Well I am going to try Adderall in the morning - does anyone eat before they take it in the morning? I hear you don't get much of an appetite so I thought it may help to eat first. What are your opinions?

I also bought a case of pure water because I hear you get really thirsty at first. I am going to stay clear from my soda's. Any meal suggestions would be great.

Thanks you all!:D

Wish me luck I hope it works...

I take mine when I first get up with just water. I never had any stomach problems or any other problems other than the taste (kind of sweet and bitter at the same time). It might be a good idea to eat something first just in case. I found adderall to be much less harsh than other stimulants. The only advice I can give is avoid caffeine like the plague when on adderall.

I love Diet Dr. Pepper so I dont know if that is going to be easy. I was up to about 8 cans a day because it had a calming effect on me and seemed to help think straight. I used to drink a can just before bed because it helped me sleep. I think that is called self medicating. I am also a smoker and I hear that cig's are a stimulant also as well as caffiene. Maybe I can kick both those habbits if I get the correct medicine and no longer need those. I hope I can get some help with the smoking for sure! It is addicting though. I hate that habbit. It makes everything stink not to mention the health risks.

On another note I took my first does of Adderall about 15 minutes ago. How long does it take to start working?

It doesn't matter if you take Adderall with food or not - it doesn't affect absorption or effectiveness of the Adderall. If poor appetite is problem (it's a godsend for me!) then it is a good idea to eat before taking it, before your desire to eat goes away.

I could lose a few pounds and it would'nt make much difference. I chose not to eat because I am not hungry this early. I drank a 10oz bottle of water. I am still waiting for some change - it has been almost 30 minutes now.

With Ritalin it took about 45 min. to an hour to kick in but it was gradual.
Thanks Greg

Yeah, but the drop off from Ritalin is much worse. Adderall is much more gradual.

I used to be like you only with diet coke. I now drink mostly bottled water. It takes some getting used to but now I am almost off of soda. At times I miss the flavor so I buy a caffeine free diet coke

I agree on the drop off - that was awful with the Ritalin LA for me. I took my first dose of Adderall this morning and it was about 7:30 and I felt the effects for a good 6 hours and then my lower back started to hurt and I started to feel kind of weak. Maybe a slight headache trying to creap in too. But nothing like the Ritalin. I do think that the Adderall is much less harsh than the Ritalin.

I take two doses one when I get up (6am on work days) and one at about 3pm. But I am also taking 10mg rather than 20. I will eventually go back to 20 but for now 10 2x a day works.

I ended up in the Emergency Room tonight and I just got home. I just wanted to share my expeirence with you all. This is what I discovered after the doctors began testing

I had High Blood Pressure=150 over 89
(*Normally it is 109 over 76.)

My EKG= Showed heart palpitations and irregular beats.
(*Never had any of this before.)

+ My Blood work was done and came back okay.This was good.

So here is what happened.......
7:30am: I took Adderall 20mg (regular pills) with 20 ounces of water. No food.
I felt very calm and in good spirits. I had a decent sence of humor and the ability to get things done in an organized matter. I still had the daydreaming and some slight distraction. No fidgiting or hyper behavior at all. I felt rather slow moving but time seemed to go by fast. About 10:30 I felt my heart bounce fast for just a few seconds, but then it slowed back down. When this happened, I got a little chilly feeling - like when all the hair stands up on your arms and goosebumps appear.

At 1:00 I started to get a slight headache on my right side - my ear hurt and my eye hurt also on my right side - and felt rather sleepy- so I figured the medicine was wearing off. When I took Ritalin LA - I knew it wore off when the headches came.

Well it was 2:00pm and I decided to take the second dose of Adderall 20mg (regular pill).

4:00 pm - Still having the headache that was getting rapidly worse and no appetite and I had drank about 100 ounces of water by now and no caffeine all day. Then I noticed I could not stand, I had to lay down and my heart started beating irregular and more rapid. I felt a tighness in my chest and my whole body got tense. I started to lose my vision and felt faint. I had no idea what was happening to me - I just felt like I was going to die! I asked my husband to take me to the E.R. and he did.

