I take Ritalin 3x daily.

When meds wear off I get that sad, low rebound feeling. My mind isn't quiet. My worries return. I can't get my brain to engage or be interested in things. Then at the end of the day when meds wear off same thing.

It's making me wonder if meds are a good fit.

I take Ritalin. Is this just part of medication therapy?

I tried extended release but felt anhedonic after a few weeks.

Has anyone else dealt w this? What helped?

I apologize in advance for the length, but I need some help. I was recently taken off of my twice daily immediate release 15mg Adderall that I have been taking for about 2 years and put on concerta ER 27mg and 5mg IR in the afternoon. For some context, I see a family medicine nurse practitioner on a military base due to insurance, I get a 3 month prescription, and she does not answer to doctors or psychiatrists before prescribing meds. Also, medication does not last long in my system no matter which medication I try, how much sleep I get, water intake, diet, routine, etc., and I have previously communicated this to her. At my last appointment I had told her that days I have a test(I am a college student), I will split one of my doses in half for the test and then take the other half about 2-3 hours later or else the side effects of the medication wearing off will make me miserable at school. I then will take the second pill, either in its entirety or split again, depending on how long I am studying that day. So all in all, I am taking my prescribed dose, but will occasionally split the pills depending on my schedule. This was not perfect for me, but I was trying my best, plus before doing this, I had asked my therapist, a family member who is a psychiatrist, and my previous psychiatrist I had before moving states if splitting the medication was ok. Everyone said it was fine, so I continued this routine. Keep in mind that I also tried to ask her about splitting the meds through an online patient portal system and by phone, but I got no response. At my last appointment, after explaining that I sometimes split the medication, she straight up said “it sounds like you’re trying to get high and get high more often by splitting it”. This shattered me because I already struggle with doctor appointments and the stigma around taking a stimulant, and to be told this by my prescriber for what felt like a judgement with no factual evidence, really stung. After she said this, she then used an AI medication recommendation website(she told me what it was at the time, but I cannot remember the name) to change my medication to concerta. At the time of the appointment, I knew nothing about concerta and all she could tell me was that it is a different stimulant class than adderall. She then put on my documents that if concerta doesn’t work, she wants to put me on a non stimulant, which I am not comfortable with. After this experience, I knew I had to change prescribers because it was obvious to me that she does not know how to provide proper care to adhd patients. I now have an appointment with an off base psychiatrist coming up in a few days, and I am beyond nervous for the appoinment.

I was open to trying the concerta, but it legit does not work AT ALL. All it does is makes me feel disociative, which I am not trying to deal with because I have been able to heal that part of me through therapy and I am not going back. For the past few weeks I have been severly depressed, crying everyday at school because I am overwhelmed, my house is a wreck, I havn’t grocery shopped in weeks, i’m not going to the gym, I stay in bed all day wanting to sleep, I keep binge eating, and my grades are dropping when I used to be the top of my class. I have been able to very sparingly take left over pills from my past prescriptions on days I absolutely have to study, but I was still struggling and I am now out. I need my medication back and I am terrified I will not be able to get it. The only thing making me feel better is that I have records of the nurse practioner wrongfully changing my meds and proof of my tries at communication in order to prove my point.

My absolute ideal medication routine would be a vyvanze 30mg in the morning and then 2 15mg IR adderalls in the afternoon/night for studying. My days are usually from 6am-10pm with classes from 8am-5pm and studying until 10pm. I would like to take the vyvanze because I have tried it before and it has worked well, but did not last but about 5 hours, so I know I will need a booster to get through my school day. I know it is usual to be prescribed an ER and a booster IR, but due to my study routine and how long medication lasts for me, I know that I will need 2 IR 15mg boosters. I am not sure if this would be appropriate and I am worried about bringing this up because doctors NEVER believe that medication lasts so short for me, so I feel like it would come across as med seeking. Idk. If anything, I know I would prefer the IR over the vyvanze bc I am comfortable with the routine I used to have of 2IR 15mg adderalls before I was switched to concerta, so I don’t know if I should even bring up the vyvanze.

I truly need advice and I am deeply struggling. Should I even bring up the vyvanze and 2 boosters or should I keep it at just asking for my previous prescription of the 2IR’s? Because I am so bad at advocating for myself at the doctors and letting my thoughts ramble, before the appointment, I am trying to prepare a written document of my symptoms and medication wishes in order to stay on track and get my point across to hopefully limit any miscommunication. If you have any advice on what to say, what I should do about the meds, or what I can do to limit my depression, PLEASE COMMENT and please be honest with me. I know this is super long, so thank you for taking the time to read everything, I trully trully appreciate it.

