Hello everybody, I'm pretty sure this is my first post although I've been lurking here for a couple of years! I'm not sure why its taken me this long to post my story but here it goes.

Some background info...

I'm 28 years old, living in Ontario, diagnosed with adhd when I was 23-24. I started smoking pot when I was 17 and quickly progressed through the alphabet of illegal substances. After being diagnosed and prescribed Dexedrine, I still continued on my marry substance using way while taking the medication at the prescribed dosage. While on the medication I'd only require marijuana to take the edge off in the evening due to the rebound effects of the Dexedrine. My experiences with illegal substances through out the years has made me extremely aware of what any type of drug (illegal or prescribed) is doing to my body and mind at any given time.

In the years following I'd go on and off Dexedrine, never being able to put up with the rebound/crash/comedown. I've tried a number of alternatives, including Ritalin, Strattera and Modinafil.

Ritalin - Had some positive effects but in the evening it made me want to shoot myself. After a week of trying to put up with it, in hopes the side effects would subside, I stopped.

Strattera - :eek: Holy moly, took it for two days, not one thing positive came from it, not even a hint. This experience required me taking a few days off work as I was that un-functional (pretty sure that isn't a word!)

Modinafil - Tried 100mg once a day, twice a day, 200mg once a day, twice a day ... It only managed to keep me up at night and didn't provide any benefits for my adhd symptoms


In the last few months I've managed to cut out everything but pot, and that has been drastically reduced to a few times a week. But now I really want to stop everything all together and give Dexedrine another go. Let's cut to the chase, sorry for the long windedness...

Problems I have with Dexedrine:

- IR lasts approximately 2 - 2.5 hours

- Spanules last 4 hours maximum

- If the medication coverage ends before my work day, I'm far worse off then I would have been with out it

- When my work day is done, I'm useless, irritable, unsociable

- Feel a LARGE need to either smoke pot or drink a few glasses of wine to ease the rebound effect


Today I've tried a completely different approach:

9am - Zantac 75mg (I've read that it can increase the coverage time of dex)
9:30am - 10mg IR Dexedrine, which lasted twice as long as normal for me
12pm - Enjoyed a big lunch (rare on Dexedrine for me)
1pm - Zantac 75mg & 10mg IR Dexedrine
3pm - Feeling spaced out I decide to buy some Omega 3 pills, take them and almost immediately feel better
5pm - not really needing it but fearing the rebound in the evening I take another 5mg of Dexedrine

It's 1am now and I'm wide awake, I'm sure no thanks to the Dexedrine. I've been mildly depressed all evening, irritable, and once again completely unsure that this feeling is worth the productivity during the day.

If you've read all that I thank you, your prize is in the mail.

ANY Help, comparisons, closely related experiences are welcome.

Hi. You asked for others to share their experience. I have the same issue with wanting full-day coverage and finding 2 IRs inadequate. I am trying 15 TID and am getting better coverage.

I used to smoke marijuana back in college and loved it as it relaxed me greatly. However, I stopped years ago because I was worried it was making me less sharp the next day. Now that I am officially diagnosed as ADHD , I understand better why I liked to smoke, but am glad I did as my memory is lousy and I am sure it would have just made the problem work. I am not willing gamble on anything that might make finding my keys even harder :)

Interestingly, my experience with wanting a drink at the end of the day on stimulants is the opposite of yours. I used to drink two or three glasses of wine, beer or mixed drinks each night. I always wanted the "more" but tried to limit myself to two on the weekdays. However, since starting stimulants, I have had a greatly decreased desire for alcohol. I am content with one drink. Heck I often drink nothing lately and ask my husband to make me virgins or cut the alcohol in half. I know that one glass of wine a day is actually good for me, but I also know that more than that increases my risk of cognitive impairment as I age. So I am down to 0-1 glasses per night.

