Hello DUers. I have a question regarding a drug.

[Mordecai]

This is my first thread, so please bear with me.

I'm taking two different medications right now for depression and anxiety, and now my psychiatrist wants me to go on a third medication for ADHD. The drug is an amphetamine (It's called Adderall).

Do any other DUers take Adderall? What are some side effects?

I hope this works well. I'm really nervous about starting this drug.

Thank you.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Don't know about this drug

but my doctor, who is a board certified holistic MD, often uses diet and natural herbs to help folks with ADHD. You might check holistic medicine sites to get the name of an MD in your area-they might give you some other options that will help with your condition without messing you up, drug-wise. These folks are MDs and can prescribe drugs, but they are really more hep on drug interactions/alternatives than usual MDs.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Here are the adverse reactions and side effects:

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/amphet_ad.htm

It is an amphetamine. Full stop.

I would counsel you that, by federal law, you have the right and responsibility to be a full and active partner in your course of care. You have the right to vet every recommendation, made by any physician, regarding that course of care. You have the right to reject any recommendation made by any physician, regarding your course of care.

I would not counsel you to simply not take any medication. That is an informed decision only you must make. On the other hand, I would STRONGLY counsel you to educate yourself regarding any and every medication you are taking, any medication recommended to you, and any other therapy offered.

Doctors are not, in spite of what TV and movies might want you to believe, god-like in aspect. They are quite human, possessing the same flaws in character and decision-making we mere mortals possess. Do not simply accept their recommendations on anything as having been handed down, on the mount, engraved on stone tablets by The Hand of God.

Get clued up. You will be a better patient and smart doctors will appreciate and respect you as a patient.

[Mordecai]

5. I know very much about the other two drugs I'm taking.

I know all of their side effects, uses, and anything else that seems appropriate for me.

The Adderall is supposed to give me more energy. I'm really lazy and procrastinate a lot (due to the depression), so I am quick to take it.

My psychiatrist gave me a number of options on the drugs I could take. One of them was Strattera. He said it would give me a full 24 hours of attention on any subject I was doing, but it wouldn't give me energy. He also asked me if I wanted to be on Ritalin (which is in the same family of medicine as Adderall), but it didn't last nearly as long in a person's system as Adderall (Adderall lasts 12 hours, Ritalin only lasts about 8).

I know of the drugs I'm taking. I'm just wondering what are some side effects of these drugs and how other people react to them. That's all. :shrug:

[Cybergata]

21. I also fight depression...

and I take anti-depressants. They aren't for everyone. The drug that works for one person, doesn't always work for another person. I believe it is important to keep seeing your Doc if you take these drugs.

And with that said, anti-depressants saved my life. It was amazing to feel normal again. It is easy to say, NO DRUGS, but those of us with chemical imbalances sometimes need to have those imbalances tweaked a bit with drugs.

Don't tell me about St. John's Wort, it makes me manic! It is fun, but I don't sleep much. ;-)

:hippie:

[Soloflecks]

3. Try this.

Read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. If everyone read this and followed it, the world would change for the better immediately. It's a practical guide to personal freedom and is very empowering. I believe The Four Agreements could put shrinks out of business. Not to mention marriage counselors and divorce lawyers.

http://www.miguelruiz.com/agreements.html


“Everything we do is based on agreements we have made—agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that come from fear, deplete our energy, and diminish our self-worth.”


“ In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. ”


In this powerful book that has remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over two years, don Miguel reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. When we are ready to change these agreements, there are four deceptively simple, yet powerful agreements that we can adopt as guiding principles. The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. Nice Laingian Stuff...

But let's face facts: There is objective proof of psychiatric disorder. Spend some time with people who have diagnoses of schizophrenia or depression.

All the agreements in the world are not going to mitigate the effects of faulty R2 receptors or a brain that processes its seratonin in a flawed manner.

[Droopy]

14. I second that

I have schizoaffective disorder (a mixture of schizophrenia and manic-depression) and you don't know how many self help books I went through trying to find a solution to my problems. Nothing works for me but psychiatric drugs.

[brainshrub]

11. No offense,

and I'm sure it's a good book.

But before I got a grip on my ADHD, I used to be pissed off at those kind of books. Telling someone with ADHD to follow a certain amount of steps to improve their lives is like telling a drowning man to just learn how to swim.

Unless you've had severe ADHD, it hard to understand what it's like. Imagine a television playing loud, distracting static in your head. That's ADHD.

[Bossy Monkey]

4. Here's the short version; I'm still working on finding the long version

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/pharmclips2.cgi?keyword=%20%20Adderall%20%20
In a nutshell, so long as you aren't taking an MAOI (pretty likely, as they've been out of fashion about 15 years), you don't have to worry much about interactions. Amphetamines are habit-forming, though, so unless the doctor is just planning to prescribe this for the short-term, you might want to, uh, consider finding a different doctor.

Edit: Tandalayo got the long version posted before I could find it. That's the same thing you'd find in the Physician's Desk Reference or the package insert, with all known side effects, interactions, etc.

