Well, I talked to my dad and I told him that I'm not sure if Dex is helping me or actually making things worse for me. He said when he took dexedrine it helped him focus, but he only focused on fun things. When he said that, I realized that the same is true with me I think. When I take my dex I feel more focused/alert, but I tend to forget all my responsibilities and just focus on things that are fun to me. For example, computers, the fish tank, endlessly surfing the web. When it came to school work I dreaded it, hated it, had anxiety about doing it. Also I think I may be thinking or daydreaming about 10 different things in my head without dexedrine, but when I take dexedrine, I focus on 40 different things in a minute. At a restaurant when I am eating with someone I listen to what the person sitting with me is saying but then I catch myself and realize I am also focusing on every single other person's conversation that is audible to me! What the hell is wrong with my brain or is this a normal occurence with being on dexedrine? Does anyone else fell like dexedrine makes you focus on only fun/interesting things. My dad said ritalin helped him to focus more on homework and books and school.

Nope, dex helps me with focus and mental clarity. It does not worsen my ADHD. Maybe you are on too high a dose of dex which could cause this "scattering" effect on your thoughts?

Thanks for replying, I was starting to think nobody would, lol. I am supposed to be taking 10mg of Barr Dextroamphetamine, instant release, 4 times a day, usually every 4 hours. I weigh between 180lbs-200. Also I am taking Pristiq, 100 mg daily. Do you think my dosage is too high/low?

1) How long did it take for you to get to 40mg per day?
2) You may need to drop way down (to 10 mg per day, for example) and then tritrate up slowly from there.
3) 4x per day isn't extraordinary, but it is relatively uncommon.
Even if you sense it wearing off, the earlier doses are still having an influence on you (it is still partially in your system).
4) You may do much better at twice or three times a day with a first daily dose that's larger and then much lower doses later in the day. The total dosage may need to be less per day as well (such as 15mg + 5mg + 2.5mg + 0mg, just to make up one example).
5) Or you may need to take a smaller dose and/or look for another med to supplement it, or one to counter-act it.
6) Your situation could be compounded by, of may be the result of, combining it with Pristiq.
7) Or you may need to drop it altogether and find one to replace it.
8) If Ritalin was effective for your dad maybe you should make a switch.

Sounds like you should talk to your Dr. soon.

Please follow up with what you learn and what you try and how it works. You know, just in brief.

thanks !!

^^ yep, like he said.
I am on Effexor XR which is the parent compound that Pristiq comes from. My focused is somewhat improved even without the stimulant meds due to the increase in Norepinephrine that the Effexor contributes to.
So I kinda doubt that it is the Pristiq at fault but IDK, everybody reacts different to these meds.

It won't hurt you to try smaller doses of your dex amp for a day and guage your hyperfocus problem that way.

Good luck to you!:D

Thanks for replying. Well actually for about 5-7 days I had not taken any dextroamphetamine because I did not have enough money. I don't have insurance and I don't have any income either. The first couple days without dex were kind of aweful, (depression, slept for around 20 hours each day the first 3 days, suicidal ideation), but then towards the 4th and consecutive days I thought I got more accomplished and maybe my motivation improved. Possibly concentration too. Unfortunately, I do not see a shrink, her sole duty is to write peoples prescriptions that need refills. She knows very little about meds but consults the doctors she works with about my dosage. She once suggested I try Dextromethorphan for A.D.D. which is for coughing! Anyways I just started back on dex yesterday. I only took 2 10mg yesterday cause' I woke up at 3pm. Today I woke up at 2pm and have so far taken 2 10mg tablets. I just cannot tell whether or not this dam* med is working or not. Sometimes I feel like it is working great and other times I feel like it is horibble.
My Dad said Ritalin made him more of a bookworm, more able to study, etc, than dexedrine. I really want to try taking dextroamphetamine along with Ritalin but she will not prescribe it. Actually I think she may be willing to give it a try idk. Otherwise I have thought of Desoxyn. What happens at higher doses of dextroamphetamine such as 80 mg? I thought I heard some where that at higher doses it can be more effective and relaxing for some people than 40 mg a day. I want tappering the medication throughout the day but am worried because I can barely feel the 10mg tablet working sometimes. What if I took 20mg in the morning and then 10mg in the afternoon and then 10mg in the evening? Another big concern of mine is school starts next week. I am starting to take a bunch of math classes and when I am in class I feel like the boy in the bubble? Every bit of information the professor spews out, bounces off of me like I am living in a bubble. It is so incredibly discouraging I can't stand it.

