Ok, so I am new to the site and I will try to keep to a short synopsis of the more pertinent details. Female; Age 25; Height 5'5"; Weight 100 lbs. Diagnosed in high school, first med was Adderall worked fine. Stayed on that (with extensive breaks) up until about 1yr ago when medication seemed to have lost nearly all effectiveness. Tried Concerta-emotional rollercoaster. Tried Vyvanse- began alright then turned into a daily battle with stomach aches, feelings of depression, lethargy and muscle soreness. Tried Dexedrine Spansules, side effects resembled the Adderall XR when I first started with it: headaches, and bad taste. Discontinued this one though, because it took waaaaaay to long to kick in and didn't appear to be any more effective than the Adderall XR and I was afraid of losing any weight from it. Now, I'm back with the Adderall XR 60mg/day. This works ok, but still takes forever to kick in, and wears off by 4pm at which point the "**** and vinegar" side of me comes back out full force.

I have tried the IR form of Adderall, but only in the 10mg tabs, which I got way too tolerant too, way too quickly and didn't want to end up eating the things like tic-tacs just to be able to function.

My Questions: Would a high mg of the IR tab be more effective with a lower dose of the XR? Or, would an IR tab of a different med such as Dexedrine be more effective? For that matter, if anyone has insights they could offer on switching to a different medication entirely that would also be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much for any advice!!!

-ash

For my 17 yo DD, Adderall XR 40 + 10 mg IR boosters works pretty well. She sets her alarm to take the XR about 30 minutes before time to get up, gets ready then eats a high protein breakfast (about 25 g protein) of a Bocca meat free breakfast burrito plus soy milk. She takes a 10 mg IR booster in the afternoon when she gets home from school to help carry her through homework and evening activities.

For a while she was on 50 mg Vyvanse + 20 mg Adderall XR, but her Pdoc didn't like mixing two meds (we tried that for two weeks while waiting for our next appointment). That seemed to work well, but the Pdoc wanted to try 70 mg of Vyvanse. She was pleasant enough on Vyvanse, but schoolwork turned into a disaster because she just didn't get anything done. So now we're back to Adderall. She needs the PNS stimulation to get her off her duff and actually DOING something.

Thank you so much for your response!!!! :)

I don't see my psych till the end of the month at which point I wanted to try switching to the Dexedrine Spansules or a Ritalin based med. I am leaning more towards the Dex because from what I have read it is quite similar to Adderall and so I am hoping that it would be reasonably similar. I am not sure about the dosage though...my dosage on Adderall XR was just switched over to 60 mg/day of XR without the IR in the afternoon and this still wears off between 3-4pm. Any thoughts on equivalent doses or suggestions on schedule for switching to Dexedrine from here? I have read a lot of stuff concerning brand names for Dex too--mainly that BARR is awful, and to stick with Brand--can someone shed some light on this subject for me?
Also, would anyone happen to be able to offer any suggestions on a Ritalin based product (and dosage) besides Concerta that might be a potential alternative med?

Thanks so much for any suggestions!!

You might try Daytrana. It's a methylphenidate patch that lasts a really long time (up to 12 hours). Be careful with your dose though. After about six weeks of treatment, your body starts to metabolize it more efficiently and the uptake increases to 1.9 x the dosage labeled (so a 20 mg patch = 38 mg oral). Applying to inflamed skin and heat also increase uptake up to 3 x. My dd had to take a 10 mg oral in the morning because it took a couple hours for the patch to start working. When she was using it, the information about increased uptake hadn't been released, so her dose was far too high.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/daytrana.html


Google "Daytrana Cmax" for more information.

Thank you wifeandmom again!! I can't tell you what a relief it is to hear advice from other people who have similar situations! I have heard of the Daytrana patches, but I am not too keen on the whole patch concept because I know I would have problems with it not sticking/coming off with my job (lots of deliveries, movement, etc.) and working up a sweat at the gym. Has your daughter ever tried Dexedrine or any other Ritalin based medications such as Focalin?

The only Ritalin based medication I have ever tried was Concerta which was a nightmare for me--it did nothing for me except give me a lot of nausea, upset stomach discomfort and made me an emotional wreck. That made me pretty skeptical of a lot of ritalin medications because I am just afraid they will all be less consistent, that and I really dread the thought of anymore stomachaches! Yuck. Thanks again!!!