Back to adderall?

[Addgirl426]

Ok so basically i've been clean of adderall for 2 months but the 10 pound weight gain and the lack of focus/motivation is enough to make me reconsider taking adderall... i'm studying for my trading license and my CFA so i need complete focus. There is a part of me that recalls the horrible fatigue that accompanied withdrawals, which also makes me hesitate but then i'm thinking perhaps i could only take adderall prior to studying as opposed to a daily dosage. I would appreciate your complete candor wrt my thoughts. I guess i'm hoping that you all would offer a new perspective or perhaps suggestions on how to focus and minimize weight gain. Thank you in advance.

[Cassie]

I felt the same way at the two month mark. I quit Adderall for two months last year, then started again because I didn't feel the fatigue or motivation improving at all. When I quit again nine months later I had to go through the same thing again. What I realized was that it takes a long time for your brain and body to get back to normal. I didn't feel like I had any energy or focus until the third/fourth month (around now). One day a few weeks ago, I was complaining to my husband that I still felt like crap after three months sober. He said, 'Well, three months isn't a long time to quit something.' I found that statement humbling. I realized that three months really isn't a long time in the grand scheme of a five year daily addiction! I felt so silly that I expected to feel perfect again after just a couple months.

You should try to take it easy on yourself and focus on eating healthy, doing aerobic exercise every day, and taking the right supplements (caffeine, l-tyrosine, fish oil, etc.) That's all you can do, really. The rest is going to be your brain readjusting, making tweaks to get its neurotransmitters back to homeostasis, and that can take many months, depending on your dosage and length of time on the drug. I think as a rough estimate, you can expect it to take a month for every year on the drug (just my opinion). If you were truly addicted to the drug, it might be wishful thinking to say you are going to get another prescription and only use it to study. I know that would have never worked for me because I would have rationalized taking it every day again and of course, we all know how the tolerance builds up. When I went back to Adderall after two months off, I was abusing it again within the first week. I think you should hang in there. You don't want to relapse like I did and have to go through the crappy first two months all over again. I wish I would have just hung in there the first time, because I started feeling better in months three and four. But, it all depends how ready you are to be Adderall-free. Good luck!

Cassie