I've been taking Adderall XR for about 10 months now and in the beginning it was a good drug. It made me get through my depression and do something about my problems in addition to the primary requirement of helping me focus if i chose to.

However at times i started to feel as if i was "speeding" both mind and bodywise. The body speed effects use to cause some excessive sweating and at times during the evenings my skin started to feel really hot although i did not have any kind of fever. The worst side effect was the ridiculous amount of muscle tension which I thought was related to anxiety.

After reading more about adderall i saw that it contained the following salt laevo-amphetamine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine) which seems to be causing the "body wants to move" and the physical sensations and that this salt is absent in Dexedrine.

When i was using Adderall i used to have terrible fatigue in the evening that was even after taking a 30 mg XR dose at 2 a.m ( I have trouble waking up early in the morning) this would inturn kill any interest i had in any sort of sexual activity (As most of sexual activity used to take place late night with my then girl)

I was wondering whether this sort of phenomenon was common to many of you veteran adderall users?

Also, i can see why the D-amphetamine is useful for removing or helping with ADD symptoms but what is the purpose of adding laevo-amphetamine ? to the mix. I've been looking around for comparisons on why adderall xr is better than dexedrine and apart from the fact that it is a combination of the two and the 'combination' helps prolong its effectiveness . I really don't see why laevo-amphetamine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetamine) is a player in Add treatement.

Your thoughts and observations?


I was curious as to

Your observations are spot on. Adderall really isn't supposed to be 'better' than Dexedrine (d-amphetamine). Adderall is supposed to last longer and give more motivational effects (from l-amphetamine) than Dexedrine does.

The l-amphetamine portion really has no medicinal value at all and is fairly useless. Adderall is actually just a renamed diet drug from the 1950s/60s called Obitrol. Shire obtained the rights for it years ago, ran some studies and got approval for it as an ADD medication. I'm sure whoever created Obitrol had some marketing idea to use a mixture of amphetamine salts back in the day in an attempt to take market share from Dexedrine (yeah these things have been around a looooong time).

For some people Adderall is a miracle drug and actually prefer it to Dexedrine. The majority tend to like Dexedrine best.

J

I am one of those people for whom Adderall works better. I can't tell you why, but my belief is that the l-amp is what I need to get motivated (or maybe one of the other d-amps not included in Dex)... whatever it is, It's like night and day for me. I slow down and relax on Adderall, and I'm tense and hyper on Dex. I can organize and focus and I"m motivated on Adderall, I'm a bundle of jitters on Dex.

My husband is exactly the opposite. He reacts to Adderall very much the same way you do, and when he tried Vyvanse (XR Dex) he's relaxed and happy, and much more motivated. Go figure. :)

That's really interesting. I experienced similar side effects on higher/effective doses of Vyvanse. Adderall on the other hand, works perfect for me. No tension, I feel focused, productive, yet relaxed. Best med ever for me. Sad thing is I have not asked my doc for it yet. As of now, I'm miserable in the chaotic swirl that ADHD has on my entire life. With all the stigma around Adderall, I've been reluctant to ask my doc about it. A close friend convinced me to try a few days supply about months ago and it was a miracle drug. I've been in treatment with my doc for only 5 months and I'm already tried of trying meds that don't work every month. Now that the Vyvanse has proved unsuccessful I hope to work up the nerve to ask my doc about trying Adderall XR.Sounds like people who do well on laevo-amphetamine do not tolerate Adderall well and vice-versa.

According to "Essential Psychopharmacology" by Stephen M. Stahl:

Another form of amphetamine, called /-amphetamine, actually releases norepi-
nephrine (Figs. 12—4 and 12 — 5) as well as dopamine (Fig. 12 — 3) by a similar
mechanism. Some patients respond better to a mixture of d,l-amphetamine salts than
to pure d-amphetamine, perhaps because of the beneficial action of norepinephrine
.