Write Articles
Donate
ContactHow to Wean Yourself off Adderall
December 14th, 2009 by Mike
Step down 5mg and hold for 2 weeks
The benefits of the step-down method
If you asked me “What is the safest, healthiest, least-traumatic way to quit Adderall? Step-down or cold-turkey?”, I would say “Step-down, of course.”
When you choose the step-down method (over cold-turkey), it will take longer to be totally sober, but if you can do it successfully it will be less damaging to your immediate environment (work, relationships, etc), and more healthy in terms of your brain recovering its ability to produce your happy juices on its own.
Really, the step-down method is a great way to go if you can do it successfully. But that’s a huge “if”. My problem with the step-down method is not that it’s not healthy or not “purist” or something like that — it’s that so few people seem to be able to do it successfully. If you asked me “What is the safest, healthiest, least-traumatic way to quit Adderall? Step-down or cold-turkey?”, I would say “Step-down, of course.” If you asked me “Of the people you’ve talked to that quit Adderall successfully, which method did most of them choose?” I’d say “cold-turkey, because they kept failing at the step-down method”.
But stepping-down is possible, and might be worth a shot if you haven’t tried it before. So if you’re up for it, read on.
Lesson #1 – The name of the game is “never step back up”
No matter how slowly you taper-off your Adderall use, no matter how long you stay at one dosage level, you must never, ever step back up to a higher dosage. The instant you do that you have failed and the whole method falls apart because your boundary has decayed. The whole purpose of stepping-down is to make your self “a little uncomfortable”, learn to deal with it and get comfortable again, then make your self “a little uncomfortable” again until you are off Adderall completely.
Relevant Post: PSYCHOLOGY: Boundary Elasticity and Boundary Decay.
Lesson #2 – Trim your usage to essential (work) days only
When professional psychologists wean somebody off a drug, they’ll often try a “take it every other day” approach. This steps you down by a series of little crashes. It forces your brain to coast a bit farther on one day’s dose, and helps it get used to not having the drug, without traumatizing your brain by immediately taking it away forever.
The straight way to say this is “don’t take it on weekends anymore”. Some people take Adderall to work hard and to play hard. If you are one of those people, you need to realize that you don’t really need Adderall during your play time. It should be pretty painless to stay away from the pills on your days off. You control your schedule, you can sleep as much as you want, and you can decide what you do and when you do based on how enjoyable it sounds. No reason to pop pills for that.
Plus, this will help you understand that your days off can actually be more enjoyable without the pills, and start to give you a glimpse of the notion that if you could fill your day with fun stuff…you wouldn’t really need the pills at all. It’s your day off: be yourself.
Lesson #3 – Limit your work schedule to normal hours
The normal Adderall-fueled lifestyle is a roller-coaster of working-like-mad/crashing. Because the pills disrupt your ability to sleep, it’s hard to keep a consistent sleep cycle, stay late at work lots of days or do homework after school (read: doses that are later in the day).
You need to flatten this roller coaster a little. In order to step down properly you will need to keep your daily doses consistent at every level, and you can’t do that if you’re staying late and binging two nights a week. Do everything you can to be able to go to sleep at the same time every night (which means taking your last dose of the day at the same time every day).
Stop staying late at work. Stop staying up late doing homework/cramming. Stop going above-and-beyond (time-wise) every day and taper it down to the schedule that normal people are on.
You need to be arriving at and leaving the office at the same times everybody else is…no more round-the-clock work/all-nighters.
Lesson #4 – Consider meeting with your doctor
This especially matters if you are prescribed time-released Adderall XR pills (because you can’t break them up into smaller doses). It may help considerably to tell your doctor that you want to step down off Adderall. This way you’ve got somebody else to be accountable to (helps you commit to it because he’s going to write you lower scripts whether you like it or not). Tell your doctor that you want progressively lower doses. If you’re on Adderall XR and you’re able to take one dose per day, I’d recommend staying on XR because switching to normal pills could feel different and throw you off course.
If you don’t want to tell your doctor (i.e., because you’re not totally sure you want to cut off your source just yet), then at least make sure you’re on normal pills so you can break them up into smaller doses.
Lesson #5 – Take short, long steps down. Hold at each step for 14-30 days.
It’s important that you take small steps down and take plenty of time to get comfortable with each lower dosage level. You’re choosing the step-down method because you’re trying not to shock your body or your life. Generally, I’d advise cutting your dose 10% per step, rounded up (to the nearest dose you can make by breaking your pills up) Depending on where you start, 10% could be anywhere between 2.5 and 5mg. Go for 5mg steps if you’re feeling saucy. If it gets too hard, go down only 2.5mg on the next step (do not step back up).
It takes your brain 2 weeks to a month to recover from a chemical addiction (Adderall, Prozac, Heroin — doesn’t matter). So 30 days per step should be plenty of time for you to adjust to each lower dose level. It may seem a little excessive, but that’s intentional…you could probably lower your physical addiction appropriately in just 2 weeks or so, but with 30 days you’ve also habitualized the lower dose to the point of not being self-conscious about it anymore, and that’s important.
But you don’t have to go 30 days. Hold the dosage level until you feel OK, and then hold for a little longer still, just to make sure. Whatever works for you.
Lesson #6 – Start changing your environment towards your natural passions
The more you can do this during the quitting process, the less traumatic it’s going to be to take less Adderall. What you are effectively doing is making your environment into something that gets your happy juices flowing so that you don’t have to rely on the pills to do it. Take the pills a step down, take your hobbies and passions a step up.
Lesson #7 – Make the final step as small as possible
Going from 30mg to 25mg a day is in some respects easier than going from 2.5mg per day to no pills at all. When you’re stepping down, you’re still taking a pill everyday. Even when you’re down to 2.5mg/day, the placebo effect of taking that pill every morning still matters. When you’re ready to go without the pill entirely, even if you’re barely taking any as it is….it’s still a big step, psychologically.
Keep cutting that pill into smaller and smaller halves as much as you have to until you just feel silly, then create an on/off schedule. As in, only take it 3 out of 5 days per week. Then take it down one day at a time until you’re totally off it.
Lesson #8 – This is all just suggested; feel free to adjust to suit yourself
I’ve heard from readers who were able to step-down much faster than 30 days at a time (reader Jillian did the whole process in 4-5 weeks). Go as quickly as you are comfortable with (but note: some discomfort is part of this).
Disclaimer: I tend to prefer cold turkey
Stepping down is for people who’ve never stepped up to feel better.
–Reader Laura
As I and other readers have said in the comment threads: The step-down method is not without its flaws. If done correctly, it can be a smarter, safer way to to quit. But it can be really hard to do it correctly.
I think reader Laura said it best: “Stepping down is for people who’ve never stepped up to feel better”.
