Hi, I've seen a bunch of posts here about people needing higher doses, but I wonder if anyone has any experience on the effectiveness of very low doses of adderall?

I'm currently on 5 mg of Adderall XR in the mornings, and I feel it's way too much for me. It metabolises V-E-R-Y slowly - I can't sleep for a good sixteen hours after I take it, sometimes more, and I still feel it in my system up to 24 hours later. The effect of this is when I take the pill the next day I'm just stringing along the high, so I never have any time with the drug out of my system, which leaves me feeling really sick whenever I go off for a day or two.

Does anyone have any experience switching from XR to low-dose IR? I'm thinking that given how slow my body metabolizes the XR a single 5 mg IR in the mornings might last me the whole day, but is there anyone here who's been functional on a treatment plan like that?

Of course people have had effective treatment at less than 5mg! Everyone has a unique response to meds. Personally, I feel so overstimulated at 5mg that I couldnt imagine being on 30 mg! What, are you worried about 'fitting in' to the norm of the med crowd or something? :p

Ultimately everyone is different when it comes to medication. So, you need to just figure out what works for you and stick with it.

Alex, welcome to the forums!

I take 5 mg of Adderall XR in the morning -- that is about right for me, but 10 mg makes me sick. People vary in their needs. Drs. Hallowell and Ratey discuss how for some people very small doses are needed -- their body is just more responsive -- I don't remember of it was Driven to Distraction or Answers to Distraction that discussed low dose treatment.

Some days if I don't take my morning dose, but I need something in the afternoon I break a 5 mg Adderall IR in 1/2 or 1/4. The generic tablets I take are scored so you can take as little as 1.25 mg dose. Don't worry about what's right for someone else -- we're all very unique -- and if you can benefit from less that great! I don't know what kind of ADD you have but inattentives frequently benefit from lower doses according to Russell Barkley, one of the leading ADD researchers for the past 25+ years.