Quick question about my Adderall(s)

[musicpainter]

Okay, so yesterday I had many questions, and I got great feedback and answers/advice, so thanks for that! It really did help me.

A quick recap: I was (finally) diagnosed with ADD a few weeks ago and after a failure with one medicine was prescribed Adderall. I started it yesterday and was amazed at how (a) quick it seemed to work and (b) what a difference it made. The change was incredible. However, I still have a few remaining questions about my dosage.

I take one 20mg Adderall XR in the mornings and that works just fine. But, I also have a prescription for 10mg Adderall IR for what my doctor called "breakthrough symptoms". My question(s) is/are this:

1. What is a "breakthrough symptom"? and How will I know if I am having one? (I apologize if this seems like a stupid question)

2. What causes breakthrough symptoms?

3. Does it or will it happen often?

I had a fourth but I forgot it, so when it comes back to me, I will add it to this post.

Please let me know anything you know about this topic because I'm so new to this that I am just trying to arm myself with as much information as I can in the beginning.

[trishcan]

I'd never heard the term "breakthrough symptoms" but after a bit of googling, it seems to be used somewhat synonymously with "rebound symptoms." Basically, it would be a recurrance of your specific bothersome ad/hd symptoms.

Usually, this happens when a medication has "worn off" after a period of time during the day. Sometimes, the re-emergence of symptoms isn't a big deal, but if you have to finish a paper after work and need extended symptom coverage, that would be a situation where you'd probably use an instant release medication after the extended-release med is no longer controlling your symptoms.

Other times that symptoms tend to flare up are during periods of stress and, in the case of women, along with PMS.

At the same time, not all symptoms are bad, and not all will always be totally under control with any medication. We will always forget things from time to time, have days where things pile up, or times where we blurt out things we should have kept to ourselves. So the goal is not so much to eliminate all symptoms at all times, but to manage symptoms so you can go about living your life.