Honey, no, dexedrine isn't dangerous, any more so than anything else, it is just another medication. It is an amphetamine, the same as Adderal. Vyvanse is nothing but extended release dexedrine. I found it to be "smoother", sometimes Ritalin and Adderal are kind of up-down-up-down and even if you can't really "feel" it, you spend less time with just the right amount of medication in your system than you do either coming up or down. When you first are prescribed, it is not unusual to actually feel yourself coming up or down...after all, it IS a stimulant...a strong one. But quickly, you become accustomed to it. If you have been on it a while, and think it isn't working, skip a day. I used to take weekends and holidays off. Then I figured, why? My adhd doesn't take the weekend off! It is unpleasant, you feel even spacier and bouncier than normal, you are tired, and irritated, and hungry. The knowledge that I am indeed tolerant to it bothers me, but it is simply a side effect, and it is what it is. I don't abuse it. I will probably have to take medicine for it the rest of my life, or else I will be a spaz, I will create panic, chaos, and disarray, and I will feel crazy. It is much easier to think when medicated. I'm smart. I did well in school. I obtained two degrees. But I had to read and reread everything. I used to copy my notes over and over to make it stick in my head. I was an honor student, and I didn't find my work difficult....I just couldn't focus on it for any length of time. I struggled, I procrastinated, I crammed, I lost papers and books and forgot about tests and what room my class was in, or to bring a pen.

I found a temporary, less than healthy way to medicate myself....without even knowing it. No one talked about adult adhd in 1990! I would go to the convenience store after class, and buy a bottle of Jolt (like Mountain Dew, with more caffeine!) and a bottle of these nifty things my friend introduced me to called "mini-thins". Each one contained about 25 or 50 mg of Ephedrine, which I didn't know what that was. My roommate took one to study, but that knocked me out (sudafed, also, knocks me out). So I would take about four, with a big swig of Jolt, and get down to business. You can't buy them anymore, because people make meth out of them. I didn't know that either, or what any of it meant, only that I could sit still and read when I took them. Just like when my friends did cocaine. They wanted to dance. I wanted to do homework!

Generic means the medicine is produced by someone other than the original manufacturer. For a period of time after a medication comes out, the manufacturer holds a trademark on it. That means no one can duplicate it for a period of time...it is like a patent. Vyvanse, even though it is basically dexedrine or dextroamphetamine, has a lysine molecule attached to it, so that it dissolves in your intestine. This makes it "abuse-proof", what Shire, the manufacturer, pushes, to encourage them to prescribe it over, say, Adderal. Of course, just because snorting it would be ineffective doesn't mean people won't abuse it...they just take extra.

Ritalin, brand name, is produced by Ciba. The generic methylphenidate is produced by several companies, including Sandoz, Watson, and Mallinckrodt. The generic preparations differ only in the use of different fillers, and should contain the same amount of the actual drug, and are considerably cheaper. 90 generic 20 mg Methylphenidate, here in town, are $18.00 (until we reach our deductible, then it is covered). 90 name brand Ciba Ritalin 20 mg are $125.00. We have now met our deductible ($3,000) due to my stupid knee, so it is covered...but up until then, I shelled out the extra cash for the name brand. Why? Because I swear, some meds, there is a difference...and this is one. Sandoz generic is excellent, but they haven't had it here in years. We have experimented. I have tried all the generics, and saved some....and my husband has tested me, with my eyes closed, not knowing if I had taken a yellow Ciba tablet, a white Mallinckrodt, or a pink Watson....and I am right 90% of the time. It is subtle, but I can tell, and the generics, to me, are less effective and do not last as long. It is hard to describe something so abstract as a general "feeling" and how they seem to work differently, or even BE different, as they shouldn't be much, and maybe I'm just nuts (probably)....but I just like the name brand ones better....a lot better. People have strong feelings about different generics of other psych medications, too.