And that, I think, is the essential problem I have with the step-down method: It requires several successive acts of will, several opportunities to fail and screw the whole attempt to hell. Once you’ve stepped up once, your boundary has decayed and it will be so much harder not step up in the future. When you go cold turkey, it’s binary: success is not taking a pill; failure is taking one. There is no in-between. There is no past success with which to rationalize current failure (e.g., “I’ve made so much progress…taking an extra 10mg today is still well within the bounds of success…I’m still way down from where I was”) — that doesn’t happen as easily with cold turkey.
If you have trouble stepping down or you’re just feeling crazy enough, hit up my other How to Quit Adderall page for details on going cold turkey.
I lost my desire to quit! I just kept telling myself “after I finish this last class” and I did it. Despite the WORST reaction possible with my husband, I perservered for 16 days. He continued to use various drugs such as xanax, cigarettes, a 5 year Afrin addiction, and marijuana so I considered him a hypocrite. I have 3 kids, 2 with autism, I have no driver’s license and no friends. On day 16, I felt I was the only one fighting for my sobriety and at 4:45pm, 15 min before my dr’s office closed, I ran out and picked up my script and relapsed. Started slow. The first day was incredible. I was hooked. Still, 70 mg’s is all I can handle at 5’7″ without going into cardiac arrest. However, my appetite is non-existent. I want that feeling/desire to quit again. But, with my environment, it is impossible to stay focused and positive.
Victoria. How long have you been taking adderall? I have been taking it for a year now. I am a current student and I started taking it to help me stay up to study. I just find it hard to stay up and study for boards and exams especially when you have 2 a week without some help and caffeine and redbull wasn’t doing it. lately I been experiencing neck pains and boy aches, leg cramps. I don’t know if this means I have been taking too much and its becoming toxic? or is this a side effect? has anyone had the same experience with adderall? I am on a 60 MG dose per day.
Amy it sounds to me as though you may have low potassium. Try eating some bananas, and also dehydration. Drink plenty o water. Alot.
I am 21 yrs old. I have a 3 yr old son, and I have taken adderall for about a year and a half to two years. I don’t love taking it at all. I don’t feel on top of the world, or like I need it to get through my day. It has been quite a while since I have been off of it for even one day, so I will see how things go when I stop taking it. I am sure that things are not going to be easy, I am ADHD, and I have been my entire life. I am extremely hyperactive, and irrational. I have a 3 year old child to raise, and that is my biggest worry! My insurance was just taken away all of a sudden, and I cannot afford to buy my script. I dont know what to do!!! Any advice?
Hi Allysa,
The price of Adderall is based on three factors…
1. Generic or Brand
2. Instant Release or Time Released XR
3. Quantity of pills. Actual dose per pill (e.g., 20mg vs. 30mg) has little affect on price with instant release. Quantity is what matters.
The most affordable way to buy Adderall is Generic, Instant Release, 30mg pills (most bang for your buck, and you can break them up).
Before you try to wing the next little while without any meds at all, call your doctor and see if he will write you a script that is affordable and at least a workable derivative of your normal dose (either smaller dose per day to last you longer, or regular dose for shorter period).
Your doctor can write you a script for 10 pills if he wants to. 10x30mg pills is still 300mg. You can make 300mg last if you discipline yourself. That’s 20 days at 15mg/day…probably enough to get you to payday. Even if your normal dose is higher than that, it’s still way better than nothing.
And now we’re only talking like $30 (or less) without insurance as long as you go generic.
Hope that helps!
One way that I have found helps me wean myself off of adderall is to give my stash to someone I trust who will then give me a certain number each day. When I have my adderall myself it is really hard to control myself and keep myself from repeatedly taking them throughout the day. When someone else has them and administers them to me each day, I know that that is all I could possibly take that day so I don’t constantly think about taking more which I would do if I had them and knew I could take more.
I have spent the better half of the evening reading this site. I am quite thankful to have done the appropriate search in Google. I began taking Adderall IR for ADD last summer. I began on a relatively small dose. I am now holding steady around 20-30 mg qd. I usually divide the dose: half just before my lectures begin and half before I study. Everything was going swell. I had a system. I had no anxiety or depression except when it was appropriate: finals week has never been relaxing for me.
In January, I began seeing a new physician to manage the ADD. His protocol was to manage with xr meds. I was rather hesitant, but I went along and tried Methlyn 20mg and Concerta 36mg. They were both horrible. Concerta was by far much worse. I felt like I was in a fog for the day I tried it. The Methlyn was so so. I wasn’t as focused, but I wasn’t bored with what I was doing. I noticed that I began to get anxious a lot more so than I had been in quite a long time. Luckily, the doc gave me a month script of the Adderall, as a safety net, in case I didn’t respond well to the other two. I went back to the Adderall and things were fine for a few days, but that anxiety hit over and over again. I was a bit lost as to where this was coming from. I also noticed that I began to tear up more. Mind you, I am already an estrogen rockett, but this was clearly unusual. Anyhow, I told my boyfriend tonight that I was going to begin a taper. And that’s how I found this site. I am a bit afraid of what’s to come honestly. I have gone with out the medication for days at a time while on holiday from the university. I didn’t notice much other than I was a bit more fatigued than usual. In fact, I don’t even get the ” Adderall rush” that I have been reading about. It usually calms me down significantly and puts me in the “focus zone”. I can even take a nap if I have taken it.
I do have this guilty feeling concerning my bf. He began taking Adderall last month for his ADD. I mentioned to him last November how it was rather remarkable and life-changing for my ADD symptoms. His psych has him on 40-60 mg a day as he didn’t respond to anything less than 20. I love this man tenderly, and the last thing I want to do is hurt him. However, I am afraid that my boasting of Adderall’s wonderful symptom control is, in the end, going to cause so much pain when/if he decides to stop. I can’t help but feel responsible for what’s to come. We tell everyone that because we both have ADD that’s why we get on so well. We never run out of things to talk about or do
There’s always some project that still needs to be completed.
Unfortunately we are both in graduate school, with immense work loads. He is in his first year of law school and I’m in my first year of an entry level masters program to become a family nurse practitioner. I am seeing the face of Adderall for what’s it worth, a universal affliction that does not abate when you turn the lights out. He is still in the novelty phase of his anodyne relationship with Adderall. And as such, I am going to have a heart-to-heart chat with him tomorrow. It’s best to stop it sooner rather than later because it will only get worse.
