My battle with Adderall continues. I am totally wigged out about this evening. My parents in law are coming and I am afraid they will meet a monster.

Here is the situation: I am presribed 10 mg twice a day. Permitted self test shows that the 10mg morning needs a booster with 5mg ritilan o another 5 of Adderall. The second does works best if taken pretty close to 4 hours after the first.

The second dose taken at 1 wears off in 4 or 5 hours. The rest of my night is a mess.

Last night for example, after the 5nd dose wore of, I left the house without directions to take my son somewhere. Went back and got them. Got back in the car and realized I had no purse. Dad problems parking straight By the time his practice started I was way too irritable to practice mindfulness (but did read an article on how a survey of peer-reviewed research on this techinique does NOT show it helps with anxiety) Drove home and missed my exit by not one but by TWO exits. Then forgot the road narrowed and almost barrelled up a sidewalk (It is one the major roads of our small town. I have driven it thousands of time)
Then I irritate my husband when I interrupt him and irriate him again when is revealed that something he told me last night about the same time, I have no memeory.

It wasn't until I had two Guinesses that I finally relaxed some. (I have a two drink limit most nights.... interestingly when I was on the Ritilan in the evenings and mistakenly took the Adderall in the evenings, I didn't feel like drinking much of anything at all.)

As stated in a previous post, my doctor one should have time each day unmedicated. But now, I am in a terrible situation. I can get rid of the major ADHD sympoms during the day, but am irritable all evening. And when I am irritable, I get depressed (when "nice" girls get mad,we internalize) images/icons/icon12.gif This is going to KILL my relationship with my husband.

I am making my self sick with worry about my parents in law visiting tonight and about having to visit them over Christmas. I don't want to go the parties we've been invited to. I don't want people to be around me when I am irritable (and even if I could control it inside, I feel miserable and don't want to be with people like that anyway)

I pretty much hate TV and watch only taped John Stewart and the Colbert show at night. What I am to do, just start watching darn TV everynight?

This is not the way to live a life.

I am already looking for other doctors (Aside from the meds issue, I really can't related to my doctor at all and he has NO sense of humor. Can't be myself with him and I leave the visits feeling down)

But I am going to stick it out with him at least a few more visits. I have been charting all these effects, but what should I ask him to consider? He works at a university and this is understandably worried about people taking Adderall as "Performance" drug. (And missed my joke, "Of course you take it to improve your performance!") I don't have an addictive personality. I rarely refill my Lorazapan that I take for sleep as needed and am totally able to resist the urge of taking a bit of it when I am totally wigged-out anxious about seeing my parents in law and such. I am lawful.

What are good evening drugs for ADD assuming you don't have to work?
I like Adderall in the day as it puts a fire in my britches and I get things done without getting too sidetracked along the way. I think logically and don't forget stuff.

If I took Adderall twice a day, what ADD drug might work well for a smooth, ADHD free late afternoons and evenings? During this time I typically need to be able to, finish getting my son through music practices, homework, to any lessons, and make dinner, followed by chatting with my husband and either work on sewing or on volunteer website I do. I'd like to start reading again during this time too. I can schedule in a hour of down-time watching the timed Stewart and Colbert episiodes or flipping through mindless magazines, but I can't have an entire mindless night.


Advice?

I got that with Adderall too. "Fire in the britches" all day then scatter-brained, cranky, low moods, and practically useless after it wore off. I could really only take it on days I absolutely had to for school or when I knew I wouldn't have to deal with much of anyone later. Being married and having kids, you don't really have that option, of course.

I'm not sure what exactly would work well for you specifically. There's things like Straterra that don't wear off and have a come down period. I'm not sure you'd still be able to take a stimulant for extra boost and if you did, I'm not sure you wouldn't still have the come down anyway.

Personally, I couldn't stand it so I switched to Dexedrine. I get many of the same benefits of Adderall (less forgetful, more capable) but it is much smoother and I don't get that severe come down. I was a little more scattered last night after it'd worn off but I certainly wasn't flat out non-functioning like when I came off Adderall.
The only thing is, while it helps me focus and feel more present, I don't get that super drive like I did with Adderall. It doesn't "make" me do things but it does "allow" me to do them.

Another consideration... what time do you usually take your last dose? What time to you need to go to bed? Do you have trouble sleeping? Would there be time for a third smaller dose in the afternoon to get you through the rest of your day? You could even split a 5mg to take a small third dose later in the day and see if that helps.

Yeah, I am not to impressed about what I read about Straterra.

The last dose timing is an issue I am working with.

