I've been Adderall IR for probably 3 months now, started it with 5mg x2 a day, moved to 10mg x2 a day, and for the last month or so I've been on 15mg x2 a day. The problem I'm having is that while it does work pretty damn well, it makes me a complete *******. I just moved in with my fiancee and we've been getting into quite a few fights lately, all of them while the adderall is "working". When I'm on it, it helps me focus like nothing i've ever experienced, i can pay attention in class, read several chapters of a text book, and do my homework, and I think that is related to my problem. I become so focused that if someone does something that i percieve as an interuption of my studies i get extremely angry with them. If my parents call when i'm trying to do work, I'm pretty snippy with them, I basically said to them once "your bothering me while I'm trying to do work, leave me alone". Tonight my fiancee and I were working in our home office and anytime she made a phone call, or rustled some paper I would become quite irritated with her, because it seemed like she was interupting me, breaking my concentration, and preventing me from doing my work. This is not normal behavior for me and if I'm questioning if being able to get work done is worth me turning into such a jerk.

Is this a sign that the dose is too high? Because 10mg seemed to work and i didnt notice the irritability but my doc moved me to 15 because I wasnt able to completely stay on task while I was at work. However my job at the time was pretty mindless and boring, so I doubt anyone could resists the temptation to mess around on the net from time to time.

If I need to switch to a different med is there something similar to adderall (I cant take straterra or ritalin) that doesnt this effect.

Sounds like you could be overstimulated and the Adderall is agitating you.

I'd try taking 10mg x 3 per day. If that doesn't work then you'll have to switch to dex.

Man this happens to me as well to an extent, although I find it to be in a positive way... Before I used to let a lot of things that really bothered me slide, I'd just bottle it up.

Now little things don't bother me at all, but big things that really get to me come out, and they come out HARD.

I used to be a pushover I guess, real sensitive. But with the adderall I'm much more confrontational.

try vyvanse or dex

try vyvanse or dex

Agree--you can probably get the same benefit without the side effects.

I was noticing the same problem so I cut my dose back. My NP allows me up to 50mg a day. I was taking 15 mg in am, then another 15 around noon and then 20mg late afternoon. I usually dosed like this when I worked 12 noon to 10:30 pm. Or when I work day shift and have to be up at 4 am. After reading a lot of other posts on here I decided to only take 10mg at a time. I find that it seems to actually be working better. Plus my NP put me on Celexa about a month ago and that has really seemed to help with the moodiness. Good luck to ya!

I'm like this, meds or not.
....the greatest gift i can give you is my full attention.

we get distracted easily
.....and we strain to say on corse...

I hate that about "our kind" of ADD.
...at least explain to your family, you don't mean to be like that.
and what hyper focus is.

Man this happens to me as well to an extent, although I find it to be in a positive way... Before I used to let a lot of things that really bothered me slide, I'd just bottle it up.

Now little things don't bother me at all, but big things that really get to me come out, and they come out HARD.

I used to be a pushover I guess, real sensitive. But with the adderall I'm much more confrontational.

I've also noticed that I don't immediately give in. I'm not confrontational or even a jerk. I've just noticed that I' more able to take a pause and say to myself "wait a minute" ... whereas before, I'd just give in.

It really depends on the situations. There are some situatiosn at work where I can be a real jerk and I was before medication.

Ritalin made me a big jerk the same way adderall is acting for you. If the phone rang while I was doing something, I would feel really annoyed that I would need to answer it. I know what you mean, you want to do something until you get it done and nothing in between. Multitasking is impossible. I also felt annoyed if music or the TV were on while I was working and that's not like me at all. I like background noise usually.

What I personally have noticed about trying adderall now (versus the ritalin since I've stopped) is that instead of getting bothered by the distractions, I simply don't notice them. I also don't feel serious or grumpy whatsoever, in fact, I might be a little more enthusiastic.

I had the same problem with the ritalin too: 10 mgs was helping but not enough and 15 mg seemed too high. Too bad there wasn't something in between.

Even though both ritalin and adderall help me focus, they seem so different to me. I've talked to people though that have been on ritalin and they have the same reaction as I do with adderall and vice versa.

I would lower your dosage and see what that does, and if you are still irritable then ask your doc if they have samples you could try or if you could try something else that is similar to adderall. You certainly wouldn't want to complicate your living situation if you don't mean to.

I know, I hate being "put off" by people who wanna talk to me...
..I know what you mean.

I have this problem too. I'm on 20mg XR daily.

For example, today during history class, I was working on an essay and some people around me were loudly talking about something totally ridiculous and unrelated to the class. Usually stuff like that doesn't bother me in the least, but it was really frustrating me and preventing me from doing my work.

However, the morning before that I fell three times while running to the bus and I just laughed it off.

So, to me it seems that at certain times of the day I become extremely irritable, and at others I'm just totally carefree and happy as a clam.

Could someone go into a little more detail as to what could be causing this? I know someone already mentioned overstimulation...could someone provide a little more information about that too?

