I still have the 20mg XR sitting in my pill bottle and on the few occasions I "thought" I needed more I was sorry after I took more.

adderall 30mg xr
nice to see the same side effects...i feel crazy that my back starts hurting so bad. i feel good for a few and then go crazy!!! I love it and hate it...if these effects continue I would rather live with my ADD and be depressed because the rebound and side effects suck too much!! I am trying concerta now...who knows?!?!? does anyone else feel like screaming about trying all these meds/doses?!?!? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH!!! much better. :)
nala

I think everyone takes to much Adderall....I would personally never claim to speak for others or what may or may not be good for them.

When I did take Adderall, I took 60 mgs a day...and lemme tell ya, that was not enough. I am what they like to call a rapid metabolizer...all my stimulant doses are what some would consider "high". And those "high" doses were and are the ONLY doses that worked and will work now. I don't blink about the amounts that people take, even if they are higher doses than mine, because time and experience and this forum have proven to me that people respond differently to different medications, at various doses.

No amount of Adderall would have been right for me, because I would be one to agree with the following:

Despite all this, I am defiantly not saying Adderall is a bad drug. I've read so many posts about Adderall working really well for some people. The truth is, they just don't know how something is going to interact with your neurotransmitters. People have vastly differant brain chemistries. Adderall just doesn't make my brain chemicals happy.
I really loathed Adderall but cannot say its bad medicine because I know way too many people for whom it works wonders, at varying doses for various people.

Your right, my mistake.

Tammy

Myalgia, huh?

Yeah, i have heard about (and experienced) muscle nnd bodily aches (at old injury sites, joints, etc) on stimulants.

It is not unheard of.