Posted by bissie66 on October 30, 2005, at 9:37:21
In reply to Re: Adderall, posted by med_empowered on October 27, 2005, at 8:06:02
Hi, and thank you too for your information and knowledge. i am so impressed with how smart and compassionate people are on this board, as well as non-judgmental.
as far as what i want to get out of adderall, you hit the nail on the head when you said "more productive, more focused, more awake..which will help you do stuff to make you feel happier'. that is exactly what i want . . . and i know i could be much happier that way. i remember what it was like when i was productive and energetic and capable to care for my children, clean my house, go grocery shopping. these activities fill me with dread and terrible fear now except for the few short days when a new combo seems like it will work, or for the bliss of hypomania (med-induced and too short-lived). anyway, i have not gotten those things from adderall. more energy, initially. more able to have fun. less afraid of responsibility. definitely not more focused tho. still scatter-brained and all over the place at work. i am known there for losing my keys and other things, forgetting to do things, being late with everything, and being completely unorganized. it has caused me a lot of problems with my boss actually.
oh, and thanks for what you (and the post before yrs) said about the klonopin. made me feel like it was ok and even made sense to take a small dose of that with the adderall. it helps.
any thoughts you or anyone else have about the way adderall is or isn't working for me would be great. you know, when i think about what i most want from a med, it is energy and motivation. even before happiness. it is those things, i think, that would make me feel "a part of the world". being a parent, i can't hide under the covers like i want to, and it all just breaks my heart.
thanks so much. you all rock. bissie
> hi! If you're taking stimulants for depression there are, unfortunately, no hard-and-fast rules. Stimulants were popular for depression and "fatigue" from the 30s-60s; after that, they were still RX'd, just usually with antidepressants (and usualy pretty quietly so both docs and patients could avoid the "valley of the dolls" stigma of rx'ing "uppers"). Basically, I'd say first you should set a goal for what exactly it is you're looking for out of adderall. I've taken it, and I can tell you it isn't great to make you feel happy, but it is good to make you more productive, more focused, more awake..which will help you do stuff to make you feel happier. See what I'm saying? So, just try to dose it so you're stimulated but not euphoric or hyped-up, and spread out the doses to avoid the infamous "amphetamine crash" (it SUCKS!). The FDA guidelines for ADHD and narcolepsy call for 40mgs/day max ADHD and 60mgs/day max narcolepsy. In my experience, only conservative, unoriginal docs actually pay attention to those, but it does kind of give you and indication of the general dosing guidelines. Klonopin+adderall is a pretty common combo; again, I don't think shrinks like to talk about it (the stigma of giving "uppers" and "downers" together, I suppose), but I've taken it, so have lots of my friends...pretty common. They can work well together, as long as you keep the doses of both low enough. Good luck!
poster:bissie66
thread:571326
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051024/msgs/573330.html