What are the approved uses for Adderall. How does Adderall work in the body. What are the recommended dosages for Adderall. What are the potential side effects and risks of taking Adderall. How should Adderall be taken properly. What are the legal considerations surrounding Adderall use.

The History and Development of Adderall

Adderall, a widely prescribed medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, has an interesting history dating back to the 1960s. Originally approved by the FDA in 1960 under the name Obetrol, it was initially used as an appetite suppressant. The FDA subsequently approved Adderall for ADHD treatment in 1996, despite the absence of clinical trials specifically testing its safety in children.

This decision has sparked debates within the medical community about the rigorous testing required for pediatric medications. A review published in PLoS One by researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School highlighted this controversy, raising questions about the approval process for drugs intended for use in children.

Forms and Availability of Adderall

Adderall is available in two primary formulations:

• Immediate-release tablets (Adderall IR)
• Extended-release capsules (Adderall XR)

Additionally, generic versions of the drug are available as amphetamine/dextroamphetamine salts. These various forms provide flexibility in treatment options, allowing healthcare providers to tailor the medication to individual patient needs.

Approved and Off-Label Uses of Adderall

While the FDA has officially approved Adderall for the treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy, some medical professionals prescribe it for off-label uses. These unapproved applications include:

• Treatment of depression
• Management of anxiety disorders
• Addressing bipolar depression
• Weight loss assistance

It’s crucial to note that off-label use should only be considered under the careful guidance of a qualified healthcare provider, as the safety and efficacy of Adderall for these conditions may not have been thoroughly studied.

Potential for Misuse and Legal Considerations

Due to its stimulant properties, Adderall has become a target for misuse, particularly among students and working professionals seeking to enhance focus and productivity. However, it’s important to understand that using Adderall without a prescription or selling/giving it away is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies Adderall as a controlled substance due to its high potential for addiction and abuse. This classification imposes strict regulations on its prescription and distribution.

How Adderall Works in the Body

Adderall’s mechanism of action revolves around its impact on specific neurotransmitters in the brain. The two active ingredients, amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, work synergistically to affect the levels of:

• Dopamine
• Adrenaline (epinephrine)
• Norepinephrine

For individuals with ADHD, who typically have imbalanced levels of these neurotransmitters, Adderall helps to regulate brain chemistry, reducing overstimulation and improving focus and impulse control.

In narcolepsy patients, the medication stimulates the brain to promote wakefulness by mimicking the effects of natural neurotransmitters.

Duration of Action

The duration of Adderall’s effects varies depending on the formulation:

• Immediate-release (IR) formula: Lasts approximately 4 to 6 hours
• Extended-release (XR) formula: Effective for about 8 to 12 hours

This difference in duration allows for flexibility in treatment plans, with some patients benefiting from the shorter-acting IR version, while others may prefer the convenience of the once-daily XR formulation.

Proper Administration and Dosage Guidelines

Administering Adderall correctly is crucial for its effectiveness and safety. The appropriate dosage can vary significantly based on several factors:

• The condition being treated (ADHD or narcolepsy)
• The specific formulation (IR or XR)
• The patient’s age and individual response to the medication

Healthcare providers typically start with the lowest effective dose and may adjust it over time to achieve optimal results. It’s important for patients to follow their doctor’s instructions precisely and never adjust the dosage without medical supervision.

Available Dosages

Adderall IR is available in the following strengths:

• 5 mg
• 7.5 mg
• 10 mg
• 12.5 mg
• 15 mg
• 20 mg
• 30 mg

Adderall XR comes in these dosages:

• 5 mg
• 10 mg
• 15 mg
• 20 mg
• 25 mg
• 30 mg

Is Adderall XR approved for treating narcolepsy? No, Adderall XR is not FDA-approved for the treatment of narcolepsy. Its use is limited to ADHD management.

Handling Missed Doses

If a dose is missed, it should be taken as soon as remembered. However, if it’s close to the time for the next scheduled dose, the missed dose should be skipped to avoid doubling up. Under no circumstances should a patient take two doses simultaneously to compensate for a missed dose.

Dosage Recommendations for ADHD

When prescribing Adderall for ADHD, healthcare providers typically follow these general guidelines:

• Starting dosages range from 5 mg to 20 mg daily
• The specific initial dose depends on the patient’s age and whether they’re using the IR or XR formulation
• Adderall is not recommended for children under 3 years old
• Adderall XR is not recommended for children under 6 years old

These recommendations serve as a starting point, and dosages may be adjusted based on the individual’s response to the medication and any side effects experienced.

Considerations for Pediatric Use

Given the concerns about Adderall’s approval process for pediatric use, extra caution is warranted when prescribing to children. Healthcare providers should closely monitor young patients for any adverse effects and regularly assess the medication’s efficacy.

