The First Few Days of Adderall XR

I would ask the doctor to change to instant release and give that a shot. Adderall should work right away for instant mental energy with no buildup... in fact the first doses should be most noticeable.

Depending on your body weight and personal neurochemistry, 10 mg XR might not be enough to feel a subjective WHOA-type rush. However, ideally, it's supposed to be something that you don't feel super affected by in a consciousness altering sort of way. The fact that you got some work done and that it's uncharacteristic of you to do so is at least anecdata than maybe it's doing the trick.

I was doing great on some work I had to take care of, but then I switched on the TV, and BAM - TV was in my focus. I don't think there's any drug out there that's going to magically transform you into a motivated amazing person overnight. If you want to watch TV, you're going to watch TV on any ADD treatment.

I don't think there's any drug out there that's going to magically transform you into a motivated amazing person overnight. If you want to watch TV, you're going to watch TV on any ADD treatment. I realize that. I'm doing some other things besides just taking the drug to try to change the underlying habits. I was just wondering if the ability to focus that laser is something that takes practice, or if it's the effect of the drug. And I'm already beginning to suspect that practice will make perfect on this.

If you'd like to evaluate what the drug is like without the slow release, you can get around the XRness by crushing the pills/beads in the pills. IANAD.

I can't imagine taking XR "as needed;" it is really meant to work at a therapeutic load, not randomly. And if you don't work nights, 5pm is not when I would take it. When my husband was on it, it was a pretty strict schedule of first thing in the morning, with a midmorning snack of fat (usually cheese) to trigger the extended release. By 9pm he was a grumpy bear, and generally took one day a week off to de-amphetamine a little. But there was no "whoa," only "oh."

When my husband was on it, it was a pretty strict schedule of first thing in the morning, with a midmorning snack of fat (usually cheese) to trigger the extended release. By 9pm he was a grumpy bear, and generally took one day a week off to de-amphetamine a little. But there was no "whoa," only "oh." Yeah, I did that in a bit of my own stupidity. I've been dealing with this for so long, and I was so excited to finally get something that might possibly help that I popped a pill as soon as I got home, as opposed to waiting until tomorrow morning. I figured that if it was going to last about 8 hours, I could stay up a little later, knowing that I had plenty of work to accomplish this evening.

I can only tell you that for him, it was not instant, but it was soon and it was obvious. And what the drugs did for him was open up a whole bunch of bandwidth he didn't have before, and enable him to use it. It was, he said, his first perspective on "normal." He did a shitload of work to learn new habits, a new career, learn how to adapt to his kind of wiring, and then after 10 months went off it (and as far as I can see, has not needed a refresher in 5 years). That's kind of a golden case, not everybody can do that, but for him that was about as long as he could tolerate the side effects and still get a benefit from it. You do need to give it at least a week or so to build up before you can really assess what's starting to happen. I would skip tomorrow and take the next dose Friday morning. Whether you need "drug vacations" one or two days each weekend will be something you'll have to figure out after a few weeks or even months.

Adderall XR is designed to specifically not give you the speedy feel. It's meant to be an all day thing, that just tunes in your focus a little. When I started it, I did notice the exact same thing with the TV- whatever I pointed myself at, I could/would focus on it. With this new power comes great responsibility...