Hi all,

I am on my third week of Adderall after having been diagnosed and prescribed. My first week was supposed to be just the Adderall XR @ 10mg once a day, but I was too impatient to just see if that would work and started experimenting, which I KNOW I shouldn't have doen and the doc made no bones about that. Said if I did anything like that again, he couldn't treat me. The details of that experimental week can be found in my blog (http://butchdority.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/my-adhd-adderal.html) if anybody is interested. No point in retyping it all here.

Anyway, after being chastised, I asked about combining Adderall and Adderall XR. He agreed and I am currently on 10mg Adderall upon waking, then 10mg Adderall XR midday and another 10mg Adderall in the early evening. My issues are as follows:

Feel like the morning 10mg is just about perfect, but then I start to "fade" in the afternoon after taking the 10mg XR, only to come back pretty strong in the evening on the final 10mg of IR. I can give more detail on the "strong" vs. "fade" if needed.

I am wondering if anyone else has ever mixed the IR and XR like this and, if so, what the result was. My thinking is that the 10mg IR is a full strength, fast acting dose, but the 10mg XR, is really two 5mg doses spread out over the middle of the day, so the effect is lessened. I notice that I start to lose the sharp edge of paying attention and really hearing, a little fidgetting starts in, but nothing major and I start clock watching wnating 5:00 or 6:00 PM to roll around so I can get focused again in the evening. I have another appt with the pdoc on Thu and am thinking of either asking to go on three doses of 10mg or upping the XR to 20mg. I am so new to all of this and my doc is not really all that interested in anything other than charging me for my 15 minutes and getting me out the door, so I feel a bit at a loss, ya know? I'll be pursuing another doc along with a full treatment plan next week when I get home from my oh so exciting business trip, but I wanted to see if I could get some real world feedback before then.

Thanks!

47 views and not a single reply? Really? A little dissapointing.:(

Sorry Butch... I don't take meds... so I can't really give an opinion. But by reading your post and many others.. I'm able to *help* others.. who are just coming in.

It's one of the ways that I research.

If it were me... and I were taking meds.. I would ask the take the 20 mg in a.m.... and then maybe the 10 mg XR around lunch... it wouldn't hurt to ask.

JMO..

p.s. How was your trip home?

HI there,
Thanks for the encouragement over on my thread...thought I would check out what is going on with you and all I can say is...
We really dont have much n common as your meds seem to be working just fine! (she says jealously)
So my advice is be greatful for what you have right now, dont add anything until you absolutly have to ("one is great, two must be better.." that thinking) and remember finding the right dose/med is a journey, wont happen overnight. Your dose isnt so high so you have room to work it out. (I take 60mg and get nothing) I have been reading EVERYTHING looking for my own answers and can tell you it is not unusual to require a booster. You probly just need a higher initial dose, which will last longer overall.

So my answer is yes, I think people do mix XR with IR.

Good luck!

Maybe not that many people mix XR and IR anymore. I think doc's try to prescribe IR less now because of abuse. Myself, I'm just on 20XR and I've had no issues thus far. The only minor side effects I get is some dry mouth (that's been going away) and some jaw tension (also going away.) Only annoying side effect is wanting to throw up for about 5 minutes around 6PM. Other than that, I sleep at 10PM (like a baby). If you find the right dose of XR, it should carry you through most of the day.

Or maybe I'm just really lucky.

Thanks mochi. I am thinking of asking to do 10mg IR in AM and 20mg XR at noon. Just not sure if I will get a longer effect vs. a stronger effect from higher dose XR is all. Will keep hacking away at it until I find the sweet spot!

BTW, I found myself stuck out of town for an extra day yesterday without the day's dosages and it was a very ugly day indeed. Seemed like some symptoms were actually worse than previous to starting the meds. Made me very apprhensive about ever being caught short again, I can tell you.

I used to take the XR in the am and IR in the afternoon, but found that I never got the timing right and it seemed there was XR still in my body and the IR would cause hyperfocus at a time that was inconvenient.

I started taking the IR in the am and the XR about 4 - 5 hours later. It works well that way and I don't get cranky "coming down" in the evening.

I think people do mix XR and IR if you have a long day - say wake up at 6am and don't get to bed until 11pm. One dose of XR would not be enough, but two would be too much.

HTH

Thanks RainyZ. Just came from pdoc appt and we are really changing it up now! He wants me to try a 10mg IR plus a 15mg XR at the same time when I wake up, followed by another 15mg XR in the early afternoon. Interesting. Will do that for 3 or 4 days to see how it goes and then add a 25mg Strattera at bedtime just to make sure my body is as full of chemicals as can be!!! Will post results when I have them.