AlwaysAwesome

June 5th will be my "1 year". I am feeling great! It is hard to get past the cravings in the beginning. The sense that it will be better if you could just get your Adderall back. Maybe it has been long enough that it will work the way it used to. Ha! Lies...all lies. I am so grateful to the people on this site for being a sounding board and a source of inspiration. They helped to keep me from going back to the doctor. If you feel weak, read the articles and posts. You can do this. Don't give in and you will see... I am proud of all of the newbies! It is so hard in the beginning. Love to you all!

Awesomeness is all relative. The Adderall awesome is what is false...you are awesome without it. I will always be awesome, even if I am super lazy some days. It is okay to be a slug and recover. WELCOME!!

YAY! I hope that you do become addicted to a healthy lifestyle. I haven't been able to make the habit stick consistently, but it is getting better day by day.

Sweating...there is no meme that can show how sweaty I was on Addy...

LOL, anyone? How about EVERYONE! You are experiencing recovery from Adderall. It SUCKS, but it does get better. It will not get better if you get back on the drug, though. You are doing so great! Just hold steady and stay the course. Have a nap and a snack! Don't worry about weight at this time. Have some comfort foods. I ate soooo much icecream when I was at the 2 month point (damn bluebell and their bacterial contamination!). Chips and salsa, cookies and milk...yummy. Netflix, snacks, and time. That is the best medicine. This too shall pass. It won't be the last time, but the cravings become fewer and farther between. You can do this.

Was it really that fun? I had headaches and jaw pain the whole time I was on it. That nasty feeling of being tired, but unable to sleep. Not being able to come up with the words to hold a decent conversation. UGH, terrible. No, it really wasn't fun at all...

It does get better! Just hold the line!!

On the articles page, there is a great article for friends and family (nonusers). It is called "How to help a friend quit Adderall". I had my husband and a couple of coworkers read it. At first, they were like "okay, whatever". But they soon saw the side effects of quitting. My coworkers never knew me before Adderall, but my husband did. He has been instrumental in reminding me of how things were "before". Have your boyfriend read that article. It may help a little.

Well said.

Sigh...to have never known that feeling...

Sounds about right to me. Sorry, but that is the way recovery from this drug goes. Get plenty of sleep, caffeine, and exercise (well...try to exercise). You can get through this! I know it isn't much help, but this seems pretty normal from my experience. You will hit a few more walls in the coming months. After about 9 months, the walls stayed out of my way.

I have a fibromyalgia type muscle pain issue. Have had it all my life. IN the beginning, Adderall helped. But, the years of little sleep and not taking care of myself made the pain worse. Adderall stopped working for that, too. Nowadays, I just work through it with the benefit of ibuprofen. Exercise and plenty of rest, plus quitting wheat, most grains and sugar, help me to not ache all the time. Wheat causes inflammatory processes in the body which are very damaging. Sugars (and anything which the body turns in to sugar) create small particle lipids in the body. I have a Lipoprotein (a) 5-6 times normal. I don't want to die young of a massive heart attack with "perfect cholesterol". Look into dietary solutions. We are what we eat, thus we are chemicals and crap mostly...

The need to be perfect is hard to overcome. I struggle with it everyday. But, when you slow down and look around you... no one is looking at you. People are too busy worrying about their own issues to worry about you. That fact is liberating, don't you think. If you are too busy with your own issues to pay attention to others, why do you think it's not the same for everyone else? Now, quit this drug and get back your life! You can do it!! My husband is a gamer, but not me. Also, he has never taken Adderall and doesn't have a single tattoo. Weird, it's like we are totally different! LOL.

Tell your family. My husband and kids knew that I stopped my medicine and I was tired for a very long time. My house is still not where I want it to be. BUT, have you ever watched Hoarders? Those people have kids and the kids adapt to that mess. They can live with the dishes not being done right away and a pile of clean laundry. I dig through my pile to find clothes all the time. I just can't bring myself to fold and hang clothes... I play with the kids more. I laugh more. I smile and listen to their stories. I am engaged. It just takes will power and time. Sleep and snacks. Determination. You CAN do this. You MUST do this. You are not the best mom you can be when you are worrying about this. You can't be. We don't have to be perfect. I think that is the thing which is hardest for me to overcome. The need to be perfect and have everything fall neatly into line...as if it ever really did.

I really wanted the bird to step over the glob and for the world to start to get lighter...because, that is how it works.

WOW! Way to Go LILTEX! You have always been a huge inspiration to me. Keep it up!

I used to quit for a month or so and then start back up on my same dose, just hoping that it would work like it used to work. How is that for crazy. I would endure the withdrawal just trying to get back to the way it used to be. Weight control was gone, energy wasn't the same, and I knew I needed a higher dose just to get those benefits back. I made the choice to quit that roller coaster. I didn't want to get deeper into what I knew was destroying me. You can do this. Tell everyone you know and then just stop. Don't beat yourself up, either. We have all been there soooooo many times...

Cough.

WOW! I am super impressed! Rock on, LILTEX!

Snacks...mmmmm.

I told everyone that I know. I even tell strangers. I posted "my story" on Facebook. I ruined any chance I had of secretly going back to the pills. It also helped me to explain away the weight gain. I have actually stopped several of my friends from starting on Adderall! I am pretty proud of that. It is not right for everyone, but it is the main thing that kept me accountable.

Your story is so similar to many of ours. I am a mom of 2, and although I never took any of my daughter's meds, I did think about it many times. It made me so ashamed just to think about doing it. I hate looking back on how my life was when the pharmacy was out of my prescription and I had to wait several days (!) for it to come in. 11 months ago I decided to stop the horrible roller coaster ride of addiction. Best choice ever! Yesterday was my first mother's day without Adderall in over 6 years! I took a nap, because I have a cold, and just hung out with the family. Take it easy on yourself. The drug has a hold on you. You can quit, you just have to do it. Just stop. Tell everyone that you are an addict and you are quitting. That is the hardest part. I believe it is the only way. Good luck, but remember that the ride can't go on this way forever. You have to stop sooner or later, and it should be on your terms. Take back the power. Welcome and hang in there!

It is amazing how easy it is to get to sleep once you aren't on Adderall anymore. 9:30 and I am yawning and getting ready for bed...nice.

Almost 1 year, Survived. Super exciting times, right? YAY!!

YAY!! You are doing so great! You are helping others, too. Hang in there and enjoy the new freedom from chemicals.