Adderall and irritability

[artnmusic]

Hi folks, I've been appreciating reading peoples' posts here, esp those of women around my age (51). I was diagnosed (due to extreme self advocacy and persistence) at age 36. I have the "inattentive/usually overlooked in girls/ bright but unproductive" story. When I was diagnosed, it was a huge validation and relief. 15 years on, I can say that some things have improved, and others not at all! For many years I tried to address my symptoms with exercise, meditation, diet. I am in a 12 step program for food addiction which has been instrumental in my ability to do anything productive. Well, that strategy only works if you have time to fit all of that into your life, and then I had a kid, and my time was much more impacted. with breastfeeding my inattentiveness was constant. After about 2 years my anxiety start to shoot through the roof, esp in perimenopause (for me I started to have really debilitating anxiety and depression as my hormones fluctuated) and I had to say uncle and start meds! Now i'm taking 5 mg (only!) of Adderall XR and I wonder if others have this experience of when it wears off, feeling extreme agitation. I find myself being very short tempered and angry when there's no good cause. I actually feel that therapeutically (dopamine wise) I should increase my dose but nervous system wise seems a bad idea. I tried about 11 other meds so I've done a lot of research to try to find the right things for me. I'm curious if others have had this experience with Adderall XR. The non stimulant ones don't seem to help me. Thanks for any experience to share, or tips or encouragement or commiseration. All is appreciated.

[GabyLaw]

Wow. My adhd is why I'm childless. I'm still trial and error. I know Vyvanse was/is good for overeating?

[wtfadhd]

hey artnmusic,totally normal n typical to become irritable when stimulant med is completely out of system. keep in mind that when we take our stimulant meds, our brains are calming down n we more comfortable able to handle the reg stress of life. then the meds wear off but the demands of the day keeps happening and we are unarmed to handle it. So yea, totally normal and to be expected.

u said that u have tried lots of meds and adderall xr is the one that works so why even consider changing meds? i agree, sounds like the dose needs adjusted. xr doesnt necessarily mean that its supposed to last all day long. Currently i take a adderall xr in Am, and a lower dose of adderall xr in the afternoon if i feel like i need it to get thru the evening and not lose my shit. lol.

Also, adderall has always worked well for me but in the past 7 yrs of being on it i have switched it up many many times. i have changed the mg i take, taken breaks all together, switched from xr to short acting and back again, taken meds anywhere from 1-3 times a day and sometimes xr in AM and short acting in afternoon, etc etc. it totally depends on what is going on in my life and my ability to function well in all areas- career, motherhood, etc… my doctor is aware of this bc she prescribes accordingly. She said that this is typical . ADHD and humans are all very different so there is not a one size fits all and fits forever. lol

hope this helped❤️

[artnmusic in reply to wtfadhd]

Thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate hearing about it especially that you need to adjust as things (you) change. I tend to expect miracles from the drug, like, 'great, that's done, I don't have to think about that anymore' which isn't true in real life. I've gone off of it at times also - the negative side effects which affected me were the irritability, also my hair thinned (it was confirmed by my hair stylist, bc it matched the time frame that I was on it!) and I started to have heart palpitations. I may have titrated it up too quickly that time so I'm being conservative. Really not into losing my hair or having heart problems! So if I could find another medication that helped and didn't have these effects at the higher doses I'd be all ears.