Potential Side Effects and Risks

While Adderall can be highly effective in treating ADHD and narcolepsy, it’s not without potential side effects. Common adverse reactions include:

• Stomachache
• Nervousness
• Decreased appetite
• Insomnia
• Dry mouth
• Headache

More serious side effects, though rare, can occur. These may include:

• Cardiovascular events
• Sudden death (in patients with pre-existing heart conditions)
• Psychiatric symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, manic episodes)
• Growth suppression in children

What should patients do if they experience severe side effects? It’s crucial to contact a healthcare provider immediately if any severe or unusual symptoms occur while taking Adderall.

Risk of Dependence and Addiction

As a stimulant medication, Adderall carries a risk of physical and psychological dependence. Long-term use or misuse can lead to addiction, characterized by compulsive drug-seeking behavior and difficulty discontinuing the medication despite negative consequences.

To mitigate these risks, healthcare providers should carefully assess patients for a history of substance abuse before prescribing Adderall and monitor them closely during treatment.

Interactions and Contraindications

Adderall can interact with various medications and medical conditions, potentially leading to adverse effects or reduced efficacy. Some important interactions to be aware of include:

• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs): Can cause dangerous increases in blood pressure
• Antidepressants: May increase the risk of serotonin syndrome
• Blood pressure medications: Can interfere with their effectiveness
• Antacids: May affect Adderall absorption

Additionally, Adderall is contraindicated in patients with certain medical conditions, such as:

• Advanced arteriosclerosis
• Symptomatic cardiovascular disease
• Moderate to severe hypertension
• Hyperthyroidism
• Known hypersensitivity to amphetamines

How can patients ensure they’re taking Adderall safely? It’s essential to provide a complete medical history and list of all medications (including over-the-counter drugs and supplements) to the prescribing healthcare provider.

Monitoring and Long-Term Management

Effective use of Adderall requires ongoing monitoring and management. Healthcare providers should regularly assess:

• Efficacy of the medication in managing symptoms
• Presence and severity of side effects
• Changes in blood pressure and heart rate
• Growth and weight in pediatric patients
• Mental health status, including mood changes or the emergence of psychiatric symptoms

Periodic “drug holidays” or breaks from the medication may be recommended to evaluate its continued necessity and effectiveness.

Discontinuation and Withdrawal

When discontinuing Adderall, especially after long-term use, it’s important to do so under medical supervision. Abrupt cessation can lead to withdrawal symptoms, including:

• Fatigue
• Depression
• Sleep disturbances
• Increased appetite

A gradual tapering of the dosage is often recommended to minimize these effects and ensure a smooth transition off the medication.

Uses, Dosage, Interactions & Safety Information

The FDA approved Adderall in 1996, but it was originally approved in 1960 under the name Obetrol, a drug used to decrease appetite. The FDA approved the drug for use in ADHD without clinical trials testing its safety in children, according to a PLoS One review by Florence T. Bourgeois and colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Adderall is available in an extended-release formula, Adderall XR. It’s also available in a generic form as amphetamine/dextroamphetamine salts.

While the medication is FDA-approved for ADHD and narcolepsy, some medical providers may prescribe it for unapproved, off-label uses. These include treatment of depression, anxiety, bipolar depression and to help people lose weight.

Fact

Adderall may cause dependence, and it’s a controlled substance. Selling or giving away Adderall is against the law.

Because Adderall is a stimulant, working professionals and students may use it without a prescription to get more work done, to improve focus while studying or with alcohol to get high. It’s one of the most misused ADHD drugs. But misuse of this drug can lead to serious cardiovascular events or sudden death, according to the Adderall drug label.

This medication belongs to a class of drugs known as amphetamines, drugs that are highly addictive and listed as controlled substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The most common Adderall side effects include stomachache, nervousness and decreased appetite.

How Does It Work?

The two active ingredients in Adderall, amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, work by affecting the brain levels of specific neurotransmitters — dopamine, adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) and norepinephrine.

The immediate release formula lasts about 4 to 6 hours, and the extended release lasts about 8 to 12 hours.

Fact

Adderall’s immediate release formula lasts about 4 to 6 hours and the extended release (Adderall XR) lasts about 8 to 12 hours.

Adderall is one of the most popular medications for ADHD. People with ADHD have levels of neurotransmitters that overstimulate them. Adderall used along with therapy can help dial down the stimulation to help them function better.

Several studies have shown Adderall is effective at treating symptoms of ADHD including aggression, disruptive behavior, impulsivity, inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, according to a meta-analysis in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

People with narcolepsy don’t have enough of these neurotransmitters to stay focused and awake. Adderall can help them stay awake throughout the day by stimulating the brain and mimicking the effects of neurotransmitters.

How to Take Adderall

The instructions on how to take Adderall may be different depending on the condition being treated, the formulation of Adderall (regular or extended release) and a patient’s age. Medical providers may adjust the dosage over time or occasionally stop treatment to see how effective the medication is.

Patients should always take the lowest effective dose recommended by their health care provider.

Adderall comes in the following dosages: 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg, and 30 mg.

Adderall XR comes in the following dosages: 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg, 25 mg, and 30 mg. Adderall XR isn’t approved for treating narcolepsy.

