Actavis Adderall XR Experiences Thread

[create1975]

Forgive my ignorance (I'm new around here)... I haven't been able to find a clear answer on what all the excitement over Actavis is all about? Is it price related or is there a difference in how it works? Is Actavis better than other generic brands?
Can someone point me to a thread w/ this info?

EDIT: never mind (disregard this post) - I just saw the link directly above this post.

thanks!

[create1975]

This is the Actavis Experience thread but nobody is sharing their experience? Can anyone share their thoughts? Does Actavis seem to "work better" than other generic Adderall's ?
Does Actavis seem to be closer to the original Adderall XR formula?
thanks

[mmartin1]

I am on (2) 20 mg Adderall XR daily and was given the Actavis product the other day. It took me FOREVER to figure out what it was. My capsules are completely dark blue. As for how I feel: I have had to take some Motrin pretty much every day for a slight headache. I prefer the feel of my old RX but I do know that these work. While I seem to have a smoother release on them throughout the day ( there is a distinct release period for me with the orange capsules) I have had a more difficult time falling asleep with these. Maybe they are lasting longer in my system? However, I am not energized, just unable to fall asleep. I still experience dry mouth with the Actavis as with the other (my most noticeable side effect). Perhaps TMI but I did get a UTI and since I have Celiacs disease (which by the way I contacted Actavis to ask if these contained gluten and she said she thought not but would call back and didn't) and I am unsure if I am sensitive to the dyes. One good thing, while maybe not for you all reading this, is that I have not taken it this morning to see how I do without it for a day and I feel better than when I take a day off my old Rx. I do think I will ask to not have the Actavis though when I get a refill next month as I feel the feeling from the other that is stronger in the a.m. is more beneficial to me at work.

[Thinkerer]

Originally Posted by create1975

This is the Actavis Experience thread but nobody is sharing their experience? Can anyone share their thoughts? Does Actavis seem to "work better" than other generic Adderall's ?
Does Actavis seem to be closer to the original Adderall XR formula?
thanks

I've been taking Shire-Teva's generic form of Adderall xr (15mg) for several years. I was on Shire's name brand Adderall xr before that (No noticeable difference bt those two).

I purchased the Actavis generic for Adderall xr (15mg) 3 days ago (many thanks to this forum!) I've taken 3 pills as of today. I was very concerned that Actavis would not prove to be as effective as Shire-Teva's generic. But so far my personal experience has been very positive:

Adderall xr 15mg Generic Comparison (personal experience)

Shire-Teva

• Initial Onset: 15-20 minutes

• Duration: 6hrs

• Side Effects: Headaches

Activas

• Initial Onset: about 5 minutes

• Duration: 12 hours

• Side Effects: Headaches

[Thinkerer]

Originally Posted by gregcristy

hi!
can someone tell me where they got their actavis version of adderall? I cant find a pharmacy that carries it..thanks!!

I got mine from Target 3 days ago.

[ItsBinky]

today i got my prescription filled for actavis brand, i have searched all over the internet to see if anyone was asking questions about their prescriptions since i was very confused when i got home to see that my pills looked TOTALLY different.

i can't quite remember what i was on before, but im pretty sure it was 15mg from global. i haven't taken any of the actavis ones yet, but i will in the following days and see how it goes.

[fredonian]

Got hit with ACTAVIS yesterday. Can't add much of anything new to what has already been added. Like many of you my first surprise was the ($40) price hike and then of course noticing the "BLUE" (instead of "ORANGE") capsules. I've posted a pic of the ACTAVIS ER 20mg which are solid blue. The only comment I might add is that it baffles me how post patent ADDERALL seems to remain such an unpredictable toss up in manufacture and formulation. After a period of confusion a while back when "brand name" matched the "generic", I was finally settled and comfortable that SHIRE was manufacturing all the generic ER, and now it seems this has changed. How hard can it be for SHIRE to maintain production and how can it not have been profitable I'm left asking myself! I don't know the whole story yet, but I suspect at some point we will.

[Cre8tive1]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new on here as of this morning - even though I've been using this forum to help me for a few weeks now. I was diagnosed this summer with ADHD Inattentive type, and I was prescribed generic Adderall IR - 20 mg. For about the first two to three hours of my morning I was on fire. However, after that I felt like I was slowly going into a coma. I could literally go into a deep sleep for a few hours.

I talked to my doc and was then prescribed the generic ER 20 that looks exactly like these pictured above. My therapist told me that these pills are not going to change my life and clean my house, but I was hoping that there would be a bit more organization in my uber-active brain.

The one benefit I have with these is that I sleep much better - without having several songs playing in my head all night and what seems to be ever-changing tv channels. However, I was hoping for more of a benefit during daylight hours. I don't nap like I did before or feel that horrible crash like on the IR. I wanted to find out if anyone was having a similar reaction with this generic. Do you find this one to be the best? Since I've only been on IR for a month and this ER for almost a month I'm still learning.

I also feel that even though I have these grand ideas for the day ahead, I'm usually lucky to accomplish a fourth of what I want to do. Sorry to ramble, but my husband doesn't understand this. He just thinks I'm messy and that I give up on everything.

