Since the diagnosis of ADHD couple of years ago, I have been put on various medications like Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse and Provigil.

Vyvanse had absolutely no effect on me.
I was on 400 mg of Provigil (a fairly high dosage) and all it did was to keep me awake but it did not help diminish the symptoms of ADHD.
I took Ritalin without any complications and it did help me a lot, but I ended up moving and changed psychiatrists, and the new doctor prescribed me Concerta. So I have been on Concerta 54 mg for past 8 months.

I don't know if it's possible to build up tolerance to stimulant medications or maybe the effect just wears off after awhile... but Concerta is not doing what it has been doing for me. Not only is it getting harder to focus, I am very irritable, forgetful, my social life has taken a hard hit because I can't concentrate on anything in a large crowd setting, my grades are falling because I will sit in front of my laptop for five hours but accomplish absolutely nothing--instead I will reorganize my closet, only to get distracted halfway through and go clean my fridge, which I don't even finish and I will just kind of doddle on for awhile with all these thoughts racing in my head.

So my doctor is giving me Adderall. I have a prescription for 10 mg pills to take three times a day, so 60 pills total. All the other meds I have taken before, have been Extended Release or Long Acting, etc. As in, I only had to take them once in the morning. (with the exception of couple months on Ritalin when I took it once at 7 AM and once at 12 PM).

Questions.

1) Generic vs Brand: Most effective? Avoid at all cost?
2) Cost, if purchasing without insurance? My insurance caps the coverage at $1,000 per year and I have multiple psychiatric diagnosis that require a lot of other meds...so I can't use my insurance to buy some of my medications. For 60 tabs of 10 mg pills, generic vs brand, what should be the expected out of pocket cost? I also have discount cards..., Together RX and Pharmacy Reward... how much will they help discount?

3) Timing. Doc said to take it 7 AM, 12 PM and 4 PM. Does this sound ok?

4) Interactions with other medications: I am also taking Lamictal, Abilify, Wellbutrin and Naltrexone. (Bipolar II, Depression and Bulimia)
Anyone also have experience taking these together with Adderall?

5) Is Adderall over-hyped? Frankly, I am not crazy about medications in general because I feel like I am so over medicated, but I accept my disease and illnesses and the need for medical help.

6) Appetite and Weight Fluctuations. Concerta made me binge eat which worsened my bulimia, while Ritalin was appetite-neutral. Your take on this? I have not purged for over a month, and I don't want to start again...if Adderall will any way increase my appetite or make me binge, I want to know about first-hand experiences. I know I have to maintain my weight in order to stay out of getting sent back into the hospital so I will NOT be trying to lose weight, but I do NOT want to have increased appetite. I am fine as I am.

7) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I WOULD SO APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. I am going out to get my prescription filled in about one hour... so any help will be so appreciated.

1. I would go with generic. I take the Barr brand. Some people complain about Corepharma and some complain about Barr. I've taken them both and prefer Barr brand.

2. Cost without insurance I think is around 100-130 dollars, but I could be wrong. I would have to go home and look. Also, depending on the MG the price may go up. Different pharmacies also have different prices. Just call up whichever pharmacies you go to and ask them the price. You might also want to ask them what generic brand of Adderall they carry. But if that doesn't matter to you, then no need to bother with that. Do a little searching on these forums - there is lots of debate over manufacturers. Below is one thread that you might want to read through.

http://addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51808

3. Those times sound about right. IR usually lasts 3-4 hours.

4. I'm also taking Lamictal. Everything is fine taking both of those meds.

5. Over hyped? No, take those meds and you will feel much better.

6. As far as appetite goes, I don't typically want to eat while taking this stuff. You should avoid some foods and drinks anyways, because they can effect the way Adderall works. Your hunger should come back well after the medicine has worn off though.

60 10mg pills? If you are taking those 3 times a day, that's only 20 days worth of coverage. I think the doctor should have given you 90. You might want to ask about that.

Hope that has helped any.

Since the diagnosis of ADHD couple of years ago, I have been put on various medications like Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse and Provigil.

Vyvanse had absolutely no effect on me.
I was on 400 mg of Provigil (a fairly high dosage) and all it did was to keep me awake but it did not help diminish the symptoms of ADHD.
I took Ritalin without any complications and it did help me a lot, but I ended up moving and changed psychiatrists, and the new doctor prescribed me Concerta. So I have been on Concerta 54 mg for past 8 months.

I don't know if it's possible to build up tolerance to stimulant medications or maybe the effect just wears off after awhile... but Concerta is not doing what it has been doing for me. Not only is it getting harder to focus, I am very irritable, forgetful, my social life has taken a hard hit because I can't concentrate on anything in a large crowd setting, my grades are falling because I will sit in front of my laptop for five hours but accomplish absolutely nothing--instead I will reorganize my closet, only to get distracted halfway through and go clean my fridge, which I don't even finish and I will just kind of doddle on for awhile with all these thoughts racing in my head.

