I was on vyvanse and it was good for mood but did nothing for concentration. Was taking 100 mg a day. So, decided to switch to Adderall XR. Got a scrip for 20 mg XR twice a day. Is this too much for a starting dose?

If you are male , decent body weight , I would say that is the correct starting dose . It was what i started on .

if thats what you started on, then what are you currently on?

I have a history of substance abuse; but I've been clean about 13 months. I don't want this dose to be too high, and feel all high and want more. Please... some input! Also, these stims are makin me break out like a biatch!

In my opinion that's too much to start on. But...since you've been on vyvanse it might be ok.

For someone without tolerance or experience with a new med I'd always start as low as possible. Especially if there's been substance abuse problems.

I started on 2.5mg of Dex twice a day which is a TINY dose but it's better to start off low.

20mg twice a day would be too much for me but my experience is mainly with dexamphetamine which is a bit different (slightly stronger I believe?)

You should be ok but there's nothing wrong with starting on 10mg and working up from there.

one of the reasons they made adderall xr is because it has less chance of being abused than instant release. i think its a normal dose. good luck

one of the reasons they made adderall xr is because it has less chance of being abused than instant release. i think its a normal dose. good luck


It's still easy to abuse although I won't go into it here.

Let us know how you go street

Well....

Today was day one on Adderall XR, and its now 1:09 AM and I'm still very awake. I have to say that 50 mg vyvanse and 20 mg Adderall XR felt almost exactly the same. I don't know if I still feel the Adderall right now, or if the crash was just less severe than the Vyvanse. Will continue Adderall, and update status. I know many people want cut and clear differences between Adderall and Vyvanse.

P.S. My brain chemistry is probably completely out of whack at the moment, so it's hard to decide what feelings are from what. Here are some reasons:

1) I'm withdrawing from nicotine (this is my 7th day without a cigarette)

2) I'm on 2 mg klonopin per day, which is quite a high dose. This I think may be causing some of my major depression, and unmotivation. It could also be counter-acting some of the stimulanys effects.

3) I'm on house arrest; which is causing enough depression in and of itself

4) I have no social life BECAUSE, I am a recovering drug addict (1 year clean), and decided to cut off all of my old drug using friends. This lack of social life I think is a major factor in my serious depression.

5) I've been clinically diagnosed with Social Phobia (the aviodance sub-type), OCD, ADHD, and obviously, you combine all these together, MAJOR DEPRESSION.

50mg of Vyvanse is about equal to 20mg of Adderall XR. Now what Shire is really saying is that the amount of d-amphetamine is equal between those to doses. The Adderall has an additional 25% amount of l-amphetamine.
L-amphetamine will act on either dopamine or norephinephrine receptors without preference. So it can and does give additional potency.

J

Ok... a little update. I still have some vyvanse left, so today I decided to try that instead. We had a training class at work and I could not concentrate one bit, and my social anxiety was out of control. But when I took my second dose,
I was hustling at selling...Im in sales. I can say that vyvanse Improves my mood better, but Adderall is better for my concentration....I think. I will need to give the adderall a full month review to actually assess its effect on me. I might have been withdrawing from the Vyvanse on the day I took my Adderall? Is this possible?

That klonopin isn't going to be helping things much.

It decreases the effect of the stimulants - so you need a bigger dose. Makes memory much worse, can make people very lazy. Makes people sleepy...the list goes on.

If you've had substance abuse problems then benzos (like klonopin) is just about the worst thing you can take, they're extremely addictive. Crippling social anxiety is no fun though - if you've tried everything else I guess a benzo might be worth it. I'm not a doctor so this is just my opinion.

Since you're withdrawing from nicotine, now is not a good time to switch around your meds. As you said it's hard to decide what you're thinking/feeling. Try and switch one med at a time at the most, and only when you're in a 'normal' frame of mind.

It's possible you were withdrawing from the Vyvance when you switched to the Adderall but very unlikely. They are basicly the same drug, vyvance just gets absorbed differently (slower).

Adderall tends to make people more anxious compared to Vyvance and Dexadrine. It has a more 'speedy' effect that doesn't mix well with anxiety.

If you had luck with Vyvance then Dexadrine might be worth trying, it feels more calm and focused than Adderall in my experience. Better for people with anxiety issues.

Yes klonopin sucks ***! It worked extremely well at 1st. I was more outgoing, could focus better (because of decreased anxiety), I was more creative with my music, the list goes on......

Now, after 3 months of being on the klonopin, It doesnt do jack for my social phobia, I'm not interested in the things I used to like to do, I'm lazy as hell, and very depressed. I'm going to the doctor today and I'm weaning off that horrible drug. I'm also going to buy a CES device, probably the alpha-stim, to replace my klonopin and help me with the withdrawals and everything. I heard only good things about CES; look into it guys....

****in Adderall sucks compared to vyvanse. After like 4 hours into my dose, I wanted to cry and was angry as hell. I even punched a hole in my door, which I would NEVER do on vyvanse, which indidcates that its not doing much for my impulse control.....