I started taking adderall my sophomore year in college. There was no way I could pass the classes I had to take to get my accounting degree without it. I got tired of the side effects, irritability for the most part. But I weaned myself off on my own. I was on 30mg a day. Eventually I had no desire to fill the prescriptions. My grades fell drastically. From a 3.6 to a 2.1 by my senior year. I still haven’t graduated. My gpa was so low they wouldn’t let me graduate. I realized how in debt I was from 5 years of student loans. $50k. I went home and told myself I’d just do the online classes to raise it. I needed 2 As or 4 Bs. I’m still taking the classes but its so impossible to do the work on my own without adderall. Saying “i have all the credits to get my degree, but not the degree” gets you interviews but not jobs. I got back on adderall. Generic, 2 5mg pills a day. I take maybe one pill a day. Most of the time its a half a pill. I’m reluctant to take it. It makes me a zombie. But I can calm down enough to focus. Maybe I actually have ADHD. I’d say maybe 25% of the people actually have it, I have no factual source to back up that claim. I’m so scared at becoming addicted or dependant on the drug. I wasn’t before I dont think. The drug was at my disposal and I stopped at my own will. Same now, I have an entire bottle and it doesn’t bother me not taking a full dose. I don’t want to be on the drug. I just want my diploma even if my gpa is disgusting.I’m on it now and work doesn’t suck anymore. My boss doesn’t think I suck because I’m so unfocused. I don’t have to have things explained to me 3x before I understand what people are saying. Any suggestions? Is this drug worth it?
I dropped adderall – cold-turkey style, shortly before Thanksgiving. Not trying to make a pun out of it. I’ve lost all motivation to do anything. Been on this sh– since I was 12, and I’ve felt great in the last few months. However – I’ve come close to losing my dead-end job due to lack of motivation and outbursts of anger. It’s not withdrawal, but moreso an awakening – that I’ve been wasting away in a dead-end retail job, skipped college, worked my ass off, and STILL haven’t been promoted. If I’m on adderall, if I’m off it – no matter what I’m still making a pittance, working my ass off. Adderall has unlocked the feeling that I can truly be free – I might not have a job soon, so I don’t know what to do. If I don’t get back on it soon, I’ll be screwed.
Quitting Effort # 3…
I was taking 40mgs per day (one 10mg tabs, 4 times per day) for 6 years. Over the last 10 days I stepped down to 2.25 tabs per day (3/4 tab x 3 x’s per day) it is making me feel sick and exhausted but I’ve felt better in the mornings. My husband is upset that I’m trying to get off it. He says he doesnt have time to deal with my withdrawl symptoms / moods he’s anticipating. I have tried to hide them from him but its hard. My goal is to be off of Adderall by May. I have no support in this process… my seventeen year old daughter is a complete jerk who does everything she can to push my buttons. She never does chores, she never comes home on time and she causes so much drama with her disrespect… All because me & my husband won’t buy her a car. I want to quit and will!! However, being surrounded by un-supportive jerks isn’t heipng my success. On Adderall I don’t care if I’m surrounded by jerks.
How can I minimize the total body sickness/aching & nausea I’m feeling?
Thanks for any input … T
Down to 1/2 of ONE 10mg tab at 7:30am and 3/4 of ONE 10mg tab at 9:15am today…
Oh, yeah… I’m feeling some withdrawl but you know what? I’m bigger than this f’n pill and I don’t need it… period!
I like Adderall. My grades in school and my comprehension increased considerably. I can get through a book without falling asleep, and writing is not so intimidating. I take 5mgs everyday.
Unfortunately, I am a little to short and thin, and this makes me an easy target for others remarks and comments. You know, it took years to find a solution to ADHD, and now– a new problem “weightloss” has risen, and everyone is going to help me with this problem, no matter if I had a learning disability or not.
Everyone wants to help with a problem, yet noone wants to help me find work.
I’m so grateful to have found this site, I now feel less scared and alone, scared because I don’t know if I can really actually quit, without Adderall I feel exhausted, unmotivated, irritable and unable to get all the facts and figures in my mind down into print and implementation in a cohesive manner, so without the pill how will I perform at work where I’m finally at the top rung of the ladder, I started working there from the bottom ten years ago and have steadily made my way up, being promoted every couple of years until six months ago I reached the highest position on my field and are respected, listened to and admired by the higher ups at corporate and I feel that without Adderall I won’t be able to deal with the workload and responsibilities, I have fifteen people on my staff, no easy task to keep up with the coordination, organization and myriad details the job entails, so in goes the pill, out comes the energy and clarity of mind to make it all do-able, but I’m so tired of the side effects, and the thought that Adderall has been the real force behind my rapid climb up and the successes and promotions gnawing at the back of my mind each and every day, ladies and gentlemen it is no coincidence that I started taking Adderall exactly ten years ago, same number of years at work, if I quit now will I be as efficient, I think not, that’s why I’m scared, and alone because no one except for my boyfriend of five years knows I take the darn pill, even though it’s prescribed to me I felt there was a stigma which I did not want attached to me, it was stupid pride I guess, hence the reason I never told anyone, this long post is the first time I have even written about it anywhere, thank you Mike for this wonderful site and sorry for the long post, it has been therapeutic to finally write about it
I am taking Adderall, and take only 5mg daily. I was up to 15mgs, and tappered it off because of guilty feeling everyone put me through because I have A.D.H.D. and medication. Chadd was a great helping keeping me sane and getting through school.Thanks
Now the new thing is to starve us until we quit taking it. Do not allow us to find work if we take it. Say no to drugs. I refuse to tell anyone I have A.D.H.D. When I told one bartendress what I had been taking, she acqused of taking a psychotrophic med. I did not know so I did not respond.I looked at her like she was hypocritical standing behind a bar.whew!
The scarificial scapegoat syndrome. I see Dr. Phil….show. You see my neighbor is an owl, and showers at 1:45 a.m.,cleans at 2:00a.m. her friends have conversations at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., she is always at the refridgerator, and I am the one with the problem.
Anyway, I finally decided to give up control, and at least take a med break. Then the doctor odered more meds. I kept taking the same amount. I kept breaking the caps in half, and I began to get neck aches, nauseous, headache, mostly a pain in my neck and leg. I did not gain weight by cutting down the dosage. At 15mgs I did not feel this pain when I cut the dosage. I felt tired for a week. I took walks and drank a little coffee, no problem. I quit taking the 5mg tablets about a year ago. I have only had two scripts, I had no problems at all getting off of them. Granted, they do help with studying, and I am having difficulties when I first tapper them off. And I can’t read mor than a page or two before going to sleep. This is the same problem I had before the meds. Oh well, If my taking medication makes so many people unhappy, why do they prescribe this medication? And by the way–it is UGLY after about a year of taking it.
Thank you so much for this website, I thought I was alone. After reading these posts, I am positive that I will quite Adderall. I am tired of having to pop that pill every morning just to get through the day!
Godspeed, Vicky! You are very much not alone. You have idealistic, pill-popping brothers and sisters all across the country.