After all the tests the doctor said I may have had too much Adderall and that I need to notify my psychiatrist of the side effects I just expereinced. He also asked me about my caffeine intake I told him I had not had any but that I normally had 6-8 cans a day. He thought I was experiencing withdraw from caffeine and too much Adderall inhanced the effects. He also said that I need to gradually reduce my caffeine intake. On top of this I had an anxiety attack because of the pain and the Adderall just intensified it. He gave me lortab for the pains and Inderal(this is for high blood pressure). It worked - once my blood pressure was down and the pain was under control. I felt just fine physically now emotionally I was a wreck. I still am shaken by all this and I think I will hold off on taking anymore Adderall until I talk to my doctor.

I do questions still - if you can't take Adderall or Ritalin with caffeine products but you have to keep taking it and gradually stop the caffeine... and you have to take ADD med's - Well hell that makes no sense to me. What do you do?

Do you get off caffeine first and then take the med's???- Heck I don't know right now. I am so upset I just want to give up!

I am WAY TOO scared to try Adderall again and now I wonder if I have a comorbid of anxiety in addition to ADHD.

I want to go back to the Ritalin in the morning and get a fresh prespective on it. I am still affraid of my blood pressure rising up. I just dont know what to do.

I need help.









:uhh:

I would agree that was probably too much Adderall for you first time on it. When I started taking it I started on 10mg once a day then a month later 15mg a day then a month later I was at 20mg a day. I now take Adderall Xr so it last all day. I have been on the XR a year now was on the regular about 3 1/2 years. I also noticed no one told you not to take it with juice. Cirtric Juices tend to make its effefts lesson because the acid breaks it down to fast. I eat Have a small meal before I take it. Other wise it makes my stomach upset. Everyone is different though some may not need to while others may need to.
It takes 6-8 weeks for the body to adjust to a new med so you may try haveing it lowered quite a bit until you body can adjust before taking so much. I am suprized he started you on such a high does because you never know what your side effects maybe and at least if its a low dose the consequences if your body can't take it aren't as bad as they can be on a higher dose. My pshchologist wanted to be sure to ease me into it. I am glad he did because at first it made me dizzy, light headed, and very talkitive LOL! After a few weeks they went away as my body learned to adjust.
Don't know if that can be of any help but I tried!;)
Oh and I don't know about the caffeine thing I drink a lot of sprite so can't help there sorry.

I can totally agree with you on starting slow. My doctor had me on the 30mg Ritalin La extended and it only lasted for 5-6 hours so the "crash" back into "ADHD land" was bad around mid day. I was getting these "crash headaches" with anxiety and feelings I really don't know how to describe.

Anyway I heard that Adderall is less harsh for some. So I talked to my shrink and he said lets give it a shot. I mean when I took the Adderall this morning, I could have went to sleep on it after 2 hours and I liked that I did not feel so serious - I still had emotions. I was very calm and then something changed after the second dose. I don't know what changed - I just know I liked the ADHD syptoms leaving, the calming and focus effect at the begining and hated the end result.

NOW... the Ritalin improved my ADHD, my vision and hearing and it also made me emotionless. I could eat on the Ritalin and not on the Adderall after the second dose. They both have pros and cons but now I am terrified of the Adderall and the E.R. doctor said I needed to treat my anxiety.

I honestly feel I am still in the middle of a MAJOR ANXIETY ATTACK at this very moment. I dont have the rapid heart but my chest and muscles are still tight and I feel sooooo scared. I hear that you can not get good results with ADD med's that are stimulants if you are also anxiety prone. I also hear some take xanex and stimulants. Tonight the doctor told me that I just needed to calm down but I CANT! He said that I am working myself up but I dont know what I am doing - he also said that once your body has released the anxiety chemical the chances of reoccurance are great. Now what am I going to do?

