Going from Adderall IR to Dexedrine IR - can anyone share their experiences

Hey, everyone. New member here. I've read all over trying to understand how it may effect me differently.

I pick up the Dexedrine (ir) tomorrow.

I asked my psychiatrist what he thought about it and said several of his patients like it more.

History

I started over 12 months ago on Adderall XR 20 mg. I used to strength train and am pretty big (6'5 225) and quickly reached 30 mg XR.

XR worked fantastic for me but my insurance gave me huge problems about more than 1 pill a day. So, to go over.30 mg I had to switch to IR.

Fast forward to Nov. last year. I began to not get the benefits from Adderall anymore. I tried taking two weeks off, thinking it might be tolerance (AMA). And when I started again, it worked great that first day, than less and less each day. I'd definitely have the energy but I'd feel "blah". Even after forcing myself to run for 30 minutes.

I maintain a high protein diet, black beans, tuna, salads, chicken, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, water, fish oil, multivitamin, whey protein, etc..

Anyhow, am I beating a dead horse considering the medication I just came from was 75% dex?

I hear people talk about dex being much smoother the only complaint I hear is "lacking motivation".

Not 100% sure what they mean. Motivation to do everyday boring tasks such as cleaning?

Either way I will try the Dexedrine and if I don't like it I'll switch back to Adderall.

I'd love to go on XR or spanduled (sp?) release... However my insurance doesn't like paying name brand.

Thanks!

Apologizes for any formatting or grammar errors. I'm on TapaTalk

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Hi Emberspirit

I have ADHD and I used to take Adderall. It helped me only somewhat and it made me feel a bit aggressive so I asked my doctor to stop it. I have now just started taking Ritalin and it helps my ADHD much more than the Adderall. This goes to show you that stimulants are not all the same in the way that they act in different people. The Ritalin helps my focus and it helps my hyperactivity way much more than the Adderall did. I would not give up trying the Dexedrine as you really don't know how these stimulants will affect you until you try them. I have found that stimulants are very unpredictable in how they help and in the duration of efficacy. I am baffled every time I get a dosage increase as well. Best of luck. btw..

Welcome to PC.

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If you need any help in navigating this site feel free to contact a community liaison or moderator. I hope that you find all of the answers that you are wishing for.

If tolerance is the issue, I wonder if different stimulant would help more. If you're limited to generic meds, that would only leave Ritalin as an option. Ritalin does come in generic long acting formulations however...

Welcome to PC!
Dex worked good for about 2 months with me. it was a generic form of it. I had issues with the ritalin generics, because one that was the cheapest (what the pharmacy was buying as their generic stock) ended up having a slightly different make up of how it was made into a pill form. and being as i have bad reactions to sulfa meds (antibiotics) i had also the same issue with the one type of ritalin generic..

But with dex, i started having troubles remembering ANYTHING past the first word that i was thinking. that went for the forgetting what i was doing (Even to the point of forgetting i was in the middle of eating and thinking that i was eating someone elses food so i would stop. then forget that i stopped and such.. yeah bad reaction after a certain time- dont know why tho... doctor just said "oh now that's not good. we are going to change you to a different medication" and then i was placed on vyvanse. which aparently somehow is simliar to dexa. and lasts a really long time. maybe if things dont go well he/she might be willing offer that option?
vyvanse sometimes requires a monthly pre authorization paper to be filled out by the pdoc and sent into the insurance before they will pay for the med. stating why you need it, and that you need it. (when prescribed for adhd/add).
(been on vyvanse for over 10 years now.. although about 7 years ago, it was changed in the reason for me taking it. so after that there wasn't that monthly preauth thingy all the time. although since its still a controlled substance 2, i still have to get a hand written script every 30 days.


Hope Dex helps lots!

Can't find the multi quote option on mobile.

Thanks everyone for your replies - a couple things.

I didn't think I was aggressive on Adderall until I took dex. I 100% understand the smoothness people refer to. Will need a week with it before I can give my opinion.

As for Ritalin. Based on my earlier research (I'm not going to get the medical terms right, I hope you guys can follow along).

I easily could be misinformed what think I know is

Adderall, Dexedrine, and that class are releasing agents and over time effect the DAT?? The parts of your brain that transport dopamine to the receptors and so on.

Ritalin type drugs I believe could possibly help with this, when my transporters aren't acting as their supposed to

Going to go through my old notes, I haven't researched this in awhile.

Maybe a more knowledgable member can touch on what I'm trying to say.

Will edit the post when I figure it out; if no other response on the subject.

Thanks again!!

P.S. When I can get to my workstation I'll copy/paste sources and edit the post with proper medical terminology.

Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus

Will your insurance pay for the name brand if your Dr. specifies that the name brand is medically necessary? Just a thought. Welcome to Psych Central!! I'm glad you're here!!!

They'll pay for name brand just not for the dose I'm currently on.

Name brand Adderall XR = 30 mg aka 1 pill a day max

I haven't tried to get other name brands but it will be the same bs and I'd have to drop way down from my current dose.

In the future I'm prepared to do this but not at this time in my life.


Researching if there is any withdrawal or side effects from switching (not having Levoamphetamine). When I search google and other areas all that comes up is Adderall. Can't find any information on how the drug works by itself.

Though, the wiki says it causes wakefulness, alertness, and fatigue? That sounds wrong hah

My psychiatrist didn't warn me about any

I swear, researching these things online I think is bad for me. I read something then get a placebo effect when it's more than likely not happening at all.



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Yeah, but only for a certain dose. Basically, more than 1 pill a day = declined.

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