So what about the evenings?
I will say that the rebound is nothing like it was with Adderall or Ritilan (Brand was at least better than Barr generic which made me a TOTAL basket case when it wore off). I am on the EON/Sandoz generic of dex and find that when it wears off, I often don't notice if it weren't for the fact that I start losing words and wallets again. However, I have been on stimulants for only a few months, so it is also possible that my body has adjusted and the lower rebound tension and irritability is more a matter of time and adjustment than type of stimulant.

I do seem to get a bit more tension when it wears off and still battle intermittent sleep issues off and on. But I am a total stress kitten and might be entering menopause, so it is hard to know what causes what. I have started keeping a sleep journal to pinpoint possible patterns.

I offer my input knowing that that reading the experiences of others has really helped me think through my own experiences with medication management.

if its only lasting 2 hours your PH might be to blame, but also metabolism can be part of it. I haven't seen any real good guidelines for ajusting PH other then taking dexedrine on an empty stomach and with plenty of water.

I remember one post where a person said they would eat alot of citrus at the end of the day to help turn off the stimulation.

To find the best place. I had to make small methodic changes in my dose every 2 weeks. Steady state with a drug like dexedrine is reached in as little as 3 days, but it takes your brain about 2 weeks to level out after a change.

Its a frustratingly slow process to reach a good spot.

BobC

Exercise helps believe it or not. Eating healthy and getting enough sleep are also important in my experience.

Quiting the weed is a good idea. For most ADD people marijuana only makes things worse. It screws with your memory, focus, motivation, sleep (no REM sleep if you smoke at night) tends to make people anti-social and lots more.

I didn't mean to lecture you but I've gone through periods of time where I smoked heaps of pot and I look back on those times as a massive waste. Getting clean from all drugs was the best thing I ever did.


Good luck man ;) some of your history sounds like mine and I can relate.

You should ask for more coverage. When I go off Ritalin/stimulant for a day, I feel drowsy and unwell. After 2-3 days off, I'm back to my old self, pre-meds. There's a possibility that might be the reason for how you feel in the afternoon. I feel that stimulants take a little bit over for what the body naturally does. When you are on a stimulant and then go off, it needs some time to go back to normal, only one afternoon and evening isn't long enough to make this happen. If you had your last dose at, say, 6 pm, you wouldn't have to endure those afternoons.

I feel horrible those first days, and if that is what you are experiencing every day after work, I feel really, really sorry for you! It's either or, in my opinion. Either you are on stimulants morning - evening, or you don't use it. Any chance you could give this a try for just one day and see if there's an improvement?

Marijuana, as good as it is for stress relief, should only be used in occaionally. It has a way of making people dependant on it just to have a decent appetite and go to sleep that night. The first few days off are the worst, but mental clarity, appetite, sleep patterns, and personality should improve greatly soon after. Most importantly for you, the rebound should get weaker also.

This is how it was for me, and I take both Adderall and Dexedrine on a daily basis.

Thanks for everyone's responses... Thought I'd give a bit of any update as life has improved substantially in the last few days!!

I think I've done it, I found my balance with Dexedrine!!!!!

The day after I wrote the first post I did the same regiment and was left with the same crash at the end of the day. Leaving me utterly frustrated and almost ready to give up. The next morning I decided I'd take 10mg's in the morning and leave the medication at home and just see how it goes without taking anymore the rest of the day. How did it work?!

FANTASTIC!!! I had the best day I've had in months, it worked as it was suppose to in the morning, ate a nice healthy meal, and in the afternoon i didn't even feel it wear off at ALL. Today is the 4th day of this regiment and nothing has changed, it gives me the get up and go i need in the morning, once it wears off I don't feel any less motivated or focused. Most importantly I get 0 crash.

I've been taking omega 3 every day, eating MUCH healthier, taking a zantac with the medication in the morning. I've also drastically cut back on my coffee intake, I no longer have my morning coffee.

Re: Marijuana use, I agree with all that's been said, and I'm smoking less and less of it, I'm sure there will be a point in the not so distant future when I won't even think about it.

Main point here is NO REBOUND! :)

That's great to hear McVizzle!