This website is honestly great for anyone who is genuinely trying to kick the habit. I am twenty-two years young and I am diagnosed with adult ADD and have been prescribed 30mg XRs as well as 30mg IRs. I am not going to lie, I am not going to front, and I’m going to be completely honest. At one point I was ingesting well over 90-120mg a day. I would wake up crawl out of bed and take 40mg Adderall (IRs) with a 30mg (XR)(70mg total). I would take 40mgs of the IRs because those are what give me the initial boost in starting my day and getting into that productive mindset that we all crave who use. I was diagnosed with adult ADD after completing a six month rehab program for a different prescription drug, OxyCotin. When in rehab I’ve seen all the addicts you can think of. Benzos, Meth, Opiates, Alcohol, and to be completely honest the addicts dealing with Opiate/Benzo withdraws had it the worse. I had it bad getting off an Opiate addiction because that drug is designed to destroy your desire to live. The withdraws aren’t like the withdraws you get from trying to wean off Adderall. It’s physical pain such as vomiting, cold sweats, extreme body fatigue so fatigue I couldn’t even wash my own body there had no desire to shower. I am 5’11 and weigh 165lbs, my body adapted to the high dosages my psychiatrist prescribed which was 60mgs a day. People on this site are talking about taking 20mg-40mgs a day and honestly, I’m going to be blunt and say BS. True or not if you’re truly trying to wean off something you have to be honest with yourself and not care about whatever others think about you. That is what I learned. When I was diagnosed with adult ADD and prescribed Adderall, it changed my life. It changed my life for the best and now I am more focused and goal orientated than before. I am personally not a individual who enjoys any type of upper and I hate the come downs. I hate feeling paranoid, jittery, bi-polar and having a mouth so dry I have to force feed myself in order to maintain my weight.
I know this is a long response however I am truly trying to help those who actually need help in this process because I was an addict before and I will never be an addict to another substance ever again. I was able to quit adderall cold turkey. It was hard, I was extremely unmotivated and irritable the first few days but I was able to do it because I told myself I will never let a substance control my life again. Adderall truly improved the standard and quality of my life and I am moving forward and have my head held up high but the only thing is when quitting cold turkey, I experienced a seizure. To make it even worse, I was on the road driving on the highway. Luckily, no one hit me and no one was involved other than myself. It truly opened my eyes in showing me how important it is to wean yourself of any substance due to the fact that your body will punish you if it feels like you are punishing it. I am currently weaning myself off Adderall and it is tough I will admit however, there is a difference between being an addict and being dependent. Adderall changed my life in ways where I would self medicate aka substance abuse of other illegal prescription drugs to cope with. Adderall gave me organization skills, time management techniques, and OCDs that benefit my quality of life such as cleanliness and quality of work. Taking the substance now doesn’t even do much for me. I feel a boost of energy but nothing compared to the first months when using it. I just now feel the come down and it is not worth it. #1 concern is health and if you are truly concerned or considering weaning off I’d highly suggest to do the step down process because cold turkey could be dangerous and you might not be as fortunate as i was. It’s 5:42am currently and once I found this website I had to post. As you can tell if you are an ADDer, clearly you can see it in me. I wish you all the best of luck and it is a up hill battle but just be honest with yourself because that is all that matters. If anything I hope maybe my story will show you guys that their are ADDers out there that got it way worse than you do and are still able to quit. It’s all mental, do some research. If you’re not diagnosed with ADHD, you’re suffering from a disease called laziness and becoming easily distracted while taking too many tasks you cannot handle that ultimately lead to becoming discourage and hopeless.
I’ll end this post with a couple quotes and poems I found very inspiring and helpful in my journey of appreciating life for what it is and trying to cope with it in a healthy manner.
“My mind is the strongest muscle in my body, I can make anything happen. Just got to add a little love, a little dedication. Give it some time and watch it grow. Hard work can take you anywhere you want to go. If you don’t believe in nothing else you can bet on that. Keep your head up high and never look back. Know there is only one person that can you stop you from getting what you want and that’s yourself. You just got to push yourself to be the best and don’t worry about nobody else. Remember theirs ain’t got nothing to do with yours. Your hear me? You hear me?”
— Dom Kennedy
It doesn’t matter if you’ve failed, if you’ve been beaten. All that really matters is if you get back up and try again. Because winning is fun, but winning when nobody thought you would, is just awesome -Unknown
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on,” – Robert Frost
Someday
You will throw a penny in a wishing well
And it will choke
Because your dreams
Are just too big for it to swallow
When the wind disagrees with your voice
When the walls laugh
When the trees make jokes
When the floor questions your footsteps
Know the truth is a drum machine
Inside of a house that god built behind your ribs
Your heart is an ocean of possibility
And it beats like a song called
“Right here, right now”
Take ownership of your choices
Because sometimes
That’s all we have left to hold onto
I dare u
To be more than the sound of textbook pages blowing in the wind
More than a desk in a crowded room
More than a Xerox copy of an article that you didn’t want to read
For a class you never wanted to take
I dare you to be more than a scantron sheet waiting for answers
Be the pencil that writes our history
Be the pen that refuses to be erased
And when the real world stands in front of you
All daunting and scary
Stare into its eyes
And say
“I’ve been waiting for you”
“I’m ready”
And say it like you mean it
If you’ve made it all the way through this post and find it helpful feel free to email me and I will gladly share past experiences and help you through whatever struggles you might be going through.
Please don’t flush your meds!!
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/prescrip_disposal.pdf
how do you get off of adderralll helppppp
how do you get off the dreadful drug???
10/3/11
I am curious about the life after adderall, I am in the same situation as most…….60mg a day…dont miss a day. I feel fake.
My spouse says she wants the old “me” back.
I love the blog, and get the stepping down vs cold turkey process….but I would like for people to share the benefits and happiness of life after the drug is out of play.
Will others comment who feel like sharing?
Hi Gal,
You’re in good shape if your spouse wants “the old you” back. That means she can be a huge ally in your battle, and make quitting much more bearable. This is a lonely battle for so many people, but for you it won’t be (not entirely anyway).
As for happiness after Adderall, the short version is: When I was on Adderall, my life was about 99% busywork and delusions of grandeur. Today, four years after quitting Adderall, I spend about 50% of my waking life working directly on goals that I care deeply about. My whole life feels…well…more like “me”.
As an example, I’ve always had ambitions of being a writer. On Adderall, I would talk about writing all the time, but I would never actually do it. I may have actually sat down to write something 3 times in the 7 years I was on Adderall. Today, four years after quitting Adderall, I rarely go a single day without writing something or at least tweaking my writing-based projects.
On Adderall, I would stay late at work every night. Now, I leave work at a regular time, and use my evenings to pursue an education in a field I’m very interested in.
Lots more examples like that. Don’t know if it helped at all, but good luck!
Thanks Mike!
A couple of questions:
Do you regain your energy?
I find it tough to get out of bed without addereal…….and wondering if the old me, who ran evey day, got up on a cup of coffee, was bubbly and fun, will come back.
Or will I feel like a shell of my former self, since I have been dependent for so long?
Thanks in advance for the quick reply!
Hi Gal!
