Slick37075 Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Before this year, I often thought I would benefit from taking Adderall. I'm a retail buyer with a lot of responsibility and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure my job gets done and I tend to take on other responsibilities because I don't think others take their jobs as seriously as l do. Anyways, cut to January 2016, I told my doctor my sob story and he agreed to write me a prescription of Adderall. First I was taking 15mg of immediate release, and to the current date (July 2016), I'm on 25mg XR daily. Work has been great. I'm getting everything done. I'm getting everything done in less hours than before. At first physical activity was awesome. I'm a cyclist and on Adderall I was able to ride longer and faster than I was before. I loved it, but now I'm noticing that I have to drink a LOT more liquids to keep from getting dehydrated, and I've been dehydrated a whole bunch lately, and it sucks. When I wake up in the morning I don't feel energized until at least an hour after my morning dosage. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks (I go back tomorrow), and I've done pretty much nothing. I wake up at 7:00am, take my Adderall with breakfast, but not get out of bed until at least noon. I'm a bed potatoe. I know I'm going to feel like shit for a few days, but I think going off Adderall is what I need to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renascido Posted July 13, 2016 Report Share Posted July 13, 2016 It sounds to me like you've done a great job answering the question that you were almost assuredly asking yourself: "What is causing this?" Adderall can seem like a Godsend when you begin taking it. The effectiveness of adderall is what makes it so good, but yet so bad at the same time. So good because while you are on it, you can accomplish a week's worth of tasks within a day - something that probably never seemed possible sans adderall. Bad because it's this effectiveness that makes it so damn hard to admit to yourself that adderall is the true reason behind much of our accumulating troubles. It seems to me that the honey moon stage of adderall has likely worn off for you, and that if you continue to use it, you'll either continue feeling sluggish, operating at a half-optimal level, or you'll be forced to increase your dosage only to find that you'll be right back in the state that you currently are only months from now. I fully support your decision in quitting. It'l be rough at first, but considering you only took it for about half a year, you shouldn't feel the effects for too long. You'll be back on your feet in no time, and you'll definitely thank yourself for making one of the toughest--yet rewarding--decisions of your life. Good luck to you, and please message me if you have any questions! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerokewl Posted July 13, 2016 Report Share Posted July 13, 2016 quit while you are ahead! This forum is filled of stories of people just like you who started upping their dose etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted July 13, 2016 Report Share Posted July 13, 2016 Go with your instinct and quit. So many well intended people let the pressures of work drive their increased reliance on adderall. Don't do it. I'm not sure how old you are or where you stand with marriage and kids etc... But believe me the longer one stays on adderall the higher the tab to get out. For anyone reading this who's perhaps relatively new to work life after school/college who can't imagine how they could keep their job and get off adderall; imagine the same scenario with a spouse of 20 years, teenage children, mortgage, car payments, college tuition looming, on and on! So what am I trying to say, get the hell off adderall while the damage is relatively small by comparison. Good luck and God bless. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemoon Posted July 13, 2016 Report Share Posted July 13, 2016 Stop now while you can. My doctor tried to cut me off at about 4 months after I started taking Adderall, when he noticed I was upping my dose without his consent and I absolutely LOST IT when I ran out early one month. What I didn't realize then, was that he was trying to save me from this hell I have created for myself. I was so mad at him for cutting me off, and it didn't take long for me to find another doctor that was willing to subscribe it to me. And the whirlwind continued... I thought I had found my magic pill that solved all my problems. I grew dependent on it, I couldn't get out of bed without it, and needed more and more to get the same effect. Eventually, a few months later, I realized I had an addiction. An addiction that wasn't sustainable longterm, and it didn't even feel good at high doses anymore.. In fact, it made me feel HORRIBLE and unable to function normally. I wasted the next TWO YEARS "trying to quit" more times than I can count, going on and off this horrible drug... Until one day I said enough is enough. I signed up on this site and made my first post, got some much needed support and advice, flushed my pills, told my doctor I had a problem and I never want it prescribed to me again (this step is crucial to success in quitting), and here I am almost 8 months later, STILL dealing with post acute withdrawal syndrome. So, not only did I waste 3 years on that awful drug, but now I have spent the better part of a year suffering with the consequences I have to face from abusing Adderall. Depression, lethargy, anxiety, extreme weight gain, anhedonia, zero motivation, the list goes on.... And I still have a long way to go in recovery. In summary, what I'm trying to say is QUIT NOW and don't end up like me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick37075 Posted July 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 So far, so good. Today will be the second day without taking my daily dosage. Yesterday I didn't get out of bed until 10:30am, because I felt shitty. I took a dose of those Rasberry ketones you can buy at Walmart. That helped pick me up a little bit. I'm sure today will be worse than yesterday since I am further away from my last dosage, and closer to the drug being out of my system completely. Thanks for all the encouragement. I've encountered a few of each of your experiences while taking Adderall and