I am having problems sleeping, but that is typical for me, particularly during PMS.
Last week, i took the Adderal in the evenings a few times (before I noticed it said twice a day,not three times as with the Ritilan.) One of those nights I think slept ok. The other not.

Since then I have pretty much slept poorly, but I am not sure how much of that effected by the Addeall and how much is just that I am lying in bed agonizing over things and the fact that my husband snores.

I've been taking the second dose around 1pm and it is IR, so I think the sleep issues just be my regular difficulties sleeping combined with more running brain as I worry about finding a new doctor, planning for the holidays, and not being a total ***** when we have visitors at night.

If I try to move the second dose later, I fear it won't work as well (it seems to like to be 4 hours away from the first does) Maybe I will try splitting the second dose as you suggest.

Good luck! :)
Hopefully two smaller doses will help ease you off a bit and give you the longer coverage you need.

I'm confused...Did/do you take Ritalin? How bout Ritalin LA during the day with a short acting one at PM? Thats what I do...I take 30 mg. daily of the LA and occasionally if I have something going on in the PM or just feel stressed and irratable, I take a short acting one as needed......seems to work well.

I tend to get irritable at night if I haven't eaten enough during the day, which happens often because Adderall is an appetite eliminator. If you aren't eating a meal with that second dose, I would suggest you start doing that. Caffiene also adds to the irritability. Until I realized those two things, I considered Adderall to be absolute poison because of the way it made me behave towards other people.

Also you may want to try Adderall XR if you aren't on that already. Maybe then you won't need that second dose. If you still need something at night, I'd suggest Ritalin instead, since it's shorter-acting and you can take it later without interfering with your sleep.

You know, a friend of mine jsut got on Focalin and he said that it's terrific. He can focus, but it's a lot smoother than adderall. I am married with a little girl and i know what you mean about the night time battle with adderall. My doctor prescribed Lexapro with my adderall, which curbed my anxiety and helps me cope with night time when I have to take my adderall.

I am having the same problem with Adderall. I am actually on just one dose a day. Does spacing out the doses really help? I tried that in the beginning and I found the second dose seemed to have little effect on me and I would still crash.

I feel for you, I'm going through it too. Seriously, I dread nights because I don't want to be depressed and wanting to scream. :( :( :(

Answer to do I take Ritalin?

Orginally I was prescribed 10 mg generic Ritalin twice a day 2. Nasty come down and between doses. So we tried brand Ritalin 10 mg and 3x a day. Better come down and between doses though still some issues. Didn't last long at all. The doctor thought I "responded well" but decided to try Adderall 10 mg 2x a day to see if that would be better since it "lasts longer " It did last longer (though just an hour more).
However, I am finding the morning dose doesn't seem to have much of an effect. The second dose does better, significantly better if I take it 4 hours from the first dose (opposed to 5 or 6 hours later).

The other issue is that after the second dose of Adderall, I am left uncovered the rest of the day (from about 4 pm on). And, I usually feel tension and even depressed after the 2 dose wears off .However I do feel better about 4 or 5 hours after the second dose sometimes after it wears off and I have had two drinks. Two. Though I want more, I stop there. ( Incidently, the first few days on the Adderall I thought I was supposed to take it 3x a day so I was covered during the evening. Then I didn't really care one way or another about a drink though I have been drinking 2 or 3 drinks a night every night for probably over 15 years.

Does that clarify the situation?

I told my doctor about the first dose not working and needing a third dose (or something to cover me later). However, he didn't want to up my morning dose because he said that I must be processing the drug slowly (though it is worn off in 4 hours). Also he didn't want to give me anything for late afternoon early evening because he thinks I should be without any drug part of the day. He did say I could try adding 5 mg of Ritalin with the morning dose. I said I would try it and asked if I could also try 15 mg of the Adderall in the morning and 5 mg in the afternoon since that wouldn't be upping my dose. He agreed. So I have been trying those options but am still frustrated.
Is this explaination more clear?

Since I wrote the message, I have tried Adderall 15 morning 5 afternoon. First dose was a little better than at 10 mg, but the second dose of 5 mg is practically worthless. The Adderall + Ritlian (10mg and 5mg) is better then 10/10 Adderall in the morning, but I need to retest this as I did it only once and I think I was a bit rough after the Ritalin began wearing off.

Today, I have bad postnasal congestion, so I took real Sudafed in the morning and held off on the Adderall until 12. This had the wonderful added side effect of letting me remember what a flake I am shopping unmedicated ; ). I decided to take the 10 mg of Adderall and try to bite off less than a full half of the second dose to see how that would work. I am guessing that will give me about 13mg noon and 7mg at 4. I will see if the second dose does anything and see how I sleep and see if the smaller second dose makes the come down any less irritable.

