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I am taking stimulants for numerous reasons--primarily for ADHD and idiopathic hypersomnia, but also because I'm obese and trying to lose weight (with diet and exercise of course) and because amphetamines heretofore have been the only thing that really make me a functioning human being. I was curious though. From y'all's experience, which stimulant inhibited appetite and/or caused more weight loss, that is, between Ritalin (and all their products), Focalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, or some other stimulant. I have actually even taken Desoxyn, twice, and to be honest, it's nowhere near as potent as Adderall or Dexedrine. To my understanding, appetite inhibition can be extricable from weight loss; i.e., one can lose weight from a medicine without experiencing much appetite suppression, one can experience drug-induced anorexia without losing much weight, or both at the same time, or neither. IME, so far, this is what I've experienced... I'll list the stimulant/anorectic and max dose taken. Appetite suppression/anorexia: Dexedrine (60 mg) Adderall (60 mg) Dexedrine Spansules (30 mg) Adipex-P (37.5 mg) Adderall XR (90 mg) Wellbutrin IR/SR/XL (450-500 mg) Bontril-PDM (210 mg) Tenuate (75 mg) Desoxyn (15 mg) Vyvanse (70 mg) Adzenys XR-ODT Metadate CD (20 mg) Ritalin (30 mg) Focalin XR (25 mg) Evekeo (20 mg) Belviq XR (20 mg) Tenuate Dospan (75 mg) Contrave (32 mg/360 mg) Weight loss: Dexedrine (60 mg) Adderall (60 mg) Adipex-P (37.5 mg) Tenuate (75 mg) Dexedrine Spansules (30 mg), Adderall XR (90 mg) Wellbutrin IR/SR/XL Desoxyn (15 mg) Bontril-PDM (210 mg) Metadate CD (20 mg) Belviq XR (20 mg), Evekeo (20 mg), Focalin XR (25 mg), Ritalin (30 mg), Vyvanse (70 mg) Contrave (32 mg/360 mg), Tenuate Dospan (75 mg), Adzenys XR-ODT So I've not tried very high doses of the (dex)methylphenidate meds, and have been curious about trying a higher dose (40-60 mg, maybe higher). Focalin might be okay, but it gave me tremors, anxiety, and panic attacks at 25 mg. Vyvanse did nothing much at all except jack my resting heart rate up to 120+ BPM. This list was very hard to compile, and I don't really know if it's too accurate. I'm heavily considering trying methylphenidate again, specifically Metadate CD, because I actually felt something on it as opposed to regular Ritalin. I was considering asking my NP for a Metadate CD dose of 30-60 mg, or maybe 30 mg x2 or something like that, with some Ritalin 5-10 mg, maybe 20 mg, to take 1/2-1 up to three times per day prn. The tried and true med is Dexedrine for me, specifically the IR, but I want to give that a break for a little while. I'm curious to see how (dex)methylphenidate affects my ADHD more than it affects my weight loss/appetite suppression as well. I know this post was rather scattered and long, but if you made it through it, any input would be much appreciated!

I somehow ran out of Dexedrine before my next prescription was labeled to be able to be filled this past weekend... Don't know how. I never abuse my stimulants. I take them as prescribed, religiously and meticulously, dispensed in my pill planner every week. I have heretofore never taken "drug holidays" though. So anyway, this forced me to take a one-day drug holiday from my usual 60 mg/day Dexedrine, and I can say that it was absolutely dreadful. I'm taking it mainly for ADHD-PI, but also for treatment resistant bipolar depression and hypersomnia unspecified, as well as to assist with weight loss. Just one day without, and I slept practically all day, and when I wasn't asleep, I was either a weeping, ugly-crying mess, or I was binge eating. I gained 3 lb the next day, which I know isn't a whole bunch, but, you know... I'm pretty sensitive about weight gain. I filled my Dexedrine a day later than the day was indicated so as to not look like I was "looking for a fix..." especially since I'm trying to get a job at the pharmacy at which I fill my prescriptions, start back on my Dexedrine, and two days later (today), I am feeling better than I've felt in about in month or so (before I switched to Rexulti and ruined everything good I had going for me). I felt like I did right when I switched from 40 mg to 60 mg, my mood was shining and gleaming, I was talkative and laughing, I wanted to do things and wanted to go out of the house, I didn't want to eat everything in sight. TL;DR: I was back to my normal self +1. My question is, would there be some advantage to taking some sort of "pseudo-drug holiday" wherein I sort of alternate between 30 mg and 60 mg each day, or take 30 mg on the weekends and 60 mg during the week days or something like that? Or no? Has anyone tried this sort of regimen? I don't want to NOT take my Dexedrine, that was pretty damn terrible the day I went without it. I guess it does show how dependent I am on it though... But any input would be appreciated.

