I'm a college student who was just diagnosed with Adult A.D.D. yesterday by my psychiatrist. I've had symptoms of the disorder since elementary school, but did not seek treatment for it until recently.

I was prescribed 20mg of Adderall XR and today is my first day on it, and I'm a bit worried because the medication has yet to change my ability to focus on the task at hand.

Side effects that I have experienced thus far (that have now went away): mania (great excitement, over-activity, excessive enthusiasm) and excessive talking.

Current side effects: headache. I'm no longer manic or talking excessively.

Aside from the feeling of being on speed this morning, now I feel the same as usual; still unable to focus & concentrate/scatterbrain, plus the headache.

I'm really hoping the next few days I'll 'get used' to the medication and won't have the overactive/speed effect, and I'll be able to actually focus and concentrate.

Did anyone else experience the same effect when first taking the medication? Were you finally able to focus, and if so, after how long after starting the medication?

Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

If you think it might help you, start taking half the dose you're on for the next couple days, then go back to 20mg.
And if you experience mania while you are at this lower dose then there's nothing wrong with stopping taking your medication.

Personally, I did not experience much side effects when I started but they've all pretty much subsided now, but I take DextroStat not Adderall, anyway good luck.

When I started taking Adderall... I was feeling very sleepy. I actually slept for a full hour once it started taking effect.

This lasted a couple days. I am on 15mg 2x day (althought I usually only take it once a day.. or forget to take it at all) and I still dont feel anything accept a calmer, stress free feeling, that gives me just enough energy to do chores if I have them.

Remember, not to take Adderall with orange juice or other acidic foods or drinks. It slows/decreases the absorption. When my son took it, he had tummyache for a couple of days, and that went away, but within 20 minutes of taking it, he "had his glasses on." Could the effects you felt in the morning be from being anxious about taking it?

Could the effects you felt in the morning be from being anxious about taking it?

I really doubt it. I took it and felt normal; no anxiety or anything about taking it. About an hour later, suddenly, as I said, I had the 'speed effect'/mania. I could not stop talking even if I tried, and I felt overactive.

Also mentioned above, that has all gone away and now I just have a REALLY bad headache and I'm stuggling to complete homework.

I ate a normal lunch after taking it and had a cup of coffee about 30 mins after my dose. I'm not sure if caffeine would cause any other effect?

Also, I didn't state in my first post: my prescription is one 20mg capsule once a day (in the morning), I don't think I can break it in half, taking a half twice a day.

Thanks for the feedback thusfar, everyone.

Read the red at the bottom if you don't want to read all this :p

Caffeine and adderall was a horrible mix for me. If I'm not using anything my mind jumps around a lot. Adderall alone makes it so it doesn't do that nearly as much. Caffeine AND adderall, my mind will jump around a LOT and MUCH faster. Very unpleasant, anxious feeling.

But that was just my experience, I think do the caffeine thing without much problem.

Anyway, on my first day I did notice some pressure resembling a headache, and I also had a hard time concentrating on something. I was very confused about what effect it was having, because normally my mind is going a mile a minute. And then suddenly it's not jumping anywhere on it's own...very strange.

I was apprehensive about taking it initially. The moment I swallowed it, I felt like I had just eaten a bug!
It' was like "ack! get out get out get out! I change my mind!"
(This was 20mg XR, just fyi)

So yes, I feel my situation was similar to yours plus or minus a couple things. I adjusted pretty quickly with what I could then do, and the negative effects went away. I don't experience much of this euphoria that people seem to get using adderall.

I notice that there's a physical feeling in the body when it's working. At least there was in the beginning, it has since then become hardly noticeable. I thought I was getting tolerant already (!) but my mind still becomes clear, so that doesn't seem to be the case.

I try taking as little as possible, and only when I need it.

man for one i wish i could feel what you felt 1st time around, i started yesterday and have yet to feel even one effect. i am on 5mg ir twice a day and like i say, nada, zilch, nunca effects. my mind is still the foggy mess, and i stress foggy. but i am happy for you and even though that might seem a little distressing--that's a movement for you and hopefully you see that it helps you get things done and the "speedy" feeling will become a good thing.

I had the mania/euphoria for two days, less the third, and then it changed to just simple mental clarity. I understand it's not unusual to have this happen when you're new to Adderall.

I had the mania/euphoria for two days, less the third, and then it changed to just simple mental clarity. I understand it's not unusual to have this happen when you're new to Adderall.

When you say 'mental clarity', do you mean the ability to actually concentrate? That's the biggest thing I'm worried about, it hasn't done anything for that and I still can't focus on what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm gonna continue taking it for at least a week and if I don't notice any real improvements by then, I'm gonna discuss other options with my doctor.


Thanks again for the feedback.

On 10mg of XR...nothing. I feel the same. I am curious as to if I have ADD or I am lazy due to a bad sleeping schedule.

I want coffee, and from what I can tell, that is not a good idea so this will be an interesting week since I go to work at 3:30am.

I took another dose about 45 mins ago and I am still the same. I am skipping all around this website while going to others and want to go read the paper.

Uhhhh, what gives?

Day two: I only slept an hour or two last night, and I kept waking up. Took the dose this morning and did not have the "speed"/mania effect as yesterday (I also made sure to avoid coffee/caffeine/vitamins this morning). My mind feels "sharp" but I have yet to attempt to do any homework/studying so I don't know if I'll be able to concentrate on that. I'm supposed to be studying and yet my impulses for doing other activities are taking over.

Thusfar, my experience/lack of success with Adderall is a bit discouraging. :-\

Thusfar, my experience/lack of success with Adderall is a bit discouraging. :-\[/QUOTE]
Same here and I am feeling like I wasted a good $120!