I am already looking for another doctor as I don't feel comfortable with this doctor anyway (though I don't dislike him or anything like that.) I need to find someone with whom I am comfortable being myself, someone who has a sense of humor, someone who is willing to be flexible with medication needs someone who can help me through the first stage of my diagnosis.

Hope this (too) lengthy explanation clarified what I was saying.

Hmm looking through my notes from the past weeks, I realize that the second dose has been starts wearing off a lot sooner than I had thought..... like in 3.5 hours, 4 only if I'm lucky.


Today I decided to test whether the Adderall itself was what was making me foggy in the morning. So I went a few hours without Adderall. Still foggy. So it wasn't too much or slow processing of Adderall making me foggy-headed.

Wrong thread, sorry. I have edited.

Also he didn't want to give me anything for late afternoon early evening because he thinks I should be without any drug part of the day.
If it were me, I'd fire him. This statement alone is nuts.

Should an allergic person spend part of the day without antihistamines?
Should a dehydrated person spend part of the day without water?

What he's saying about people with ADHD is the same amount of nonsense. What's the point? So you remember why you need it the rest of the time?

You definately need a new doctor. When you look for one, you're probably on the right track when you say your old doctor wanted you to spend part of each day unmedicated and the new doctor you're interviewing rolls his eyes (or worse).

Yeah, the only concern about medicating late in the day should be sleep. Other than that I don't think there's much reason for you to be unmedicated except for when taking another would disrupt your sleep.

Guys, thanks for your comments. I am new to my diagnosis and still not sure what I should expect from medications and what I should expect from doctors. Your comments really do validate what I have been thinking.

I don't want to hurt my doctor's feelings, but am not finding our meetings useful either. . I am going to give it one more meeting and see if it is any better. If not, I am going to start calling some of the other names I have found and hope I can find someone who is a good fit with me and who is willing to medicate me as I need it.

I really appreciate everyone's advice.

Guys, thanks for your comments. I am new to my diagnosis and still not sure what I should expect from medications and what I should expect from doctors. Your comments really do validate what I have been thinking.

I don't want to hurt my doctor's feelings, but am not finding our meetings useful either. . I am going to give it one more meeting and see if it is any better. If not, I am going to start calling some of the other names I have found and hope I can find someone who is a good fit with me and who is willing to medicate me as I need it.

I really appreciate everyone's advice.If Adderall gives you a bad 'crash' - you might want to try Dexedrine.

Also, there are other stimulants available - Ritalin/Focalin/and others in that family as well as the new amphetamine Vyvanse.

Also, there are non-stimulant options too - Strattera, Wellbutrin, etc. are all used to treat ADHD.

Also he didn't want to give me anything for late afternoon early evening because he thinks I should be without any drug part of the day.

I have never heard of this - umm does he know that medications do wear off when you are sleeping at night?

You doses seem small to me Adderall 10mg 2 times daily? Then you are to add Ritalin on top of that???? My doc titrated the Adderall until I got the effects desired. Seems to me a total not- doctor if you had side effects mixing different kinds of stimulants would make it difficult to determine which medication was causing the side effects - also the fact that two different medication would increase the possibility of side effects sense both medications come with their own side effects.

I have heard of trail and error but glad I didn't have to go through what you are - I would look for some one who is maybe a little more experienced in ADULT ADD - I have heard of them wanting children off the medications toward the end of the day due to the appetite growth thing but most of that is considered a myth any way seeing the appetite elimination normally wears off and the appetite return to normal after a few months any way so with an adult unless you are grossly under weight I do understand the need to have a daily medication break -

I take Adderall 20mg every four hours while awake - I have been known on rainy days to take my Adderall and an hour later lay down and take a nap for a couple of hours.

I would fire your doctor and find a new one. I just had a similar experience with a psychiatrist. The unmedicated part is weird. I take 60 mg. XR during the day and then have up to 40 mg. of IR that I take whenever-- sometimes I overlap it with the XR and then take another dose in the evening. I generally take about 20-30 mg. of the IR a day, but if I have to go to a shopping mall or super crowded, loud, public place, I take 40 mg. of the IR. I've never had a problem with crashing or irritibility that others do-- but I was such a hyper mess at the end of the day that everything would fall apart and I wouldn't be able to get anything accomplished. Now that I take adderall in the evening, I stay much calmer and can actually remember to do things like eat dinner, go to bed on time, etc.