My pdoc was hesitant to put me on a moderate/high dose of a stimulant because he knows they've made me manic before, so he put me on 5 mg of Dex 2x a day. I went online to all of those drug forums (first things that popped up in the google search) and the people there basically said that 5 mg isn't worth anything and won't do a thing. However, I took 10 mg in the early afternoon and I'm still wide awake at almost 12:30 so maybe they're wrong? (I took 10 mg because I have to cut the 10 mg pills and I didn't know where the pill cutter was at the time.. long story. From now on I'm only taking 5 mg at a time, found the pill cutter--) 10 mg feels very powerful whereas the people on those websites said it might make you feel mildly high or something. I feel more than mildly high-- I feel euphoric and highly energized. So is 5 mg a worthwhile dosage after all? If 10 mg keeps me awake long into the night, surely 5 mg will do SOMETHING, right?

Hey all, I have been experiencing some anhedonia lately and just not experiencing feelings much at all in general. I feel like I don't want to talk to as many people or interact like I usually would. There's is't much pleasure in doing the things I usually do, and simple things like showering or going downstairs to get my mail are difficult to get the motivation to do it. I don't think I am depressed because I'm not feeling sad or unhappy, I am more just suffering from lack of ability to derive pleasure from things that once gave me pleasure and a general lack of emotions. I notice the anhedonia is especially noticeable when I am on my ADHD medications and it really sucks. Given the other medications I am on, it could easily be due to one of the other medications or a combination. Does anyone else experience lack of emotions and/or anhedonia when they are on their ADHD medications? What about when you are off them/you have 'come down' from the drug. I can feel my emotions, they just seem heavily suppressed. I can feel happy, sad, excited, but to a small degree compared to before, I guess the beginning of the year. You can see the rest of my medications in my signature if you want to comment on any of those in relation to this.

Hello, Could someone please honestly tell me because I can't trust myself because I'm a recovering drug addict. (Id like to put a disclaimer right here that I don't follow 12-step dogma so please don't start preaching that even though it does work for many) anyways, new diagnosis I'm a 33-year-old male finally told that I have a little bit of aspbergers disorder which is now technically on the autism spectrum and ADHD to go together with my OCD, and GAD oh I can't forget about the clinical depression either. I was a severe opioid and benzo addict taking crazy amounts I am now medicated but I'm worried about the amount of stimulants. I have never abused stimulants other than MDMA really and I don't know much about them. I was just put on Adderall XR seven months ago now I'm a 6 foot tall 240 pound male. It was amazing to see the effects that it had. I can finally look people in the eyes and my brain was finally slow. It was like for years they tried to numb with the stupid benzo's but my brain would still race. However, the dosing scares me because I don't know anyone else that takes this. I take 60 mg in the morning and another 30 mg capsule at 1400. They don't last 12 hours and I work about 10 hours a day so I find the 90 mg keeps me good for the majority actually really good for thee whole day and I still sleep for 6 to 8 hours But I didn't quit shooting up heroin to die from a heart attack..so can any of you give me some input please. Ps. By the way I also take 60 mg of Paxil and 4 mg of Xanax which sounds high but is pretty good considering before the Adderall I was taking eight and this was prescribed by my addiction Doctor. I honestly was not abusing that. I needed that to function soon as I went on the Adderall I stopped having the stupid panic attacks and have managed to cut my dose in half. I also take an opioid called Suboxone which is used to treat addiction. So yes technically I'm on amphetamine, benzodiazepine and opioid and an SSRI but, I'm the happiest I've ever been and I'm actually functioning and holding down a job and stuff for the first time in my life. I could really use some helpful opinions

