Quit Adderal after 5 years...shocked by how I feel...

[yellowlovesgray]

I'd been on a high dose of Adderall for ADD and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I stopped it in December, and last week I started to feel normal. The last 3 days, I feel better than I've felt in YEARS. I also gained about 70 lbs., oddly, on Adderall and had so much stomach bloat I thought I had Cushing's -- my body turned into that shape and I got moon face..

I cannot believe, even with short med vacations, how terrible I felt. I got used to it. I had fatigue beyond fatigue, I felt drained. My muscles were constantly test. I was all kinds of more depressed, panicky, etc. espeiclaly if I didn't have it. I couldn't function without it.

I DO have ADD, and it's hard for me to find the drive to do actual work, but I feel normal again and like living and having fun. I can't believe it took close to 6 months though. So strange. Non-stim ADD meds don't really work for me, so not sure what I'll do next since I tried Ritalin too. But oh well, I'm happy to not feel like death. I literally wouldn't leave the house for a month at a time and definitely not bed more than a few times a day, everything hurt. I watched a TON of tv and Youtube because it was the most I could do most days.

Anyone else have this happen? 

[bizygal]

I can't function without Adderall, just as you stated, I am afraid to stop.  However, my arthritis and muscle pain/weakness is worse than ever, so much pain, I cannot do my job anymore.  I am supposed to take two, 10mg tabs/day but often just take one, and with this I get about 4 hours of a normal feeling, somewhat less pain, where I am motivated enough to connect with people, research ideas, do household chores and smile.

It would be great to hear about your first 6 months without Adderall.  Don't know what I would do without it.

[Michelle1]

I got off adderall after being on it for 15 years!!!  I was tired but I started to feel better after about 1 month.  I was on 20 mg a day XR.  After 5 1/2 mos, i went back on it.  I needed to work and make some money.  I hate it.  But it is helping me get work done.  I'm going off again in springtime.  I am going into a roommate situation and try doing something else for a living so I can stay off of it!!!  

[Blahblah]

2 hours ago, Michelle1 said:

I got off adderall after being on it for 15 years!!!  I was tired but I started to feel better after about 1 month.  I was on 20 mg a day XR.  After 5 1/2 mos, i went back on it.  I needed to work and make some money.  I hate it.  But it is helping me get work done.  I'm going off again in springtime.  I am going into a roommate situation and try doing something else for a living so I can stay off of it!!!  

Feeling better after only 1 month? Lucky. I've had a 1 month break from Ritalin (after 3 years) and I've been unable to leave my bed... never been so lethargic, apathetic, disinterested in all my life. Needless (and sadly) to say, I'll be re-instating and will probably need to keep increasing the dose (like a drug fiend) in order to function. Just great. 😖

Edited January 17 by Blahblah

[saintalto]

I quit concerta after having been on it for over 10 years and I felt a wider range of feeling and had more energy without it. It felt like it had flattened me a lot and made my range of emotion limited. I do not want to go back on meds for my ADD because I’ve found ways to deal with it that are behavior based and they work just as well for me for the most part as meds did.

[notloki]

On 6/2/2018 at 6:21 AM, yellowlovesgray said:

I'd been on a high dose of Adderall for ADD and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I stopped it in December, and last week I started to feel normal. The last 3 days, I feel better than I've felt in YEARS. I also gained about 70 lbs., oddly, on Adderall and had so much stomach bloat I thought I had Cushing's -- my body turned into that shape and I got moon face..

I cannot believe, even with short med vacations, how terrible I felt. I got used to it. I had fatigue beyond fatigue, I felt drained. My muscles were constantly test. I was all kinds of more depressed, panicky, etc. espeiclaly if I didn't have it. I couldn't function without it.

I DO have ADD, and it's hard for me to find the drive to do actual work, but I feel normal again and like living and having fun. I can't believe it took close to 6 months though. So strange. Non-stim ADD meds don't really work for me, so not sure what I'll do next since I tried Ritalin too. But oh well, I'm happy to not feel like death. I literally wouldn't leave the house for a month at a time and definitely not bed more than a few times a day, everything hurt. I watched a TON of tv and Youtube because it was the most I could do most days.