About my shrink who prescribed me the Adderall 20, he did say to experiement with the dosages to find the right timing and amount. He did say I could break the tablets in half but that he worried it may not be very effective and only because the Ritalin was at 30mg and it seem to be a fair dose. I do not blame him at all for this. I chose to take the the full pill at my own risk and to take it 2x's today and I learned that was bad. Now what am I going to do until my next appointment? I have 2 weeks of Ritalin LA left and maybe the side effects will go away in time. Maybe I take the Adderall and cut it in half and it will be better. Maybe I need something for anxiety. Maybe it is just hopeless. Ohh I am so confused and I know I cant give up but I am in shock and I feel helpless.

I don't have any information or advice that will help, since I'm still learning the ropes around here, but I will say that I'm glad you are ok and hope you can get things straightened out soon and get back to normal!

Whatever "normal" is...:p

Thank you Scott and Brianne! Jeeze - I feel so much better that you all are replying. I figured everyone was going to avoid my chaos!!!! I am still alive so I will keep trying to fight this ADHD. I am just really worried about what to do next. You have no idea how your posts have helped me - I don't feel all alone in the middle of the night- I feel supported and understood. THANK YOU!

You poor thing! That must have scared you half to death!

FWIW, I am on Strattera. Doc started me on 40 mg. Well, 2 days into it I felt really "wonky" so I went to the med center at work (we have a clinic with a nurse on duty at work, comes in handy sometimes! :) ) Anyways, my BP, which is usually low (like 116/74) was 150/90 and my pulse rate (normally in the 60's) was 106!! So believe me . . . I *totally* understand how you felt!

So I got off the med for 1 week and started at a much lower dose (20 mg) and ramped up way slower than the doc recommended. My BP is like 120/74 and my pulse is back to 62 and I'm on 40 mg of the Strattera.

Of course, I'm no doctor, but maybe if you ramp up much more slowly on the meds you won't have those problems.

Please be patient . . . you *will* find something that works for you! :D

Maybe you should start off with 10mg once a day and work up to more.

Here I sit as I just woke up. I have not taken anything yet. I am still shaken and confused as to what I should do. I want to find the right dose and timeing but I just feel to scared to try it again. I want to take the ritalin but then again the doctor wants me to try Adderall so now what.

Originally posted by Penultimate
Maybe you should start off with 10mg once a day and work up to more.
Okay here is the deal folks, my doctor is unavailable so I called my favorite pharmacists at Wallgreens and he broke it down for me! He said if you felt fine in the morning and then everything got bad after the 2nd dose then I got a double dose. He said that everyone metabolizes the medication differently. The fact is that 50percent of the salts are released in the beginning and the other later. He feels that the 2nd salts were released and metabolizing when I took the 2nd dose and then it the medication just doubled up on me. He suggested not to give up since the first dose seemed to work. I told him it made me feel a little groggy in the morning and he said that means it is the right medication for me and it will go away after treatment for a while. He also said that because there is already a regular level of caffeine in my blood streem I can still talke the medication at a lower dose and drink the caffeine I just have to slowly stop drinking as much. He said my body has a tolerance to it so I will need to slowly stop the intake. He thinks I should be able to take half the recommended dose 10mg and once a day at first until I see if I need 2 doses.

On the other note I think I may have had some of these problems last night because today I have a sinus headache (the same area it was hurting yesterday) and the pain is so bad it has made my heart beat fast and I know my blood pressure is up. I also have a fever. So this may have been the problem with the headache and then the Adderall was making the pain worse - at the high dose I was taking - it made my blood pressure go even higher. Pain can cause high blood pressure alone. So who really knows. I think I will get my sinuses looked at before I take the Adderall at 10 mg.
I realize I feel the same head ache pain as I did last night just with out the panic feelings and heart palpitations.

From rxlist at http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/amphet_ids.htm:

<i>In patients 12 years of age and older, start with 10 mg daily; daily dosage may be raised in increments of 10 mg at weekly intervals until optimal response is obtained.