[malachibk]

6. Hi Mordecai

Be careful of overmedicating. And interactions between these psychotropic drugs aren't very well studied or understood.

I would get a second opinion and research the interactive effects as best you can. For example, many of the newer SSRIs are effective for both depression and anxiety (2 for 1 pill, in a way), though I'd worry about changing your current regimen if it's helping.

I'm not a pharmacologist -- I'm a psychiatric epidemiologist -- so I'm not up on the latest meds.

Also, is your psychiatrist providing good "talk therapy" to help you understand where the depression and anxiety are coming from? If not, you should seek out a PhD or CSW who can't prescribe drugs but who are schooled in cognitive/psychdynamic/CBT (all talk therapies). I know more about this stuff, so feel free to ask.

Just be careful with all the meds!

[Mordecai]

8. Hello.

I'm kinda worried about all the meds I'm taking. My psychiatrist has told me that the pill combination I'm on is totally safe. I don't know, though. I think I will get a second opinion.

My therapist doesn't talk to me. He justs asks me how I'm doing on my meds and that's it. It's a 20 minute session at most. We don't even talk about the issues that are causing my anxiety and depression. I think I'll switch to a different doctor.

Thank you much for the advice.

[malachibk]

17. Stay on meds for now, SWITCH therapists

Or at least add a therapist who actually helps you work out the issues behind your dep/anx. Good luck.

[brainshrub]

9. I used to use a combo of Adderall & Risperdall

b/c I'm ADHD and a bit obsessive-compulsive.

At first it worked great! The Risp took about 5 weeks to kick in...but when it did I became far more effective.

After about 3 months the meds began to wear off. I tried other combos, but after 6 months I got tired of pumping my system with chemicals w/ no discernible changes.

The solution: I dropped the meds & hired myself a personal assistant. She does my books, opens my mail, pays the bills & remembers birthdays & anniversaries for me. (She even buys the presents & cards, then gives me them to sign.)

IT WORKS GREAT!

I focus on what I do well and goof around the rest of the time, she cleans my paperwork mess.

[undergroundpanther]

15. If you are poor

ADHD and whatnot
For some hiring someone else to do the shit our silly culture demands of us,and takes away from us that is crazy-making is high unattainable.
I take adderall myself. The side effects are the same pretty much for any other amphetamine.I often forget to take my adderall so I'm not sure I'm addicted to it as so many claim will happen if this chemical enters my body.I forget to take it at least 2 to 3 times a week.Adderall can cause insomnia if you take it after 1 pm. ADHD can have symptoms that mimic depression or you could have depression.Adderall won't domuch to fix depression it will give some energry,depression can be caused by things other than chemicasl imbalances.It can be caused by emotional empathy and seeing the way the world is unvarnished..As for laziness,that is a hyped up "moral problem" that our puritan work ethic society invented as a goad of guilt and presure to make us compete against each other,work for less and slave our lives away for the rich.
I am lazy when authoritarians demand my efforts as if they are entitled.I work my ass off where it counts and has importance and satisfaction for ME. And I am who determines this not society or other people..

Living in this crazy culture is hard on the heart ,success in this hurtful culture has nothing to do with whether you agree with society or not.Success is habitually defined in these narrow little norms(dick measuring types of things) that have NOTHING to do with personal happiness or relating to others in a way that is healthy.Some people are just predatory, emotionally financially or whatever and it is they who gleefully fuck up life for the rest of us who can't see these creeps coming and have no boundaries or emotional defenses against them and thier crazy making games...

I never"agreed" to be living on this crappy sick world with crappy sick people dominating my short crappy life with mind games,conditioning,marketing, money playing people off against each other,a world of torture,and haves and have nots where life destroys life to survive life.
And yes I can toss out any damn conditioning I got from parents etc,but that does not change the fact that living here in this world in this cruelty called existence were we all die and cannot control the things that really matter,is painful.Living where we have little foresight,little relief from struggle ,where we are so empowered blind and helpless at the same damn time,the cognitive dissonance is hard to bear.

Some people are more conscious of their own motives and selves than others are.The 4 agreements are useful up to a point.It application is limited.It can stop a tornado,bring a loved one back,solve the abuse, poverty problem,or get sociopaths out of power.It can get rid of belief baggage.It does not change the deep flaws in this existence,which we can do nothing about, that cause the human evasion.

The enemies of happiness are not simplistic or only the individual's issue,they are beyond mere individual attitudes and they effect everyone regardless of beliefs or lack of beliefs,self esteem or lack of self esteem..
We live in a world that is mostly without love.A world that destroys happiness.A world that feeds and profits from the generation of human misery,death fear,conflict,confusion, deprivation and suffering. And it isn't ALL due to the 4 agreements and it won't be fixed by simply changing the social dream..

[Radical Activist]

18. I've always hoped

I would end up marrying someone who can help me remember when to pay bills, and other routine things I always forget. But, odds are I'll end up with someone just as random and distracted as I am. Maybe some day I'll have a job that provides me with a secretary?