So, we've been dx'd ADD for about a year now, and been round the block on a couple of things. One was Concerta, I can't remember the other. Ritalin, quite possibly. As with Antidepressants (and caffeine..) we've found that our brain chemistry is stubborn as an ass to actually changing in regards to them. Concerta had about a 2 day "oh, energy? that's nice." spike before Nothing Happened at a couple of doses, then higher up just nothing from the getgo. But anyway, now we're on Dexamfetamine Sulphate. Yesterday after taking it we had a period of intense hyperfocus, but that's something we occasionally get anyway from Autism, and it was towards a hobby/'special interest' (most condescending term ever? quite possibly). So that's rather inconclusive. So far today, nothing, but we're definitely in a Recovery Day as far as fatigue stuff goes. Regardless, what kinds of effects should we be looking for? Because so far nothing that blips above baseline-weirdness. Is there anything for ADD that's /good/ for people with treatment resistance? Our psych says it's probably the way/speed our liver processes toxins. Wynn

My insurance pooped out and it's going to be another day or so before I can fill my dexedrine prescription. I'm entirely out. In the past, when I've tried to take a break, I've experienced crushing depression, even after a day. I've read it can start after 12 hours, and I took my last dose around noon today. Hopefully will be able to pick up more tomorrow afternoon, but I'm worried that I will go way down and not even be able to leave the house to get to the pharmacy (agoraphobia/depression). So I've taken the advice I've read online: tyrosine every two hours, continuation of clonazepam, and magnesium/b/c. Wondering if I can (or should) combine it with one of the other many drugs I have around the house that I've previously taken: Topamax (saw clinical study showing that has been shown effective in preventing relapse in meth addicts) Olanzapine Cymbalta/duloxetine (saw some doctors prescribe for this purpose) An increase of the celexa I currently take Trazadone (again, saw that is recommended) Does anyone know whether this would be advisable, on a very short-term basis, given the other meds I take (hopefully included in my signature). Would really appreciate any help to head off crippling depression tomorrow (or even longer, depending on how long my damn insurance company takes to get it together). Thanks.

So last Saturday I went to my physiologist and he prescribed me Dexedrine for ADHD because I am very concerned that I am not going to finish high school if I don't have something to help me focus. He prescribed me 10mg twice daily, but I decided to only take it once in the mornings. I noticed the first time I came down off it it I was feeling very anxious. I thought this was only temporary and assumed it would go away after a few days of use. Sunday (the next day) I took it again and had thanksgiving dinner that evening with my family (Canadian thanksgiving). I didn't feel very anxious as it was coming down so I though the anxiety went away. I took it again on Monday which was a day off of school and only felt a little bit of anxiety, it went away after about 15 mins. Tuesday my first day back to school I had to write a test, I felt like I did pretty good on it but I had a date planned with a girl after school that I was thinking about all day. While I was out with her my the medication started to come down, I started to feel extremely anxious while I was sitting down, I started shaking and could not focus on my conversation with her which was really bothering me because normally I am very good at making conversation. I couldn't catch my breath and started to freak out! I asked her if we could walk around because I was not feeling good. She eventually ended up going home soon after and I walked home. I told my grandma (I live with her) what happened and asked her to feel my heart because I thought it was the medication that made me feel so anxious. I could feel my heart pounding and asked her to feel it to see if she thought it was pounding too. She said "oh no that's not good, your heart is racing" (it was about 90BPM resting and my blood pressure was slightly higher than normal) I immediately began to freak out even more thinking that the medication was gonna give me a heart attack or something. All I could think about was my heart rate and could not get it down, I went for another walk and it still didn't help. I read online that vitiman C will help remove the drugs from my system so I took 1000mg of it and started to calm down after my heart rate settled. The funny thing was this all started happening 7-8 hours after I took the meds so I doubt they were even in my system still. The next day at school (Wednesday) I felt pretty normal and I decided I wont take these drugs anymore. Later that evening completely off the drugs I started to feel anxiety again for no reason, which made me freak out again. Maybe it was thinking about this girl because she texted me saying "she just wanted to be friends"? I decided that I should go to bed and try to sleep it off. I tried breathing exercises in my bed and all of a sudden I felt like this anxiety was growing bigger and bigger surrounding my head until I sat up rapidly and started to hyperventilate. I eventually laid back in my bed curled up shaking quite a bit and then fell asleep. I woke up the next morning and the first thought that came to my head was "You're still anxious" All I could think about was what these drugs did to me and why am I going crazy all of a sudden. The thought that I permanently screwed up my brain with these drugs keeps driving me insane and I cant go a minute without thinking about it. I've always had underlying anxiety but never this bad, I have doubts that a drug like this in such a small dose could cause permanent damage to my brain but the thought of it is what really scares me. I feel like I'm over reacting but at the same time I feel like I need someone to assure me that this drug didn't screw me up. I only took 10mg for 4 days but who knows maybe that's enough... I also have to fight a ticket in court this Thursday which is really bothering me, and Putting up with my bipolar mother all the time prob doesn't help either... I am calling my psychiatrist tomorrow and doing a follow up on my reaction to the drug. The girl also texted me back saying "she didn't mean what she said and actually really likes me..?" confusing much... Anyway I am hoping for the best and just wish this underlying fear in my life would just go away! If anyone has experienced anything like this or have felt like a drug has messed you up, I would love to hear your experience and how you dealt with it!

