Rebound?? or am I just going crazy?

[Wendi]

I am currently on Adderall (the generic). I have been on it for two weeks. I take it 3 times a day with the evening dose only half a dose. I started taking the third dose because after the drug starts wearing off, I feel really wierd. I have felt anything from depressed, anxious, headache, nausea, extrememly spacey, tired, and dizzy. Last night I tried taking a full dose instead of only a half to see if it helped. I felt like I was going crazy. I felt sick to my stomach, I couldn't think straight, and very paranoid.

Yes, I'm going to try to get a hold on the doctor tomorrow but I'm curious is this just the rebound effect or something more serious? I only took half a dose this evening. I was going to go without it but the spacey/lost feeling was driving me nuts. Hopefully someone is on here tonight and can help me. Feeling like this is putting a strain on my marriage and how I take care of my son. Is it normal to feel like you're going crazy when coming down off med's?

[NerdyMommy]

Wendi,

I've never experienced anything other than being extremely tired when my medication wears off. Definitely talk to your doctor - what you're experiencing would worry me too! Keep us posted!

[Wendi]

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to call and leave a message for the doc in the morning. This is the third medicine I've been on and I'm really starting to get discouraged. I just want to be normal! Lol. I'm going to try to go to bed earlier tonight and then keep a log tomorrow of when I start feeling different and when I take my meds.

Hopefully this will change soon because I keep picking fights with my husband when I start feeling so crappy in the evenings.

[Luke]

It sounds like what happens to me when i take too much. I also struggle with myself when my Vyvanse wears off and wonder if some combination of a long acting and short acting meds would help. I usually feel irritable and fidget a lot and then get tired. Good luck with the doctor.

[Wendi]

Last night went much better than the night before. I had a small snack before bed and went to sleep much earlier. After reading some stuff on the internet, it does sound like I'm rebounding. I will ask about the long acting meds when I talk to the doctor.

Do you ever feel disoriented too when coming off the meds?

Thanks

[Luke]

I would say that my biggest problem is irritability but sometimes I also feel like my unmedicated brain is really foggy. After doing some more research on this and talking to my doc it sounds like a natural reaction that some of us have when coming off the drug - especially the amphetamine based ones like adderall, vyvanse, or dexadrine. I have heard it called a craving which is a good description for me. I will get the urge to take more of my meds but I can't really explain why. The dip in my dopamine levels as the drug wears off make me uncomfortable - much the same way an addict craves more as they sober up - which is why these drugs are a controlled substance.

I have learned that I feel this way for about 30 minutes and then it will very suddenly go away, if I can just stick it out. It helps me to do something that raises my dopamine levels naturally like talking to a friend, exercising, eating a meal, or - my personal favorite - having a big cup of coffee.

I also started taking wellbutrin which is classified as an anti-depressant but acts in the same way as all the ADHD drugs. Its not as strong but it greatly reduces the crash I get at the end of the day.

[Wendi]

I went to the doctor yesterday and was put on Ritalin. She said she doesn't normally like to stop medicines in the middle of a trial but she didn't like the effect Adderall was (well, wasn't) having on me.

I really need to start exercising but I can't even find the time to do everything I'm already supposed to be doing. Lol, I tried to force myself to like coffee but that didn't work (it only made me sick.)

I told my doctor I still feel like there is a missing link. I can't seem to get past this slump I'm in. I'm just about desparate just to feel normal and be able to function without the simple things being so complicated. My husband doesn't understand at all. He tells me I'm lazy and that I need to get a life. I was hoping the medicine would help me do just that.

[Mary]

Hi Wendi,

I'm wondering how you're going on the Ritalin? I've recently had two drug trials - one on Ritalin and one on Dexamphetamine (Dex) (not sure what it's called in the US, I'm from Aus). If energy is what you're lacking then you might find Dex a good alternative to Ritalin. Ritalin makes me feel calm and focused (although a full 10mg tablet made me feel very tired, so now I only take a quarter or half). The Dex however makes me feel alive, energetic, and generally more positive - I can't say that it helps me to focus but it certainly gives me a complete lift both physically and emotionally. With Dex I take one tablet or two - two on the days where I have to achieve a lot or if I really want to get stuck into house work.

Also, are you possibly depressed. I struggle with anxiety/depression and have been taking prozac for several years. It works well in conjunction with Ritalin or Dex.

I've recently started the pill too because authors and researchers, Kathleen Nadeau and Dr Patricia Quinn, who are experts in women with AD/HD, site research on the importance of a stable level of Estrogen for brain functioning. And that women whose estrogen levels have been stabilised tend to respond much better to stimulants such Ritalin or Dex. For this reason, I've just recently started on a newish pill called Yaz which is monophasal i.e. same type and level of hormones throughout the entire cycle (as opposed to triphasal ones that have a rise and fall in hormonal concentration) with only 4 sugar pills instead of the usual 6 or 8 in other pills. Plus it helps recude PMT (PMDD) as well as decrease acne. I've never found a pill I could tolerate before this one - all of the ones I've tried sent me into the blackest moods or induced throbbing headaches.

Hope this information helps. It might give you some hope to know that several months ago, I had pretty much become immobilised by my ADD. My house and paper work was completely out of control, and had been for several years. Reading Kathleen Nadeau and Dr Patricia Quinn's work has helped me realise that motherhood often undoes women with ADD, not because they don't love and adore their child/ren, but because the extra set of responsibilities and work pretty much pushes our disorganised life to the brink of absolute chaos and misery. That was me ;-( But I'm infinitly better now and for me I'm sure it's the combination of the Dex, Yaz (stabilised homrones) and prozac - it just seems to work.

[Luke]

Hey Wendi,

I finally switched meds and thought I should share with you. Last week my doc switched me to 10mg of Adderall twice a day instead of 70mg of Vyvanse once a day and I feel so much better! I get almost no irritability and discomfort when it wears off in the afternoon. I can also control when I take it in case I have a late afternoon meeting or for when I want to eat lunch. I had assumed that the drugs were basically identical but my reaction to them is completely different.

I messed up my appointment with my doc about 3 weeks ago and had to reschedule which left me with a gap in my medication for about 3 days. My roomate gave me some of his Adderall and it worked so well I wanted to try it for myself. The only slight problem right now is that 10mg in the morning isn’t quite enough which I suspect might be my body trying to acclimate to the new medication.

It feels so great because I had given up on hoping that I would ever find a medication that didn’t give me such bad rebound irritability in the afternoon. There are some days now that I don’t even notice when it wears off.

[Daphne]

Hi everyone., I have a question about the med Im taking, I take 150m of wellburtin in the morning and again 6 hours later. How soon does this med start working? and has anyone else takin this drug before? did it help? Daphne