At least you felt something. I have felt NOTHING. Not even a tingle

Thusfar, my experience/lack of success with Adderall is a bit discouraging. :-\
Same here and I am feeling like I wasted a good $120!

At least you felt something. I have felt NOTHING. Not even a tingle[/QUOTE]

A good $154 in my case. :-\

If it doesn't work, there are other things to try. Give it a few weeks, but don't lose hope if it doesn't help. Something out there is bound to.

Thanks, my real test is tomorrow when I wake at 2:30am.

I don't know if I can make it without coffee. The biggest test is at 9am for the rest of the day when things slow down.

I hope something can work. My doc said "if" I had ADD they would work and if I don't they will not. I hope they work and we can fix my lack of performance

Thanks, my real test is tomorrow when I wake at 2:30am.

I hope something can work. My doc said "if" I had ADD they would work and if I don't they will not. I hope they work and we can fix my lack of performance
:soapbox:
Is this a psychiatrist or your GP? Either way, I think your Dr.'s a little out of touch with the reasearch!

First of all, there are up to 20% of ADHDer's who simply don't respond to stimulants. Secondly, there's no proof that "normals" don't respond to psychostimulants, in fact under certain laboratory conditions, even non-ADHD'ers can increase attention and working memory capacity when taking stimulants.

Third, there are tons of people out there who respond better to one stimulant (say, adderall) much more than they do to another (say, Ritalin); it really is trial and error to find a treatment that works, and if the first drug he throws at you doesn't work, that definitely doesn't rule out your having ADHD.

:soapbox:
Is this a psychiatrist or your GP? Either way, I think your Dr.'s a little out of touch with the reasearch!

First of all, there are up to 20% of ADHDer's who simply don't respond to stimulants. Secondly, there's no proof that "normals" don't respond to psychostimulants, in fact under certain laboratory conditions, even non-ADHD'ers can increase attention and working memory capacity when taking stimulants.

Third, there are tons of people out there who respond better to one stimulant (say, adderall) much more than they do to another (say, Ritalin); it really is trial and error to find a treatment that works, and if the first drug he throws at you doesn't work, that definitely doesn't rule out your having ADHD.

I fully agree with you on your third point, but your first point (about 20%) could be possibly true if you're taking about ADHDers with comorbidities, but if they have only comoribidless ADHDers (which is not uncommon), I'm pretty sure numbers are less than 20% non-responders when all psychostimulants are tried.

And your second point is somewhat inaccurate, 'normals' do 'respond' to psychostimulants, but not to the extent that ADHDers do; here's something I wrote for a review of literature I did once (I've bloded the things that may fascinate you to learn):
Harriet de Wit, Justin Enggasser, and Jerry Richards investigate D-AMPH in their article of a medical study, "Acute Administration of D-Amphetamine Decreases Impulsivity in Healthy Volunteers." They investigate what D-AMPH does to a man’s hasty decision making (814).In their previous study, they found that D-AMPH made it easier for people who cannot naturally control themselves to control themselves(814,819). They discuss, from test results, that D-AMPH raised control over decision-making, improved choices and also changed what people think about a delayed reward; D-AMPH but barely, if at all, affected how people see time, and did not change how long they will wait for a unknown reward (822).They also found that the people who felt more joy from D-AMPH do not have an improvement in controlling how quickly they respond to anything, but people that felt a lower amount of joy did have that improvement. (823)

Your post just reminded me of this interesting info and I thought i'd share what I've read and reviewed (got to make use of that writing somewhere).

Yeah, sorry about that, I'm usually slightly more accurate. I didn't really have time to get the correct number for the first figure, but the 20% is one that is often quoted in the popular books.

As for the 2nd point, totally agree with you that it depends on baseline (that's why I also said laboratory measures). It's one thing to improve, say 1 digit in your working memory span. The question really is, is it clinically significant? I.e. can you actually notice the difference. I think for most normal people the answer would be a clear no, even though if you look at a group of normal subjects, it does appear that there is a statistically significant difference from placebo. The working memory benefits in "normal" subjects occur with ritalin only when the so-called "normal" subjects are pretty bad at remembering in the first place.

My major point was that the Dr. was slightly inaccurate, and that concerns me, as the OP may end up thinking (s)he doesn't have ADHD because (s)he doesn't respond to the first (or any) drug given.

BTW, are you studying ADHD?

No, I'm not studying ADHD beyound a paper i just choose to write on ADHD for an english research paper (BTW, which the last paper for english I'll ever have to write in my life :)!), so I'm no expert but I did spend a lot of hours on it this semester, aand I fully agree w/ ur major point/concern :)

totally had the same reaction as you did. i have been on adderall for two days now. i'm getting used to the mild headache (two ibuprofen fixes that), dry mouth, rapid heart beat, etc. I love the high and rapid pace with which i can fly through life now, though. i'm totally up and feeling great. make sure you're ok on the drug, but give it a bit more time unless you're really feeling crappy. i do well on caffeine, so i suspected adderall would work for me. so far, i'm well. i have only slept 4 hours in two days, but i feel great. we'll see...

I've been on Adderall 5mg IR (2x/day) for 4 days now. 5mg's IR (BARR) only lasts about 3.5 - 4 hrs. tops. Does that sound right? My pdoc told me to up my dose right away if I didn't notice much in my morning dose(s) (which I don't). The second dose seems to work much better for some reason (good energy, focused, alert and ready to go). but seems like my body is getting rid of it too soon (not sure though?). I've been sleeping 6.5-7.5 hrs/night since starting too. Do I need more? Should I take a 3rd dose or just take 10mg's in the afternoon?

Any advice/experience would be awesome!

Thanks :)