I'm sure I'm doing the right thing by stopping now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Good job keep goin! Try to remind yourself constantly that while you might feel like crap as you go through the coming weeks, it's absolutely a cake walk to the hell you face in the future if you stay on adderall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oswhid Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 So great to read about someone who is backing away from the abyss before it's too late! Congratulations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traceme Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 This forum exists for a reason. Every story, every situation, and everyone here wants a better life. Welcome. I wish I could have your intuition. It's a beautiful thing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffman Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Before this year, I often thought I would benefit from taking Adderall. I'm a retail buyer with a lot of responsibility and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure my job gets done and I tend to take on other responsibilities because I don't think others take their jobs as seriously as l do. Anyways, cut to January 2016, I told my doctor my sob story and he agreed to write me a prescription of Adderall. First I was taking 15mg of immediate release, and to the current date (July 2016), I'm on 25mg XR daily. Work has been great. I'm getting everything done. I'm getting everything done in less hours than before. At first physical activity was awesome. I'm a cyclist and on Adderall I was able to ride longer and faster than I was before. I loved it, but now I'm noticing that I have to drink a LOT more liquids to keep from getting dehydrated, and I've been dehydrated a whole bunch lately, and it sucks. When I wake up in the morning I don't feel energized until at least an hour after my morning dosage. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks (I go back tomorrow), and I've done pretty much nothing. I wake up at 7:00am, take my Adderall with breakfast, but not get out of bed until at least noon. I'm a bed potatoe. I know I'm going to feel like shit for a few days, but I think going off Adderall is what I need to do. Judging by what you're saying, you seem to derive a lot of your self-worth from the work you do. Now, this in itself is not a bad thing except when it leads you down a road of "if I could JUST find a way to do EVERYTHING, THEN I would truly be happy". Adderall becomes a VERY attractive option when you veer down this path, because it gives you the feeling (I wrote a post on this in the past, Adderall gives you the feeling that you can do everything, but it doesn't necessarily make you better at anything) that YES, Yes I can do it all!! Or at least at the beginning it does. But, as we all now know, it comes at a high price and that feeling fades over time and requires the use of more to get the same effect. This 'more to get the same effect' is absolutely dangerous and the reason why you need to stop this cycle right now before it gets any worse. Take this fatigue you're experiencing that this is a warning sign that you need to stop taking these pills. Luckily for you, you've only taken Adderall for a relatively short amount of time, so you shouldn't experience withdrawals for very long and should expect to recover in short time. However, I believe you need to seriously reflect on your position of everything needing to be done a certain way and taking on other's responsibilities. This line of thinking will eventually cause you to relapse each time you feel that you aren't good enough as you are to complete the tasks you're wishing to complete. I say out of experience and is something I'm continually having to work on. I would highly recommend counseling to you, because you need to address the underlying emotions and thought processes that got you to using Adderall in the first place. Good luck and use the site often, it helps and many of us are in relatively the same position you're in now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick37075 Posted July 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Well, I didn't take a dose Wednesday or Thursday. Both days I woke up feeling crappy, even though I'd taken a dose on Tuesday I felt crappy on Wednesday morning. Cut to Friday. Felt crappy Friday morning. Got to work about 10:30am, and decided to take a dose. Felt great the rest of the day, but almost didn't sleep one bit Friday night. Did not take a dose on Saturday, but felt great all day. Don't plan to take a dose on Sunday. I'm sure I won't feel very good Sunday morning, but I'm not taking it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick37075 Posted July 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Also, the last time I went to the doctor he told me to take B12 every now and then, but I haven't been doing that. I've started taking a daily dose of B12. Hoping that helps with kicking this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemoon Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 You can do this!! But if you're serious about quitting, you need to get rid of your pills and your access to the pills. You can't have the option of taking a pill if you're feeling crappy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeHereNow Posted July 18, 2016 Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Congrats Slick on this decision. I wish I had known that I needed to quit much sooner than I did. You've started the phase where the "benefits" have worn off and the drug is turning on you. As much as it helped you at first, it will now hurt you if you continue. And the longer you continue, the worse you'll feel next time. It sounds like you're doing okay right now. If you've already gotten it out of your system, I'd say keep going. Every time you try to quit a substance, it's harder and worse than the previous time. Don't tempt yourself to re-awaken that sleeping dragon. Flush that crap and cut yourself off for good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick37075 Posted July 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 It's a lot easier getting up in the morning, since I don't take Adderall anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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