Opinions needed

[Whittering]

Hi guys,

I have a couple of questions for knowledgeable, experienced Adderall users.

1. What's the maximum dose a doctor can legally prescribe? My husband is getting 30mg 3 times a day. Is this too much? Last time I checked he was getting 30 mg twice a day. I was uncomfortable with that, but I noticed yesterday he had changed doctors and getting 90 pills per month. That seems high to me and explains a lot.

2. If he is unwilling yet to see what Adderall is doing to him, would it help or hinder the process if I dumped his pills down the toilet? I think I know the answer but I just dont think I will be able to convince him to stop. He won't come to this site. He hasn't been interested in any of the articles I have sent him on the subject. He's still in the mode I was in until recently that I can't live without it, and definitely can't work without it. We've both been superstars at work until I realized how bad it was affecting our family. I've been off six days and more determined than ever not to get back on. But I was only on 30mg a day. I had no idea until yesterday that he'd gone up in his dosage.

Any advice or help on getting someone you love to see what a horrible drug this is? Neither of us ever had ADD as a child, but was prescribed it in our thirties. I went in asking about something to help me with my stress at work, hoping for some Xanax and was given Adderall from my OBGYN. My husband tried some and then went to his own doctor and got some. He's changed doctors three times since getting on it initially. With his personality I don't know if he'll ever be able to get off it. He has an extremely stressful job as an executive level employee with an asshole CEO who has impossible deadlines. My husband works nearly every night until 4:00 in the morning and goes in at 8am. I feel so helpless and just feel so sorry for my kids.

[Lilah]

That is a tough one. I think the legal rule around adderall dosage is that they cannot prescribe more than one months dose at a time. But I do not know if there is a limit to how much that dosage can be. I was prescribed 120 20 mg pills a month. Any dr worth their salt could tell you that if I had taken as prescribed, which I didn't even at the height of my abuse because my heart couldn't handle it, it would have killed a 110 lb girl. But it was legal.

Best of luck, I understand what a tough call this one is. If he really sees no problem whatsoever with adderall usage though, I don't think there is much you can do except work on YOURSELF and then serve as a shining example of the fact that it is possible to quit and there are positive benefits associated with it. Let me ask you this, what would it mean for your family if your husband lost or quit his job? As someone owns currently works in such an environment I can say that I couldn't have possibly kept up while quitting. Only after a good chunk of time of being clean could I handle it and even then the temptation to relapse was huge. Does your family have the means to survive if he took a lower pressure lower pay job for awhile while he recovered and found a better job or for him to start his own business? If so, you could frame quitting as an opportunity for him to come into his own, become centered, and then find a better job with a better boss, or pursue his own passions as his own boss. Again, best of luck. Focus on the fact that you're only beginning your own journey, and just for you being clean, your family is already better off.

[Whittering]

That is a tough one. I think the legal rule around adderall dosage is that they cannot prescribe more than one months dose at a time. But I do not know if there is a limit to how much that dosage can be. I was prescribed 120 20 mg pills a month. Any dr worth their salt could tell you that if I had taken as prescribed, which I didn't even at the height of my abuse because my heart couldn't handle it, it would have killed a 110 lb girl. But it was legal.

Best of luck, I understand what a tough call this one is. If he really sees no problem whatsoever with adderall usage though, I don't think there is much you can do except work on YOURSELF and then serve as a shining example of the fact that it is possible to quit and there are positive benefits associated with it. Let me ask you this, what would it mean for your family if your husband lost or quit his job? As someone owns currently works in such an environment I can say that I couldn't have possibly kept up while quitting. Only after a good chunk of time of being clean could I handle it and even then the temptation to relapse was huge. Does your family have the means to survive if he took a lower pressure lower pay job for awhile while he recovered and found a better job or for him to start his own business? If so, you could frame quitting as an opportunity for him to come into his own, become centered, and then find a better job with a better boss, or pursue his own passions as his own boss. Again, best of luck. Focus on the fact that you're only beginning your own journey, and just for you being clean, your family is already better off.

[Whittering]

Thanks Lilah, your response was what I needed to hear. You are right. At least I can be responsible for myself and make sure he sees the changes in me. A lot of prayer can move mountains though and he kicked a cocaine habit before we even met. So there is hope.

I went back to my doctor today. He wanted to see how my Adderall XR was doing. I told him it was horrible. I had been angry and agitated the whole time I was on it and had almost gotten two people fired because I realize now I require perfection when I'm on this drug. I told him I was off it now and not getting back on it. (somewhere I read telling your doctor is a big step) He then told me he could put me on a anti-depressant and there was a new stimulant without all the salts in the amphetamine. He called it Folcumin. I haven't had time to look it up. But I told him flat out I didn't want to be medicated any more.

[quit-once]

In the medical profession, medicated patients = job security for doctors. It's a scam. There will be plenty of times in our lives when we will have no choice about being medicated. You did the right thing today and you will look back and see this day was pivotal in growing away from your addiction. You owed it to your family and co-workers to quit because they depend on you for sober, competant leadership. Your old man won't even consider quitting until he sees there is a problem. The most adderall I have heard of anybody getting is 120 pills per month (30mg of course) or 4 per day. So he still has a lot of room to grow his addiction if his doctor concurs. He is better off with an adderall addiction than being a coke-head so it could be worse.

And for the sake of everybody downstream including the fish (and your relationship) dont flush his pills down the toilet!