[dlmyd918]

Originally Posted by gregcristy

hi!
can someone tell me where they got their actavis version of adderall? I cant find a pharmacy that carries it..thanks!!

Hi, I live in South Florida and the local supermarket pharmacy Publix provided it to me. I have been taking it for a couple of weeks now and I have not noticed a difference other than I did have a headache for about four or five days. I also do not feel it kick in like my other generic did. I take 25mg of the XR at 7:30 am and then another 10 mg of regular in the afternoon around 2:00 p.m. I'm finding myself needing another 10 mg of regular around 10:30 a.m. I also noticed that my new 10 mg of regular release is manufactured by Actavis as well. Hope this helps! I would love to hear from anyone else taking it.

[ItsBinky]

Originally Posted by ItsBinky

today i got my prescription filled for actavis brand, i have searched all over the internet to see if anyone was asking questions about their prescriptions since i was very confused when i got home to see that my pills looked TOTALLY different.

i can't quite remember what i was on before, but im pretty sure it was 15mg from global. i haven't taken any of the actavis ones yet, but i will in the following days and see how it goes.

After being on this for about a month now, I can safely say I enjoy this MUCH more than the other generic I was on. The difference is like night and day to me, not even exaggerating. I haven't had one migraine AT ALL since being on the actavis adderall, I'm no longer nauseous for most of the day, I'm not irritable, I don't have a horrible crash at the end of the day or anything! The only symptom I have come across is a VERY dry mouth/ tongue but that outweighs my old symptoms by a lot!

[cillianred]

I received my 30mg capsules today and noticed they looked different. Lo and behold: Actavis.

They're definitely more smooth than the other generic versions. At the same time, something is definitely working because my thoughts aren't racing and my focus is pretty good. Will update later this week as I've found it takes about a week to adjust to different versions of XR.

[Christina519]

Hi I was wondering where you found yours in that area?
Thanks Christina

[oneup]

I thought maybe my doc changed my prescription to dextrostat-xr (d-amp) because we had talked about this...when I got these blue pills that didn't mention adderall as the brand, 20mg blue pills just like above. Hopefully they will work as good / better than the generic ones I had been taking (orange pills) which I'm 99% sure were the shire generic xrs.

There's an article about it here (shire vs actavis):
http://www.fdalawblog.net/fda_law_bl...ters-for-.html

It sounds like Actavis found a way to make the XR without violating Shire's patents, and that it is "close enough" to the original, although the FDA didn't mandate the more detailed release testing requested by Shire.

[cillianred]

Update as promised:

I'm not sure what to think of this version. It's definitely stronger than the current brand and generic versions. The concentration/mental benefits have been hit or miss. I also wonder if it agonizes or antagonizes acetylcholine receptors because I've had very vivid dreams of late, something not usually associated with Adderall in my experience.

That said, the dreams are only stress dreams as I've been under a lot of pressure lately, so evaluation conditions aren't exactly ideal.

Originally Posted by cillianred

I received my 30mg capsules today and noticed they looked different. Lo and behold: Actavis.

They're definitely more smooth than the other generic versions. At the same time, something is definitely working because my thoughts aren't racing and my focus is pretty good. Will update later this week as I've found it takes about a week to adjust to different versions of XR.

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by oneup

I thought maybe my doc changed my prescription to dextrostat-xr (d-amp) because we had talked about this...when I got these blue pills that didn't mention adderall as the brand, 20mg blue pills just like above. Hopefully they will work as good / better than the generic ones I had been taking (orange pills) which I'm 99% sure were the shire generic xrs.

There's an article about it here (shire vs actavis):
http://www.fdalawblog.net/fda_law_bl...ters-for-.html

It sounds like Actavis found a way to make the XR without violating Shire's patents, and that it is "close enough" to the original, although the FDA didn't mandate the more detailed release testing requested by Shire.

I believe the orange pills are made by Barr, as an authorized supplier of the Shire formula. If my memory is correct, Shire doesn't even manufacture its own pills anymore.

Regarding your link, it just looks like the companies are trying to play games with laws/regulations to get an edge on one another. It doesn't state any differences in the two products, but rather that Shire is trying to get the generics to jump through hoops (expensive and time consuming hoops).

it doesn't say that Actavis is using a different formula anywhere. Shire is claiming that the Actavis forumula may be different and should be reviewed. Shire's idea of a review places the same standards (and more) on the generic as the brand-name version went through. This is an absurd request since the generic and brand name are identical. The reason that the brand name (Shire) is granted a patent in the first place, is because of the very standards that they want to see placed on the generic manufacturers... they are just playing games.

The Shire Adderall XR formula is no longer protected which is why Actavis isn't violating any patents. Actavis itself is playing games and trying to take advantage of a loophole in the law so that it is the only generic for at least 180 days.

It all comes down to business, not the science.

Personally, I see no reason to expect a difference in experience from one brand to another. I have never experienced any differences myself. The formulations (active ingredients) are the same. The results are the same. If there is a difference, it is unique to the individual and not statistically significant across the class of users. But I digress, since that isn't the purpose of this thread. If you want to debate the perceived differences, it is your right to do so and it is your right to ignore my opinion on the matter.