[brainshrub]

19. You can hire my assistant.

It's what she does for a living! I'm not her only client. She's not that expensive. I pay her about $75 - $100 a month. Well worth the expense!

PM me if you want her phone #.

[Nevernose]

10. It's an amphetamine salt, and effects vary depending on age

It works well, in small doses, with ADHD. It's a pretty commonly prescribed drug these days. Children and people with ADD/ADHD usually have the opposite effect with low grade amphetamines that the general population does -- that is, it tends to calm.

In my drug-using days, I used to pop 10 or 20 (which is also 10 or 20 times the correct dosage) to get a high similar to methamphetamine -- if you're addiction prone, it could be a problem.

But hell, I'm just some guy on the internet, and sure as hell not a psychiatrist or pharmacologist. I'd go to another doctor for a second opinion if I were you.

[haele]

12. Google is your friend -

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/amphet_ad.htm

Adderall seems to make a noticible positive difference in the concentration level for the one person I know that takes it; Concerta didn't work for this person, and she had to amp up her Ritlin too much to have the same positive effect.
Another person I know takes Concerta, and Adderall had no effect on her.

If you take any meds or decide to go with diet and/or suppliments, just remember, YMMV. We just went through a spell of nasty side effects with a substance that was not supposed to have that side effect "in 98% of the population" and went through a bad period of detox from it.
What works for most everyone else may not work for you - or work adversly. So whatever you do, keep track of your reactions to any substance, and if you start getting some unsual effects, check with your doctor immediatly.

Good Luck

Haele

[TrogL]

13. Reminder, don't believe everything you read on the Internet

Doctors actually do know what they're talking about most of the time.

[Radical Activist]

16. I took it for a few months

when I was first diagnosed with adult ADD. I had some of the same frustrations about my doctor not taking time to clearly answer my questions and concerns. I'm always very cautious about taking any prescription medicine, especially something habit forming that is meant to affect ones mind.

It did help with my ADD. I was able to concentrate and get things done for lengths of time that were nearly impossible before then.

I eventually stopped taking it for several reasons. I was nervous about the addictive nature of the drug. It made me positive, energetic and very confident when it first started kicking in each day. I liked that, but I believe those are the side effects and I didn't want to make a habit of taking the drug for the side effects. I can often feel unmotivated and "lazy" (btw, you should stop using that word to describe yourself and understand it in terms of your ADHD) so it was tempting to keep taking the drug to deal with that. However, I think its much healthier to deal with those issues in other ways besides adderol.

It also made me moody and increased my temper sometimes, mostly when it was wearing off at the end of the day. I found myself getting very angry at small things and snapping at people, which is unlike me most of the time. I didn't like that at all. The result is that my mood at the beginning of the day was completely different than my mood at the end of the day when it wore off. My days were feeling a little too manic.

I also found that I didn't sleep well when I was taking it and had to stop taking it on weekends to catch up on the lost sleep from the week. The doctors claim that shouldn't be a problem if you take it in the morning, but I'm already a light sleeper to begin with and the medication made that worse.

I'm off insurance now so I haven't tried another drug. Just learning about ADD and different ways of coping with it besides taking medication was a huge help. It has made a big difference, although I wonder if a different type of medication might help for a while. I hate the idea of taking something for it my entire life, so I see medication as something to take while I learn the skills I need to deal with ADD. I was able to do that somewhat while taking Adderoll, so it did help. I just wouldn't want to take it for a long time.
Of course, these types of medication affect everyone differntly, but I hope this helps.

[jukes]

20. Mordecai

http://www.rxlist.com/

[KFC]

22. I don't know the specifics, but

My mother (RIP), had a psychiatrist that was totally drug-oriented. After her last breakdown, in the hospital, I found out she was on 7 or 8 psychoactive drugs. I confronted her psychiatrist and he said that her "levels looked fine". He showed me some graphs and said he couldn't understand why she was in this state. After some grilling, I found out that he did not even know that mom had not talked to her own mother for 30 years.

I fired him on the spot. He was nervous, but I'm not the suing type.

Turns out, 10 days in an outstanding mental hospital sorted mom out. The bulk of her problem was the drugs she was taking. She left with a prescription for only one drug and was a happy, productive woman for the rest of her life.

I guess my point is, as other posters have said, do not blindly trust doctors. One drove my mother to madness, others saved her.

[Droopy]

23. I have a similar experience

I was taking 3 psychiatric drugs at one time and two of them in the maximum recomended dosages. It made me feel like a slug and I stopped taking them. I never realized that you could go to a doctor and say, "Hey, this really isn't working for me. Can we try something else?" They were working in that my symptoms were gone, but I was just miserable. I slept 12-16 hours a day on them.

Well about 4 months after I stopped taking the meds I wound up back in the hospital again because I relapsed. I told the doctor there what happened and why I stopped taking my meds and he put me on two different meds than I was taking before and at moderate doses. It's been a year since then and I feel a 100% better now than I did before.

I guess the moral of the story is to know your rights as a patient. If a drug isn't working for you or is having adverse side affects tell your doctor and see if you can try something different. If that doesn't work, get a second opinion.