I have been taking more than my prescribed dose each day. In the morning, I take 2 Adderall XR Capsules of 20MG each. My mood changes quickly from feeling on edge, irritable & tired to relaxed and focused. My outlook has completely changed. Plus, the impulses & nagging compulsion to spend money isn't as bad.

To tell you the truth, it really doesn't feel like it does much for attention than for mood.

The only negative thing is that I sometimes get bad headaches late in the day. I need to take 3 Ibruprophen for the headache pain.

Maybe this is a touch of Hypomania but I feel much better on the Adderall.

I am going to run out of the supply early and can't refill until Nov 25th. For some reason the psyc doc I saw gave me three prescriptions thru January 2008.

How bad is this really?? Taking 40MG isn't considered high. The problem is that I don't know what I am doing to my heart with all the caffeine from diet soda & heavy exercise each day.

How bad will the withdrawl & tapering off be??

I was prescribed 20 Adderall XR one at 6am, one 4-6 hours later, to start (since I needed 90mg Vyvanse).

I'm pretty sure it needs to be upped to 25 mg or 30 mg, twice a day.

I have experimented with 20 at 6am, 20 at 9am and 20 at 12pm, and that is much better, so hopefully 2 30's will do the same. I skipped this weekend, and Monday was much more effective than the last week, so the holiday must help.

I think Vyvanse, and now Adderall XR, have also helped mood more than attention and focus. It's helped memory and sleep issues too. At least it's helping something.

I don't think you're burning your heart out by doing heavy exercise bud. According to all doctors i've been too if anything regular exercise puts you at a less likely chance to suffer cardiovascular abonormalities from taking stimulant medications unless you're sensitive to begin with or you're doing EXTREME exercises like say running 10 miles in a marathon to win 1st place.

A side note on the 3 perscription things; I'm assuming your doctor didn't put a "Don't fill until <insert date here> on those. When you go to the pharmacy to get it filled your insurance company will more than likely denie your request to refill it if it has been before 30 days. If they do this the pharmacist will call your doctor to verify if it's ok to fill it or may not. In any event you'll either not get the medication or your doctor will end up getting notified that you're trying to refill it too soon. I'd advise you to wait till the 30 day mark and call your doctor and discuss possibily increasing your dosage. Stimulant medications and their stigma's of abuse/addiction are outragous (by the way I'm not saying you're really even addicted too it because 40mg XR is a normal dose, hell I take 60mg a day), but honestly if the doctor finds you trying to leave him out of the loop they will more than likely put you on watch to make sure you're not abusing it or they will simply take it away. Don't risk it, just talk to your doctor.

Take a couple of days off from it and restart it if there's a tolerance issue

Dont feel so bad I was doing the same thing with my 20 MG XR's. I was prescibed 2 a day but would take both at the same time in the morning and then sometimes depending on whether it was wearing off or not. I was finding that some mornings I could take one of my 20's and never tell I had taken it. Other mornings I could. Once I started taking 2 at the time I always felt like I should. However the problem is running out.I have just switced to IR 20's and hate it. Maybe due to the generic. Im going to run out quicker with these than the xr's. I keep telling myself to take a day or 2 off and gain back some days but I get to work and cant make myself dig in until I take my adderall. I guess the weekends are going to have to be lazy. Anyways, I feel your pain.

my doctor had me on 120 mg of Adderall a day, I took 30 mg 4 times a day and 60 mg twice a day when it was the XR's so I don't get why you guys are getting "junkie-phobic" when some doctors prescribe amounts like that.

My problem is not feeling like a junkie, I just dont want to look like a junkie when and if I tell my doctor I need to up my dose to 40 mgs 2X a day. At this point though, the only thing Im concerned about is running out every month. My job doesnt allow me to take an off day as far as just kicking back at work and playing on the net. Ive got to have it to be effective. Not to mention this is the first week ive switched to IR and i got a generic that I swear I can take 3 and never tell I took it.

Well I wouldn't worry about that when I kept asking for dose increases until it worked, I take 135 mg of dexedrine per day and I take that much because it works at that dose.

Despite the criticisms Doctors sometimes get, I don't believe they are looking to label us junkies. But they do expect to be dealt with in good faith, and for them that means we take the medication as prescribed (but prescriptions can be changed with a phone call even mid-month, although considering the circumstances of NickL30 I thought Tylerlee's advice to wait until the end of the month was extremely sound).

I look at it like this. If I want my Doctor to trust me and assume that I am not a drug seeker, then I have an obligation to be straight up (and not embarassed or self-conscious) about my needs, and trust that he is going act in my best interests. I think these feelings some of us have about not wanting to seem like a junkie substantially interfere with establishing strong relationships with our Doctors. I believe, the sooner we can drop those thoughts the better the outcome is likely to be.

Personally I think it is o.k. to take a higher dose of a stim for a day or two and then report the improved results to the Doctor, but I would not wait long to contact him. I ask my Doctor for some flexibility in dosage, working within a certain range that has been 'preapproved'.

But take extra medicine for a prelonged period without consulting your Doctor, and he may feel like he is not the one managing your meds and he is not going to like it one bit.

My doctor has me on 120mg of adderall a day (1 30mg tablet 4X per day). I adjust my dose up or down as needed. After 15 years on stimulant meds, I feel confident I am experienced enough to know what is appropriate use and what is not. The problem with my "system" of administering the drug as i do, is tolerance. In a typical 30-day month, the drug works perfectly the first week or so (sometimes I dont even take the full dose), but then, gradually, tolerance starts to become an issue, and by the third week or so, I find myself upping the dosage, to get the desired affect. And by the last week or so, I am completely out of meds. I crash for a couple days, and catch up on much needed sleep. I function in a fog for another few days, and just when I am am about to plunge into a full-fledged depression, it is time to call the doctor's office for my next prescription... and the cycle starts again. The week or so when I am "off meds", sets me up for a very effective response to the drug when I once again start taking it. (I often wonder, what it would be like if I was able to just get the next rx whenever I run out. It would seem to me that my tolerance would get so bad, that the drug would become totally ineffective, and I would be in danger of doing some very real harm to my body and mind, with excessive doses of the stimulant). Thoughts?