Dexedrine

16 Comments & Reviews: Dexedrine

1. I usually prescribed brand adderall however last week I was provided with a generic brand of adderall that gives me headache and a nervous feeling the brand is Teva and which does much of nothing for me please advise if this a common complaint.

2. I was diagnosed at age 22, and spent a decade treating it with Adderall. I began at 10mg IR, but using titration my doctors eventually brought it up to 60mg. By age 30 I had relocated several times, and some really unpleasant experiences with new doctors had left me something defensive and uncomfortable, the idea of trying other medications made me extremely wary. I didn’t want to “give up” Adderall, because it that seemed work so well.

   Well, let me tell you: switching to Dexedrine is the best health decision I’ve ever made. It’s astounding. It’s a stimulant, certainly, but the sensation of it in my system feels infinitely more natural and comfortable. I often found that Adderall could serve as “stress pills” under certain conditions, making me less optimistic and increasingly frustrated. Dexedrine simply doesn’t down that. Another notables different – Adderall made me more physically motivated, so it didn’t take much of a push to clean and organize.

   Dexedrine doesn’t really have that effect. It does, however, allow me to think creatively again, which has been absolutely amazing. I have always loved to write, but in the final few years on Adderall, I was so resigned to “block” that I didn’t bother trying anymore. The first month I switched to Dexedrine, I write over 10,000 words, and have written several more each following month. It’s like it stimulates the exact part of my brain that makes me able to engage with hobbies I enjoy, as well as responsibilities I have to tackle.

   If you talk about it with an doctor, you may want to point out that Dexedrine is already present in Adderall – it’s just blended needlessly with a another type of amphetamine.

3. I began taking Dextroamphetamine Sulfate at age 9, starting with 5mg XR once daily and I am now 18 and take 20mg XR twice daily as well as a regular 10mg in the afternoon. Until I was about 16, this medication worked wonders on me. Before taking it, and when I do not take it, I grow irritated and irrational very fast, lack motivation, self-esteem, and focus. I currently take the two 20mg XR capsules when I wake up for classes around 8:30, and take the 10mg regular around 3 PM, however, I have noticed that even with the dosage increases, it is doing less and less for me, at this point it really only keeps me from getting irritated and irrational, I understand that ADD/ADHD medications are not miracle pills, and I still need to contribute, but lacking focus has lowered my self-esteem.

   An example of me lacking focus: I took the 20mg XRs about 4 hours ago (no morning classes) and I am currently supposed to be writing a paper for my Chemistry class, however, I got distracted and am now writing this instead. I plan to talk to my doctor about switching off of an amphetamine-based medication and switching to a methylphenidate-based one as I feel I have built a tolerance up for amphetamines.

   Side note: For a while the Pharmacy I use did not have Dexedrine, so they gave me Adderall as it is an approved substitute, and I actually had no idea that they had done this, as my dad had picked up the prescription, however, I felt as if it worked a whole lot better, so when I found out it was Adderall, I wanted to switch, but insurance wanted me to have the generic if available, and the generic for Adderall and Dexedrine is pretty much the same exact thing (if not the same, I’m not 100% sure).

4. Thanks to a very supportive and open minded general practitioner I was finally diagnosed with ADD about six months ago (age 32). So, I’m early on in my ADD journey, and late at the same time!

   Initially I was prescribed Strattera (Atomoxetine) and it changed my life for the better. But it was extremely expensive and because of my age I wasn’t eligible for a subsidised script. My psychiatrist gave me a script for Dex instead because it would be more affordable.

   As it turns out I have had even better results from Dexedrine. I take it twice a day (total of 15-20mg during the day). My dose depends on my day. I work full time in an office environment and study part time so when I have lots of meetings or an assignment due I vary the dose (my psychiatrist has approved this). I find that I can reduce my dose to 5-10mg for one day without any problems, but if I do that more than one day I start to feel fatigued and the ADD symptoms ramp up.

   My sleep is still good as long as I am mindful about when I take my afternoon dose (no later that 2pm) and I wake up feeling more rested than I did before I started using this medication. My heart rate has increased so I had an ECG but it’s all fine.

   The biggest problem for me is loss of appetite. I have been working with a dietitian to make sure that I am getting adequate nutrition and don’t revert to disordered eating. It’s difficult to make sure I am eating regularly, so I’ve started using an app to remind me at regular intervals that it’s time to go get something.