Only in rare cases will it be necessary to exceed a total of 40 mg
</i>

Looks like the max dose is definitely too much akiss. But if it was working that morning, definitely consider giving it another chance!

Will be switching from Strattera (waste of time for me at least) this week and am looking at Adderall seriously as another family member has had very good success. I'll probably want to get Adderall 5mg, 2x day at most after this to start.

Plus, if it does work there's always Adderall XR which would elminate the whole problem of "did I take the second pill or no" midday blues.

(Man, do I sound like a pharmaceutical rep tonight or what?).

-B.

Now that I think about it I realized that even when I was taking 2 doses a day it was 20mg in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. I never took 20 2X a day. That may be too much for the pm.

Everyone I took my ritalin this morning because I am still so scared. I know at 2:00pm I am going to feel like crap when it wears off but I will just take some tylenol and deal with it. I want to talk to my doctor before I touch the Adderall again. Maybe I have post tramatic stress from the E.R. event but yesterday I was getting muscles twitches and cramps (that are very painful) in my arms and legs. I was still feeling very panicky yesterday. Today I just got up and took the Ritalin because I have to go to work today and I need to focus. Now I am not saying I will give up on the Adderall I would just like to talk to my doctor first.
God I spent $50.00 on the Adderall and if I only take half that should last me 2 months but my Ritalin is almost gone so and it will cost me another $50.00 to get it refilled. I guess I need to make a decision soon. If I do take the Adderall then I am only taking 10mg once a day until I see how it is going to effect me.

I cut the 20 pill into 4ths and I took what should be 5mg at 8am this morning. So I guess we will see how it goes!:rolleyes:

Adderall is a strong Medicine and Agree that Like most medications it should be started off slow at a low dose...too much of a stimulant can cause what happened to you cause I know it happened to me with Ritalin...you should have been started off slow. Just as I was started off slow with my Bipolar meds and let it gradually work into my system so by the time I got to 20mg a day my body could handle it.

I am sorry that happened to you...I never had to go to the hospital because of Adderall but I can imagine that was scarey. Hugs to Ya, Hun....I hope you can get the meds straightened out.

Akiss have you talked to the Good Doctor Yet(I use that term loosely considering you should have been started off slow)?

I didn't read everything. But I am glad you are better.
Are you still off cafiene? Maybe you are still having some withdrawals?

Okay GOOD NEWS!!!!

I went to the pharmacy. I bought a pill cutter and so now I cut the 20 mg pills in half and then I cut the half in half. Confusing huh? Well the pharmacist said it will work to cut them and as long as I do it carefully it should equal 5mg instead of 20mg!

Anyway I have been on the Adderall for 3 days now. Taking 5mg at 8am and then another 5mg at 12pm. I am going to do this until I see the doctor. I see him on this Monday and he still has not called me back.

The good things are... I have not had any anxiety today or any headaches. I have been able to eat and sleep as usual! Today I went to see the Texas Rangers play against the New York Yankies. I was able to stay for the entire game and this is a very big accomplishment for me. I have never sat through an entire movie or baseball game. I was able to enjoy the game and I actually had a really good time when normally - I can't sit still long enough to enjoy it and I usually leave early. I do notice the medication calming me and I am able to focus and pay attention. I am able to laugh again and enjoy being around others. I have more control of my emotions. Today I feel like the medication and my body have adjusted. I am considering eventually taking another dose at 4pm to keep me under control in the evening. I would like to stay on my schedule for now. If I stay at 10 mg a day then I will have medication for much longer than a month and that is going to save me alot of cash!!!

I am glad I did not give up on it!!!

On the caffeine well I only drink it after 3pm and I am down to 3 a day or should I say evening. Plus I am drinking lots of water in the mornings and early afternoon. Not getting any sticky mouth.

Sounds very encouraging! Thanks for the update!

Glad things are going better for you!

My kids are into global whining! LOL!

