Adderall addiction

[1 lost dude]

4 years ago my Doctor put me on adderall.For the 2nd and 3rd years i took 90mg instant release tabs daily,when my resistance built i abused it several times + several more times and so on.For the last year i have been on 120mg per day or 4 thirty mg tabs daily.It takes 60 to get me out of bed and moving.I am at my 3rd treatment in 8 months.My last dosage was bumped to 4 30s + 3 20 XR = 180 a day.I have been here 6 weeks and recently tryed again to stop.After 2 weeks of 60mg a day the Max dosage? I was the usual zombie as all times before.I have tryed cold turkey only to go back on adderall 51 ays later because i would do very little but walk around in a daze with very very little energy.I have been told i must take it forever,i have been told i will die and personaly it really sucks either way anymore.I can take 400mg a day if i want and my bp stays about normal.I am heavly addicted as you can see and i cannot funtion with out it at A L L.I have received 20 opinions over 4 years with no results and feel very scared i have no options but to take it forever or find 9 months somewhere in Greenland to withdraw from the nasty drug.       Please help me       R

[J555L]

I really wish I would have never been put on them. I don't know if I really had ADHD to begin with but my doctor put me on them when I was 16 and I used them until I was 17. I lost 25 pounds that year....but I was thrown into some life situations where I had to quit without tappering off of the pill....I lost all my energy and slept for days...I don't think I ever really fully recovered. Three years later I enrolled into college and got back on them this time I took Adderall for two years and lost 65 pounds... my body really did naturally become use to the dosage I was on the max legal dosage and again things happened I had to stop the meds without tappering off of them. This was the worst experience of my entire life...the third day without Adderal I started eating constantly like almost every hour. the fourth day came and I couldn't even get out of bed....for a whole week I was unable to move from my bed except to eat I just felt so heavy and tired. I would get out of bed walk to the frig grab some food and walk back to my bed...I started throwing up and dry heaving around the last day before I returned to normal....as normal as I ever will be again. after one month of being off Adderal I gained all 65 pounds back. I tried to function without getting back on the pill but I realized that my energy level has never been the same and no amount of sleep or over the counter energy enhancers can return my body to normal.....this pill also increases the amount of cigs I smoke. LOL its funny because after tonight I have one pill left and once again due to money and lack of health insurance as well as other things....I will be quiting Adderal this time I was aware of the upcoming situation and tried taking my meds every other day but I noticed that if I tried going more than two days without it...I would not be able to stay awake at all....I want to sue Shire for making Adderal...it has ruined my life.....I can't function without it and I don't want to be on it.

[guineapigcorn]

Adderall is a nasty drug; it giveth, then it taketh away.  I've been battling this addiction for two years.  The first month or two were normal.  Once someone suggested I snort it, I became addicted.  After a year of hiding any sneaking around my family to do my "precious" drug, one thing led to another and I was caught.  I went into a hospital and DSS was called and I lived apart from my family for a few weeks.  It was a horrible situation.  I was forced to quit by my husband and after a few months I got another Dr and started it again.  This happened a few times and lasted a month or less.  I was caught because he was suspicious of me anyway and knew what to look for.  I had to stop cold turkey and it was miserable.  I never completely got my energy back after eight months of staying clean of them so I once again, got fed up and got more.  This time I got extended-release.  I was soon crushing them, even though they are not as pleasurable and less powder.  Again, I was caught because one day I was in a hurry and a bag with them fell out from under the sink when my husband opened the cabinet.  I thought for sure I'd be thrown out and lose my kids.  He was angry and barely spoke to me for a week but eventually I convinced him that my snorting days were over.  These were capsules, so why would I snort them?  He keeps the bottle on the nightstand and occasionally counts them.  I have been filling them with another kind of capsule beads so he doesn't know how many I take.  Then I found another doctor and get tablets from her.  I hate lying and living this way but I feel like I can't live without it.  I tried and failed.  I am now experiencing side effects that i don't like.  I am on the computer constantly until early in the am and dh is angry that i go to bed so late.  I wake up tired and feeling nasty.  Even the Adderall doesn't completely help with the sleep deprivation.  I focus on things, but not necessarily good things.  I hate who I am.  I wish I could taper down and start swallowing them.  It doesn't look to promising.  I've told myself that if I couldn't get my act together by the end of December that I would wean off and quit for good.  Don't know if it's possible.  Sorry this is so long.  i took 60 mgs by 10:00 am.  I hope this will maybe help someone not to do this.  As for an answer, I think you either have to live your life feeding your addiction or you've got to get off the merry-go-round.  I am not there yet, but I hope I will be soon.

Good luck to you all.

