Has anyone once they started taking Adderall experienced lower grades? I always heard that Adderall can help you study better and for longer but my grades have declined this semester.

I am taking 40 mg of IR 2 times a day. And have been taking adderall for about 3 months.

I study alot, but get caught up in the minutia of the material sometimes and don't focus on the big picture i.e. getting a good grade.

Its frustrating I thought adderall would help me focus and do better in school it helps me focus and gives me energy but there is not a correlation with better academic performance.

It could just be the class because this class requires alot of research and writing, and not sure if adderall is conducive to research and writing. Cause you can get stuck on dead ends of research because you are so focused and waste alot of time.

Wondering if anyone else has a similar experience.

I am in Graduate School doing a masters program.

Didn't you start a topic like this already? You're still obviously taking too much.

no and i take more than that 80-120 with provigil and wellbutrin and im all good. i can do up to 6 books im homeschool in bout 2 hours 30-45pages books. yea u are taking to much you are sensitive im gussing or just getting over active. chill out

Didn't you start a topic like this already? You're still obviously taking too much.

Oh I don't remember.

well when I take less I can't focus and daydream.

I am not jittery or hyper on the dosage. I am alert.

just think it may hamper my creativity when I am writing papers.

also the books I read are for graduate school so they are dense and require extreme concentration for every paragraph or sentence because each paragraph is packed with info.

johnnyx,

Your symptoms MIGHT be from too high of a dose. It seems like a lot of people are given too much. 40mg IR twice a day is enormous; it should take MONTHS to work up to that much.

You can't let the medication be your motor. But, we need more information about you:

- How long you have been on Adderall
- Beginning dosage
- Titration time (how long it took to work from the initial dosage to what you are at now)
- Other medications
- Other/co-existing conditions
- Weight/Height

The more, the merrier. Right now, we can't tell you much.

- Glen

How long you have been on Adderall- Since September
- Beginning dosage- 5mg of IR
- Titration time (how long it took to work from the initial dosage to what you are at now) -a month.
- Other medications- dexadrine 20 mg in morning. I cycle off my meds during the weekend so don't take any on Saturday and Sunday.
- Other/co-existing conditions-
- Weight/Height- 6-3 and 300lbs

I was thinking about taking less but at less of a dosage I still daydream when I read and have other distractions even through I am studying in a quiet library.

I don't experience a rapid heart beat or any other side effects from the dosage. The only effect I feel is focus, and I thought that was the goal of the adhd medication to increase focus.

The only problem is I think the focus is interfering with creativity which hampers my ability to write essays. Usually I will have ideas flowing here and there, but when on the medication I am focused but the free flow of ideas are not there.

I will try to drop the dose and see if that helps, bring back some of the creativity. The creativity is what made me ADD because I would always have random thoughts going on

I find if my NE is too high i'm overly relaxed and time just starts to fly by + I blow deadlines etc. I also process a lot more sensory information and get distracted by it. (@ low NE levels I feel fatigued, mismatch colors, and miss alot of non verbal communication)

I also find I need a certain amount of alpha2 stimulation (which normally comes from NE) or my memory is spotty.

I personally found dexedrine to have a much lower NE profile then adderall. I tried tenex (alpha2 agonist) in combination with adderall/dexedrine and found it decreased my NE levels significantly, but kept my memory strong. It also blocked some of the physical side effects of adderall.

BobC

Thanks Bobc, excuse my ignorance but what is NE?

Yeah i'm knew to Adderall so still learning the ropes. I'm sure 20 mg or less of Adderall would work great for me if I was just reading novels or straight forward stuff.

Reading more complex stuff like War and Peace or something like that where you have to focus on every word and paragraph demands more of my focus, so when I first started taking adderall and started to drift I figured I had to keep upping the dosages till I stopped drifting.

At 40 mg I am not drifting and feel great, but not giving me the results in the classroom that I had hoped for. It could be that I am spending way to much time on one subject and not on the whole picture. Finding that balance is tricky. Thats the good thing about this forum is that everyone been through a similar situation and can help you get through the experimentation phase with the meds to find the ideal dosage.

johnnyx - what actual degree program are you in ?

MBA or English (or Russian Lit) or... ?

Master in Political Science.

I may have exagerrated the topic of the thread, b/c I haven't received any grades back yet. I was just venting when I started the thread because I received the really bad marks on a draft I turned in of a research paper.

sorry for the exagerration, guess the ADHD makes me impulsive to write down stuff without thinking first.

My basic question if you cut through all my venting and ranting and raving, is "Does the level of complexity of the subject you are studying require an increased dosage of Adderall?"

Thanks

Its possibly not related to complexity. It may be more related to your level of engagement.

For example, I may be keen to work on a difficult problem without the need for extra focus if I "care" about it or feel engaged (like I'm actually learning something useful).

Conversely, I may be less inclined to fill out a repetitive report at work or to balance my checkbook - two activities that are more mundane. There, the extra focus allows me to stay with one thing till its done.

But its hard to say when a person is studying an abstract field. Even if you really enjoy the area of study you may not care about a certain component or attribute associated with some class work.

Another thing is that learning is a lot about comprehension (making connections) and forming memories (retention). Having added focus may not aid in that process or may even hinder it to some regard. The focus can change it from "taking in" the material to "getting through" the material.

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Another thing that seems important is having breaks and alternative activities, but also a comfortable schedule so we can be relaxed about making appropriate progress.

Too much focus can cause a sense that there is always a potential problem ahead - and that lost time can't be recovered, etc.

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These are all pretty general comments...but maybe you are trying too hard or missing something else. Maybe there are some other things causing you anxiety. Maybe you have to limit how much time you spend on certain topics, activities or research (?)

thanks for your advice I will definitely employ some of the techniques you mentioned.