[Whittering]

Thanks Quit-once, I literally laughed out loud at your response. I didn't think about the fish..

Without giving my doctor too much information about my husband, I asked about prescription dosages. He said the most he's ever prescribed was 30mg twice a day and that was rare. I asked what about doctors who were prescribing more? He said they wren't supposed to and that it would create hypertension and other adverse side effects. I haven't told my husband yet about my conversation with the doctor. I am just waiting on the right time but I surely don't want him to die on us. And his company is not one where he could take off for several weeks for withdrawal. And we are pretty dependent on both our salaries, so he cannot quit. I know before Adderall, he used to talk a lot about having his own business and had a great entrepreneurial spirit. It just hit me reading through these various threads on this website that he hasn't talked about that in a long time. Maybe it's Adderall or maybe the economy. I do know when I quit Adderall back in September, I started looking for other jobs in my company. I realized I was in a holding pattern. I was just a drone working my ass off all the time and there were better jobs I could do for more money. That's my new ambition now. I just hope nobody recognizes me on this website.

Someone on here said something about staying on Adderall but just being "aware" of your actions. Maybe I can talk to my husband about that. Quit-once, I don't think you responded very positively to that thread, but maybe for someone still on Adderall, it's an approach I can talk to him about. He's in denial. When I tell him how angry and short-tempered he is with the kids and that we all walk on egg shells around him, though he denies it, I can tell he lightens up around the kids. He used to be the most laid back person and now he's a type A personality magnified by ten! But then again with the asshole boss he has and stress at work how do I really know he wouldn't also be like this if he'd never known Adderall?

Thanks for the responses and listening to my problems. This forum has helped me so much and I really appreciate this website and Mike for putting it up. I've felt all alone in this fight and feel comforted that other people are going through similar situations. I thought it was odd yesterday and kind of ironic that I went to my OBGYN who I wanted Xanax from five years ago and he prescribed Adderall. Yesterday he gave me a prescription for Xanax. I just wonder where I would be today if he'd prescribed Xanax five years ago instead of Adderall. I wanted something to relax me and he gave me speed. I don't need Xanax now. But I will be very careful about taking any prescription medications in the future.

[RScapricorn6]

I thought the highest dose allowed was 60 mg a day.

I wouldn't dump the pills down the toilet. He'll panic! maybe try an intervention and a rehab. but that might interfer with work. I am sorry but he might lose his job when he is getting off adderall. The first month of withdrawl is horrible. and its hard to concentrate and work during that time. He might want to approach his boss and ask for extended sick leave. to kick the habit.

Working till 4 am and then going to work at 8 rings alot of bells with me. I used to stay up all night partying and then go to college early in the morning with little or no sleep at all. ITS unsustainable. ITS unhealthy. and it will catch up with him eventually. because of the pep pills he probably doesn;t even feel the tiredness his body is screaming to tell him. I know the feeling......exhaustion...until i pop one of those pills and have a coffee...then sleep! who needs it! .....he does though...

I was hospitalized in order for me to get off adderall. That might be an option. But i would seriously get clearance for work, try to convince him to stop, and then take the time to recover.

[Greg]

Whittering,

I was never able to get a doctor to prescribe me that high so I was getting 2x30mgs a day from two different doctors each month. I've heard of instances where they give out up to 30mgs x4 a day, but i think generally 2x30mgs is the standard highest possible dosage.

This is definitely a tough one.

Maybe you could try talking to him when the medication is wearing off and he's in withdrawal and he can see more clearly how crappy this drug is.

I think you should try to get him out of denial first. Make him realize if he can't live comfortably without it, and he feels like he needs it and he's gaining tolerance or running out of pills early so he needs to go to a doctor to get on a bigger dosage...it's all the classic symptoms of addiction. Maybe get him to realize, if he's not addicted, then quitting adderall shouldn't be a big deal for him one way or the other, right? Denial is definitely a symptom of dependence.

I know this sounds obvious, but with those crazy hours, his job is likely pushing him further into it...You mentioned that he wants to start his own business. It seems like that option is where he'll be his own boss and happiest...

Sigh. I can't stand adderall. At first, Adderall makes you feel like you can do anything but eventually it seems without it, you can't do anything... It's such a bad deal...

[Whittering]

I agree it is a bad deal. I didn't realize it for so many years. In my eyes I was just doing what my doctor said and thought he knew best. I want to print out some of the information from this site and read it to him. I think it will help once he sees himself in some of these posts.

I'm thinking of telling him about the l-tyrosine and see if he'll switch to that. L-tyrosine made me feel like I was on Adderall...... So I got off it too. It was scaring me a little bit... But things have been good so far without it. I may have taken too much on the front end. Do you know if it's ever given anyone a heart attack? I just took about a fourth of a capsule today when I was getting tired and had a long drive. Seemed to work. No heart palpitations like when I took it the first time.

[Whittering]

Update: I finally talked to my husband about three weeks ago. He listened patiently to everything I said. I told him I wasn't judging him and what my doctor said about dosages that high perpetuating hypertension. I told him how great I felt and how I hadn't felt this good in twenty years and my concentration was back. He said " I hear you and I will definitely think about what all you've said." He said "I agree with you that it's an addiction and not healthy but it's something I'll have to work out on my own. You'll have to give me some time. "

I guess that's a good response. I then left town for two weeks for work. And he's been out of the country for this last week with his work. So I'll hit him up again on how he's doing this weekend. That's not nagging, right?