Posted by Peter on August 19, 2002, at 16:18:54
I'm getting worried. In the mid 1990's I was a drug addict-heroin and cocaine. Years later, after cleaning my life of hard drugs and going to proper programs and therapy, my pdoc decided to put me on adderall. It's been fine for months, and I haven't increased the dose except by doc's orders. Because I'm also mild bipolar II/SP, he has me on 750mg depakote and zoloft (I'm now titrating from 75mg to 100mg). Before I started zoloft, the adderall was causing me a bit of anxiety. But we began zoloft, assuming it would help me with anxiety and depression. However, I have some bad past experience with SSRI's (paxil and celexa) in that they seemed to induce drug/alcohol cravings in me. My pdoc believes the reasoin is that they probably exacerbated dopamine-defiency, causing me to crave stimulation. So, keeping me on the adderall with the zoloft would hopefully now also curb SSRI-induced cravings. Everything's been ok until a few days ago. I began, as I'm increasing the zoloft, to feel very unproductive, lethargic, and craving alcohol on my daily 10mg adderall XR, so I decided to augment it with three 5mg adderall immediate-release tabs, one every 4 hours. I felt more focused and productive, and I no longer craved stimulation. Today, though, I started reading about snorting the stuff on the web and my old addict engine started getting excited and I very stupidly snorted 10mg immediate-release after I woke up. I felt hardly anything, except the guilt and shame of having inhaled it. I'm now afraid that I've increased my tolerance by snorting it, and I feel the danger of getting out of control. I know I'll need more today, and it's too late to take an XR capsule, so I might SWALLOW an immediate-release. Unfortunately, I can't tell my pdoc what's happening because he's on vacation until Sept. 3; I don't know whether to go back to the XR ( which I have alot of) and find a dose that's right (maybe 20mg instead of 10mg, since I'm increasing the zoloft) or if I should switch to immediate-release, which, though I feel it's effects more, I stopped taking because the XR was smoother on my mood. I'm also afraid that I've messed up my receptors and increased my tolerance and I don't even know what's the right dose for me now. Please if anyone's got suggestions, I just feel like reaching out.
Peter
poster:Peter
thread:116972
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020814/msgs/116972.html