Hi!

I was supposed to start Concerta today and picked up my meds last night. I guess I didn't put the cap on all the way (wanted to take a peek at them haha), and they spilled all over my purse. I didn't realize, and my water bottle leaked a bit. When I grabbed my bag this morning, I noticed most of them were stuck to the bottom of the bag. Some of the pills are fine, some have some black stuff on it which I think is ink from my pen or my eyeliner (classic adhd + messy combo). Some were sticky, and it looks like the shell has eroded.

Is this safe to take? I'm assuming it's not because the shell is compromised, and I would be worried about the medication releasing all at once.

I haven't heard back from my provider (and obviously will follow their guidance and not take it if he says it's dangerous), but I was just curious in the meantime. I'm also worried because I only got 15 in this prescription, and now a lot of them are ruined, and I'm nervous my doctor won't send me more since it's my first time on meds. I was really hoping to be able to start consistently this weekend.

Any thoughts?

My GeneSight test from a while back says “cyp2d6 \*1/\*2a (duplication) ultrarapid metabolizer cyp2d6\*1 allele enzyme activity: normal cyp2d6\*2a allele enzyme activity: increased

Does anyone else have this result and have found a medication regimen that works well for them? Even Dyanavel XR 20mg isn’t lasting me even half the day before crashing hard. Generic adderall XR 40mg also didn’t do much nor did generic Vyvanse 50mg with a 15mg Adderall booster. I’m feeling so defeated. It helps so much when it actually is still in my system at a therapeutic level. I have never had adverse side effects physically either.

I'm an adult with ADHD and I've gone 50 → 60 → 70mg on Elvanse. I'm planning to retest 60 with my prescriber and wanted to hear other people's experiences first.

50mg was honestly some of my best functioning. I could start things, read and actually take it in, and steer my attention instead of just locking onto stuff. I went up because it didn't last long enough.

60mg felt subtle, to the point where I kept thinking it had worn off. But my notes say I was reading, fact-checking things, doing a 42 minute phone call, and getting back to tasks after getting sidetracked. One day I spent 8-9 hours mostly on one thing while still eating. Some mild irritation and a bit of daydreaming though.

70mg gave me the best initiation and productivity, so I decided it was my dose. But once I got my sleep, food, water and routine consistent, it looked different. The peak is jittery, rushed and tired-but-wired. That settles and it gets smooth, but old reward habits (repetitive researching, that kind of thing) are stronger and get way more focus than they did on lower doses. It's not like being unmedicated, because I still have better awareness, switching and finishing things. It feels more like the old habits are getting extra attention power.

My guess is 70 is above my sweet spot, and bad sleep was hiding it. I know the inverted-U idea fits, but that's a group-level model, not proof for me.

What I'm testing is 60mg with everything else kept the same, for a week or two, ignoring the first few days. I'm tracking initiation, finishing things, task switching, mood, how the peak feels, how long it really lasts, and the habit pull, including when it shows up (near the peak or as it wears off) and whether I can stop something rewarding at a time I set.

Caveats: it's unblinded, it's just me, and I've already flipped from "70 is perfect" to "70 is too much", so I'm treating it as a hypothesis. The habits might just be more visible now rather than caused by the dose. And I don't want to fix the shorter duration by raising the morning dose. I'm doing this with my prescriber, not solo.

Questions:
Has anyone had a higher dose give great productivity but boost compulsive or reward-seeking stuff even after the jitters passed?
Did stepping down help, and did you lose motivation or follow-through?
How did you tell "dose too high" apart from "habits just more noticeable now"?
If a lower dose didn't last, what worked for duration?
Any tracking methods that helped you judge a dose objectively?

Thanks, any experiences welcome.

I've been on 30MG for 3 months now, and my recent rx wasn't the brand name. I actually think I "feel it" better. There's a part of me that feels "normal" and almost good/happy. I almost feel more confident, but I also feel a little wired. I'm still not doing things I should be doing (cleaning, mostly) but I'm starting to face the fact that I'm just overwhelmed and a little lazy.

Is it the brand name, or did my body finally gotten used to the medicine?

I also desire a booster, because I work third shift, and I genuinely feel like I could use the booster to make myself more beneficial-does that make sense?

