I've been working on drug trials for 1.5 years now and think I am making progress, but I'm trying to determine whether a pattern exists with respect to the current mix.

Just to be crystal clear, I am under the care of both a neuro-psychiatrist and a talented family doctor, the later of whom is responsible for prescriptions.

The only deleterious side effects I experience on stimulants (both methylphenidate and amphetamines) is depression. I have not suffered from depression, but when on stimulant trials I being developing what might be best characterised as minor existential crises. Lowering the dosage eliminates these side effects; increasing the dosage generates and inscreases them.

Stratera is not an option because of elevated liver enzymes. Wellbutrin and Provigil are not effective. Vyvanse is not available in my country. I tollerated Adderall XR better than Concerta, so this September I started a combined trial of Adderall XR and Citalopram. The SSRI is being taken profilactically, so that I can attempt to titrate up to an effective dose of Adderall XR. This strategy has taken me to 40 mg of Citalopram and 30 mg of Adderall XR.

We added Dexedrine to the mix, initially because I thought I could use it only when required for an evening function. However, with permission, I have lately been conducting an experiment with morning use of both drugs. I have spent a week taking 15 mg of Adderall XR and 25 mg of Dexedrine, and at first thought I was escaping the depressive side effects (leading to me posit that maybe it was either the d-amphetamine saccharate or the d-amphetamine asparate monohydrate that was the culprit rather than d-amphetamine sulfate).

With more observation, however, I suspect something more simple. I think that the depressive side effects are appearing lately in the afternoon, 6 to 8 hours after my morning doses of Dexedrine and Adderall XR. This leads me to think that perhaps the depressive side effects are directly corelated to the end of the half-life of these drugs. Because Adderall XR is long-lasting, releasing more amphetimine into the bloodstream at various times, I encountered greater side effects throughout the day, rather than just once a day - if I was only taking the Dexrine tablets in the morning.

That's obviously my next step: stop the Adderall altogether and try Dexedrine alone. If the side effects materialise at roughly the same time each evening (while on this tiral for a week), my hypothesis will be more credible. The solution, then, would be to take 40 mg of Dexedrine in the morning and 10 mg at supper time, postponing the "down" side effects to my sleeping hours.

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions from all of the chemists out there, or aybody with related experience who might be able to provide some guidance.

Thanks.

There's no difference between the D-Amphetamine Sulfate and the D-Amphetamine Saccharate. The Saccharate and Sulfate suffixes are the binding agent's in the drug, which naturally metabolize at different rates. The other two salts are racemic, D/L-Amphetamine Sulfate & D/L-Amphetamine Aspartate Monohydrate (these salts will act differently, but only because they are racemic, not because of the binding agents).

Ever wonder why Instant-release Adderall works longer than Ritalin IR and Dexedrine IR? It's because the 4 binding agent's allow the salts to be metabolized at different times. Adderall XR add's a special coating to two of the four salts making those 2 salts take hours longer to digest & metabolize.

Dexedrine is simply Dextroamphetamine Sulfate; the 'sustained-release' effect seen by Dexedrine Spansules is a result of half of the dose being metabolized at once while the rest of the beads are designed to be released slowly over 6-9 hours.

Hope it helps.