I have been diagnosed with ADHD 3 days ago. I am prescribed Adderall XR 10mg, to be taken once a day. The psychiatrist said to try it out, then up it to 20mg, and see how things go. So far, side effects have been dull headache in the evening and slight diarrhea. My appetite is still strong.

I plan to up my dosage to 20mg tomorrow, the fourth day. I do not know if I should take 20mg when I wake up, or one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I am a full-time student in my final year of college. I need the whole day to do homework/study/lectures. I notice that I get sleepy in the afternoon and want to take a nap but I resist such that I can sleep at 12am.

On the first day, I took a 10mg at 4pm, and slept at 12 however had weird sleeping issues until 1:30am. I would like to sleep at 12 and wake up at 9.

If your doctor said to try 20mg then do this and see how it works. What you need to do is find the right dose and how long it is lasting. If you require additional coverage your doctor may add a second dose. Good luck.

Are you drinking plenty of water?

I just took 20mg of Adderall XR and I sort of feel light headed, a bit "drugged" up? I believe this is a side effect, is it normal for you guys? Or is it an indication that my dosage is too strong? I will report back tonight about my findings on this new dose.

Yes, I drink plenty of water, bottles and bottles of spring water a day. Along with cups and cups of soy milk. I've been avoiding coffee and fruit juices (caffeine & citric acid). I now drink caffeine-free tea at Starbucks because that is my study space and I do not know what else to drink. Why do people drink coffee while on Adderall? Doesn't one causes hyperactivity and the other reduces it?

Help, I do not know what to personally expect from Adderall XR. I have read your experiences but here is mine...

On May 14, 2008, I was diagnosed with adult ADHD. I immediately went home to fill my prescription, then took a 10mg at 4pm. When I was driving to school, I was clam and relaxed (6pm). I was very attentive in class (until 10pm). I went home, slept at 12, had a nightmare, woke up, went back to sleep 30 minutes later or so.

Days 2-3, I took 10mg in the morning. I have loose/mushy bowels in the morning. I noticed I was very anxious to leave class like usual (around 1pm when class ends at 2pm). I planned for many hours of studying but did not, instead, I did other stuff like search for a new phone or work on my new flowerbed.

Days 4-5, I upped my dose to 20mg. Mushy bowels continue. Shortly after, I feel this slight discomfort in the forehead. When I read my usual forums, it felt as if my eyes were half open. Anyways, I did quite a bit of studying, but still not according to plans.

Today, I took a 20mg in the morning. I felt a very slight "pressure" in the front/top head section and a brief moment of feeling eyes are half closed when reading like the past 2 days. Anyways I just went to the bathroom and very mush bowels came out. Sorry to disgust you guys, but some food particles isn't being digested!? I had to pull a string of noodle and a stem of vegetables.

Overall:

I do not get a euphoric feeling; I do not feel like I want to conquer to world; I definitely do not feel like studying. Even in a study environment, with my books open, I tend to daydream and wander off. My concentration has increased. I can study better, with moderate efforts, however I am still easily distracted. The XR seems to wear off in the early afternoon.

What do you guys think of my dose-experience? My next pdoc appointment is next Tuesday. I plan to try 10mg in the morning and 10mg at noon.

I just did a blood pressure test:
21 male, 112/71 mmHg, 92 bpm

While on 20mg XR, I am still inattentive and can get distracted. My hands/feet gets cold (worse than without meds), occasionally I get blurred vision as if my eyes are half open, low-moderate headache even with 5 bottles of water throughout the day (urine is clear), and about 7 hours after taking the med today, I started to feel nauseous. Are these symptoms of a high dosage?

I had high dose symptoms on XR 5mg (twice a day) for 2 days, then it quit working for the next week.

XR 10mg (twice a day) did the same - crazy, wired, strung out for a couple days, then nothing.

Tried 20mg, then 25mg, both twice a day and same story. 30mg was the dose that settled to a useful level. After about 2 weeks, it was steady every day.

Based on that, I would never analyze a drug's working effects (do pay attention to anything worrisome) - too high or too low - until I have taken the same dose, every day for 1-2 weeks.

When I forget my meds for 2 days, I have that same "wired" reaction the next time I taske them. At first, you want "proof" that they are taking effect, which means you "feel" them, but don't go by that and think that's when it's working. Most likely, if you "feel" them after a month or so, they could be too high. Instead, go by your behavior.

