Sirpumpkin

One year ago from today, I stopped taking adderall. I can't express how helpful reading everyones comments in the forum were to getting through this year. I just wanted to say thanks to those who take the time to post. For those of you who have just quit, please give it time. I haven't really felt good or back to normal until month 12.

Howdy Gigem2012 - I'm assuming that you may have graduated from Texas A&M based on your user name. I'm sure we share similar stories. I took adderall to get through college and continued to take it for five more years after graduation - so about 10 years in total. Congrats on getting off of it, 11 months is an accomplishment. I took my last adderall on 12/6/12 and through this forum am 2 days shy of 11 months. I also have feelings of being disoriented, lethargic (at times), and kinda cloudy in the head. I also encountered spouts of mild depression. Based on what I've read through the forums it takes longer than a year to get back to normal. Do you feel better today than say 5 months in? I know I do. Some things that have helped me were meeting with a therapist, having a journal of when I felt bad, etc. A prescription to Wellbutrin, an anti-d which increases dopamine, was also helpful. So in short, I think it's normal. Good for you for getting off so quick, holding down a job, getting married etc. Plus nothing made me more anxious then watching the Aggie football game vs Alabama last year on stimulants - haha.

I'm also 8 months off adderall. Feel the same way. Have your tried l tyrosine, I think my 10 years of adderall usage left me with a dopamine shortage. This helped a lot. I take 1,500 mg with b6 and vitamin c. Started to feel like my old self.

Workingthroughit and Sebastian05 - I believe I'm having some of the same issues you are experiencing, except I'm a CPA not a lawyer. I was on adderall for 10 years, through College, Grad School, CPA Exam, and the first 6 years or so of my career, which included working at large accounting firm for 60 hours a day. I'm not sure that I would have picked this profession if I wasn't on adderall, which is really scary. I got off of adderall on December 6th, so about 8 months ago. After switching doctors after a move, my new adderall Docotr was a Neurologist and after a year with him we decided that I needed to get off the medicine. He recommended that I see a psychoanalyst (therapist) to confirm that I actually had ADD. After much introspection it turns out that I'm just have an over achieving (type-a) personality and lacked the confidence in my abilities and was experiencing anxiety. Going and see a therapist helped me a lot, so that would be a one recommendation. You say you want to get back on adderall, why don't you try and find a really good Doctor to help you through this? Here are a few other experiences I have had off the medicine: Bad Experiences: 1) Tired / Lethargic - I wake up tired. Get through the day the best I can. I do not feel euphoric about doing accounting / finance spreadsheets - shocker. 2) Will I ever be normal? Wow I've been on amphetamines for 10 years which I used to control/mask my emotions. Now I'm either depressed or overly happy. I feel so much more. 3) Lack of patience. Taking pills to get shit done everyday for 10 years is a hard psychological hurdle to over come. Especially when you encounter success from taking the pill. This expectation of quick results we have formed in our subconscious is hard, especially when recovering. 4) Adderall Substitues - If your not self-aware it's really easy to find yourself replacing adderall with other things. For instance, too much alcohol, energy replacements, food. Now some good experiences: 1) Accomplishing a big project on my own - I almost cried when I got positive feedback for a project I worked on. This is my life. 2) Sleep and sex. Both better off adderall. 3) Better connection with my wife. We take more openly and freely. She supports me getting off and is willing to financially support us if that's what it comes down to. 4) Adderall is no longer then #1 thing in my life. All I would do is obsess about adderall. How much I had left, when my prescription was due, when I could take my next dose, etc. etc. 5) Meeting people. I'm great with people off adderall. I'm relaxed, funny, charming, caring. On adderally, I would speak 5x as fast, had dry mouth and would steal the conversation. 5) No more stupid adderall shopping. On adderall... all I wanted to do is research apple news and get excited about buying dump shit I didn't need. 6) Getting off adderall also helped address some of the other drug related family problems going on in my life. 7) I can feel big life events. No longer numb to weddings, funerals, real life conversations. Here are some questions I would ask myself before getting back on: 1) Would you let your kid take adderall? 2) Is taking amphetamines for financial success more important than your actual relationship with your family? In my experiences my dad is a very successful executive, takes adderall, and is completely emotionally not there for his wife and the family. Would you be ashamed to tell your family what you believe to be the driver of your success? 3) What are your other vices related to adderall? I know 8 people who take adderall... and all of them do at least one of the following: heavily drink, tobacco, sleeping pills, etc. to take off the edge. Whatever happens, you both should be proud for coming to this forum and posting comments. I wish I never took adderall. It's so hard to come off of it. Therapy and this site helped alot. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. Keep us posted!

Sebastian05 - You will be fine. This is my first post, but I saw to many similarities in our situation and felt I had to reply: I was on adderall for 10 years (through college, grad school, CPA exam, and 5 years of work). I'm currently 31 years old, my highest dosage was 60mg, but had a fair share of 100 plus days. I do not have ADHD, but benefited from taking adderall in the sense that it helped my grades. I have anxiety, maybe depression. I am currently employed in a detail oriented job where I am expected to perform and contribute. I have only been off of adderall for 45 days. I am not going to lie and tell you that I am as productive as I was two months ago, but I can assure you that you will be find and be able to quickly recover in this period. Here is what has worked for me: Talk Therapy. I see the above comments about BIg Pharma, etc.. I was lucky enough to have a doctor who cared enough to recommend Talk Therapy (Psychoanalysis). For me it is important to get to the root of why/how I could take a medicine for 10 years. Having someone keep you accountable also help. After 14 days the effects of adderall are physically out of your system. Now you are dealing w/ the psychological impact. This is were having a therapist and a plan really helps out. On a personal note - I failed at quitting the first time (five years ago) because I felt to lethargic after being 3 months sober. While I was off the meds I would obsess about my energy level, focus, etc. All I wanted was adderall or an energy supplement like adderall. This time (with therapy and through this website) I realize that I will never organically have the head rush and euphoria adderall provides on a pills notice. That's not normal. Exercise - specifically cardo Fish Oil - I like Omega Brite. It says take 3, I take 4. Is there a quittingfishoil.com? Coffee, Yerba Mate Tea, Advocare - Pink Lemonade Spark (must be Pink Lemonade, fruit punch is worthless). This website and articles. I had no idea that there are so many people just like me. What I like about my life post adderall: Sleep More empathy, better relationships (wife, friends, etc). Increased sex drive. Better at the more important aspects of my job (e.g. getting along w/ coworkers, not being tweaked out and inside my head, etc). I believe relationships will get you further than any memo, spreadsheet, email, etc. Ability to find what I really like. On adderall everything is awesome. There was a time I would spend an extra two hours on a project formatting font, colors, etc for the fun of it. Pretty lame. Now I love the sense of confidence I get in knowing I accomplished a task and that quicker is better than perfect. The feeling of working on yourself (e.g. getting off adderall) is better than the feeling of resentment, shame, etc taking adderall. Especially when your just taking the adderall to see friends, fold clothes, get through life. Only reading your post, you seem like an anxious person who really wants to impress their family (been there pal). I'm guessing that while you were in law school you made bad grades in classes/sections that weren't interesting enough for you to excel in. Not to mention law school (much like med school - my wife can attest to) and MBA school are full of adderall cheaters gunning for grades (I was one of them). Now that you have your credentials, get off the meds, give your body some time to get better and find out what you really like. I have a feeling you'll be fine. Don't worry about the health consequences of 10mg over 4 years, agree w/ the other post in that you should not experience any long term physiological consequences. Addressing your mental health issues will get you solid again.