Posted by Bekka H. on February 9, 2002, at 13:23:14
In reply to Adderall is not working anymore., posted by George on February 9, 2002, at 6:04:58
First, have you tried Dexedrine? Dexedrine seems to affect the CNS more than the mixed amphetamine salts like Adderall. Adderall affects norepinephrine and dopamine, whereas Dexedrine seems to affect dopamine more (although they both affect both neurotransmitters). For me, Adderall has more adverse affects on the cardiovascular system.
Next, if Dexedrine doesn't work for you, it is possible you have developed a tolerance to the stimulants. This happens to many people, unfortunately. I read some very helpful posts from the past by a PB member named Hattree. That poster had some excellent ideas for avoiding/delaying stimulant tolerance. When I was on stimulants, I had to take as many med-free days as possible, and switch to different stimulants when possible (however, there is a little bit of cross tolerance for me). I had to take several months off from Dexedrine altogether for it to help me again. Some people need more time off from it than that. I also have the problem that if I try to take a higher dose, I just go to sleep. I was on 25-30 mg of Dexedrine. Anything above 30 mg just put me to sleep. It's so discouraging because when you first start stims, they are so helpful. After a while, you poop-out, and you end up worse than before you started them.
Another avenue to explore is Memantine, which supposedly prevents tolerance to stims. I've seem some posts about Lamictal possibly helping in that regard as well, but nothing definite yet. I'm looking into Memantine myself. The thing is, if it's going to help prevent/delay tolerance, I would think you'd have to be off stims for a while so you could lose the tolerance you've built up. I don't know that for sure, though.
One other thought: You said that Ritalin, Concerta didn't help. Did you give them a good try? When I switched from Dexedrine to methylphenidate (Ritalin, etc), it took several weeks to see what Ritalin was doing because the first week or so I was in Dexedrine-withdrawal, so I felt pretty depressed and tired from that.
poster:Bekka H.
thread:93399
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020208/msgs/93436.html