Any missed doses should be taken as soon as possible, but a patient should never take two doses at the same time to make up for a missed dose. If it’s just a few hours until the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue with the next scheduled dose.

Fact

Avoid taking Adderall XR in the afternoon or evening because it can cause problems sleeping.

Dosage Recommendation for ADHD

Starting dosages range from 5 mg to 20 mg a day, depending on a patient’s age and whether the drug is immediate release or extended release. The drug label does not recommend Adderall in children under 3 years old or Adderall XR in children under 6 years old.

Patients should take their medication exactly as prescribed, and should take it first thing in the morning to avoid insomnia. The medicine can be taken with or without food.

Adderall XR should never be crushed or chewed, but the capsule may be opened and sprinkled over applesauce. If taken with applesauce, it should be swallowed without chewing.

Adderall Immediate Release

• Adderall immediate release tablets are typically taken two to three times a day.
• 
  The typical starting dose for patients ages 6 and older is 5 mg once or twice daily. Medical providers may increase the dose by 5 mg every week until the medicine starts to work. The dose rarely exceeds 40 mg per day.
• 
  In patients from 3 to 5 years of age, the starting dose is 2.5 mg. Medical providers may increase the dose by 2.5 mg every week until the medicine starts to work.
• 
  Patients take additional doses every 4 to 6 hours.

Adderall Extended Release

• Children 6 to 12 years old typically start on 5 mg or 10 mg once a day. The medical provider may increase the dose by 5 to 10 mg each week until it starts to work.
• 
  Children 13 to 17 years old typically start at 10 mg once a day. After the first week, the dose may be increased to 20 mg.
• 
  Adults 18 years or older start at 20 mg once a day. The medical provider may increase the dose each week until it starts to work.

Dosage Recommendation for Narcolepsy

The medication label doesn’t recommend Adderall in children under the age of 6 for narcolepsy treatment, and Adderall XR isn’t approved for treating narcolepsy.

• Children 6 to 11 years old start on 5 mg once a day. The medical provider may increase the dose by 5 mg each week until the medicine works.
• 
  Children 12 to 17 years old start at 10 mg once a day. The medical provider may increase the dose by 10 mg each week until the medicine works.
• 
  Adults 18 years or older start at 10 mg once a day. The medical provider may increase the dose by 10 mg each week until the medicine works.

Drug Interactions

Adderall may interact with a number of medications and substances. This can cause side effects or cause medicines not to work as well.

This is not a complete list of all drug interactions. Before taking the drug, tell your medical provider about all medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements you or your child may be taking.

Drug labels don’t warn about interactions with alcohol, but some studies have shown dangerous effects from mixing Adderall and alcohol.

Because Adderall may make it more difficult to get drunk, people may drink more and suffer alcohol poisoning, according to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. It may also cause stress on the cardiovascular system, leading to high blood pressure and potential cardiovascular problems.

In one case study reported by Dr. Xiangyang Jiao and colleagues in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, a 20-year-old man suffered a heart attack after combining Adderall XR and whiskey.

Adderall may interact with the following substances:

• Gastrointestinal acidifying agents such as ascorbic acid, fruit juice, guanethidine, reserpine and glutamic acid HCl can lower absorption of Adderall.
• 
  Adrenergic blockers, or alpha-blockers, such as the blood pressure drugs doxazosin, prazosin and terazosin may not be as effective.
• 
  Adderall can increase the potency of tricyclic antidepressants and lead to cardiovascular side effects.
• 
  Antacids increase absorption of Adderall and should be avoided.
• 
  Acetazolamide and some thiazides increase blood levels of Adderall.
• 
  CYP2D6 inhibitors such as Benadryl, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Prozac and Cymbalta may increase levels of Adderall in the blood and may increase the risk of serotonin syndrome.
• 
  Serotonergic drugs such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), tricyclic antidepressants and St. John’s Wort may increase the risk of serotonin syndrome.
• 
  MAO inhibitors slow Adderall metabolism and let it last longer in the body. This may lead to extremely high blood pressure, extremely high body temperatures, metabolic acidosis and other neurological toxic effects. This can be fatal.
• 
  Antihistamines may lose their sedative effects.
• 
  Blood pressure medications may not work as well.
• 
  Chlorpromazine, haloperidol and lithium carbonate inhibit the stimulant effect of Adderall.
• 
  Adderall makes the pain-relieving effects of meperidine stronger.
• 
  Using phenobarbital or phenytoin with Adderall may produce an anticonvulsant effect.
• 
  Overdosing on propoxyphene while taking Adderall can cause fatal convulsions.
• 
  Proton pump inhibitors may affect the duration of Adderall’s clinical effect and medical providers should monitor people taking these drugs together.

Who Should Not Take Adderall?

People with certain health conditions should not take Adderall. Make sure to tell the prescribing medical provider about all health conditions for you or your child.