Thanks for the update. ;)

I had similar problems, spoke to my doctor and this is what we do now:

Take a 15 mg SR in morning... then 1 hour before the expected crash, take a 5 mg.

For me, a 15 mg lasts about 7 hours, so I take the 5 mg at hour 6.

Sonja

I should add that I'm also a cannabis user and have used it on occasion for years when stressed out, to slow down my mind, focus.

It's helped me immensely to go inwards, figure things out and remap my mind after depression or anxiety. I've never noticed it to be habit-forming, but it has disrupted my sleep schedule before. And of course it's terrible and worse than tobacco for your lungs.

Since being on Dex, I've been using cannabis less often, because I get some of the high-functioning that I used to get from cannabis from the Dex now.

My girlfriend showed me some really helpful guided meditations at end of day that help reduce the crash too. Putting all my stray thoughts and negativity in a glowing bubble in my tummy that expands and expands as I fill it up and it floats more and more and slowly leaves the room, into the sky, the cosmos.

Part of learning to deal with Dex is learning to unwind and decompress, unload everything and the mind at the end of the day after having a superproductive day (that I never used to have when unmedicated).

See my somewhat similar thread: http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49525

Please avoid discussing illegal drugs in this forum. However, please feel free to discuss them in other forums here at the ADHD Forums where they are permitted.

The Medications Forum is for the discussion of legal medications that are used to treat ADHD. ;)

Sincerely,
Lars

Thanks for the warning, but I feel it does not apply to cannabis. Many people have used cannabis, both with and without doctor supervision, for ADHD among other ailments. Cannabis is a medicine.

Of course, recreational use or abuse of cannabis is a whole other topic, of course, but is still health-related.

I feel it does not apply to cannabis. I can appreciate how you feel, however it does apply to cannabis due to the fact that the rules of this forum prohibit discussing illegal drugs. Feel free to discuss cannabis in another forum where there are no rules against that kind of discussion.




Many people have used cannabis, both with and without doctor supervision, for ADHD among other ailments. I agree, and I encourage them all to post in the appropriate forums here at the ADHD Forums.





Cannabis is a medicine.I agree, and so is cocaine, but just because someone is using an illegal drug to treat their condition does not mean that the rules of a particular forum are allowed to be broken.





Of course, recreational use or abuse of cannabis is a whole other topic, of course, but is still health-related.I agree, that is why I am grateful that there are forums here that allow for its discussion.



In closing I would like to say that not only do I agree with most of what you are pointing out here (except for cannabis not applying here), but that you are preaching to the choir here. If it was up to me, this would be a complete non-issue. However, it's not up to me. These forums were here with rules set in place before I was asked to become a moderator, and they have reasons for being in place. http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15194

Oh, I see what you're saying. So it's not anti-cannabis bias. It's just a forum rule.

But now I wonder why the rule exists, because in many countries, including mine, it's possible to get a prescription for cannabis and buy it legally like any other medication. Maybe it's an American bias?

Thanks for the help!

I'm thinking it's to stop any chance of degenerating into a drug forum. A lot of people take advice from the threads here, for better or for worse, and this kind of talk might encourage them to experiment with illegal drugs. This would be a bad situation.

I'm thinking it's to stop any chance of degenerating into a drug forum. A lot of people take advice from the threads here, for better or for worse, and this kind of talk might encourage them to experiment with illegal drugs. This would be a bad situation.


That sounds just about right :)

It's still very controversial that cannabis helps ADD and it's not an approved medicine..yet.

There's plenty of other drug use forums that we can use and there's a section here. I think keeping them separate is a good idea or we'll have people looking to cop a buzz while others are looking for therapeutic treatment in the same areas. Bad idea I think.

When there's more evidence that cannabis truly helps ADD you can suggest/argue to start a forum. Lars did the same thing for the Desoxyn forum I believe.