I haven't been sleepy during the day for 8 months - and I'm sleeping great at night. Drowsiness and boredom defined me.

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I hardly saw any positive effects until I hit 25 or 30mg - prior to that, it was like I hadn't taken anything. Positive effect for me means instead of being dreamy, immobile, paralyzed, can't concentrate - I am now highly focused - but I can easily focus on the wrong thing.

I will find myself 30 minutes into composing an email at work, in response to something that just isn't a priority (and should probably have taken 5 minutes, but I focus on every little word now) - when I have a report due that day, and I am leaving in an hour.

I have to keep asking myself "Is this a priority? Why are you racing off to do all that research and commenting, when it can wait until next week, and the deadline for your boss is an hour away?" It's better than being a space cadet, bored out of my skull, wandering around looking at fliers on the bulletin board.

Now I am doing so much work, 10 hours flies by and I could swear it's been 2 hours at most. I am always noticing the time and saying "WHAT??? How can it be 4:00 already - it was just 10:00!! OMG - I'd better rush and finish all this stuff".

I have 40 - FORTY - long (longer than necessary) emails in my draft folder, that I have started, and made myself stop, or something else came in and I decided to do that "real quick" and forgot to go back to the first thing.

By the time I notice I never sent the email, I can't remember if it's ready to send, so I just leave it until I "have time" to get back into it (my job is statistics & computing, with lots of formulas and charts, so it's not easy to jump right in).

I'm always aggravated that someone is taking forever to answer my email - and then I notice I never sent it to them in the first place. Oops!

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So it's not a miracle drug in the sense that it makes me "normal", but at least it gives me something to work with. And my brain does much better on remembering long complicated math and software steps now.

Before, I was in a MAJOR fog all the time, except when a deadline finally loomed, then adrenaline kicked in and cleared up my brain long enough to finish the task, but then, right back to mush.

Now I'm focused and intense, sometimes too much. My brain thinks so quickly now. I see all the steps ahead that have to be done or how to make something work, or I can quickly see all the potential problems of an idea.

I start spitting it all out, and I'm usually right on target, but "normal" people don't see or even want to think that far ahead - they are a bit more step by step, then reassess. I want to rush them past the rote stuff that I know they will agree with, and get to the complex problem. But they want to take their time considering each thing. I have to force myself to stop talking and let them set the pace.

Of course they don't take 5 detours for every correct path and amazingly, they actually follow through and complete the task! I will sit at my desk with 20 unfinished tasks for months, that need 5 more minutes, but I can't resist delving into the next interesting thing.

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I'm not complaining - it beats sitting immobilzed, thinking I should do this or that, but completely unable to even start, let alone finish. Non-ADDers just don't get that we can not make ourselves get up and do a task. We know we should, we think about nothing else, we say we will, but it's like we are paralyzed.

I compare it to someone who is physically paralyzed. They get an idea. They send the message to the muscles to do the idea, but of course, the muscles don't get the message, so they remain paralyzed, not moving, not able to accomplish the idea, even though they want to.

I feel like I get an idea. But my breakdown is that the message never gets sent to my muscles to start doing the idea, so my muscles stay just as immobile. It's totally paralyzing, but since the message transmitting is invisible, it's hard to understand why ideas never translate to actions.

I know I need to do my taxes, I want to do my taxes, but I just can NOT make myself, until it's 11pm on Oct 14th and I've filed 2 extensions.

Or, I know I need to get something ready to be mailed by 5:00, but I just sit there, not looking for the address or stamps. Until suddenly it's 4:52 and I race around emptying drawers and boxes looking for stamps like a crazy person, then I jump in the car, speed to the P.O., taking a shortcut thru the corner parking lot, and slip in the P.O. door at 4:59, all nervous and stressed, but, once again, I made the deadline.

Adderall has helped me set up habits and behaviors, like always putting stamps in my wallet when I buy them, buying 3 boxes of envelopes so I always have enough, buying 300 pens every Sept, when they are cheap, and putting them everywhere, so I can always find one...

Of course, I lost my wallet this week, when I took it out to wash my purse, set it down, and forgot about it, until I had to pay for something.

I also refill my Adderall the very day my pdoc mails it to me - otherwise, I will completely lose the prescription...