A consistently-good energy level is one of the trickiest things to achieve post-Adderall, but you do eventually figure it out. First you have to stabilize your routine and schedule, then you can figure out when you’re getting tired and how to compensate for it.
But in general, you should be able to get back to the way you were before Adderall (or better).
Also remember that energy level is something that everybody struggles with. The problem is that you’ve been exempt from that struggle for a while now, which can make for a rude awakening.
[...] let’s talk about just such a controversial topic for a second if you have the age. Tags: | clothes | tourism | [...]
I have been taking it for 18 years and only off (when I was pregnant, three years ago). It has really helped me with work and staying focused on payroll and scheduling of 30 employees and much more. I do have ADHD and Dyslexia. But now I am not working and have no insurance to help cover the cost of the Adderall that is now $175! I am not sure what to do, I have been thinking about taking herbal stuff. I went cold turkey three years ago before I got pregnant but it was hard to do. I would love some advice on this.
I have battled with ADHD my whole life. I really didn’t realize I had it until I started working in the medical field and realized what the actual symptoms are. I sought help from a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with bipolar. The only thing is I did not have the depression that comes with bipolar and my mania symptoms were not consistent with bipolar. I am a very high energized, fast paced person. My mind always races, I am always in a hurry, I am very impatient and I have trouble focusing. This is typical ADHD symptoms not bipolar. Anyway, I was put on different bipolar medications for 10 years. Of course none of them worked. They would make me tired and actually the medication would make me depressed, something that I really hadn’t experienced before. I spent that whole decade feeling like there was something terribly wrong with me. That I was damaged because nothing would work for me. I ruined my marriage and my life took a downhill spiral. I jumped into a really really bad relationship and went into the darkest place of my life. I finally ended that relationship and started to rebuild my life two years ago. During this time, my son was diagnosed with ADHD. He was prescribed Adderall XR 10mg. He did better on it but he would not gain weight. He has been taken off it, but I tried his left over prescription and at first, felt great. I felt that this was the thing I have been looking for. I felt that I could concentrate for the first time in my life, my energy level was controlled, I wasn’t so hyper and disorganized and I felt like I had more patience. I soon got my own prescription. At first it was great, then I realized that as I came down, I would get very irritable and angry, explosive angry. I stopped it, then. No jump forward two years to about six months ago. I have been losing weight, actually about 70 pounds in the last year in a half. I hit a wall where I couldn’t lose anymore and my appetite I felt was too high. I remembered how I didn’t feel hungry on the Adderall. I started to take it again. First, 10mg a day, then 20, then 30, and I kept increasing it until I was at 80-100 mg a day. Now I feel that I have built up such a tolerance to the medication. I don’t get that focus feeling, in fact I feel the opposite. My appetite is as suppressed, I am having severe anxiety attacks and I am very irritable. I feel like my emotions are dull, I don’t have the same humor. I am having such feelings of guilt because no one that I love and am close to even knows I am on it. I live with this hell everyday and as much as I want to quit, I feel like I have become so dependent on this one medication. I never thought that something that is “legal” could destroy you. I have tried to quit, but like most addicts, I have failed. I am trying the step down method, but after a day or two, I go back up. I want to talk to someone about it but I feel like I would be looked at as such a failure and disappointment. I am getting married in two months to the love of my life, and I am afraid that if he found out, he would leave because he would think I was such a fake. I don’t know if anyone will respond, but I think I just needed to write this so I felt like I wasn’t holding in such a deep secret.
Yarden Kamoff- Dude, dont break those caps in half. Adderall is basically a form of speed. Breaking the caps in half releases all of it at once and what you are experiencing is your body getting overloaded with the amount of Adderall you take. So taking the 15 mg cap and breaking it in half is seriously F****** you up. Thats your bodys response to all that medicine releasing at once in stead of portionally throughout the day. Ive been taking Adderall for 11 years now and have done that once or twice. Same thing happened to me, it hurt like hell.
So, I have this friend. This person was diagnosed with ADD back in the day. When they were like 6 put on CYLERT. This was because the school told this persons parents “They have ADHD and need to be put on meds or they won’t be able to come back to class..” They took it for a while but from what they remember refused to take it because they didn’t like the way it made them feel. Lots of drama/parent teacher meetings, shipped off to “gate” schools this person was off meds until 11 (so ~5 years no ADHD meds) Later in middle school, after moving to a whole different city this school again INSISTED according to my friend he needed ADD meds and was then put on Ritalin. Again, after about a year my friend quit taking it and finished middle school in some kind of continuation school. By 9th grade he was skipping class and smoking pot now and again and finally this landed him in some juvenile REHAB were Adderall was prescribe (I believe he said it was 30mg 3x day (this was around the 2000). According to my friend he took 90mg a day or just binged on it afterwards as he figured WTF.. Well he got into and independent study program and finished high school and had plenty of Adderall to binge on UNTIL he was too old to be covered under his parents insurance and was told “better get a job”.. He said it sucked when he couldn’t afford his Adderall and he went back to sleeping in allot and smoking pot again which “not acceptable”. Anyways.. when my friend was in his early twenties he still smoked weed, drank now and again but had a job moved out of his parent’s house. A few years later at a party a close friend of his had some CRYSTAL METH and he tried it. According to him after doing “a line” he didn’t feel high but “normal” like he felt when he was on the medicine he was told “he needed to be normal” throughout his childhood. After that all my friend did was smoke, shoot and snort CRYSTAL METH for 5 straight years. He managed to keep a job for the most part until he was forced to quit after eventually hitting rock bottom after going off the deep end… Anyways.. my friend hasn’t touched CRYSTAL METH in over 4 years but last year after getting a new job with insurance decided to do the right thing and try to go back on meds and do everything right like he thought if he took the meds they wanted him to take his whole childhood now that he has insurance, can afford them and take them as prescribed it would be another positive step towards wellness. He found it shocking that initially he was put on 10mg 3x a day of IR Adderall when initially he was given 30mg 3x a day as teenager. Eventually, he was at 3 x20mg a day after “not responding” to the initial dose but was told 60mg is currently the max dosage. Also my friend has always had anxiety issues and was given Xanax along with the ADD meds. According to him they started him at .5mg xanax 2x day (when needed) but it didn’t help. Now he is at 1MG Xanax 2x day and it said that dose was great initially but while it still helps with Anxiety his doctor won’t prescribe any larger amounts. So according to my friend he will go some days were he takes 60mg Adderall, some days when he takes close to 200mg of Adderall, He says the Xanax is similar sometimes he only takes .25 MG a day but has taken 4mg to 6mg a day in some situations. However he explains he knows what is like to be “spun” and what CRYSTAL METH eventually did to his life and will take less some days if he took more other days and never runs out early. He explains the Xanax is helpful but he is more scared of running out of it than Adderall as he has found while Xanax has been very helpful for his anxiety if he runs out, according to him, can physically and mentally feel horrible.