I've experienced something of the same kind of effect from dexedrine. In my own experience though it just comes down to self-control, really. When I've taken some, sure I could sit there and play counter-strike for 6 hours, but with a bit of discipline it's just as easy to switch from nonproductive-mode to this-is-more-important-right-now-mode. I can just as easily get into the zone of schoolwork or other "more important" activities if I just sit down and begin doing them; for me at least, it really is just a matter of discipline.

Also 10mg 4x a day is pretty atypical for a dosage schedule. As someone also mentioned earlier, the dexedrine is still active even though you may not necessarily feel like it is.

Another thing you may want to consider, straight d-amphetamine isn't quite as physically stimulating as racemic mixtures like adderall. If I've been taking just dexedrine for a while it seems to make me all chilled-out, and often it's nice to just sit and enjoy music or something. Perhaps you could inquire about trying a racemic IR mixture (generic adderall), as the l-amphetamine seems often to give me a boost of energy similar to a cup of coffee, which is sometimes what I need to get going. Adderall XR is VERY expensive and still isn't available generically, so you'd probably be best off with generic IR adderall or "mixed amphetamine salts" as I think it's written on the prescription bottles.

This happens to me with Dex IR too. I hyperfocus, sometimes on my work, sometimes on Wikipedia, and sometimes on organizing my closet. It's actually a problem at work right now because I'm supposed to edit 30 files a day. I can end up spending over an hour on one file because I'm trying to format a table in Microsoft Word or something, and I can't stop until it's perfect.

I still think this is better than pre-Dex, when I would just sit at my computer and space out because I couldn't focus for more than 3 minutes at a time. But now I'm falling behind in my work for the exact opposite reason: I focus too much on one task. I barely even notice the passage of time. You know it's bad when you've been dying to use the bathroom for 2 hours, but you can't tear yourself away from your computer because that table in MS Word is not formatted correctly yet. :(

Obsessive, that's what it is. Dex can make me obsess more than usual; I've always been prone to obsess over little details that don't really matter, but it's gotten worse now. Physically, it makes me feel mellow, even if my mind is intensely focused on a task. Like, I'm concentrating really hard, but I don't want to move.

I've considered trying Adderall IR instead, but I'm worried about the crash that everyone complains of. That's one of the things I like about Dex: there is no crash period for me. I can't even really tell when it wears off. It's very subtle, and after the nightmare crashes that I experienced on Vyvanse, I'm hesitant to try another drug that's known for it's rebound effects.

I can definitely relate to what Ruby85 said. Sometimes the Dex does make me fall behind for the exact same reasons she said. Spending too much time on something because instead of no focus, I am in hyper-focus mode. Spending ridiculous amounts of time on things. I have tried Adderall, the generic kind. On the bottle it said Mixed Amphetamine salts. I didn't try it long, I got off it because I slept a lot. I would fall asleep after taking my dose quite frequently.
ANOTHER PROBLEM is I have racing thoughts like if you have seen Star Trek when they go to warp drive and all the stars are passing by. It is like my head is clear and all these thought are flying through me so I can never retain anything.

Everything you mention, luckbot, is what I'm like without dex, like e4rolls, and while dex doesn't diminish focus it helps me tune focus so instead of 40 different conversations I tune into the one that's most important. It also helps me gauge how much time to focus on something.

You wrote that while off dexedrine "....towards the 4th and consecutive days I thought I got more accomplished and maybe my motivation improved. Possibly concentration too." This is pretty telling that perhaps Dexedrine is not the right medication for you. Talk to a doctor who specializes in ADD.