"is there something similar to adderall (I cant take straterra or ritalin) that doesnt do this effect?"
It's hard to say, not knowing you, but experience-wise I have dex, rit, and adderall under my belt (and faild with stretarra, and random others) and I can relate. I would argue from my perspective that Adderall works by pushing you into obsessions (you can hardly stop thinking about H/w, etc. when you get going?), and also that this effect is the root of your social problem with your fiance (in too many ways to parenthesis). One of many theories I have is that the emotional control comes to us after time (either because your brain adjust to the stimulants, or our minds get better at dealing with it all). I say this because it used to be a bigger problem than it is today.

When I take Adderall it makes me want to be away from people. If I allow a person-related distraction to tie me down, my mood is affected and so are my feelings towards that person for a while. I believe it stems, in part, from the fact that Adderall makes doing more than one thing at a time 'un-enjoyable'. Here's how I protect my mood while taking Adderall:

1) Closed celly Policy- I let people know that I don't answer the phone when I'm working. that way I don't feel guilt about not answering. I always call them back and leave a message when time permits.

2) Exit strategy- If I wind up in a conversation that I would like to escape from I just say, "hey, I really wanna go do a project" or "I really need to go." Parents are very understanding of this, but they can take a while to actually say good bye and all that, usually cause they like you.

If I think a hangup sequence is in jeprody of affecting my mood because it's taking too long to get through all the "ok, umm"s I just say “I’m sorry I really gotta go (insert ‘luv you’ if applicable)” and hang up before they have a chance to answer. It's really an odd situation to be in; protecting your mood. Obviously this isn't healthy if you're interested in a healthy social life, note.


3) Interruptions - Interruptions suck for lots of reasons. First off, if you’re taking a stimulant to help you focus, you’re probably better off alone in a study, a library or a bedroom, because if the stimulant is properly treating your ADD, you won’t want to be off task (you may notice that it literally hurts to entertain an interruption). Of course it’s not always possible to be alone for every project you’re working on, and that’s a bummer, but you can make it work out in some cases.

When disruptive things happen you should let the people around you know, because they don’t even realize they’re interfering. For some reason, with Adderall, this doesn’t come very naturally. I think, for me, I assume they intend to interrupt or bother me (which is a detachment from reality in most cases). This will make me feel as though I need to keep the fact that I’m distracted or bothered by them a huge secret so they stop doing it (this line of reasoning just gets more and more absurd sounding as I see it in writing --this is a popular sitcom situation, isn't it?). So, obviously the best solution is to assume that the detachment is not the case, and then operate naturally (and openly about the current situation you're in). That’s impossible to do when you’re not in the mood for it and must be handled somewhat preemptively.

The first sign of interruption, we naturally don’t act on because A) we’re just not set up to handle the interruption, and B) we don’t want to come off looking uptight. Before the actual ‘second time’ actually occurs I’ll have been thinking about the first time for a while. I might, by this time, have convinced myself two things 1) they’ll think I’m a total square if they know something that small bothers me, and 2) there probably won’t be a second time anyway. Both of these convictions are wrong (usually). It’s easy to get psyched out of responding to the second interruption, because of the stimulants you’re thinking “like crazy” if you pardon the expression. It’s really not that big a deal though, just let go of all your detachments (from reality) and tell them you’re having trouble thinking, and why.

As a last resort comfortable earplugs might be the most ideal solution. You could also try turning on a background fan. I have a feeling though, that this will make your fiancé feel very lonely and apart from you obsess incessantly over academics. I’m not saying it won’t pay off, it’s just that there’s costs and benefits.

This next paragraph is really none of my business, and I feel out of suit mentioning it, but here it is for good measure. With your case you’re engaged, and have recently begun experimenting with stims (this situation would make me feel trapped). I’m a huge advocate of not taking stimulants unless you’re really in need of them because of their odd social side effects. There’s a chance a prescription for you is out there (fish oil+Vit C will change you the least, btw), But by nature, stimulants change the way we act, you could almost think of yourself as two people; a natural man and an Rx man (a clearer philosophy, though, might be: 1 mind and 1 body where the body consists of a brain and chemicals introduced to it and the mind is separate from that). Those thoughts lead me to this arrogant consideration that if your plan in life is to marry this fiancé and also to be this Rx man, you might consider postponing things with your fiancé until you get a chance to know what the Rx man can and can't be in the first place. I don’t really know the situation. (lol, "all of my pizzas char like ox in my oven alone" what a short poem titled "thermolysis".)

4) Also check to make sure it's not food related.

The way it works for me is:
I take Adderall early in the morning, and my appetite is supressed. Later in the day my bodies nurotransmitters get all shaken up from re-dosing / withdrawal, which can feel very frustrating in itself. At the same time my body starts to realize how low my blood sugar has gotten from not eating; again a negative emotion is coaxed into my mood. At this point, if I take a break to eat something, my mood goes back to OK.


5) Grudge-like obsession can be a problem too; sometimes my brain doesn't want to let go of something someone did, no matter how minor. This can go away with more contact with that person, and temporary discontinuation. I also try to think "it's sin to be pleased by hatred" which sounds just creepy and bibly enough to get me onto more intentful uses of my obsession.