Perfectionist,
Although my health problem(s) are not as serious as yours and are not undiagnosed, I wanted to let you know there is someone alse out there dealing with treating illness while also dealing with adderalll. In my case I have been diagnosed with extremely low testosterone levels, which has as some symptoms very low energy and little muscle strength/development. For obvious reasons this is a disastrous combination. I will soon be getting testosterone supplementation but of course how well can I tell if it's working if withdrawl is in the way. I also hate the very real possibility that I may have developed a habit of abuse because i was unknowingly self medicating for low t.
By the way, I am surprised you're MD is working with you on cutting down. I have head any hint of abuse and they just plain stop prescribing it. I would like to wean off but am afraid to talk to my psychiatrist about it for this reason.
As far as weaning off, I've tried it myself and it is much less debilitating than just stopping. The problem is you have to be very strict about steadily reducing the dose. In my experience even a day or two of reupping the dose puts me right back at the same level of dependency.
Quitting cold turkey frankly sucks but could be easier in it's own way, kind of like ripping the band aid right off. The big thing is you will have days or more likely weeks to a month where you'll be hardly able to stand up if your like me. If you can stick through that some of your own natural energy starts to return. I just did this and after two weeks can get up and do miinimal activity. Personally though I'm hoping it doesn't stay so low for the months it will take for testosterone to work and prating testosterone does work.
I am also interested to see you take it for add. the standard drill from the medical profession is that people with add don't abuse stimulants. That may be how it's supposed to work but I had a 3 hr neuropsych workup diagnosing me with add and when i started taking adderall it changed my life - finally stopped my brain from buzzing. After a year or so I discovered taking a little more gave me energy. now when i talk to anyone about quitting they can't seem to buy that it affects my attention but still can be an upper. thus when i talk about how horrible it is to go off it and have my head racing while my body feels like lead people act like i'm talking another language, including other abusers. i'd be interested to hear you're experience.
Two more things: There is a website smartrecovery.org that I use for alcoholism but it's also for drugs. They have all kinds of help and I think you'd really benefit from taking a look.
Finally, I can't afford this now myself but it is a little known fact that acupuncture is exceptionally effective for drug withdrawl and for overall health for that matter. most people think it's for pain conditions but if you go for a month or so you'll be amazed at how much chanes physically and emotionally. Eric Clapton said acupuncture is the only way he could kick heroin. Let me know please if you try it. Years ago I had chronic fatigue syndrome and the doctor said there was no treatment. Three months of acupuncture and I was back to normal.
Actually, after reading all the other posts let me chime in and say joint pain as been a problem for me and I think it's the adderall. Anyway I am very glad you are at least under medical care. Good luck.
Mike