This Is My Strategy On Recovering As Fast As Possible.

[NaturalBrainPower]

This might not work for everyone but I believe its working for me or atleast making recovery faster... Quick background been on Vyvanse 70mg for 2 years, sometimes taking more than 70mg a day (140mg on some days). I knew coming off this would be hell so I designated my recover time with my vacation. Me personally I feel YOU NEED DAYS OFF FROM WORK if possible to really speed up the recovery process. My 2 main goals within the first 2 weeks is to EAT, and EXERCISE. I keep a workout journal and a diet journal. This is my diet literally every single day. (MEAL #1), 2 whole organic eggs + 10 egg whites, 1 Cup Quakers Oatmeal(no flavor plain), 1 large cup of coffee, Multivitamin(Animal Pak brand) + Coq10 Supplement(200mg). (MEAL #2) 8oz Organic Chicken (Bell & Evans Brand), 1 Large Cup Brocolli, Coq10 Supplement(100mg). (MEAL #3) 10oz Salmon + 1 Large Yam, 200mg of Chelated Magnesium (Doctor's Best brand). (MEAL #4) 8oz Organic Chicken (Bell & Evans brand), 2 large tomatoes, 1 large carrot, 2 teaspoons of olive oil added to it, 100mg of Coq10, 100mg of Chelated Magnesium. (MEAL #5, last meal) 8oz Flank Steak, 1 Cup Asparagus. Along with the meals I make sure I drink atleast 1 gallon of Poland Spring water jug a day. Of course if you weigh 120 pounds you don't need this much food but I weigh 220lb so I eat according to my bodyweight... The workout consists of high intensity lasting NO MORE than 1 hour. Working out with weights is 2 days on 1 day off, 1 day on, 1 day off. Repeat. On non weight training days cardio on the treadmill, 30 mins. 1 min running, 3 mins walking, repeat till 30 mins. BELIEVE me when I tell you its a PAIN IN THE ASS to cook this food and go workout without the Adderall/vyvanse but I just grind my teeth and do it. Driving to the gym or even going outside I get anxiety but like I mentioned in another thread I wear a hoodie, my big headphones and a cap so no one bothers me and just grind it out. I know its working because last year I tried taking a week off WITHOUT this strategy and after 1 week I still feel like a total TRAIN WRECK. This is day 21, I still feel some anxiety and everyday is still a chore to do this simpliest things BUT it isn't NEARLY as bad when I tried last year without utilizing this plan. So for 2 weeks my ONLY CONCERN is to workout, drink 1 full gallon jug of Poland Spring water and cook my 5 specific meals a day, THATS IT. I go grocery shopping ONCE a week early in the morning when there is no people because of high anxiety and buy enough for the whole week so I do not have to venture again to the store and get panic attacks again.

[ashley6]

That's a great plan you have in place. I hardly got out of bed the first couple of months. Keep us posted on how it's going and congratulations on your quit!

[NaturalBrainPower]

Thanks Ashley, believe me I know what you mean about how hard it is getting out of bed... I curse out loud everyday getting out of bed. I curse out loud cooking food and curse out loud driving to the gym, grocery store etc.. Atleast we made a commitment of getting off this poison

[lea]

NBP -- Sounds like a great plan! The eating and exercise alone must be doing wonders. You should be feeling better soon and will certainly be a lot stronger.

[NaturalBrainPower]

Lea believe me when I tell you every meal I cook I say "I hate this so much" while cooking and grind through it. When I am walking to the gym floor I say to myself "I don't want to be here, I hate this so much" but I blast my music look at my workout log and just do it while cursing in my head. So I definitely know what everyone is going through..

[quit-once]

Awesome nutrition/meal/workout plan, NBP. My burning question is: how in the fuck can you eat the same food (no matter how delicious it sounds to me) every day for 21 straight days and counting? Doesn't it loose its appeal?

[Motivation_Follows_Action]

This plan is badass. I wish I had done what you're doing. I rested and ate junk food.

Maybe I'll try to do 3 out of your 5 meals a day. I wish I had your discipline.