Don’t take Adderall if you or your child:

• Are agitated, tense or overly anxious
• 
  Are taking or have taken a monoamine oxidase inhibitor or MAOI, a type of antidepressant, within the past 14 days
• 
  Have abused prescription drugs, street drugs or alcohol
• 
  Have allergies to Adderall or other stimulants
• 
  Have glaucoma, an eye problem often caused by high eye pressure which results in nerve damage
• 
  Have hardening of the arteries or any type of heart disease
• 
  Have hyperthyroidism
• 
  Have problems with high blood pressure

Adderall vs.

Ritalin

The FDA approved both Adderall and Ritalin to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, but Ritalin (methylphenidate) is an older medication. They are both highly addictive controlled substances. But each drug works a little differently and causes different side effects, and there are also slight differences in how effective they are.

For example, unlike Ritalin, Adderall also increases the release of dopamine, a chemical that increases the feeling of pleasure and reward.

Adderall has a longer, sustained effect at about half the dose of Ritalin, according to some studies. But Adderall’s absorption is delayed when taken with a high-fat meal.

According to Dr. Samuele Cortese and colleagues in The Lancet, Ritalin is the preferred drug for treating ADHD in children and Adderall is better for adults.

Drug Alternatives

There are a few drug alternatives to Adderall for ADHD and narcolepsy. Stimulants such as Adderall are the first line of treatment for ADHD, but nonstimulants are also an option.

Talk to your medical provider about which one might be best for you or your child.

Stimulants for ADHD

• Amphetamines including Dyanavel XR, Adzenys ER, Adzenys XR-ODT, Evekeo, Evekeo ODT
• 
  Desoxyn (methamphetamine)
• 
  Dexedrine, Zenzedi, ProCentra (dextroamphetamine)
• 
  Focalin, Focalin XR (dexmethylphenidate)
• 
  Ritalin, Concerta, Methylin, Metadate CD, Quillivant, Daytrana and others (methylphenidate)
• 
  Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine)

Nonstimulants for ADHD

• Depakote (valproic acid)
• 
  Intuniv (guanfacine)
• 
  Kapvay (clonidine)
• 
  Norpramin (desipramine)
• 
  Strattera (atomoxetine)
• 
  Tofranil (imipramine)
• 
  Wellbutrin (bupropion)

Drugs for Narcolepsy

• Dexedrine, Zenzedi, ProCentra (dextroamphetamine)
• 
  Evekeo (amphetamine)
• 
  Nuvigil (armodafinil)
• 
  Provigil (modafinil)
• 
  Ritalin, Concerta, Methylin (methylphenidate)
• 
  Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine)
• 
  Xyrem (sodium oxybate)

Adderall dosage, forms, and strengths

Adderall forms & strengths | For adults | For children | Adderall dosage chart | For ADHD | For narcolepsy | How to take Adderall | FAQs

Adderall is a brand-name prescription drug that treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Combining two very similar stimulants, amphetamine, and dextroamphetamine, Adderall helps people with ADHD to focus, pay attention, and control impulses better. For narcolepsy, the active ingredients in Adderall help to alleviate daytime sleepiness. Adderall is taken as a tablet with or without food. As an immediate-release drug, one to three doses per day may be required. Alternatively, Adderall is available in an extended-release format, Adderall XR, that only requires a single daily dose.

RELATED: Learn more about Adderall | Get Adderall discounts

Adderall forms and strengths

Adderall tablets come in seven different dose strengths.

• Tablet: 5 milligrams (mg), 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg, and 30 mg

Each tablet contains an equal amount of the amphetamine salts dextroamphetamine sulfate, amphetamine sulfate, dextroamphetamine saccharate, and d,1-amphetamine aspartate. Tablets are scored to allow them to be halved into two smaller doses.

Adderall dosage for adults

Adderall is taken one to three times a day to treat ADHD or daytime sleepiness caused by narcolepsy. There is no single standard dose. Instead, the goal is to find the lowest possible effective dose, so doses will be adjusted based on a person’s needs and responsiveness to Adderall.

• Standard dosage for adults: 5-40 mg (ADHD) or 5-60 mg (narcolepsy) taken as one dose or divided into two or three doses given every four to six hours
• Maximum dosage for adults: Not specified

Adderall dosage for children

The pediatric use of Adderall is approved for children as young as 3 years of age for ADHD and in children as young as 6 diagnosed with narcolepsy.

• Standard dosage for children ages 3–5 years: 2.5–40 mg (ADHD) divided into one to three daily doses taken by mouth every four to six hours
• Maximum dosage for children ages 3–5 years: Not specified
• Standard dosage for children ages 6 years and older: 5–40 mg (ADHD) or 5–60 mg (narcolepsy) divided into one to three daily doses taken by mouth every four to six hours
• Maximum dosage for children ages 3–5 years: Not specified

Adderall dosage chart
ADHD	Adults and children 6 years and older	5 mg by mouth once in the morning or divided into 2 daily doses	5–40 mg by mouth once per day or divided into 2–3 daily doses every 4–6 hours	Not specified
	Children 3–5 years	2. 5 mg by mouth once in the morning	2.5–40 mg by mouth once per day or divided into 2–3 daily doses every 4–6 hours	Not specified
Narcolepsy	Adults and children 12 years and older	10 mg by mouth once in the morning	5–60 mg by mouth once per day or divided into 2–3 daily doses every 4–6 hours	Not specified
	Children 6–11 years	5 mg by mouth once in the morning	5–60 mg by mouth once per day or divided into 2–3 daily doses every 4–6 hours	Not specified

Adderall dosage for ADHD

Adderall is FDA approved to treat hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive symptoms in adults and children 3 years and older with clinically significant impairment due to an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis.

