Adderall is not working anymore

Post Reply New Topic

Ive been on adderall for about 9years or so. the past three years its been slowly working less and less. I was on 30mg for 8years. but as it started working less i started getting really depressed and ended up having a huge problem with antidepressants last year. that is better now. but I am still having problems with adderall. my psychiatrist has me up to 60mg (this is XR i have only been on the xr) she wont go any higher than that. i have tried concerta and when i got the dose up all it did was make me feel really tired and out of it to the point I couldn't drive. I have also tried dexedrine along with the adderall to get me through the day, but when i took that i was really tired for the four or so hours it lasted I would be falling asleep and unable to get my school work done and gave me a terrible headache then i would be up all night cause my energy came back after it wore off.

right now I am at college and im struggling because my focus is terrible and the side effects of the adderall are getting bad. I take between 50 and 60mg a day(30mg in the morning and then 20 or 30 after lunch) i like to try to go with a lower dose if i can get away with it, there was a big difference before if i took 20 one day and 30 the next but now there isnt my focus is just as bad either way and im spending hours and hours on my homework and studying. the other thing is my heart rate goes way up when i exercise, i have been jogging or going to the gym a few times a week but since i added the extra 20 or 30 in the afternoon i have to wait till really late at night or really early before i take the adderall or my heart goes way too fast and i feel like im going to pass out.

i dont eat anything within at least a half hour of when i take the adderall to try to help get more benefit from it, but even thats not making a difference anymore. my health is not in danger I know enough about adderall and how i feel on it so if something was really wrong i would know the difference. I am also on Wellbutrin but it doesnt seem to have any affect on the adderall.

if anyone has ever been on adderall i would love to hear what you know about it. i am desperate to get through the rest of this semester. any experiences or advice would be great

Wouldn't eating before taking Adderal make it more effective? Eating a lot makes Ritalin work better for me. And it has to be a large healthy meal.
Have you ever taken a break from it? So you don't build up a tolerance or it lose its effectiveness.
If you do take breaks from taking it then I'm lost with what to do.

I believe if there is less food in your system it is absorbed more easily. but unfortunately eating a healthy meal before I take it is not really an option for me at least in the mornings. because i live at school and the cafe doesnt open till 8 and my first class is at 8:30 and i need the adderall to be working when i go to class even the very little that it is working for me right now...

I was off of adderall for a week or so around christmas when i tried concerta. and that does help to take a break. but Im not sure if going more than a day without it would be ok because im at such a high dose now, i had a hard time going more than one day without it before the dose was increased. I got less two weeks that it was working ok when i switched to 60mg from 40 or 50. but then it just tapered off and i didnt take it one day to see if that would help but it didnt really make a difference which is weird.

It's important to eat while on stimulants. It makes them work much better.

You have two issues here:
1) You're not eating enough.
2) You're not taking breaks so are building up a tolerance.

You can go on a break and wean down to a lower dose so you're crash won't be as severe, and really remember to eat before or when on your meds. It is really important that you have some food inside of you when on them, especially how low appetite is usually a side effect.
I'm only on 5mg of Ritalin and a good meal will make me feel like I'm on 10mg.

edit

edit

I've taken probably all the stimulants (not at the same time...) with varying degrees of success over the years for my ADHD. Adderall wasn't one I was on for very long, as good old "Vitamin R" seems to be the most effective for me. Problem is, I "burn through it" very fast. Enter Concerta. Problem Number Next: Concerta doesn't come in a high enough dose without taking two pills, and that's expensive. Finally we tried Daytrana, and found that 15mg was way more than enough. Eventually we settled on 10mg, and it is effective all day and in fact nearly puts me right to sleep when I first take it, so I have to take 5mg of methylphenidate at the same time. Don't ask me how that works, but it does.

So... consider Daytrana. It helped me get my overall milligram intake WAY down.

I am not, and haven't been, on Adderall, but I have been on anxiety medication for the last ten years and three of my siblings are on medication for ADD/ADHD. I see that others have mentioned eating more - which can be a reason, but I think that it's likely you've built up a tolerance to the medication. This has happened to me four times in the past - medication stopped working and I had to switch. I ended up switching to another medication in the same 'family', which worked absolutely fine.

My best advice would be to go see your doctor to get a medication switch ASAP. If it's effecting your school work - as is what happened to me last year when I had a similar problem with my meds - getting it fixed right away is a must...something I didn't do...