[NaturalBrainPower]

Quit-once, I ate the same thing for 14 days while I had vacation. Now since I am back at work I backed off this specific diet to a certain extent.. I supplement now with greek yogurt 2 out of the 5 meals because its fast and at the same time just as healthy. With me during the 14 days I did not eat for taste, I ate PURELY for recovery. I looked at the 5 meals as my job to eat it. Yes it was bland and boring but I had a checklist I had for 14 days which is eat 5 specific meals, drink 1 complete gallon of water and finish my specific workout whether its weights or cardio. I literally INHALED the food without even tasting it. Took me 10 minutes to down it. In between meals I did NOTHING that would create stress so what I did was watch Netflix movies then when a couple hours passed, cook my meals, eat, then watch another movie or surf the net then eat again etc etc.. MFA, I understand withdrawing and all you want to eat is junk food or "comfort food" because you just want to satisfy your brain with something enjoyable but the way I structured my recovery is 2-fold. In order to recover WITHOUT an aid of another type of drug it needs to be exercise(100% effort) ALONG with the right food(100% effort) to EQUAL the maximum amount of recovery possible.. I read A LOT of people struggles with withdrawal and something I noticed is the people who did not really analyze their food intake or did not exercise recovered but it was a longgg....drawn...out....process... So I know my 'window of opportunity' is 14 days where I can do nothing except follow my plan.. no answering emails, no socializing etc just eat and exercise.. Believe me it SUCKED big time and it still sucks but I would say right now I am 65%-70% feeling like how I felt PRE-vyvanse which was over 2 years ago. Give this diet a shot, doesn't have to be this amount but Im confident you will expedite your recovery 10 fold.. I REALLY give credit to the people who recovered WHILE still working because I will be the first to admit that I could not do it.. Theres no way I would be able to go to work functioning normally... Everyone know how it is the first 5 days or so when you step outside WITHOUT your addy, you feel like your walking outside NAKED and everyone is staring at you.

[Motivation_Follows_Action]

It demonstrates incredible strength. I'm thoroughly impressed. Thank you for sharing.

[quit-once]

I just realized that your recovery plan is very similar to what my plan looked like:

I too believe that a successful recovery must be based on nutrition, activity and hydration. My nutrition was not nearly as well-thought out as yours, but I did forgo the junk foods in favor of less processed more natural foods. My nutrition program has been evolving ever since I quit. Looking back, I could have done a lot better than I did right after quitting.

My activity consisted of long trail walks and taking up a new hobby. I knew that activity is essential for quicker recovery. My level of activity has also been evolving since quitting; and although I do not have a regular fitness plan I am getting more regular activity now that I have any time in the last ten years.

I struggled to drink enough water, and still do. Right after quitting I forced myself to drink at least three bottles of water each day in addition to everything else. It is a tough one for me to kee[p up with but I know water is so essential for flushing the poison from your system.

In addition to kicking adderall, I had two other addictions to overcome: cigarettes and sugar. Kicked the cigs shortly after adderall, but struggled with the sugar. I finally kicked the sugar habit last fall when I learned how to do Atkins the right way. Although, I am still vulnerable to a sugar relapse episode. I am only one can of soda, cookie or candy bar away from resuming a carb addiction.

You have a lot of meat in your diet - which contains a lot of natural L-Tyrosine. And you have a lot of magnesium - is your hair curly yet? You take a lot of CoQ10, whatever that is. What is that supposed to do? Are your animal vitamins like Flinstone vitamins? Eating daily salmon has got to give you lots of omega 3's and other good nutrients for brain and nerve repair. I wish I had your discipline for eating good food. Are you really getting by on only one cup of coffee per day?

Have you considered a cleansing diet or detox therapy that will assist further adderall detoxification? I did about a week of the Master Cleanser about a year ago and I have felt better ever since. Also, have you given any thought to developing new interests or activities or hobbies this summer?

[NaturalBrainPower]

MFA, thanks for your words of encouragement. Forgive me for not knowing your story but can you quickly fill me in on your recovery? How long has it been and were your dosages similar to mine? Quit-once, I can relate to Adderall and cigs, OMG do they go hand in hand ! How much were your dosages ? Coq10 is a supplement I find is well worth the money (its really not a lot of money anyways). I copied this explanation off another site ==>"Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is found in every cell in the body and is necessary for the basic functioning of cells. CoQ10 exists inside small organelles of the cell called mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, where it is needed to generate energy. A helpful way to recall the function of CoQ10 in the cell is to think about how a spark plug works in an engine. Knowing the role CoQ10 plays in cellular energy production, it is no wonder that the highest concentrations of CoQ10 are where we need the most energy – the heart, immune system, liver and kidneys." As you can see it plays right into our recovery because we have ZERO energy once we are off it........... To give an update on my progress, I am 25 days into recovery and I am plateauing at 65% to 70% of feeling better... Here is the strange thing during the 14 days of not being at work and following my plan, my recovery was linear. Each day was getting better and better but once I returned to work and BROKE my plan the recovery became much slower and stagnate. It didn't get worse but it was NOT linear anymore. Energy is not a huge problem but anxiety is still a problem.. I didn't read so much about people having anxiety post Adderall more mainly with lack of energy and motivation. My anxiety is usually in the morning and getting out of the house but when I was on vacation and forced myself to the gym the anxiety went away.. Now since I cant really go to the gym in the morning the anxiety kind of lingers the whole day. Now this freakin sucks.