• Adults and children 6 years and older: 5–40 mg by mouth divided into one to three daily doses taken every four to six hours
• Children 3–5 years old: 2. 5–40 mg by mouth divided into one to three daily doses taken every four to six hours
• Renally impaired patients: Not defined
• Hepatically impaired patients: Not defined

The first dose should be taken in the morning.

Adderall dosage for narcolepsy

Adderall is taken to relieve daytime sleepiness in adults and children 6 years and older who have been diagnosed with narcolepsy, a condition characterized by daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations, which occur right before falling asleep.

• Adults and children 6 years and older: 5–60 mg divided into one to three daily doses taken every four to six hours
• Renally impaired patients: Not defined
• Hepatically impaired patients: Not defined

Again, the first dose should always be taken in the morning.

How to take Adderall

Adderall is taken by mouth as a tablet with or without food. The initial and the lowest prescribed doses will probably be taken as a single dose in the morning, but typically people take two or three doses each day.

• Take Adderall exactly as prescribed.
• Take the first dose in the morning when first awakened.
• Later doses should be taken four to six hours apart.
• Do not take a dose if it’s almost evening. The last dose should not be taken within six hours of bedtime to avoid sleep problems.
• Carefully read and follow the medication guide that comes with the prescription.
• If too much Adderall is taken, seek immediate medical advice from a doctor or poison control center.
• Always check the expiration date. If the expiration date has passed, dispose of the medication safely and get a new prescription.
• Adderall should be stored at room temperature (68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) and protected from moisture.

Adderall dosage FAQs

How long does it take Adderall to work?

Adderall is readily absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream, so its effects should be noticed about 30 minutes after taking it. Adderall hits its peak effectiveness in about one to three hours. 

Adderall can be taken with or without food, although there is no research on how food affects the absorption of Adderall.

How long does Adderall stay in your system?

How long Adderall stays in the system and how long it’s effective are two different issues. The amphetamines in Adderall fully affect brain neurotransmitters for only a few hours, but some of its effects on brain chemistry can last for 12 hours. However, the amphetamines in Adderall stay in the system for much longer than that. Adderall combines equal amounts of two different forms of amphetamine. The body metabolizes each at a different rate. One has a half-life, how long it takes for half of a medication to leave the body, of 9–11 hours, while the other has a half-life of 11–14 hours. A drug usually takes 4-5 half-lives to be excreted, so this means that it can take up to 46 hours for Adderall to fall to undetectable levels in the bloodstream. However, Adderall can be detected in urine three to four days after the last dose and for up to three months or longer using a hair test.

What happens if I miss a dose of Adderall?

A missed dose can be taken when remembered, but avoid taking a dose late in the day. Remember that doses should be taken every four to six hours, so taking a missed dose will reset the clock. Never take extra Adderall to make up for a missed dose.

How do I stop taking Adderall? 

Adderall can cause physical dependence when taking it in high doses for a prolonged period of time. Because of its potential for abuse and dependency, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) labels Adderall a Schedule II controlled substance. For people taking chronic high doses, suddenly stopping Adderall can cause fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances. A prescriber will use a tapering dose to discontinue any patient taking prolonged high doses.

A healthcare provider should always be consulted if Adderall needs to be discontinued in order to find the best titration regimen or alternative medication. There are, however, a few circumstances that will require the medicine to be immediately discontinued and medical help pursued. These include:

• Any emergent or worsening symptom of an underlying or undetected mental health problem including psychosis, bipolar disorder, or Tourette’s syndrome
• Any sign of serotonin syndrome such as confusion, hallucinations, dizziness, tremor, muscle twitching, fast heartbeat, excessive sweating, or muscle rigidity
• Seizures
• Symptoms of an allergic reaction 

People taking Adderall will be regularly monitored for cardiovascular changes, aggression, and growth rate (height and weight). If there are problems, treatment with Adderall may need to be interrupted or discontinued. For those who need to discontinue amphetamines, alternatives include methylphenidate (ADHD), dexmethylphenidate (ADHD or narcolepsy), atomoxetine (ADHD), modafinil (narcolepsy), and armodafinil (narcolepsy)

What is the maximum dosage for Adderall?

While there is no specified maximum dosage, the Prescriber’s Digital Reference (formerly the Physician’s Desk Reference) recommends a maximum dose of 60 mg per day for both ADHD and narcolepsy. Adderall is only rarely prescribed in daily doses greater than 40 mg daily for ADHD. On the other hand, the recommended dose for narcolepsy maxes out at 60 mg per day.

What interacts with Adderall?

