Hi All, sorry I haven't posted in a while; been going through ups and downs to desperately get my ADHD symptoms under more control.At times my memory is so faulty and I can't remeber tit from tat.


I am currently at 60 mg Adderall(IR), the (XR) version made my side effects worse, so my Doctor decided to keep me on the (IR)version.
But anyway, I go through loops and hurdles with my meds to treat my ADD. One day it's working, one day it's not. Even when it does help, it only usually calms me down, gives boosts of energy, and help to focus and deal with certain situations better but only for an hour or so.

I don't know if this is to be expected or not?

The thing is, my memory is still horrible I think, and I can't ignore the distractions around me like other people can, and I can get very irritable by just about anything, and maybe a few other symptoms that I read could be treated with Adderall or similar drugs.

I feel that Adderall is good to a certain extent for me. My psychologist said it was the best drug for ADHD in his opinoin, and that I should stay on it for a while. I've been on it for 5 months, and I really want/need better results.How will he know if and when it's time to add another drug, maybe change it, or increase dosage?

To be honest: I feel like I'm just taking pills and don't know what the results will be that day!! I don't feel consistant at all!! Some days I sleep all day and some days I'll stay up for 24-32 hours straight. What's going on?

I know their are other drugs out their for ADHD, I just hate having to start back over and then going through another 5 months to see if another drug will work. Any suggestions? Is it uncommon to mix stimulants to yield better results?


Does anyone know if after a while if the effects of Adderall or any of the ADHD drugs get better/worse after months of using them?

I hope others are finding the help they need!!


Yolanda

My psychologist said it was the best drug for ADHD in his opinoin, and that I should stay on it for a while.Welcome back to the site Yolanda, long time no see.;) Your psychologist is certainlly entitled to his opinion, but the fact is each person can and often does respond differently to each of these drugs. Adderall was the only stimulant drug out of all the other stimulants prescribed for this dissorder that I found actually made my symptoms worse, so from my experience it was the worst drug for ADHD, but it certainlly does not effect everyone like it did me.




I know their are other drugs out their for ADHD, I just hate having to start back over and then going through another 5 months to see if another drug will work. Any suggestions?From my experience, I know if a new stimulant drug will work for me in days, or sometimes as soon as the first dose kicks in. That's not to say that I have found the proper dose right out of the gate everytime I tried a new stimulant, but I at least know if it works for me or not and my Dr & I can figure out the dosage issues from that point.

I would suggest that you consider that it might not take "5 months to see if another drug will work." Perhaps Adderall is not for you. It took me many years of trying different stimulant drugs to really understand how small changes in a drug (like maybe a different generic, or perhaps a single isomer instead of a racemic mixture) can have a huge effect on the way that drug effects me.

Yolanda you need to tell your doctor that you WANT to try something different.

You certainly don't need to wait 5 months to know if a stimulant works for you. Stimulants are supposed to be an immediate relief from your ADHD symptoms. While there may be some titration process, this is typically quick for stimulants, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Even the non-stimulant Strattera is supposed to start working in 10 days (and works for many people immediatly).
I think a lot of people mistakenly think of ADHD medication the same way they think of prozac or other anti-depressants. Anti-depressants reach a steady state in your body (they are working on you 24 hours a day), can take 6 to 8 weeks to start working, and may offer permanant relief from depression (a "cure" if you will) even after you stop taking them.
Stimulants are more like cough medecine. It won't cure the cause of your cough, it will only help relieve your cough for a set number of hours after the dose.
One way to discuss this with your doc is this: There's a good chance you're going to have ADHD for the rest of your life. While it's likely there is no perfect drug, there's no reason to not be taking the perfect drug for you. The only way you're going to know which treatment will help you the most is to try them all. You may not get around to trying them all like Lars has ;) but you should definatly give yourself some options.