So my doctor is giving me Adderall. I have a prescription for 10 mg pills to take three times a day, so 60 pills total. All the other meds I have taken before, have been Extended Release or Long Acting, etc. As in, I only had to take them once in the morning. (with the exception of couple months on Ritalin when I took it once at 7 AM and once at 12 PM).

Questions.

1) Generic vs Brand: Most effective? Avoid at all cost?
2) Cost, if purchasing without insurance? My insurance caps the coverage at $1,000 per year and I have multiple psychiatric diagnosis that require a lot of other meds...so I can't use my insurance to buy some of my medications. For 60 tabs of 10 mg pills, generic vs brand, what should be the expected out of pocket cost? I also have discount cards..., Together RX and Pharmacy Reward... how much will they help discount?

3) Timing. Doc said to take it 7 AM, 12 PM and 4 PM. Does this sound ok?

4) Interactions with other medications: I am also taking Lamictal, Abilify, Wellbutrin and Naltrexone. (Bipolar II, Depression and Bulimia)
Anyone also have experience taking these together with Adderall?

5) Is Adderall over-hyped? Frankly, I am not crazy about medications in general because I feel like I am so over medicated, but I accept my disease and illnesses and the need for medical help.

6) Appetite and Weight Fluctuations. Concerta made me binge eat which worsened my bulimia, while Ritalin was appetite-neutral. Your take on this? I have not purged for over a month, and I don't want to start again...if Adderall will any way increase my appetite or make me binge, I want to know about first-hand experiences. I know I have to maintain my weight in order to stay out of getting sent back into the hospital so I will NOT be trying to lose weight, but I do NOT want to have increased appetite. I am fine as I am.

7) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I WOULD SO APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. I am going out to get my prescription filled in about one hour... so any help will be so appreciated.


I know what you are going through and I am on the same meds as you basically...

1. I take generic bar but IR only lasts about 3-4 hours. I take 30mg XR then maybe a 10mg in afternoon.
2. Not sure without insurance...i have insurance but Costco has good generic rates.
3. Timing is good but you can adjust as to when you know you are feeling a crash or start getting irritable.
4. That combo is fine...I dont know about the last one...I dont take that but I take adderall and wellbutrin in the am....then invega (bi polar II) and lamictal 400mg at night....seems to work very well for me....
6. Your eating habits may be different than some because of what you are going through (bilemia). I generally eat small meals high in protein and less citric acid as this makes adderall excrete faster or neutalize the medicine. I take an antacid in the am as well to counteract that so I feel the full effects.

Hope that helps....

Mike, I'm taking 200mg of Lamictal right now. Do you feel even better on 400mg? What's the highest recommended dose on that?

Heh, our answers seem to be the same in regards to the OP questions.

Thanks! I looked through the link posted about genervic vs brand and I think I will go either with the Barr brand or brand name depending on the cost.

I am going to be wary about taking Wellbutrin and Adderall together, but in the past Wellbutrin and Concerta/Ritalin did not affect me negatively, so I don't think it should be a problem... and my doctor did not object to this, so yeah.

I take 150 mg Lamictal and 30 mg Abilify at night... They stabilize my mood quite well ( I would be taking higher dosage of Abilify except it is probably one of the most expensive medications out there)... hopefully it works well with Adderall as it has been with Concerta

ANY ONE KNOW OF PRESCRIPTION SAVINGS PROGRAMS FOR ADDERALL???

I spend well over $1,000 on prescription medications every month... I have no insurance, I am not financially independent... augh.

How's that Wellbutrin working out for you? My doctor said he didn't want me on that since I'm Bipolar. Some of those anti-depressants can be bad for you, so I've read. Isn't the Lamictal suppose to take care of the depressive moods anyways?

Okay. I checked my insurance claims and 120 5mg generic Adderall cost roughly 67.21 - not to bad IMO.

Hello :)
1. There's not a whole lot of differences between the generics and the brands.. some people claim that certain ones work and certain ones don't, but it's probably mostly in their heads :), other than having bad reactions to the inactive ingredients of each generic, the active ingredients have to legally be within a certain margine of each other. In other words, it doesn't really matter - if you really think one is giving you problems, try another.

2. Generic Adderall is pretty cheap (in my opinion anyway). Without insurance it's about $20-30 for 30 tabs, so for your 60 I'd say around 40-60 bucks. However, don't let your psychiatrist change you to Adderall XR because that's around $300 for 60 tabs.