[NSC09]

Are you clean now? I know its been years

[jayjay651]

this is my response to the person who is addicted to adderall or any other adhd drug that actually produces a "high". i too am very addicted to these drugs and have been for close to 8 years now. i have my dr. snowed into beliving there really is something wrong with my metabalizing system that requires sudden perscription increaces on a regular basis. therefore, i get what i want. but it's only temporary. i'm not going to go into all the details of what it's like to be on and off these drugs cause we all know the hell that that is all about. so what i'm going to say is this. what is it that this drug is replacing in our lives? if you step out of your body for just a moment and look at your surroundings and what it is AROUND you that brings you happiness, would you say that you really need these drugs. if the answer is yes, than maybe you (we) need to figure out what would bring us true happiness. what would make us want to wake up everyday and then go to bed and do it again. if this means getting out of our current surroundings and replacing it with something entirely new then so be it. what do we have too lose. i don't really know how to beat this addiction, but to me the bottom line is this, if your life is making you unhappy and you use these drugs to GET through the day, figure out what you really wnat in life and then really LIVE hrough the day. hope this thought helps someone. and for the record i took ony 20 mill. of adderall xr about 2hrs ago. (yesterday i tried to quit cold turkey and realized i have been GETTING through my days, but now i want to LIVE.)  --j.

[suffrr]

I never would have gotten through college without amphetamines.  they have their place - Hitler used them to march accross Europe in a hurry.  if you take them recreationally and in large quantities, you will take decades off of your life in no time.  I have seen it happen to several people.  you can binge for a week or so but then get off it for several months - or it will kill you.  I attended an autopsy of a very healthy 35 yr old truck driver.  cause of death - congestive heart failure from constant methamphetamine use.  His heart and lungs were full of mucus.

I still have some 30 mg's and will never use them - too bad it's illegal to trade them for Percocet!  I really need it for my chronic pain.

[mslkpage]

Are you taking it for ADHD or for narcolepsy? The best thing to do would be to find a doctor who supports you and who will write out a gradual step down schedule for you to follow.

[cakegirl]

Hi.  I have experience with Adderall.  I am prescribed 40mg a day, and for the most part I stick to that. I used adderall to help me get off coke. Then at times I used the two together. I have crushed and snorted A-bombs many times.  I know (to a much lesser degree) how fatigued I feel when I don't take it in the morning and I am just on the prescribed dose.  I feel for you and I hope you find some relief from this hell. I just know that when I started snorting it, I needed more and more to keep me going. I started to feel like that was the only method of ingestion that would work anymore. So, because I have abused my nose and sinuses before, and had surgery to fix everything, I needed to stop this business of snorting adderall. I did the taper off thing, and after I was back to just orally taking them, I realized that it wasen't really that different and I think the ritiual of the crushing and snorting was my problem more than the high. Anyways, even if you started today reducing your dose by 20mg, and stick to that for a week, then reduce again by 20mg for a week and so on. What do you have to lose, even if it takes 3 years to get off, you have to start somewhere, and, just like losing weight, the slower you take it off the more likely it is to stay off.  You have all the time in the world and staying where you are at is making you miserable. I hope you can try and get some food and sleep. Don't give up or give in. My thoughts are with you.

[1 lost dude]

Thanks
               I take it for ADHD.If Doctors who perscribe Adderall had personal experiences themselves they would be much more reluctant to percribe it at all in my opinion.Adderall does have very positive effects in many cases but the flipside even if taken in average doses can be a negitive event as many know.The max dose suggests 60mg per day thus a P.A.cannot perscribe above this dose,a M.D.can adjust this substancially per day as i mentioned before.I don't know of a max dose for there are people taking as much as 1000mg per 24 hrs which is  shocking to me but methods of obtaining that much daily would be quite illegal.When i began taking this medication it compelled  me to use more within a few months,as time passes the body craves this drug more and more which eventually causes serious issues.I did snort cocaine for many years but after a 4 day run 15 years ago i simply stopped and have no desire for it.In my situation the Adderall is more addictive than cocaine and if given a choice adderall would prevail.At 1 point early in 2006 i went without sleep for 9 days after consuming 90 to 120 30mg tabs and had enough to get me to Houston for treatment eating the last few pills momements before walking through the door,i am lucky to be alive today but at the time i would have chose death before giving up my pills.It was a 28 day program yet for 8 days i was sleeping moreless constantly prompting the facility to use IV saline for fear of dehidration.The last 7 months have proved only minor success.I am at a facility in the East who disagrees with 12 step programs through freedom of choice teaching guests they do not have a disease which i now fully support.This is a whole different topic in it self but so far has proved to me there is an answer somewhere.Willpower is a definate player in beating Adderall withdrawl.When this drug is stopped overnight after large daily doses over years of use,the lifeless nightmare at 51 days clean was simply to much to deal with for me.  Thank you and please add your opinions!       F

[1 lost dude]

Thanks for the responce
                               My doctor is not so supporting in my opinion.I told him 3 months ago i was done with it so he put me on concerta but i felt very little if any releif.My next move will be a addictionologist,that's my option at this time.If anyone has knowladge of how Adderall dependence can be dealt with please fell free to share.      Thx F

[z34coffeemug]

I am not the best to suggest anything, but do you have a supportive doc and someone to help you detox. Maybe they can switch you to another amphetamine salt and taper you to pseudo-amphetamines, start a nutritional approach with amino acids and wean you down to a stimulant anti-depressant like Wellbutrin. I don't even have answers for me, but thought I'd research yours.

I know you can do it, just as I can, but it is going to take some help.