I decided to take 10mg at 7:00 in the morning today! What a big difference this made. I only had to take 5mg at 2:00. No headache or nothing. I felt a little more focused and relaxed - than with just 5mg and no anxiety at all! Unbelievable! I am still having NO problems getting to sleep or eating. I was worried about the 4 hour schedule because of my job and with the 10mg in the morning. I don't have to mess with taking it at work - since I only work in the mornings! Work was fun today and I had no stress and I could get things done and organize my thoughts and actions much more effectively at this dose - but I do think building up to it has been helpful. I am still very pleased with the results. I hope I did not scare too many people away with my first day expereince - because I really like this medication and it's effectiveness.

Woo Hoo! Awesome! :) Glad its working for you!

Big I like your picture! You look so nice! I still have not had an anxiety attack *knocking on wood* SO far it is going well on this dose and I hope it stays good. I have noticed my blood pressure is normal while on the Adderall but once it wears off my blood pressure tends to go up some. I wonder if that is normal?

Thank you for the nice compliment!

I'm glad you haven't had another anxiety attack. Do you think you're slightly increased blood pressure after Adderal wears off, could be anxiety about not being on meds at that moment?

It could be just that and knowing that may seem to increase my BP. Just wondering if it psychological or physicall.

Glad things are continuing to work with the new meds!:D

First of all: akiss4u tx so much for sharing
Second: if you would like advice on relaxation techniques pm me or seach the thread I recall one about the very same issue (self hypnosis works best for me but not always)
Third: apparantely my shrink was extra cautius and by the posts I am happy for that (maybe cause I am petite) 3 days 5mg, 5 days 10mg....
4. maybe this'll sound redundat but PLEASE talk to your shrink (mine - I leave her a msg and she calls me back usually a few hours later)
5. my first day on Aderall (switched with advice from helpful members, my shrink gave me a few options to choose from)

Akiss4u,
I'm just getting back into the swing of things here at ADDF but read your story and am glad the last time you posted things were going good. Any more updates? Where are you at MG. wise now? How did your Doctor's Appt. go?
Looks forward to hearing more!
David

Yep...I've been a bit...umm...distracted here recently as well. How ARE things going?

OOps just notticed my reply was belated - and I can;t edit / del it - OOPS
But this time around I was really glad to read things improved since the start of the thread.

OH MY GOD! This is the thread I was looking for! I went to the ER too but they said it was just a panic attack. I just stopped taking Adderall, as of Monday, I am waiting for the doctor to phone me back and tell me what to do. I was taking Adderall since June, and all of a sudden it's effecting me really badly, but now that I've been off it for a couple days, my chest is still very tight and my heart rate is faster than normal, my arms and legs feel funny through out the day, the doctor gave me an Rx of Valium for the panic attacks but I just don't know what to do.
Work is hell today, and I want to cry, Adderall helped me so much, I can't concentrate for crap. I really need to be working right now so I can go home but I'll probably be here late just because I can't just stay focused enough to finish my work.
I wanted to take an Adderall so much today but I can feel the tightness in my chest, I know my heart rate is too high to take it right now.
On my elliptical when I check it, I was at 188 BMP, and twice 157 BPM. My life is horriblely stressful right now so I understand why all the anxiety but still. It's so scary and weird feeling.
I'm trying not to take valium even though my chest is tight and I feel anxious (because I don't feel a full on panic attack coming on) but how fast should I allow my heart rate to be? Should I take a valium if my heart rate reaches a certain point? I am so scared. I am not taking the adderall anymore but this anxiety will not go away and now I can't concentrate again and the horrible raceing mind comes into play which is just making my anxiety worse.

It's makeing me feel better to know others have had the same expierences and have now found medication that works for them.

Did anyone expierence swelling on Adderall? Like you whole body swells up and you feel dizzy, major water retention?

188 & 157 bpm. Damn, I would be in the hospital already. I ran on the treadmill for 10 minutes uphill and only got up to 180 bpm. I couldn't even imagine sitting at my desk trying to keep my composure at that rate. I would be all out buggin and be considering maybe 10mg of Valium.