3. 7 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM should be okay, but 12 PM is going to be stretching it for the first dose. You might want to either take the first one at 8 AM or take the second one at 11 AM and the third one at 3 PM, because for most people, it lasts 4 hours.

4. There shouldn't be any drug interactions with those med (antagonist OR potentiation).

5. No, it's not overhyped. It works..

6. Adderall diminishes appetite for most people. If you don't want to lose weight, you may find that you have to force yourself to eat.. while on Adderall, most people seem to think that food is a complete turn off. Your appetite comes back once it wears off.

7. Good luck :)

Mike, I'm taking 200mg of Lamictal right now. Do you feel even better on 400mg? What's the highest recommended dose on that?

Heh, our answers seem to be the same in regards to the OP questions.



I feel really good taking lamictal at night with invega (stabilizer)...I have been on 400mgs for like 2 years now...I can tell though if i miss 2 days...I will be completely out of it....

There's not a whole lot of differences between the generics and the brands.. some people claim that certain ones work and certain ones don't, but it's probably mostly in their heads

Mostly in our heads - I doubt it. There's too many people that give the same complaints for it to be "in their heads". Do some research. And honestly, you have no idea how much of the active ingredient is in any of these pills. Sure the FDA has rules and guidelines they have to follow, but does that really mean they follow them?

Mostly in our heads - I doubt it. There's too many people that give the same complaints for it to be "in their heads". Do some research. And honestly, you have no idea how much of the active ingredient is in any of these pills. Sure the FDA has rules and guidelines they have to follow, but does that really mean they follow them?

I've done "research" :p, I've taken Barr and Eon generic IR as well as brand IR and Adderall XR... all give me the same..exact..effect. :)

1) Generic vs Brand: Most effective?

BRAND is most effective, if you have insurance, I'd do that.
..corapharma 10 mlgram pills make me feel bad..120 corapharna 30 milgram pills are what I
buy per month and they work fine for 85 bucks,one of us read the small print on corapharma's website, and there's negative 4 milgrms per pill, so 10 milgrams is really 6 and 30 milgrams
is really 26....for copyright reasons.


Avoid at all cost?

...10 milgrm corapharma, I'm not the only ADHD one in my family
and none of us felt focused, or even "OK" on them.




2) Cost, if purchasing without insurance? My insurance caps the coverage at $1,000 per year and I have multiple psychiatric diagnosis that require a lot of other meds...so I can't use my insurance to buy some of my medications. For 60 tabs of 10 mg pills, generic vs brand, what should be the expected out of pocket cost?

not sure, it's been a while since I bought them, call around


I also have discount cards..., Together RX and Pharmacy Reward... how much will they help discount?

not sure

3) Timing. Doc said to take it 7 AM, 12 PM and 4 PM. Does this sound ok?

you have to decide what *feels* right.
...everyone's tolerence is different...if you can't sleep, try an hour earlier, or even skip the last pill, if 2 work

4) Interactions with other medications: I am also taking Lamictal, Abilify, Wellbutrin and Naltrexone. (Bipolar II, Depression and Bulimia)
Anyone also have experience taking these together with Adderall?


http://health.discovery.com/webapps/drugchecker.do?drug=Citalopram+Hydrobromide|62559&&drug=Adderall|6025&checkInteraction=true


drug interaction checker^

5) Is Adderall over-hyped? Frankly, I am not crazy about medications in general because I feel like I am so over medicated, but I accept my disease and illnesses and the need for medical help.

I would'nt want anything else, beside adderrall

6) Appetite and Weight Fluctuations. Concerta made me binge eat which worsened my bulimia, while Ritalin was appetite-neutral. Your take on this? I have not purged for over a month, and I don't want to start again...if Adderall will any way increase my appetite or make me binge, I want to know about first-hand experiences. I know I have to maintain my weight in order to stay out of getting sent back into the hospital so I will NOT be trying to lose weight, but I do NOT want to have increased appetite. I am fine as I am.


it won't increase your appetite, and if you like it as much as I do, you won't wanna throw them up.


7) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I WOULD SO APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. I am going out to get my prescription filled in about one hour... so any help will be so appreciated.

I may be too late, but i tried

I've done "research" :p, I've taken Barr and Eon generic IR as well as brand IR and Adderall XR... all give me the same..exact..effect. :)

But you haven't tried Corepharma. That's where all the fuss is. Corepharma vs Barr - so maybe you haven't done your research? ;) Here's one link, you can see that pretty much everyone feels the same.

http://loveadderall.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/update-on-brand-name-orange-adderall-vs-generic-pink-adderall/#comment-7391

There are various other sites where you can find the same information. Not to mention some of the users here describing the same problems.

- NEWB