Amphetamines can be taken with or without food because food does not change the effect of them. However, they have several potential drug interactions. 

As a general rule, drugs like Adderall that change the chemistry of the brain are going to have a number of drug interactions. 

• Adderall may interact with drugs that also alter the central nervous system (CNS), such as antidepressants, other stimulants (Concerta, Ritalin), and seizure medications.  
• Benzodiazepines, sleep medications, and other medications that cause drowsiness may counteract the effects of Adderall and make it less effective.
• Amphetamines should not be taken within 14 days of discontinuing monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) , a small class of drugs that treat depression, bacterial infections, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease.  The combination of these two drug classes may cause serotonin syndrome or a hypertensive crisis. 
• CYP2D6 inhibitors, such as some antidepressants (fluoxetine, paroxetine, and (bupropion) may delay the rate of elimination of Adderall through the liver and therefore, increase the amount of Adderall in the body. 
• Some medications that reduce stomach acid, such as sodium bicarbonate, can increase the absorption of Adderall.

Resources:

• Adderall, Epocrates
• Adderall prescribing information, U. S. National Library of Medicine
• Amphetamine aspartate monohydrate/amphetamine sulfate/dextroamphetamine saccharate/dextroamphetamine sulfate—drug summary, Prescriber’s Digital Reference
• Amphetamine compound summary, U.S. National Library of Medicine
• Amphetamine, past, and present—a pharmacological and clinical perspective, Journal of Psychopharmacology
• Biological Tests, University of Arizona
• Dextroamphetamine-Amphetamine, StatPearls
• The treatment of narcolepsy with amphetamine-based stimulant medications: a call for better understanding, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

Adderall Dosage Guide – Drugs.com

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on April 28, 2020.

Generic name: DEXTROAMPHETAMINE SACCHARATE 1.25mg, AMPHETAMINE ASPARTATE MONOHYDRATE 1.25mg, DEXTROAMPHETAMINE SULFATE 1.25mg, AMPHETAMINE SULFATE 1.25mg
Dosage form: tablet

Regardless of indication, amphetamines should be administered at the lowest effective dosage, and dosage should be individually adjusted according to the therapeutic needs and response of the patient. Late evening doses should be avoided because of the resulting insomnia.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Not recommended for children under 3 years of age. In children from 3 to 5 years of age, start with 2.5 mg daily; daily dosage may be raised in increments of 2.5 mg at weekly intervals until optimal response is obtained.

In children 6 years of age and older, start with 5 mg once or twice daily; daily dosage may be raised in increments of 5 mg at weekly intervals until optimal response is obtained. Only in rare cases will it be necessary to exceed a total of 40 mg per day. Give first dose on awakening; additional doses (1 or 2) at intervals of 4 to 6 hours.

Where possible, drug administration should be interrupted occasionally to determine if there is a recurrence of behavioral symptoms sufficient to require continued therapy.

Narcolepsy

Usual dose 5 mg to 60 mg per day in divided doses, depending on the individual patient response.

Narcolepsy seldom occurs in children under 12 years of age; however, when it does, dextroamphetamine sulfate may be used. The suggested initial dose for patients aged 6 to 12 is 5 mg daily; daily dose may be raised in increments of 5 mg at weekly intervals until optimal response is obtained. In patients 12 years of age and older, start with 10 mg daily; daily dosage may be raised in increments of 10 mg at weekly intervals until optimal response is obtained. If bothersome adverse reactions appear (e.g., insomnia or anorexia), dosage should be reduced. Give first dose on awakening; additional doses (1 or 2) at intervals of 4 to 6 hours.

Frequently asked questions

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Medical Disclaimer

Adderall Overdose: Symptoms, Treatment, Prevention

Adderall (amphetamine dextroamphetamine) is a prescription drug that acts as a stimulant for your central nervous system. What this means is that it increases the activity of the central nervous system and improves its function.

Because of these abilities, Adderall is commonly prescribed to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as narcolepsy. Adderall is considered a schedule II controlled substance with a high potential for abuse.

It’s also possible to overdose on Adderall—even accidentally—which in some cases can be lethal.

Can You Overdose on Adderall?

Yes, ingesting too much Adderall can have serious side effects, including an overdose that can lead to death. What’s more, some people are more sensitive to stimulants than others, so the amount that could lead to an overdose varies from person to person.

Even a small amount of amphetamine could be fatal. Deaths have been recorded with as low a dose as 1.5 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of weight.

An Adderall overdose involves excessive stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system—which is responsible for activating the fight-or-flight response when there’s a sign of danger.

Depending on the person and their motives, an overdose may be intentional or it could be accidental. It’s also important to note that Adderall can be lethal to animals if ingested.

Symptoms

Symptoms of Adderall overdose can range from mild to severe and include the following:

Mild

• Confusion

• Headaches

• Hyperactivity

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Rapid breathing

• Stomach pain

What You Should Do

If you suspect that you or someone you know has overdosed on Adderall, seek emergency treatment immediately. If you are in the United States, call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222 or call 911 right away if you or a loved one are in immediate danger.

