Posted by laima on January 12, 2007, at 18:10:12
In reply to Re: stimulants as antidepressents, posted by PeterP on January 12, 2007, at 17:31:15
Interesting- your experience is much like my own. My doctor said tolerance isn't the same kind of problem with stimulants like adderall as it is for antidepressents, because it flushes out of the body on a nightly basis, giving the brain a chance to recoup. If that is true, I would speculate it's a good idea to not take it late in the day, and to stick with the smallest effective dose. But I wonder which effects he's talking about. I too have noticed that the tendency towards anything approaching euphoria wanes away with adderall, as well as with ritalin. But being able to engage with activities itself is anti-depressing, and I noticed no waning for that. Being able to complete tasks, reaching accomplishments, sociability- all of that is anti-depressing regardless of whether or not the drug itself can induce euphoria. The official reason I'm using adderall right now is for wakefulness and to raise blood pressure while on Emsam. Those effects show no sign of waning either, I'm impressed.> I find this discussion really interesting and relevant to my situation.
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> After trying many AD's, the last being Cymbalta which I'm almost completely off, my pdoc gave me a script for Adderall. I used to be a "gym rat" and for my age was in pretty good shape. The last couple of years I've become an an unmotivated slug and can't seem to get my butt off the couch to get to the gym. Now I'm there almost every day. I just seem to get SO much more accomplished every day and I'm in a much better mood. I've always been what I would call in a constant state of blah, never REALLY depressed but ......well, blah.
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> In the beginning the Adderall made me anxious but energetic, almost euphoric at times. Kind of like when I took cocaine 20 years ago. After about 3 weeks of between 30 to 35mg per day, thats gone. I am normally an anxious person and I tend to worry about a lot of things, especially socially and health matters, sometimes the Adderall exacerbates this. It's not usually too bad but sometimes I do much better taking between .25 to .5mg of xanax. I'm trying to do this a little as possible as I don't want to become addicted.
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> I have built up a tolerance to the Adderall I think but not it's energizing effect, just the euphoric effect. I think chasing the euphoric part is where people get into trouble with this drug. If taken regularly a dossage increase will always be needed to maintain that feeling.
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> Anyway, does anybody have any input on building a tolerance to its energizing effect? Could I maintain taking this on a daily basis and keep my dosage the same? I don't take it after 3pm so I can sleep at night.
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> My pdoc is thinking of trying me on EMSAM but so far I seem to be doing better on Adderall (with minimal Xanax usage)and nothing else. If I can stay off AD's I'd love it!
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> Anybody have any opinions?
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> Peter
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poster:laima
thread:719359
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070107/msgs/721778.html