Hello, I have started taking dexedeain in the last week and I am happy to say that is best adhd/add medication i have ever taken.my physiologist who is one of the best in the state of Washington started me on 10 to 30mg a day of the extendend release and 1/2 to 1 5mg boster pill as needed.
The first day i will admit it was rather rough, I took one 10mg in the morning at 8:00 on the way to work with two eggs and a banna, it took a while to kick in but once it did i was on the ball paying close attention to what my boss was yelling from the backho. I seemed to sweat a bit more but i kept hydrated and felt really good, after work the crash hit me and it sucked, It was compairable to an adderal crash or hangover as i call it but not as bad as i only delt with bad tast in mouth, the zombie feeling, head ache and kinda worn down but any time you start a new adhd medication you have that. the next day I repeated the process with a slightly less harsh hangover. the third day i added half of a 5 mg boster aswell and i felt great had a slow start at work but when it picked up it kicked in kept me on the ball untill about 4:30 when it started to wear off, Friday i repeated the same dosage and to my suprise the hangover was very minamal. No headache, the bad tast in my mouth stayed for the most part but really no zombie mood. today is saterday and I ended up taking my pills a little late but now that they have kicked in I am feeling focused and ready for the day.
In conclusion I would really recomend anyone who is having troble with adhd/add or is having troble with a their current medicaion to try dexedrine. i have tryed 5 differnt adhd medications and its the best for me XD.

Thanks for everyone's responses... Thought I'd give a bit of any update as life has improved substantially in the last few days!!

I think I've done it, I found my balance with Dexedrine!!!!!

The day after I wrote the first post I did the same regiment and was left with the same crash at the end of the day. Leaving me utterly frustrated and almost ready to give up. The next morning I decided I'd take 10mg's in the morning and leave the medication at home and just see how it goes without taking anymore the rest of the day. How did it work?!

FANTASTIC!!! I had the best day I've had in months, it worked as it was suppose to in the morning, ate a nice healthy meal, and in the afternoon i didn't even feel it wear off at ALL. Today is the 4th day of this regiment and nothing has changed, it gives me the get up and go i need in the morning, once it wears off I don't feel any less motivated or focused. Most importantly I get 0 crash.

I've been taking omega 3 every day, eating MUCH healthier, taking a zantac with the medication in the morning. I've also drastically cut back on my coffee intake, I no longer have my morning coffee.

Re: Marijuana use, I agree with all that's been said, and I'm smoking less and less of it, I'm sure there will be a point in the not so distant future when I won't even think about it.

Main point here is NO REBOUND! :)

I take the omega 3's, and I think they help. They are supposed to enhance mood and help ADD. The main reason I started taking them was for my heart health. I know stimulant meds put a strain on the heart, so I take the omega 3's to help counteract that (fish oil). I do feel better when I take them (physically & mentally).

Eating is very important, and it's so easy to forget. The dex destroys your appetite. I have been eating lot's of fruits and veggies and getting my carbs and protein lately, and it helps greatly. I find it very helpful to have cliff bars, or some protein bars or something easy to eat, with vitamins. You just need to plan out your eating and stay concious of it. Exercise too!

Vitamin C, helps absorbtion of amphetamines. The dex plays havoc with your body, so it's even more crucial that you get all your vitamins and eat healthy when taking it. Keep a water bottle with you all the time.

I am just like you when it comes to the wine, I like a glass or two to help take the edge off of the dex. I think as long as your not drinking more than 1-2 glasses, it's okay. Wine has many health benefits, antioxidant rich, anti aging compunds, it is good for the heart in moderation, and it lowers blood pressure (really nice, since the dex raises it). When I come off the dex I don't really want the wine anymore.

Routine is very important, having full work days, getting up early so you can be tired at the end of the day. If you vary your routine, you can really have trouble sleeping.

In my opinion, exercise & eating healthy are the biggest things.

Vitamin C, helps absorbtion of amphetamines. The dex plays havoc with your body, so it's even more crucial that you get all your vitamins and eat healthy when taking it. Keep a water bottle


Some really good tips there Nick.

I think that Vitamin C might acually hinder the absorbtion of amphetamines though...something to do with an acidic stomach not absorbing it properly?