My friend has his life together and while takes a little more of his prescriptions some days and makes up for it by taking less other days and while sometimes he is “a little spun” is not on any illegal drugs and is doing well. My friend has had the 20mg 3x day Adderall / 2mg 2x day RX for almost two years and not sure if he needed these meds again in the first place when he could afford to “seek treatment” on his own. I new him when he was on the horrible illegal CRYSTAL METH and while he was not on any meds. Honestly, while my friend seemed a little more “spun out” when he was on CRYSTAL METH I think the people / things he was around because it is illegal had more to do with how it hurt is life than CRYSTAL METH itself. I am pretty sure that if he had been a little more mature and his PPO provided CRYSTAL METH with none of the drama/gang/legal problems at the local Rx for a $5 copay it may have been a different story.. I guess I am concerned because my friend feels kinda jaded because was introduced to stimulants against his will when he was very young and while he goes overboard now and again with his current meds he is still speed addict using speed. Back in the late 1980s I think his life would have been a whole lot better if “ADD” didn’t exist and just ended up smoking pot until he out grew it. I think my friend may benefit from going back to life without his ADD meds and realizing he may never had ever needed them and never needed to experience the effects of CRYSTAL METH as that of “expected” when he was “on his meds” as a child. Really screwed up if you ask me… It seems so many kids who were forced to take ADD meds in the 80s as kids ended up using CRYSTAL METH later in life and being punished for it by the lay and society. WTF
Another thing my friend is bitter about. When he was using CRYSTAL METH he got arrested for driving under the influence of a controlled substance. According him he did not feel intoxicated and actually was on his way home from a BBQ. It didn’t help that he also had it in is possession… anyways.. he showed me his Adderall Rx bottle and it is clearly labeled with a warning indicating: “This medication may impair your ability to drive or operate machinery. Use care until you become familiar with effects”. Plus don’t they give Air Force Pilots Dexedrine before long or critical missions? Clearly if he was pulled over and chewing on his own ear, not under the influence of any other drug, or violation of any other laws the police officer could not have arrested him for anything that night AND could not even have taken away his Adderral. Even if he did get arrested his lawyer could have referred to the warning on the Rx bottle and advised the court “he has been taking it for 2 years, clearly, he is familiar with the effects” –
So.. last comment. You can drive around after taking 200MG of Adderall, have plenty of it in your possession and as long as you are familiar with the effects and are not doing anything illegal any arrest by a PEACE OFFICE for said behavior would be a violation of civil rights. They could not prove you took anymore than what was prescribed unless you admitted it. You drive around with a small amount of CRYSTAL METH and may not even be high at the time: Possession is a crime and they will TRY to charge with a DUI no matter what. You will be forced to take a drug test and all it will show is if you had used the drug recently which is all they need as it is, after all a Controlled Substance.
IF YOU ARE PARENT AND YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL HAS ADVISED YOU HE/SHE HAS ADD AND NEEDS MEDS. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT WHILE THE MEDS CAN HELP THEM AND MAY HELP THEM (SHORT TERM) UNDERSTAND WHAT IS ADDERALL AND WHAT IS METHAMPHETAMINE. I SAY THIS BECAUSE IF YOU SEE THE TV/NEWS AND HEAR ABOUT ALL THE PROBLEMS ATTRIBUTED METHAMPHETAMINE AND WANT TO PROTECT YOU CHILD: FOR CHRISTS SAKES DON’T GIVE THEM ADDERALL AND NOT EVEN REALIZE IT IS ALSO A VERY POTENT FORM OF AMPHETAMINE. HOWEVER ADDERALL IS MADE IS A LEGAL LAB, PROBABLY NOT CUT WITH ANYTHING DANGEROUS AND ACTUALLY TASTES SWEET AND KIND OF LIKE CANDY.
LATEZ!
Considering your situation, see if your Doctor can write you an RX for Desoxyn. Like Adderall it is a CII except Desoxyn is Methamphetamine HCL. You may want to check with your lawyer as I am not sure if it is legal obtain an RX from a drug dealer but I believe the prescription would not make possessing Methamphetamine illegal (since you have a prescription). Drug dealers are not usually as friendly as your neighborhood pharmacy, they don’t care if your allergic and don’t expect their generics to be equal to brand name; however, they do cater to those without insurance and have been known accept a minimum purchase of $10 – $20. If you really need a pyscostimulant to treat a real medical issue this may may be an option to consider. Please be careful when choosing a drug dealer and obtain the advice of your lawyer and medical professional as this may not be legal.
This is a really great site and it is really thoughtful that someone took the time to create it. Please don’t take my previous posts as disrespectful (none intended). Everyone on this site, for whatever reason is looking for help or worried about someone they love. Speed is what it is.
I really need help. Man I make it past the lethargy of day 3 and use the mind over matter oscar meyer to be all excited. But this is what they dont tell you… You cant keep secrets from your brain, it knows that youre a chappy lipped jonesin fool on couchlock…. so right at about the 5th bag of Jays Crispy Ridged, your body is going to say… “Hey.. yeah you.. you forgot, im the boss here and if you dont chernobyl the hell out of everyone you know’s phone to cop,..guess whos going to be fat as hell….teehehehe” …Okay, so i know its not like a real drug, but damn its got me. Not to mention I’m booting it 8x a day or so … at work, once on the luchbreak joyride in the car, .. which was really awkward when i saw the school bus full of kiddies pulling up, yoinked it out as fast as possible which created a nice crime scene esque spatter. To add insult to injury I then had to bust out some feasable excuse as to how “the crackhead guy at taco bell (im on lunch, remember) handed me my cherry dr pepper through the window and the lid popped off”… AAAAAAAAAAAAAANYWay… Did I mention that Im prescribed???? I have this theory that Addies have only exacerbated any ADD (or lackthereof) cases to date, but the ADA doesnt know because nobody wants to risk the dreaded xfer to concerta. … anyway. I am sorry for the novel but damn… someoene help.
To clear up any misunderstandings, im about 5000klightyears from rock bottoming so its not like im desperate, but Im running out of stories to tell my boss as to why im an hour late for the 9th day in a row, additionally my horoscope said to quit being an idiot already, so i figure thats a good a sign as any.
thank again. (adderall is counterproductive- in every way-EXHIBIT A RIGHT HERE)
LOL on that person with the meth friend… I like how he was “introduced to stimulants against his will”.
IM def not trying to be that junkie in the nosebleeds of denial telling everyone else that they are the losers … but really????? Crystal Meth? damn, Ive been on the Poppytown nappy train for a while now and pretty much consider a drug as a drug, regardless…if it gets you tow up- I really dont see any hirearchy relative to your social standings as a degenerate which is quite contrary to popular belief. For example, I was about 3 weeks off the orient express and geeked as hell when I remembered what it felt like to see through sober eyes. Hell, that was enough incentive! you try to shop for shoes on the nod-you know what im talking about-the pinpoints and 10lb lids lol. Damn, anyway- Im chillin and Im BILL COSBY SOBER and this bitch is hitting me with the I cant be friends with you when you do drugs-even if its at your own house with all the lights off and youre hiding in the bathroom because I dont want to be associated with people who do real drugs. -I could have really given a shit less i was just happy to be out and about but the fact that she Dr. Phil-d me while smoking 3 bowls. Not to mention her boyfriend in in the “occasional crack smoker” to which she adamently proclaims is a phase.