Be prepared to provide the following information to the emergency responders and/or doctor:

• The person’s age
• How much Adderall was ingested
• Other substances (alcohol or drugs) that may have also been taken
• Any known allergies
• Any history of substance misuse

Adderall Dosage

Adderall increases alertness, attention, and energy by increasing the activity of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine in the brain. The standard daily dose of Adderall is 2.5 mg to 60 mg daily.

It is available in 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg, and 30 mg strengths. It’s also available in an extended-release (XR) form in 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, 20 mg, 25 mg, and 30 mg strengths.

Side Effects

Like most medications, Adderall can cause side effects, even when it’s taken in a low dose and only as prescribed. Common side effects of Adderall may include:

• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth
• Headache
• Insomnia
• Loss of appetite
• Stomachache
• Weight loss

These side effects usually aren’t serious. However, if you experience side effects, it’s important to let your doctor know. Your physician may tell you how to reduce side effects, change your dose, or switch you to a different medication.

Drug Interactions

Adderall may interact with some medications, so it’s important to talk to your doctor about any medications you’re taking prior to taking Adderall. This includes vitamins, over-the-counter medications, and nutritional supplements as well as any prescriptions.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), for example, can increase the effects of Adderall and increase the risk of overdose.

Common MAOIs include:

• Nardil (phenelzine)
• Marplan (isocarboxazid)
• EmSam (selegiline)
• Parnate (tranylcypromine)

Meanwhile, taking medications that inhibit CYP2D6 (an enzyme involved in drug metabolism) while taking Adderall can increase the risk of serious side effects.

Common CYP2D6 inhibitors include:

Misuse

Adderall is a commonly abused prescription drug. Because it has been linked to enhanced cognitive function and academic performance, it’s popular among high school and college students who are hoping to benefit from the drug’s effects.

But non-medical use of Adderall has a high potential for abuse and dependency as well as numerous potential adverse effects.

Misuse of a prescription drug involves:

• Taking medicine in a way or dose other than what is prescribed (such as crushing pills, snorting the powder, or dissolving the powder from a capsule into water and injecting the liquid into a vein).
• Taking someone else’s prescription.
• Taking medicine to get high, rather than to reduce symptoms.

Misuse of Adderall also increases the likelihood of an overdose as well as increases the risk of abuse. In fact, the misuse of Adderall is a growing problem.

A 2016 study published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that non-medical use of Adderall by adults rose by 67% and emergency department visits involving Adderall went up by 156% between 2006 and 2011.

Underreported Problem

Researchers warn that the prevalence of Adderall misuse may be denied and underreported. For instance, a 2017 study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that Adderall abuse was often underreported in surveys.

Meanwhile, a 2017 study published in Postgraduate Medicine found that 5% to 10% of high school students and 5% to 35% of college students misuse ADHD stimulants.

The problem is that many individuals don’t realize the short- and long-term side effects of the drug and how stimulants work. Adderall dependence and withdrawal can be dangerous and even cause suicidal thoughts.

Chronic Abuse

Chronic abuse of Adderall may lead to symptoms such as:

• Severe rash
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Personality changes

Some people even report abusing Adderall in an effort to offset the effects of alcohol. Individuals who take Adderall may report not getting as drunk as they normally would. This practice can cause them to drink more alcohol, though, which can lead to serious impairments or even death from alcohol poisoning.

Treatment

Treatment for an overdose may involve administering activated charcoal to help absorb the medication. You also may need to get your stomach pumped. In the case of serotonin syndrome, you may be given a medication to block serotonin.

Don’t let fear about these treatments keep you from seeking help right away, though. The more quickly you get medical attention, the better the chances that medical personnel can effectively treat the overdose.

Prevention

There are steps you can take to prevent yourself or someone you love from overdosing on Adderall, including:

• Never take more than your prescribed dose.
• Never let someone else take your medication.
• Never take anyone else’s prescription medication.
• Do not take a larger dose without consulting with your doctor.
• Never take a second dose if you think you missed your first dose.
• Take your medication at the same time each day.

A Word From Verywell

When taken as prescribed, Adderall can be a safe and effective treatment for ADHD. If you have concerns that you or someone you love is misusing this prescription or is at risk for doing so, talk to your doctor about treatment options. Be sure to discuss what other medication you are taking to avoid potentially dangerous interactions.

Uses, Side Effects, Dosages, Precautions

Adderall XR is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant most commonly used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Taken as an oral capsule, this medication works by altering norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain. It can increase concentration, help people stay on task longer, and manage behavioral issues associated with ADHD.

Adderall XR is the extended-release version of Adderall. Half the dose takes effect immediately, and the other half takes effect in about four hours.

The generic version is called amphetamine salt combo XR, and is made up of a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine salts.

Uses

Adderall XR is only FDA-approved to treat ADHD (notably, the immediate-release version of the medication is also approved to treat narcolepsy). It may be prescribed for use in children age 6 to 12, adolescents age 13 to 17, and adults.

