I've found a few things on the internet claiming that Adderall XR may cause depression as oppose to the IR version. Has anyone else herd/experienced anything like this? I'm on the XR version and am have symptoms that have me wondering...I've only been taking Adderall XR for about a week and so far have seen zero change at all EXCEPT huge loss in appetite. Im not even kidding, I've taken this for about a week and I forgot to eat for two days and then realized what I'd done. My favorite foods don't even sound remotely good to me anymore....I'm going back to my psychiatrist tomorrow an plan on telling him/asking him about what i've described.

The appetite thing is normal. Amphetamines used to be prescribed as weight loss drugs. Until they realized the effects go away fast and you have to keep increasing the dosage. So I'm actually surprised it's held on for a week, but it should subside.

The depression thing I can't really help with. I already had depression when I started. :D

I would guess it has to do with the timing of when the 2nd dose gets released. I can't see anything else making a difference.

I already had depression when I started too...
...for me, I'm ok 6 hours and return to normal...depressed.

i tried it for a week or so. made me insanely moody, could def be described as induced depression. when i come down from adderall ir id sometimes get moody but it wouldn't last very long. the ir would ruin my whole day even when i woke up in a good mood. doesn't help that my stomach is acidic so if ate anything around taking a dose or having the other chunk released for the ir so.

they should def start some research on it

i tried it for a week or so. made me insanely moody, could def be described as induced depression. when i come down from adderall ir id sometimes get moody but it wouldn't last very long. the ir would ruin my whole day even when i woke up in a good mood. doesn't help that my stomach is acidic so if ate anything around taking a dose or having the other chunk released for the ir so.

they should def start some research on it

I'm sorry so are you saying XR did kinda make you have depression like symptoms and that you like the IR version better?

I experienced severe depression which compounded upon itself as I grew a swift tolerance to it. The inital euphoria subsided within three days for me and the crash got harder and harder each time.

This is just my experience, though. I am still recovering a bit, but I feel much better than last night. I decided to stop taking it after only four consecutive days.

- Glen

well i liked the ir much better. when the ir would wear off i would sometimes notice a mood dip which is typical. but with xr i would have the mood dip within an hour and it would last until it wore off.

I have a long history of depression, and at least some of it is likely related to undiagnosed ADD. (I can't focus on anything so nothing gets done, when I get overwhelmed I get stressed, my response to stress is depression.) Every doctor I saw agreed that there was something missing from the diagnostic puzzle, but ADD had never really come up when I was a kid. Well, it did once: I asked the school psychiatrist about it when another kid had been telling me that he took Ritalin so I shouldn't be ashamed about having to take Zoloft. She told me it was something that "only happens to little boys." I think back on that and want to rip her hair out. Anyway.

My depression is partially seasonal, though not exclusively. It's been ten years since my last major depression. I have experienced mild depression on a seasonal basis, and had it not been for early intervention from family and a lot of work on my part probably would have cycled back into severe depression about four years ago when I was unemployed, in a miserable living situation, and recovering from a knee injury.

At any rate, a friend had been talking about her life pre- and post- ADD diagnosis and my jaw quite literally hit the floor. I made an appointment with a psychologist who specializes in adult ADD, got diagnosed, and in consultation with him and the psychiatrist he recommended started taking Adderall in July (initially 20mg XR in the morning, 10mg IR in the late afternoon, upped to 30mg XR and 10 IR after a month).

I do notice mood changes as the first release of XR fades before the second kicks in. I get tired, a bit irritable, less able to handle stress, and my normal caution optimism is replaced with apathy and/or pessimism. It lasts about 30-45 minutes, and once I figured out *why* it was happening, it improved. Knowing that it's a chemical thing that will fade means I'm not adding to the darkness with panic/fear/paranoia/self-doubt/etc. In the late afternoons, I just take the IR before the XR has completely worn off. I don't notice the mood shift when the IR fades, and I'm not sure if that's because it's a lower does to wear off or if it's that by that point I'm home and curled up on the sofa with a book and a dog and I'm okay with being tired.

Over the past month I've noticed that I'm less able to focus, more likely to oversleep but less likely to sleep *well* or feel rested, more likely to hyperfocus on the wrong thing (I sat in the car and played Sudoku for 3 hours rather than writing a paper the other night because I didn't know what my first sentence would be and that was so overwhelming that I couldn't motivate myself to get up and go sit in front of the computer), more irritable, more anxious, less social, less patient, and just generally *blah.*

My doctors and I are in agreement that it could be ADD-related and that we simply need to increase the Adderall dosage, but that because of the mood-issues and because of my history of seasonal depression, that before I start taking more of a stimulant medication we should try an antidepressant. I've been on Lexapro since Monday, and the placebo effect is a nice relief. (It takes a while for antidepressants to work, and I know that, so how exactly I'm experiencing a placebo effect I'm not entirely sure.) That being said, we did make one Adderall adjustment, thought the motivation was cost. I switched from XR and IR to purely IR, and filled that prescription today.

I'll be playing with dosage a bit, I suspect (or, rather, time of the dosage) for the next few weeks, but if you'd like I'll check back in and let you know if the mid-afternoon blahs are still there. (The addition of Lexapro throws in an additional variable, but given that it takes a bit of time to work and I can switch to IR starting tomorrow, I'm not sure how much of an additional variable it is.)