[Greg]

I think anxiety is perfectly normal after quitting. I know what you are talking about -- I had that lingering anxiety too and it does suck. Suck is a mild way of putting it.

Hang in there.

If you stay committed to beating this you will be alright.

[Motivation_Follows_Action]

MFA, thanks for your words of encouragement. Forgive me for not knowing your story but can you quickly fill me in on your recovery? How long has it been and were your dosages similar to mine?

My words of encouragement are not really meant to be so, although it's nice you interpreted them that way. I truly am impressed with your discipline to stay to a plan and see it as science rather than as psychology (which is my leaning post and sometimes it can be detrimental). There is a lot I can learn from thinking of recovery in a more scientific way.

I won't bore you but to summarize: was on 60 or so mg adderall a day on and off for a few years. This ramped up with the advent of a new job and in the end was on zero sleep, no real nutrition and 90-100 mg a day. Went in to psychosis, lost my job, got suicidal and ended up in hospital.

To speak to your piece about anxiety HELL YEAH did I go through that. It was so pervasive I didn't realize I was suffering from it, I was just nervous and paranoid and overthinking things as a constant. This ramped UP after the first 3 weeks and got to an all-time high around the 4-5 week mark after quitting. I took far more xanax in my first 90 days than I would like to admit.

One other thing which I took a psychological perspective on which is the "linear" vs "non linear" piece. I think recovery is always non linear. So I don't know that I would correlate the going-back-to-work-breaking-of-a-nice-progress thingy in to a definite connection to working out in the morning or changing your work hours, etc. Some days you feel great and others you feel shitty. The thing that is remarkable about you is that despite how shitty you feel, you still get out of bed and haul ass to the gym and it sounds like invariably you feel better. I need to learn a bit more of this discipline!

[quit-once]

Quit-once, I can relate to Adderall and cigs, OMG do they go hand in hand ! How much were your dosages ?

I took adderall for nine years. Except for the last two years, I was a binge user and I was able to maintain the tool stage by cycling on and off of it. At least three days per week of withdrawl and recovery, then binge on the weekends. It helped not having a steady supply so I always had to ration my pills. I became a daily user for about the last two years of my addiction. that is when things went to hell and it quit working for just about everything. Dosages? I started out on about 50 mg per day, and ended my addiction at about 125-150 mg per day. When partying on it I would sometimes exceed 200.

[NaturalBrainPower]

InRecovery, thanks for your reply. Just curious how many days/weeks/months into your recovery did your anxiety subside? I know everyone timeline is different but I am trying to get an idea of what is everyones timeline of recovery is. I read some say it took them over a year. One thing I read I am not sure how true it is that prescription drug Wellbutrin some say they felt like their old self pre-Adderall within a matter of days.. MFA, wow you had quite a journey. I think I went into psychosis a couple of times within the 2 years of my vyvanse usage. How long has your recovery been so far ? Any lingering symptoms that you currently still have? With the subject of linear vs non linear the reason I said during the 14 days of being on vacation doing my plan that it was linear because each day slowly but surely I felt better so if you think of it like a graph it was at a steady uphill climb everyday with no stagnation...so I am "assuming" if I didn't go back to work or didn't have a job, that uphill climb will continue because during the 14 days there was no indication of my recovery plateauing...then when I returned to work... BAM the recovery all of sudden plateaued.. might be a coincidence but it might not be.. I would say your discipline is right up there with everyone else because you are OFF the drug and that in and of itself takes major discipline... Quit-once, I know what you mean by binging on the pills and at the end the pills wasn't working at all. I was just taking it for the sake of taking it with no rhyme or reason. Are you still experiencing any pronounced withdrawal symptoms and how long has your recovery been ? Its day 27 for me and I am still stuck at 65% to 70% of feeling like my old self pre-vyvanse.