5. I have been on dexedrine for five months now. It is worth noting that as well as ADHD, I suffer from dysthymia (chronic depression) with minor anxiety and have been on lexapro for a few years now, which I’m still taking along with the dexedrine.
   After being diagnoised with ADHD, my psychiatrist prescribed me for a trial period and told me to take a dose first thing in the morning, then again in the early afternoon. He asked me to start with 5mg per dose and see how it felt, and said I could raise the amount to as high as 20mg per dose if needed.
   On 5mg, I didn’t notice any real change. I tried 10mg the next day and the most absurd thing happened: I walked past my dirty laundry basket and thought, as I always did, “I need to do laundry”, but what was amazing was that I then picked up the basket and headed straight to the laundry.
   After hundreds of days, staring at a basket for a few seconds and deciding it was too hard or too much or something that could wait—I did it without blinking. I ran past my housemates with glee, carrying my basket and squeaking, “I’m doing laundry!” They knew how hard I’d fought to get diagnosed, and that I was finally trying medication. It was a god damned laundry celebration. Dexedrine had made me a regular functioning person, finally.
   I felt a little jittery on 10mg the next day, but that passed the day after. I tried 15mg the next week to see if there was any difference, but that made me jittery again so I decided to stick with the effective 10mg. When I met up with my psych two weeks later to review, he prescribed me for the foreseeable future.
   The first month I felt like a new woman. I could go to the shops without taking hours to work up to it, I could do simple tasks that I’d always known were simple but my brain just wouldn’t let me do, I stopped sleeping through every single alarm like a log and could finally get up in the morning. I was running on air. But, I was also running on my present hyperfixation with ADHD. I was running off my diagnosis high, I’d found the answer to twenty-four years of questions I never knew I had.
   Eventually, as always happens with me, the hyperfixation wore off. My medication was still helping, but I’d lost the placebo cure of those magical three words, “You have ADHD.” Three steps forward, two steps back.
   Unfortunately it came at the worst time. The following four months were trying. I was sporadically bogged down with freelancing jobs, moving house and cleaning for days on end in complete isolation, my therapist had to leave work permanently for health reasons, and when I finally moved I found myself in a bad depressive episode. Thanks, dysthymia!
   Where the first month felt like a magical cure, the next four taught me that tools and techniques are just as important in managing myself. This is the part that I’m still working on. Halfway through these five months I started to wonder if I had just fooled myself and my psych into thinking I had ADHD. Who was I kidding? I didn’t have ADHD, I just wanted an easy answer. I ran out of my prescription and kept forgetting to pick it up. I spent a whole week doing almost nothing and feeling useless. When I finally forced myself one morning to pick up and take my prescription, it happened again: I did a whole list of simple things I’d been unable to do.
   I’m very good about getting my prescription before it runs out now. Well, most of the time. Step by step, day by day. Three steps forward, two steps back. But now that my life has settled, I’m finally starting to feel like it’s only one step back.
   This most recent month I’ve felt that I may be either developing a tolerance to my dose, or possibly that the New Diagnosis Excitement I’d had in those first few weeks may have clouded my ability to measure what the right dose felt like. Currently, 15mg per dose feels right. For the past few weeks I’ve been taking 15mg in the morning and 5mg in the afternoon, or vice versa depending on where my focus needs to go, because I don’t want to exceed the daily 20mg I’ve been prescribed. It’s working well, but I do feel that if I’m at 90-100% in the first half of the day, I’m definitely at more of a 60-70% for the second half. I’ll be meeting up with my psychiatrist soon to discuss his thoughts and my options.
   Hopefully, I was just extra driven earlier on in this five months by my diagnosis hyperfixation, and not building up a tolerance, so I can continue without concern on 15mg twice daily.
   As far as side effects go, my experience has been very minimal. I initially felt occasionally jittery, like I’d had too much caffeine, but this subsided after a week. The few times I’ve taken my second dose too late in the day I’ve found myself awake at night, but this is something I’ve always experienced due to ADHD and a poor sleep schedule, so I’m just careful not to take a dose too late in the day now. I haven’t experienced any dizziness or nausea, and I’ve always had a dry mouth. The most prominent side effect I’ve experienced is the suppressed appetite, this side effect has not faded for me and I can go many hours longer than usual without feeling hungry. However, I’m a big food lover so I don’t have any trouble eating when I need to, so this is another situation where schedules and habits are as useful as medication.
   The one big component I’ve been monitoring is the response my depression and anxiety has to dexedrine. However, the symptoms I present with these are usually exacerbated by my situation, and with all the changes in my life it’s hard to say with any certainty if the dexadrine has had any impact on the lexapro. Regardless, I started taking my lexapro before bed just so I’m not taking them at the same time and this has felt good. The past two months in particular I’ve experienced much more free floating anxiety than I usually do, but I’m almost completely certain that this is due to triggers in my new living circumstances that I’m working to fix. I’ll keep monitoring everything in case there’s a connection between the dexedrine and the increase in my anxiety, but I feel confident that they’re unrelated.
   It’s onward and into the world now. I’m going to try and focus on tools and techniques and structures to manage my remaining symptoms and tackle studying again, step by step, until I no longer feel like I’m moving backwards.
   My apologies for this review that probably takes up fifty pages, but I feel like it’s important to review this experience accurately to help as much as I can. (Unlike the utter troll in the review above me.) Good luck, brains!

