Time of day to take Adderall?

[mlc2656]

I've been prescribed 10mg Adderall XR. My pdoc said I should take on an as needed basis. Well that was a bit vague to me but I didn't think much about it then.

I have full time job working 50 hours a week. I recently registered for 12 credit hours at school, so I also have class four nights a week (Mon - Thur). In order to get more time on campus I started working Wed, which was an off day to shorten my other work days. So, I'm leaving home at 5:30 am and getting back around 10:00 at night.

At what point during the day should I take the Adderall for maximum benefit?

[florida10]

When I was on XR, I took it at 8am, and it worked until about noon to 1ish, and then I became tired for the next 2 hours, and then the 2nd half of the medicine kicked in. And this was consistent for me everyday.

Sooo, I would just see how long each dose lasts in your system, how long (if any) the come down is between the 1st and 2nd release, and how long the 2nd dose lasts. With that, you can pretty much determine when you want the effects of it to work, and what time of the day you can spare being your pre-adderall self.

However, just remember that if you take Adderall too late in the day, you're gonna have the d*mnedest time trying to fall asleep that night (at least for most people that is).

[mlc2656]

So what would you say is the latest you could take 10mg of XR without experiencing problems at night?

[florida10]

For me, I had to take it before 10am to be able to fall asleep by midnight.

[andyum]

I just started taking XR 20mg about three weeks ago. I usually take the dose at 8AM and have no problem sleeping. I'd say total coverage for me is about 8 hours of effectiveness and about 2 more hours where I can feel it wearing off (but not a bad crash for me so far). Its going to be a bit of a trial and error because no two people react the same. You might find that you take your XR early in the AM and then, like some people, take a smaller dose of the IR in the afternoon when/if you need longer coverage.