Posted by jonathanupr on April 11, 2007, at 20:53:13
In reply to Re: Least anxiety-inducing stimulant? » psychobot5000, posted by jealibeanz on April 11, 2007, at 20:13:32
one thing i've learned in regards to stims is that everyone reacts differently to them, but one thing that does seem to be steady across the board is that mixing Caffiene with CNS stims causes a lot of tight neck and back muscles. Anxiety to say the least.
Dexedrine is made in an XR tab (though it doesn't last as long as the Adderall XR dose).
I've had more success avoiding anxiety with CNS stims by taking the IR (instant release/standard release) forms than the XR versions (the XR versions are a bit quirky, take the Adderall XR version for instance... it release 50% of the dose immediately, and then four hours later it releases 25% of the dose, then another 25% 2 hours later.... reason this was a bit wrong for my regimen is due to not needing as much of the stim in the first four hours, and needing more of the stims throughout the next 8 to 10 hours of the day).
here's what I know of the stims I've tried:
Dex pretty much affects dopamine (and some down-stream nor-epinephrine). I was in a piss and vinegar mood on this stuff, irritable and rageful but I could control my actions, just pissed for no reason.
Adderall (shire brand) affects both dopamine and nor-epinephrine equally
Generic Adderall (Barr brand) seemingly to me affects more of the nor-epinephrine than dopamine, as my OCD was lit up by the Shire brand, and isn't hot at all on the Shire brand....interesting.
Concerta seems to be more of a reuptake inhibitor of dopamine and nor-ep, not much of a catecholamine releaser as the amphetamines above. This stim made me more irritable and through my OCD out of whack more than Adderall did.
Focalin was much better than Concerta, didn't make me as irritable, nor did it strike my anxiety as much as the Concerta did. This is the isomer of Ritalin, thus supposed to have the benefits and reduction of negatives with Ritalin....and I did see this when comparing it to Concerta. This may be a good med to try.
Desoxyn (you probably won't be able to get this med) was great until the evening, as I became irritable and for heaven's sake i couldn't sleep at night. I definitely could taste the ephedrine effect in this stuff hours after the effective dose to help my ADHD had worn off (meaning I was wide-eyed and restless without relief). And on the negative side, this stuff is very habit forming (addictive in laymens terms), and I definitely could feel that if I kept on it I wouldn't be coming off it very easily, both physiologically and mentally wanting.
If you have previous anxiety issues, you definitely need a buffer before going on a CNS stim (my opinion of course, though shared by many a psychiatrist). The approach I've taken is to start up on a SSRI, then added the CNS stim, needed some more padding thus added a drug to help with irritability, Gabitril at a low dose was a god-send, added Klonopin at a very low dose for sleep that was screwed up by the SSRI. Then, here comes the positive part of my med regimen: after I found an effective buffering, I have been lowering the SSRI, the Gabitril, and the Klon to doses where I find my day to be bearable. Example of my present regimen: down from 10 mg of Lexapro to 3.5 mg, down from 6 mg of Gabitril to 3 mg, down from 1 mg of Klon to .25 mg of Klon.... and take about 25mg to 35mg of SR release Generic Adderall. So far so good, though the withdrawals of the SSRI the last two weeks have sucked.
hope things work out
poster:jonathanupr
thread:749010
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070407/msgs/749183.html