6. Med is great. I’m ready to try over 40 mg. What’s the highest dose someone’s tried? I’ve thought of at least going to 50 or 60 mg, but perhaps up to 70 mg if I really need it. Who has tried higher doses? Anyone tried 80 mg or above dextroamphetamine tablets legally under their doctor’s approval? What’s the max you’ve ever tried and found benefit from above 40 mg??? Tablets or capsules???

7. Been on 10mg Dex three times daily which has been a life changer at 24 years of age. Had trialed 60mg Sr Ritalin and 54mg Concerta before the dex, they did not give me the control and feeling of being normal that dex does. 10/10 medication.

8. I have been diagnosed with ADHD at 35 years old. I have been on Dexedrine now for two years. It helps me with focusing at work because I have a very demanding job and I have difficulty with focusing on a multiple things at once. However, I’ve noticed it decreased my social abilities. I have had an increase in not trusting people or not wanting to bring to many people in my life because I can’t manage it. Which is unlike me; I’m usually very social and the one that everyone confides in.

9. I switched from 60 mg of IR Dexedrine and 30 mg of Adderall three times a day. And the Dexedrine was much more effective.

10. I was on Dexedrine for 7 years and felt like a normal person in this time and have gone off the medication as it was getting too difficult to find a psychiatrist who would prescribe the medication without going through numerous doctors and psychiatrists with second opinions and tests. I had it prescribed for the 7 years with no issues but due to the psychiatrist closing their business, I had to go elsewhere. I thought I would see if I could cope and feel like a normal everyday person without it. I slowly weaned myself off. I now feel like I am back to how I was before I started on the medication, which is being extremely tired and exhausted. I just cannot get past this fatigue.

11. I have tried all the options and this is the drug that works best for me. I don’t know how readily available it is in it’s short acting form in the states but it works well for me and the side effects lesson over time.

12. I started on Adderall at 10mg in the morning and went up to 20mg when I get up in the morning. I found by about 1:00 in the afternoon, I was fading and could not focus and concentrate. My doctor gave me Dexedrine 5mg to take about 1-2 pm. I found that it helped keep me on an even keel about 60-70%. If I am stressed out it does not feel as effective.

13. I’ve only recently changed meds to Dexedrine (I was previously on Concerta XL 108mg). I started on a daily dose of 30mg of Dexedrine and titrated up by 10mg over the next three days to my current (top) dosage of 60mg – 30mg twice a day. To be honest, I notice very little change.

14. I had a good effect on Dexedrine for focus and drive. I was inattentive as a college-student and it helped give me the force to pound away at my work but it didn’t focus me as much as Ritalin did. I used the Extended-release Dexadrine. In my thirties, it had side-effects for this new groom. I was newly married and couldn’t sustain sexual stimulation.

    1. Generally stimulants and sex life don’t go together well. Ritalin was really bad at first, got a little better but was still bad. Adderall was horrible (for me, in that way) and I got off it immediately. I have had no negative side effects pertaining to sex life with Dexedrine ER.

    2. A year plus later after writing this last post (see above), I now see I had other issues causing sexual dysfunction, on top of Dexedrine. I take it now and I don’t have a problem.