Posted by Ktemene on June 14, 2004, at 4:24:20
In reply to Re: more strattera thoughts, pdoc called, posted by zeugma on June 11, 2004, at 15:00:40
I agree with Viridis about Adderall; I had very much the same experience. I also take immediate release Adderall. My pdoc prescribes 20mg per day, but I often take only 10 mg. I have never experienced any sort of crash as the Adderall wears off, and I have never experienced any sort of euphoria when I first take it, although the energizing effect does feel like an antidepressant effect to me since my depression is of the extremely sleepy sort. Also, I have never had the impulse to take more than the prescribed dose. In fact, after I first started taking Adderall I asked my pdoc why Adderall was considered to have so much potential for addiction, since it struck me as having about as much addictive appeal as aspirin. And my pdoc told me that my response to Adderall was typical of people with ADD, for whom the medication's main effect was a distinctly noneuphoric calm-but-alert feeling. The energizing effect kicks in within a half an hour or so, and lasts several hours. (Although I should say that I always take my morning dose of Adderall with 200 mg Provigil and 200 mg caffeine, so I am not really sure which kicks in first.)
The other prescription stimulant I have been taking for some time is Provigil. As you know, Provigil really is a medication for narcolepsy, although it is widely used off-label for depression and ADD. This might be a point in its favor for someone like you who has a lot of narcolepsy symptoms. The best aspect of Provigil for me is that I can take it late at night and still get to sleep when I want to. Provigil takes away the need to sleep without taking away the ability to sleep. Provigil helped me a lot, but not quite enough, which is why my pdoc added Adderall to my cocktail.
It is a shame that Strattera was such a disappointment in your case after it appeared to be so promising. Strattera was not as disastrously soporific for me as it was for you, but it has certainly not been what I hoped for. Reboxetine might have worked better, but I gather that it will be a long while before Americans will be able to try it.
Good luck in finding the right stim!
poster:Ktemene
thread:353502
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040614/msgs/356462.html