Oh you poor thing!!!! That is So sad! :(

Give it another try and also try an anti depressant with it first! I have severe anxiety as well and this has helped me a great deal. I am no doctor but I have been through enough to know what could help. Start at a very low dose and try the IR so if you don't like it, you won't be on it for 8 hours+. I hope you are feeling better cutie!

Another KFabulous Oldie But Goodie! LOL :D

Trying to help ya out here KFab! :)

Anyone know what happened to akiss4u????

Did she blow up from high blood pressure....or what??

Inquiring minds need to know! :)

Peace! :)

Good Lord,
I think your doc needs some help, too!
I have never heard of anyone being prescribed 2x20mg in the beginning, that is just complete insanity.
I started off with 5mg in morning and 5mg in afternoon and increased to 10mg in am and 10 mg in pm after about 1 week and was on 3x 10mg a day after about 6 weeks.
My body can handle quite a bit- but a 20mg IR pill would probably send me straight to the hospital as well, and my body is already adjusted to my current dosage....

I ended up in the Emergency Room tonight and I just got home. I just wanted to share my expeirence with you all. This is what I discovered after the doctors began testing

I had High Blood Pressure=150 over 89
(*Normally it is 109 over 76.)

My EKG= Showed heart palpitations and irregular beats.
(*Never had any of this before.)

+ My Blood work was done and came back okay.This was good.

So here is what happened.......
7:30am: I took Adderall 20mg (regular pills) with 20 ounces of water. No food.
I felt very calm and in good spirits. I had a decent sence of humor and the ability to get things done in an organized matter. I still had the daydreaming and some slight distraction. No fidgiting or hyper behavior at all. I felt rather slow moving but time seemed to go by fast. About 10:30 I felt my heart bounce fast for just a few seconds, but then it slowed back down. When this happened, I got a little chilly feeling - like when all the hair stands up on your arms and goosebumps appear.

At 1:00 I started to get a slight headache on my right side - my ear hurt and my eye hurt also on my right side - and felt rather sleepy- so I figured the medicine was wearing off. When I took Ritalin LA - I knew it wore off when the headches came.

Well it was 2:00pm and I decided to take the second dose of Adderall 20mg (regular pill).

4:00 pm - Still having the headache that was getting rapidly worse and no appetite and I had drank about 100 ounces of water by now and no caffeine all day. Then I noticed I could not stand, I had to lay down and my heart started beating irregular and more rapid. I felt a tighness in my chest and my whole body got tense. I started to lose my vision and felt faint. I had no idea what was happening to me - I just felt like I was going to die! I asked my husband to take me to the E.R. and he did.

After all the tests the doctor said I may have had too much Adderall and that I need to notify my psychiatrist of the side effects I just expereinced. He also asked me about my caffeine intake I told him I had not had any but that I normally had 6-8 cans a day. He thought I was experiencing withdraw from caffeine and too much Adderall inhanced the effects. He also said that I need to gradually reduce my caffeine intake. On top of this I had an anxiety attack because of the pain and the Adderall just intensified it. He gave me lortab for the pains and Inderal(this is for high blood pressure). It worked - once my blood pressure was down and the pain was under control. I felt just fine physically now emotionally I was a wreck. I still am shaken by all this and I think I will hold off on taking anymore Adderall until I talk to my doctor.

I do questions still - if you can't take Adderall or Ritalin with caffeine products but you have to keep taking it and gradually stop the caffeine... and you have to take ADD med's - Well hell that makes no sense to me. What do you do?

Do you get off caffeine first and then take the med's???- Heck I don't know right now. I am so upset I just want to give up!

I am WAY TOO scared to try Adderall again and now I wonder if I have a comorbid of anxiety in addition to ADHD.

I want to go back to the Ritalin in the morning and get a fresh prespective on it. I am still affraid of my blood pressure rising up. I just dont know what to do.

I need help.









:uhh: