Audrey H

PJPA I am too a college student in the process of quitting Adderall. However, my experience was very different. I was diagnosed with ADD and I took ritalin for some time (really low doses 10 mg a day in the morning) 5mg at noon if necessary. I never really had a problem until I lost 30 pounds on the span of 4 months. I quit taking it because it did not seem to help that much with school. Anyhow, I graduated college and proceeded to get into grad school. My second semester got really intense as far as schoolwork and reading. I went back to my psychiatrist and she prescribed me Adderall. I forgot to mention that I have panic disorder but I have managed to cope with it successfully. The first 6 months I took it every now and then when I had too much work piled up. I would take it to study for tests too. I did great in school. However, My second semester was very tough and we had an insane amount of group work. Things started going bad because I had to take it to study and then meet with my partners. this was awful because it made me really irritable and antisocial. My teammates were not really that organized and I started having conflicts with them because of the lack of organization and initiative. I lashed out on them a lot. Later on I started noticing I lashed out on a lot of people, my friends, my family, my boyfriend. Takingthe medicine was ok but every time the come downs got harder and harder to mange. I experienced several mental breakdowns. I failed a class. I became paranoid of everything and everyone. The problem is that I have a lot to do and read in school and adder all really helps me focus and i feel more normal on it but it wears off and its hell. Nobody can be on it forever. I have noticed I break out more, my hair got thin, I don't get that much sleep. I have mental breakdowns every weeks. I have tried several things to counteract the adverse effects. Finally, my psychiatrist put me on cymbalta and that helped a lot with the come downs and the anxiety but I still get it. I think this medicine is really something people shouldn't mess with if they do nor need it because it has destroyed part of my life, my personality. In the past year a lot of my friends commented on my strange and apathetic behavior. I feel like I'm not the same. Im thinking of quitting now that my semesters are lighter with school work, but its hard. Hang in there. I know we will make it through