Anyone else have this happen? 

40 mg is not that high, 60 is the max, 60 would be a high dose although some go higher to like 90 mg.

[Sephiroth999]

I hope the "Eddie Morra" feeling doesn't go away. It REALLY DOES work that way for me. 

 

Edited February 14 by Sephiroth999

[yellowlovesgray]

On 2/9/2020 at 10:14 AM, notloki said:

40 mg is not that high, 60 is the max, 60 would be a high dose although some go higher to like 90 mg.

I was on 90mg the better part of 6 years.

Edited Wednesday at 04:09 PM by yellowlovesgray

[yellowlovesgray]

Thought I'd update here, having a chain for my own records about this is very helpful.

So, this was posted in June 2018, and I went about a full year without the Adderal, and I literally could not work. I felt great emotionally and picked up some hobbies, but I couldn't bring myself to work normally to support myself.

I decided it was time to get my life back together, so about a year later exactly I started taking a stimulant again, and Boom. Got my life back pretty quickly. Was able to work again immediately, saved up enough to move back to my old city.

However, the chronic fatigue and pain is bad again. I'd forgotten that it took 6 months to feel better. And I feel a little bit 'damned if I do, damned if I don't." I can't seem to work without it, but prescribing laws in Texas have made it very hard to get my meds reliably, so I've had to leave a lucrative work contract for self-employment because i never know from one month to another if my psychiatrist is going to get her shit together enough to write the prescription on time and this is a real issue in my life. I also can't get more than a very small dose. I take 10mg and I've been afraid to leave this psychiatrist because I've had another psychiatrist and a neurologist agree to manage this for me and then completely drop the ball.

It's shocking how difficult this is to get in Texas, in a large city even.

I've made an appointment with another new psychiatrist and I hold out hope that this one won't let me down, but I'm just so used to it the last 2 years. The opioid hysteria has influenced how hard it is to get these medications even if you've been taking them forever.

I wish I didn't need these but I can't go years without working again.

[Blahblah]

On 2/26/2020 at 5:08 PM, yellowlovesgray said:

Thought I'd update here, having a chain for my own records about this is very helpful.

So, this was posted in June 2018, and I went about a full year without the Adderal, and I literally could not work. I felt great emotionally and picked up some hobbies, but I couldn't bring myself to work normally to support myself.

I decided it was time to get my life back together, so about a year later exactly I started taking a stimulant again, and Boom. Got my life back pretty quickly. Was able to work again immediately, saved up enough to move back to my old city.

However, the chronic fatigue and pain is bad again. I'd forgotten that it took 6 months to feel better. And I feel a little bit 'damned if I do, damned if I don't." I can't seem to work without it, but prescribing laws in Texas have made it very hard to get my meds reliably, so I've had to leave a lucrative work contract for self-employment because i never know from one month to another if my psychiatrist is going to get her shit together enough to write the prescription on time and this is a real issue in my life. I also can't get more than a very small dose. I take 10mg and I've been afraid to leave this psychiatrist because I've had another psychiatrist and a neurologist agree to manage this for me and then completely drop the ball.

It's shocking how difficult this is to get in Texas, in a large city even.

I've made an appointment with another new psychiatrist and I hold out hope that this one won't let me down, but I'm just so used to it the last 2 years. The opioid hysteria has influenced how hard it is to get these medications even if you've been taking them forever.

I wish I didn't need these but I can't go years without working again.

Thanks for the helpful update @yellowlovesgray  I'm not on Adderall, but Ritalin and it's been the same hoops & difficulty just to get this where I live! I'm afraid if I ever need to switch psychiatrists.

I'm in a similar predicament, after stopping for a month, and then re-instating & increasing the dose, I feel seemingly MORE fatigued with some joint aches, but I can focus well for cognitive work. It's not helping my chronic depression much now, and also might be making me more emotionally flat & anhedonic.

[EDIT] Have you thought of trying Doctor on Demand? You can get prescriptions & refills from a legit doctor online. (they cannot prescribe scheduled substances like stimulants) 😞

Edited 20 hours ago by Blahblah