Oh man, so much here... Let me organize this a bit and punch out some answers...
I went to the doctor after having several co workers suggest i talk to the doctor about Adderal... I have always had a difficult time focosing/concentrating...
ADD/ADHD(I view them very differently) can be a crippling disability in adulthood. I think the social stigmas and misinformation about it and its treatment largely contribute to a net-underdiagnosis of the condition. There is a lot of approaches to treating and managing one's ADD, and I think stimulant therapy is the most effective beginning of that course.
In any case I spent 2 months trying to get Adderall... It seemed like some semi illegal substance that I had to jump through several hoops for...
Adderall is harder to get than some opioids. This comes from the DEA scheduling system that places adderall at level2, while some doses of morphine and ketamine are less strictly regulated.
Once I finally got it I looked up the photo of the pill online and I could tell I was given a generic pill.... The doctor gave me 10mg to start off with and said if I felt it didnt work to take 2 pills a day rather than one.. This way when I went back in 30 days she could prescribe the correct amount...
This is not uncommon, letting the patient self titrate. It sounds like you were given the Immediate Release (IR) form of the pill.
Long story short.. How in the world is this addictive???
From a chemical standpoint, adderall gets in and out of you very quickly and physical dependency symptoms are generally very short lived as well. It is a central nervous system stimulant and will boost the dopamine and norepinephrine levels throughout your brain. When the drug wears off the brain takes a while to get back into the swing of things producing and using those hormones, this causes a crash. Depending on the formulation of your pill (more on this in just a second) the crash can be modest or severe.
When the medicine is working right, it makes getting things done so much easier that, for people with ADD (and others) they get 'addicted' to being productive. It's not a fun drug to be on.
I have never felt so horrible in my life!! For starters after taking one or even two pills I honestly do not notice any changes in me.. I do not feel any more focused nore do I feel any type of "high" or effect one would imagine such a controlled drug has...
This part and the following answer gets technical. Look at your prescription bottle and find the manufacturer. There are actually about 10 different makers of generic adderall IR and the formulations used vary greatly. There are two major categories of amphatimine salt used in adderall and its generics, dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine. Dextro amphetamines are punchier and more effective for ADD but levo amphetamines are slower acting and more gentle.
I feel nothing with the exception of 8 hours later... Not sure if its the crash or the effects finally kicking in.. I feel nauseous to the point i need to lay down.... This feeling can sometimes linger days after I took the pilll....
So though yes I am going back to the Doctor this week.... I was wondering if anyone else here had any experience with this medication..
Actual adderall is a combination of two dextros and two levos. These 4 salts all metabolize at different rates with the effect of some of them still coming into effect as others are leaving your system. This makes the 'ride' easier and the let down less abrupt. Generic adderall sometimes has only 2 salts, sometimes it's a 50-50 mix of dextro and levo and sometimes its 2 dextro salts.
Depending on who made your generic, your results can vary wildly. My personal favorite is the IR pill made by TEVA or Shire. It has a slightly sweet taste on the tongue. The worst (by most accounts, including my own) are made by Aurobindo. Aurobindo is an Indian company and if you google "aurobindo adderall" you'll find anectdotes aplenty of people describing medicine with all the side effects but none of the efficacy of real adderall.
What can you do... Find out if your insurance will cover the name brand if your doctor specifies name brand only. Or... request your pharmacy stock a different generic. If they won't, then take your business somewhere else.
Further more, if you can't get a smoother ride using a different brand of adderall, ask your doctor to prescribe adderall XR, or (if the insurance will pay for it) Vyvane. these are extended releast formulations and are much more evenly paced with a much more gentle drop off at the end.
Now let's look at some of the comments so far...
I have an issue with a doctor who would prescribe this after a 30 minute conversation. There are screening tests and assessments that should be done to diagnose ADD and they really should be done by someone who specializes in mental health.
While there are some behavioral therapy approaches that are useful in treating ADD, a mental health specialist is seriously overkill for this. People with ADD do not have damaged psyche's Nobody develops ADD as a result of bad habits or emotional trauma. For whatever reason (and there are plenty possible) the part of our brain tasked with executive function is less active than is needed. Some people thrive in this condition, artists and wealthy people it might seem, but for a lot of us it is debilitating.
It takes 30-60 days to kick as a prescription is what I was told. I can tell u from past bad life decisions it can be highly addictive, for those who don't need it. It is actually a form of meth.
Adderall IR becomes effective within 15 minutes and remains so for about 5 hours depending on the dose. At about the 8hr mark I get a crash that makes me drowsy as all get out for about 90 minutes. Coffee helps. SSRI/SNRI based ADHD meds have this sort of profile and far worse side effects.
Saying Adderall is a form of meth is scare mongering and a bit disingenuous. It is chemically similar to meth in the same way that water is chemically similar to hydrogen peroxide. Or CarbonDiOxide is chemically similar to Carbon Monoxide. Crystal meth has an extra methyl group that allows it to cross the blood-brain barrier, it is a very different chemical.
Did you actually go to a psychologist who specializes in adult ADHD, go through a battery of tests, and get a diagnosis or did you just spend 2 months doctor shopping to find one that would give it to you.
ADD is a label applied to a collection of symptoms. That collection of symptoms is what is being treated. Checking them off of a diagnostic form is entirely appropriate. If you walked in with a minor bleeding cut and the doctor prescribed a band-aid, no one would shame you for not seeing a dermatologist or vascular surgeon.
If you had true ADHD, you might have seen results.
This is a classic misunderstanding. People say it all the time, "people with real ADD actually get calm taking stimulants while everyone else would get hyper". This is a myth. Everyone taking adderall will get better at concentrating, better at learning new information, better at recalling it later. Most people are able to do these things well enough without help, but the drug has the same effect on everyone. There is actually a group of scientists advocating for across the board use of stimulants like adderall as a performance enhancing drug for doctors in training. The rationale being that medical errors lead to a significant number of serious problems, and however good a doctor you have now, he would be a better one if he had been on adderall during his education; even with discontinuing the medication at graduation.
People self-diagnosing are who give true ADHD a bad rap.
Way to gateKeep ADHD. Shaming people who seek treatment for their ADD can only serve to scare more people from getting the treatment they need. The diagnostic criteria of ADHD is not something beyond the range of understanding of most adult humans. Look it up. It's about as simple as diagnosing a headache.