So anyway… damn im really sorry about the rambling, but for real about your buddy. Like I said i know im not really one to talk but … crystal meth??? I know that the pharmocokinetics are similar to adderall… but damn, until I see a Faces of Adderall that doesnt involve step by step instructions for reconstructing the grassy knoll and then using long division to debunk the umbrella guy im not quite compelled to believe its the same.
Hey, thanks to the fact that my adderall doesent work for shit I have delivered a brainchild for your friends prob!… YAY
Okay, hit up the gas station and pick up some minithins or wtf ever they have, then stop at the health food store on the way home that you are most likeely to get raped at, or has at least 8 non operational pay phones in its parking lot and a liquer/moogoogaipan stand within walking distance (PARAMOUNT must haves if you want this to work!!!) . Go in, flash the nice guy at the counter your best “Dont bullshit me with the “oh herrow” fascade, I know you have an AK under your cash register (1970s adding machine)) crazy ass googly eye so he knows you mean business and immediately locate the “Quack Tram” disguised as a name brand Diet Pill. Walk up to the guy and tell him you are taking it home with no intention of paying for it, and doing him a favor because there are mad cops in the area and your Indian buddy just got popped selling the same shit. … anyway get home and dump all the pills or capsules or wahtever out and extract all the powder into …well wtf ever you got in place of a bowl. Dump a 5 hour energy and any left over cocaine you may have chillin on your stove into teh bowl and let it chill out until it dries. Make sure that its all crushed up and ready to go. Now, find some empty pill capsules and fill them up with the shit in the bowl and call up your dude. Tell him that the guy who created extacy just busted out with a new “clean your nasty ass house before the world explodes it all over the rst of us in 2012 pill” and you managed to cop a bottle for the low low price of $200. Make sure that you call him before he makes the daily mowsey over to his guys place for a wake up though otherwise… his broke ass gonna have to wait till tomorrow or scrap for cans around the trailer park, at which time the price goes up! But you will trade him his cell phone for 1 pill(pawn style)…now while he is out- locate the earliest number dialed today -this is his guy, who is prob exepecting a call from mr meth soon anyway. Call the number, let him know that if he is lucky, youll let him suck your dick because you are the new Jeffe in town, but since he is good at pushing product, youll let him in on a great secret-your new pill at the low low price of …$200 a bottle. Now, your friend is off meth, cleaning up litter around town. The drug dealers in town arent even pushing real drugs at all.. and youve completely washed your hands of the entire thing. Until your friends dealer need a re-up -this is when you say that your guy got busted in a crazy mexico raid thing and youre dry now. -but make up a quick batch and hold on to it just in case best buy has a giant tv blowout or something you just cant say no to, then call the guy and tell him its the last batch on planet earth and you want (insert sale price with tax here). …Voila
Oh dont forget to save any receipts or bus passes to submit to uncle sam as work expenses….
Keep me posted on the progress!
Some lady walked past my cube (im at work remember) and busted me reading this, then proceeded to be interested enough to want to read the whole page.
Until she got to some person named “HopelessandTweaked” and said ” I cannot believe that someone would disrespect the sanctity of people who are sincerly asking for help with such debilitating disease.” Aparently when she was 12 she boycotted her lunchtime BP&Js for a few days because she was chubby. Much Much later in life, she then watched an episode of intervention about anorexia. From this she then deduced her purpose in life was to offer support to people struggling with addictions as she herself is a disease survivor as well.
I wanted to throw out the ole ” jk everyone…. soooooorry if i ooooofeeeended uuuuuuu ” but then i realized that actual junkies might be more offeneded by her pseudo-associating with them than my elbow nudging lols…. so either way you decide. Here is your fake sorry from me… or a fakey mcfakester standing up for all you survivors out there.
Bikram Yoga – 30 classes in 30 days. Cured my 3 year addiction after months of trying to ween myself off.
Do it!!
I used to smoke alot of meth then went to prison for 7 years when I got out I spent a few thousand dollars on bath salt they took it from the market for the lasr year ive been,doing addareal I take 300+ mg a day I never run out I buy 120 at a time 5 bucks a peice and its getting old I want to quit but im affraid that I will hurt someone because I have a vad temper any ways any advice
I’m in my late 40s and have lots of letters after my name (including MD, though I no longer practice medicine). I’ve been on Adderall XR for about 10 years (since becoming a father) — mostly because I was afraid I’d leave my son in the car seat on top of the car and drive off. I’d known that I had ADD for many years, but had muddled through life with reasonable success, knowing that my ADD was holding me back from going from imagined to executed.
I was very reluctant about going on a stimulant for all of the many reasons discussed in this excellent site. After trying several non-stimulant alternatives, I finally turned to Adderall XR and found immediate results. I’ve stayed on the lowest dose that I found effective (moving up from 5 to 10 to 20mg in the first five years) and and finding diminishing returns in recent years. I absolutely didn’t want to titrate up again and felt that it was time to start weaning off. My son is almost 11 and I’m no longer worried that I will cause him harm; my career is moving along well and my wife recently returned to work so I’m no longer the soul breadwinner.
It’s been pretty awful — again, like a lot of what I’m hearing on this site. I feel sluggish, unmotivated, depressed and scattered. I’ve been going through some brain biofeedback therapy with a specialist in Washington, DC (they’ve not been encouraged with my response so far, so they’re going to be changing tactics). I was hoping that this would be a way to replace Adderall — getting my brain to talk to itself more effectively — without resorting to caffeine or other stimulants.
So I have two questions for the site owner and readers:
1) Have you had any experience with brain biofeedback and any suggestions on strategies for using this approach to dealing with ADD?
2) Perhaps more importantly, I have been weaning by separating my Adderall XR into smaller doses in different capsules (putting half the pellets in a different capsule and now doing it in three capsules per 20mg cap). From reading here, this may not actually be the right thing to do. I’ve read the package insert, which, of course, tells you not to split the capsules, but I don’t understand why this wouldn’t be an effective way to reduce the dose. Figuring there are 100-200 pellets per capsule, even if you have different timings on the release of each pellet, randomness would suggest that you can more or less split the doses this way – not perfectly perhaps, but closely enough. Do you recommend that I instead go to the pills and split them?
Thanks in advance. This is a very important subject. I know I have it much better than most, but ADD has dominated my life and caused a good amount of heartbreak and disappointment for me and those I love.
