my adderall's not working as well as it should be lately. i want to change to a different medication. i tried concerta but it didn't work that well. what's my next step? what else should i try? i need some personal experiences.

You might consider talking to your Dr about the possibility of trying Focalin, or Dexedrine or perhaps Desoxyn. I found each of these to be much more effective than Adderall or Concerta.

I talked to him about dexedrine but i heard that you should never ask a doctor about anything by brand name. he didn't seem to apt to switching me over.

what's the best way to put it?

Ask him why he thinks your adderall isn't working "as well as it should be", if he says you might need to switch drugs tell him you've heard good things about DextroStat (if dexedrine is what you want)

I talked to him about dexedrine but i heard that you should never ask a doctor about anything by brand name. he didn't seem to apt to switching me over.

what's the best way to put it?
Should never ask a doctor for anything by brand name? Why not? That's a silly thing to say. If your doctor decides NOT to prescribe you something based on your knowing about it, you need a new doctor. You SHOULD be doing your own research, asking about things, making your own judgements about your own treatment. I learned the hard way that NOT doing that is a huge, huge mistake. I told my doctor that I DID NOT WANT RITALIN, so she gave me Concerta. Which is Ritalin. I, being young and stupid at the time, did not realize that what was essentially the same medication could be sold under different brand names, and so it did not occur to me to look it up until after it increased my already very high anxiety to the point where I basically had a panic attack that lasted three months, and had to be put on heavy antidepressants to undo how badly that messed with my brain.

You better BELIEVE I haven't gone to see that freaky woman since. AND I let her know EXACTLY what I thought of her pulling that crap with me.

Doctors are there to help you. If they don't trust your knowledge and judgement as a patient, they're not treating you. Especially in the case of something like ADD, which cannot be graphed and tested on a pretty little numerical chemical scale, you the patient are the one who knows most about what is wrong with you. If you know about a treatment you want to try, they should be able to explain it to you, and if they don't want to let you try it, they need to have a good reason WHY.

Should never ask a doctor for anything by brand name? Why not? That's a silly thing to say. If your doctor decides NOT to prescribe you something based on your knowing about it, you need a new doctor. You SHOULD be doing your own research, asking about things, making your own judgements about your own treatment. I learned the hard way that NOT doing that is a huge, huge mistake. I told my doctor that I DID NOT WANT RITALIN, so she gave me Concerta. Which is Ritalin. I, being young and stupid at the time, did not realize that what was essentially the same medication could be sold under different brand names, and so it did not occur to me to look it up until after it increased my already very high anxiety to the point where I basically had a panic attack that lasted three months, and had to be put on heavy antidepressants to undo how badly that messed with my brain.

You better BELIEVE I haven't gone to see that freaky woman since. AND I let her know EXACTLY what I thought of her pulling that crap with me.

Doctors are there to help you. If they don't trust your knowledge and judgement as a patient, they're not treating you. Especially in the case of something like ADD, which cannot be graphed and tested on a pretty little numerical chemical scale, you the patient are the one who knows most about what is wrong with you. If you know about a treatment you want to try, they should be able to explain it to you, and if they don't want to let you try it, they need to have a good reason WHY.
i like your hat and you think like i do

i heard that you should never ask a doctor about anything by brand name.I've never heard this, and even if I did I would still ask my Dr anything I wanted to ask him.



what's the best way to put it?I agree with Carrickfergus very much when she said how, "you SHOULD be doing your own research, asking about things, making your own judgements about your own treatment." This has helped me more than anything else concerning "what's the best way to put it."

When I approach my Dr about a new drug, I have read as much as I can find about it usually, and I often have a valid reason for wanting to switch. For example, Dexedrine, Focalin, & Desoxyn are all right handed isomers of amphetamine, methylphenidate, and methamphetamine respectively. The right handed isomers of these stimulants are much more stimulating to the CNS (central nervous system) than they are to the PNS (peripheral nervous system).

The drugs that have the left handed isomers in a racemic mixture (like Adderall & Ritalin/Concerta) offer much more of a PNS stimulation. The down side of the PNS stimulation can include things like raised blood pressure, twitching/jittery feelings, etc.

When you talk to your Dr try and be as informed as possible about what you want, and why you want it, and also be yourself. Your Dr may or may not agree with your suggestions or desires, but he/she will likely appreciate/respect the fact that you are taking a sharp interest in helping him/her find the right therapy for you. I hope you keep us posted on how things unfold.

Jawglasswell, Adderall did not work out for me. I disliked it intensely and I am so sorry its not working out for you. Would you please explain how long you have been taking it and what exactly you mean by "not working as well"? Then I might be able to compare your situation to my own and make a recomendation, but maybe I won't be able to. I don't have enough information to make an educated guess right now, so I will not upset this thread by making one.


I told my doctor that I DID NOT WANT RITALIN, so she gave me Concerta. Which is Ritalin. I, being young and stupid at the time, did not realize that what was essentially the same medication could be sold under different brand names...Which part of your research made you decide against ritalin?

And just to clarify things:

Both Concerta and Ritalin are forms of methylphenidate. They are NOT the same drug sold under different brand names. The majority of Ritalin sold these days is generic methylphenidate (Does brand Ritalin even exist anymore?). While both are forms of the same drug, they do not act the same. They have completely different release mechanisms, and while one may not work well for a person? The other one just might, and often does.

That being said, I am sorry that you had a bad experience. Which goes to show us once again that different people respond differently to different medications, after all.

::shrugs::