Hi everybody, So for many years I've been taking Dexedrine for ADD - 30mg in the morning and 20 mg at noon. Absolutely no problems, it was working super. Then last month, I get a call from the nurse at my clinic saying their pharmacy is having a hard time getting Dexedrine so the doc is switching me to Adderall. When I picked it up, the pharmacist said it's the same as the dex, only it's 5 (or 4?) salts instead of 1. The next day (and every day since the 1st), taking the same dosage in AM and at noon, I've noticed a big difference. My focus has plummeted - I get to the end of a sentence and don't remember what the beginning of it was; my brain feels like jello; I'm irritable and have had several (mild) altercations with people; and I've been sluggish and tired. Yesterday I saw the pdoc of the year (had one pdoc for a long time then last year a new one and now this year yet another new one - they're residents at the med college - I go their clinic = no choice). This pdoc was brand new - it might have been his 1st day even (it was pretty awkward), so he had to check everything with his supervisor. I explained everything I said above, of course mentioning that life is one big frustration and asking him if he can please help me so I know what's going on. He didn't have any answers, but only asked if I ever tried Dexedrine XR (which I haven't). He verified with the pharmacy that they're having trouble getting Dexedrine and then talked to his supervisor. In the end, he said they (the clinic) need me to take a lab test (blood & urine) and he wants to see me in 1 month to see how things are going. I asked him if he thought things were somehow going to change and he said he didn't know but just come back in 1 month and go to the lab to have this test. I never had to take this lab test before and when I mentioned that, he said everyone who takes stimulants has to have a lab test "to see how your body is reacting to medication and check if 'outside medications' (substances) are interfering with the effectiveness of (the ADD) medication." ??? My appointments usually last 15-20 minutes but this pdoc was way behind schedule and I was there 1 hour and 15 mins (waiting most of the time) and had another appt. across town to get to, so I asked him if I could come back to take the lab test and he said it was OK as long as I come back and do it before the appt. 1 month from now. I have no problem taking the lab test but find it kind of strange I was never told to do so before now. So my questions are - has anyone had this kind of experience? Was this guy testing me (because I was getting fairly frustrated)? Is there a difference between the same doses of Dexedrine vs. Adderall? I know no one is a doc here but I'm wondering if I'm just a weirdo or if others can relate and offer me some helpful feedback ... my world has changed considerably and I just get the impression that this pdoc maybe can't or won't help.