I only have 30mg (2x15mg) left, and no refill for 15 days. Now what do?
Now what do I do? Cold turkey?
On 120mg instant release per day (4 x 30mg).
After years it doesn’t make me “high” or hyper or extra chatty, I am just normal and focused. When I go off, I’m a sleep / depression Nazi. I know the deal, I know what is necessary. It takes COMMITMENT man. However, this drug poisons our spirituality and do a degree our self control. Freedom will be attained, and this will be one big long lesson. Do work everyone, time is ticking. Be free, stay chemical free.
I’m sick of this pill controlling my whole life. I feel awful with out it and I feel nothing when I am on it. I have to pop this stupid pill just 2 get out of bed. I run out of it 2 weeks early, cuz I think it makes me more productive. well it doesnt! after 7years I think I actually gave myself ADD because I have taken it so long.I cant focus like I did before I started taking Adderall. I want to get off it. I have already lost 3 great jobs because I cant get out bed w/o it, and I had one of those jobs for 10 years until I started calling off or just not being productive. I used 2 have a bad vic and perk addiction and I rocked in the tub 3 days withdrawing but I kicked it! somehow I cant kick this Adderall addiction. It’s more mental I think. But I also feel so depressed with or without it. I need some good advice about good antidepressents the help secrete the epinephrine and seratonin in my brain. or something else that gives energy I can get over the counter. I just want to be naturally happy again. I hate being controlled by this stupid pill.
I have been on Adderall for over 10 years and have successfully got off of it 2 times since I started taking. Both times were due to pregnancy and I went Cold Turkey both times. My last pregnancy I weaned myself off and failed once (an sadly had to surrender the bottle to my husband to rid the temptation). Seriously so sad! I absolutely hate this drug! It has caused me to age prematurely, get depressed, very easily agitated, itchy scalp which is starting to give me a few very small bald spots after years of itching and the list goes on. I get very easily overwhelmed, and either I am super social or just want to withdraw from the world. The worst of all my symptoms which is so hard to admit is, it makes it soooo hard for me to focus on my kids, because all my brain focuses on is productivity and what I should be doing (thanks to the anxiety). And it’s only getting worse, but I won’t go into it all (b/c I think it’s already been said by others). I am trying to get off for good, and for the first time without pregnancy as my motivation. I can say that I started to feel really good 7-8 months later, but I was pregnant and could only think “how much longer until I can take it again”. I soooo wish I would have never started again. I am going to try to wean myself off (cop out I know), but this time around I have done my homework and thankfully due to there being more sites like these (I’ve done my homework too). Im going to add a good mix of vitamins and clean eating (if I can get passed wanting to eat every 5 minutes during withdrawals), and cut out dairy and sugar (known triggers for ADD), and using caffeine when I really crave that jolt I miss so much. I have done it three other times and from my experience being prepared for wanting to sleep hours a day and eating too, can be curbed a “little”. I think its knowing it will take months before i feel like myself again, but possible since i was feeling SO good right before my son was born. So it isnoossible, and so worth it. I do remember working out for 15-20 minutes coming home from the gym and crashing, but when I woke up I did have more energy then If I didn’t go at all. Baby steps I guess. Good luck to all of you! I”m hoping to win the battle this time around.
After reading these post the most effective method of weaning off of stimulant drugs came to mind quickly. For the young stutent I suggest you find a college or universtiy that does not promote the “pill popping culture.” Start your education at a Jr. College until you learn to be self disciplined. Wean yourself off of worldy peer influences that have historically promoted the use of stimulant drugs and let God direct your path.
Gooodd,
I have been off suboxone since last year, and while it was tough, I was able to get off after five years. My second drug of choice to now get off is adderall. I’ve unfortunately been using it for four years. Started off using low dosages, than for the past two years, back and forth(daily usage anywhere from MG of 40-100) Yes, unfortunately, depending on my stress level, the more I took. I admit that I am an addict and have built a very bad dependance on this drug. While a psychostimulant, it does have physical and mental withdrawals if you abuse this medication like I did stupidly. I reality is, I just tried going three days without using and the fourth day I woke up extremely nauseous. I gave in and took 30mg this morning. Unfortunately, while I won’t say cocaine is safer by any means, the one difference cocaine has from other stimulants like adderall is it doesn’t reuptake dopamine, hence the reason it does not cause any withdrawals(some may say they crave it, but in my opinion haven taking cocaine I never had an issue getting off of it. It feels great unfortuantely because it binds to the same dopamine receptors as adderall. Unfortuantely adderall not only binds to receptors, but reuptakes dopamine. Long term use and on high dosages(I won’t say what is considered high since everyone’s body chemistry is different). However, once long term use occurs as did with me, I feel in some ways the mental aspect and low dopamine levels are in its own way harder than opiate withdrawals. Some would right away state that as fact, I’m wrong. Again this is just my own experiences and I respect everyone elses. Adderall what these corporate chronie pharms do not say is not like cocaine because of the fact it screw with the flow of not just the dopamine neuroreceptors, but effects the gaba(has most neurons out of all neurotransmitters in brain and isn’t just located in front cortex), serotonin(to some extent adderall plays role in this region), along with norepinephrine. This is why it’s hard to find any true cure other than self motivation and determination to get off a drug like adderall(if you are taking more than what you are suppossed to be taking dosage wise therapeutically) I am desperate to get off this and I do feel badly that I have formed a dependancy on this. I hope that for everyone who feels I am a scumbag for abusing adderall understands I am an addict. I also know I am, understand my self very well, and if I was strong enough to get off suboxone, realizing for me, I could no long live life waking up having to depend on something to feel normal(suboxone while a whole other subject also effects other areas of brain which big pharm doesn’t tell you. Not just the mu receptors, but delta opiod along with the flow of neurotransmitters in brain. This is why I am so saddened by my life. I know myself too well, am too analytical and sometimes that has its disadvantages. I can’t stop my intrusive thoughts when it comes to getting off a psychostimulant like adderall. Someone please help me.. There are no nootropic herbs(extracts like valerian root, scullcap, passionflower which by itself could be risky because of it’s MAO inhibitors) in aiding with nausea, stomach aches(pepto works sometimes) and just an overall sense of such demotivation. My work is suffering, and my friends can’t relate to what I’m going through. I like helping others when it comes to giving them my experiences of being able to get off suboxone after being on it for such a long time, When it comes to adderall, it seems more difficult because it alteres mood which on top causes physical symptoms as well. The mood is the worse most debilitating part out of the symptoms I’ve experienced. Waking up wiht muscle pains, spasms, and severe nausea have also been a burden, especially having to work everyday. Sorry for such a long post. I’m babbling on, and apologize for the novel. I guess because I want to be able to express everything I’m thinking into words. It can be difficult for me at times because there is so much I want to say…
Hi,
If you could Post the song “The Drugs Don’t work” by the Verve that would be great. Thanks in advance.