Quit altogether or just lower my dose?

[jeffersontbs]

Hello, everyone.

 

I have been going back and forth with this idea and I don't know what the right thing to do here. I was doing some web-browsing and I found the question: 

 

Making the decision to quit

Do you really need to quit, or just lower your dose? I generally hear two stories when people tell me they want to quit Adderall:

Story #1:  â€œMy life was a mess before Adderall. When I started Adderall, everything got better; I finally felt normal. Then I started spiraling my dose upwards, and things got out of control, and now I just want to quit.â€

If this is you, then the issue might not be Adderall overall, but rather the high dose you’ve climbed up to. Quitting completely might be too severe. Try to get down to a lower dose first (and stick to it). See how that works out for you, and then decide if there’s still something to gain by quitting completely.

Story #2: â€œI don’t feel like myself on Adderall; and looking back, I never really have. I feel like it enabled me to carry my life in a direction that I wouldn’t have wanted without it. I think my life would be happier, more fulfilling, and oddly more productive without it.â€

 

I, like probably most of you, am a little bit of both. As far as Story #1, when I first started Adderall (senior year in high school-7 years ago) everything did get better and I felt normal in the sense that I could actually write a paper and sit down and concentrate on assignments and tasks other students could do in their sleep. (I think I truly had some form of ADD..or however we define it...I wasn't just lazy in other words.) I had also taken dance classes since I was in middle school and I was always in the back...not confident with myself and wouldn't give it my all. After taking the drug the first time I was able to shine and be confident in myself in different ways. It also gave me more energy so I was able to work out more, and harder, and I got a better body. 

 

I also feel like I am some of Story #2, I really don't feel like myself on Adderall. You all know how that goes-sense of humor, relating to people, having a personality, laughing and relaxing with others-and yes I feel like it enabled me to carry my life in a direction that I wouldn't have wanted without it-but I don't know if that is a bad thing. 

 

Do any of you have successful stories of how you took adderall way too much (as in up to 90-120+mg a day, compulsively) and then coming back down to a lower dose and controlling your usage instead of quitting altogether?

 

I talked to my doctor about my concern (I didn't tell him straight up I was addicted, but just that I wanted to lower my doses and change things up). I told him sometimes I feel like I have never taken the drug to begin with because it's like I have this crutch. He told me that many patients he prescribed adderall to said that the drug changed their lives for the better. 

 

I tried a couple times to portion out my prescription (portion out the 'prescribed' number of pills by week in zip-lock baggies) where I would only be able to have my hands on the current week. My boyfriend would lock the other weeks in his car so I couldn't get to them so easy. It worked for a little while but then I convinced him to give me the rest because of "special circumstances". I know I am just lying to myself-and to him. 

 

After I have become this out of control with my dosage and taking the pills, I don't know if I can trust myself to take it "as prescribed" and lower and controlled doses. Any thoughts?

 

[LILTEX41]

I was going to suggest trying to taper first and see if you can do it that way.  It sounds like you already tried that and found it didn't work.  Now, I would try plan B: quit cold turkey, but make sure you carve out a good chunk of time that you can be utterly lethargic and sleep.  Maybe take a week vacation if possible?

[Bubbagump99]

I never abused my rx or took high dosages but I tried to quit cold turkey last year and not only did I gain like 10lbs in two weeks I felt like a fn paralyzed zombie. I went up to 15mg and then eventually just back on my 30mg.

As of January 1st this year I started tapering. I'm down to 5mg now. While most people on here have recommended cold turkey way, it did not work best for me. This tapering does. Honestly, either way is gong to suck.. But at least this way my body and brain aren't going into complete shock and I can at least function at 50% instead of nothing.

If you want to quit you need to be honest w your dr and just tell them. and eventually you'll need to make sure to cut off your ad supply so you can't get it.

You're not gonna quit until you're ready for it tho. The thing that did it for me was last December I had a false positive test and I was more concerned about having to quit the adderall than the fact that I was pregnant with someone else's baby. Yeah, big reality check. Scariest thing was thinking I had to stop taking those pills. Only then did I realize just how bad I 'needed' them.

It's just not a way to live your life...