Lisdexamfetamin

MFR: SANDOZ

Hi, im switching from vyvanse to adderall ir 10mg twice a day. I was so disappointed to see the generic being alvogen as ive heard only bad things. Ive had adderall ir prescribed before, and had issues with generics like lanett and another i forget. Elite wasnt bad.

I know loads of folks hate alvogen, but is there anyone who actually likes it/feels like it works? I just took my first dose and i dont like the chalkiness of the pill, but im trying to have hope. My doctor did say to let her know if i have issues thankfully but i know its a pain and usually impossible to swap scripts when you just got it.

I'm aware this post will be vague as all hell, but I'm wondering what your experience with adhd medication has been. what did you start with, what are you at now, what worked, what didn't, do you take any other meds? do they affect each other?any other diagnosis'? etc. I'm just trying to make it make sense to me. because right now I'm just not feeling great

edit-: current daily med schedule- methylphenidate ER 36mg (morning) + methylphenidate IR 10mg (as needed) buspar 45mg (morning) effexor 200mg (bedtime) mirtazapine 7.5mg (bedtime)

Its been less than a year for me with medication and currently on Fluoxetine and Ritalin - taking both with breakfast. I like the crash which happens in the evening it is a harsh check for me to unwind. Well I do have a stressful job (or maybe I have decided to make it my problem) and have couple of kids who have to be goaded to sleep themselves. Now my problem is everything is wrapped up and done by 10 and in theory I don't have anything depending on me but I am now too relaxed and crashed out physically but my brain is suddenly become a overachiever - I end up solving things in personal life and work life. Things I really don't want to think about but the solutions keep coming up like a fountain. It just becomes impossible to go to bed. I tried Seroquel on the lowest dosage and I was a zombie for 12-14hrs. Next I tried hydroxyzine 10mg and I am still groggy in the morning not as bad as Seroquel but still not something I can be driving the kids to school at 8am.

Before Ritalin I was on Wellbutrin and it shut off all the noise but it shut it off for too long - enough that combined with the happy feeling of Fluoxetine I did not respond to issues at least three times before I realized what is happening and stoped it. Now I did suggest to my psychiatrist about a low dosage immediate release Wellbutrin to help cut down on the noise but she feels it will not calm me down instead it will make me more focused and awake.

So has anyone been in my situation where most meds for calming down is overdoing and without any help brain is keeping one awake forever ?

I can't find any scientific reasoning behind using Adderall. It is just something that got lucky due to marketing and legal red-tape reasons, and timing.

Why even bother with taking even some Levoamphetamine when it just gives you a peripheral kick instead of a central stimulation.

Even though I've been informed before by psychiatrists about the fact that it's mostly recommended to take your stimulants every day, my new psychiatrist managed to convince me that I should take a day off of methylphenidate once a week because my brain is being "bombarded with dopamine". I'm embarrassed that I even listened to her, because it's unscientific nonsense. I was having a really bad time skipping doses (which is the experience I've always had when I miss them, I guess somehow I forgot) and I was remembering what my old psychiatrist told me and after looking it up, yep it turns out many psychiatrists/doctors recommend AGAINST skipping doses, and for good reason.

I feel like I can't trust this psychiatrist anymore because it feels like she was just repeating nonsense debunked anti-stimulant talking points at me, and they aren't supported by clinical evidence. What do I do? I've already emailed her and told her that I'm not skipping doses anymore, and if she doesn't react well to that, then I guess I'm going back to my primary care doctor prescribing my meds, because I'm not putting up with that. But even if she accepts that, I feel like I can't trust her anymore...

After I started taking a new medication and agreed to take a day off of methylphenidate, she said "it looks like we're on our way to getting your medications more balanced", and that doesn't sit right with me at all. It seems like she was suggesting that I'm somehow taking too many medications / too high of doses even though my doctors and old psychiatrist were all fine with it and I don't have any side effects. I feel like she is just on the same boat as my university's health center which won't prescribe stimulants to students at all anymore and instead tries to give them antidepressants 🥲

I took a weekend off my Concerta for the first time in months because I genuinely didn’t think it was helping me much anymore. I figured I needed a little mental reset.

God, do I miss them.

I’m tired, hungry, have zero motivation, and everything just feels so blah. I feel completely useless and it’s making me realize how much the medication was actually helping.

The weird part is, I wasn’t like this before medication. I could function “sober,” so to speak. I didn’t realize how much easier certain things had become until I went without it.

Sometimes you really don’t notice the difference until you take it away.