Off-Label Uses

While Adderall XR is only approved to treat ADHD, some research indicates it may be useful in treating children who have ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Stimulants, in general, may be used as an adjunct for treatment-resistant depression, though the research is not clear on their efficacy.

Due to some of its side effects, like improved focus and weight loss, Adderall and Adderall XR have gained reputations as recreational drugs. It’s important to note that these medications should not be taken without a doctor’s supervision, as they can be habit-forming, and they carry their own set of risks and contraindications.

Before Taking

A prescription for Adderall XR will likely involve being evaluated for ADHD. If your child is 16 years old or younger and is being examined for the condition, their doctor will look for symptoms of inattention like:

• Failing to listen when spoken to
• Making careless mistakes or failing to pay attention to their schoolwork or other tasks
• Frequently losing things they need
• Struggling to keep their attention on tasks they’re working on
• Being distracted easily
• Struggling to follow through on instructions
• Failing to finish schoolwork or chores
• Frequently forgetting things
• Avoiding or feeling reluctant to do tasks that require sustained mental effort

Your child’s doctor will check for symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity, which can include:

• Failing to remain seated
• Talking excessively
• Fidgeting, squirming, or tapping hands or feet
• Struggling to wait
• Blurting out answers
• Interrupting others
• Running or climbing at inappropriate times
• Struggling to remain quiet while playing
• Acting as if they’re always “on the go”

Before making a diagnosis of ADHD, a doctor will also need to determine if your child:

• Shows six or more symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity
• First experienced those symptoms before age 7
• Has had these symptoms for at least six months
• Notices their symptoms in two or more settings (like in school and at home)
• Is having trouble functioning in social situations or at school
• Has another mental condition that could explain their condition

These diagnostic criteria differ for adolescents age 17 and older and in adults. In those cases, five of these symptoms are enough to make a diagnosis, and some symptoms may look very different in an adult compared to a child. Hyperactivity in an adult, for example, may involve reckless driving and fidgeting during meetings, and adults with ADHD may find themselves drawn to active jobs that don’t require long periods of sitting or being still.

There isn’t a single diagnostic test for ADHD. A diagnosis requires the use of medical, psychological, educational, and social resources, and it’s made based on your doctor’s evaluation and on your or your child’s history.

Adderall XR isn’t intended to act as the sole treatment for someone with ADHD. This medication is often coupled with psychological, social, and/or educational interventions intended to help someone learn how to cope with their ADHD symptoms. In fact, your doctor may recommend trying to implement those interventions first before prescribing Adderall XR.

Patients who are taking divided doses of immediate-release Adderall (such as twice daily) may be switched to Adderall XR at the same total daily dose taken once daily. Adderall XR is titrated at weekly intervals to ensure that it’s well-tolerated. Your doctor should regularly reevaluate your prescription to ensure its long-term usefulness for reducing your symptoms.

Talk to your doctor about all medications, supplements, and vitamins that you currently take. While some drugs pose minor interaction risks, others may outright contraindicate use or prompt careful consideration as to whether the pros of treatment outweigh the cons in your case.

Diagnosing ADHD requires a variety of resources and a comprehensive patient history and evaluation, and Adderall XR should be used as part of a total treatment plan. Other treatment measures may include psychological, educational, and social support.

Precautions and Contraindications

Non-drug interventions are often helpful for people with ADHD, and medication should only be used when those interventions fail to resolve symptoms. Your doctor’s willingness to consider stimulant medication may depend on how chronic and severe your symptoms are. Amphetamines carry a risk of overdosage, so the smallest amount possible should always be prescribed.

Adderall XR should not be taken by people with:

• Advanced arteriosclerosis
• Glaucoma
• History of agitated states
• History of drug abuse
• Hypersensitivity to stimulants (which can show up as serious skin rashes, anaphylaxis, or angioedema, which is rapid swelling under the skin)
• Hyperthyroidism
• Moderate to severe hypertension
• Symptomatic cardiovascular disease

Adderall XR should also be avoided if you’ve taken monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) within the last 14 days.

Stimulant medications can increase blood pressure and average heart rate. While some people may experience larger increases, on average, this amounts to a 2 to 4 mmHg increase in blood pressure and an increased heart rate of approximately three to six beats per minute. Alone, these increases aren’t likely to lead to serious consequences, but people taking stimulants should be monitored for larger changes in blood pressure and heart rate.

Extra caution may be warranted for people with certain underlying cardiovascular conditions, like:

• Heart failure
• Pre-existing hypertension
• Recent heart attack
• Ventricular arrhythmia

Before starting Adderall XR, your doctor should complete an assessment to check for any family history of sudden death or ventricular arrhythmia and conduct a thorough physical exam to check for cardiac disease.

Anyone currently taking a stimulant should undergo an immediate cardiac evaluation if they experience symptoms like:

• Chest pain as a result of exertion
• Unexplained fainting (known as syncope)
• Other symptoms that could suggest cardiac problems

Stimulants may also carry risks for people with pre-existing mental health conditions. These can include:

• A history of psychosis or a psychotic disorder, as stimulants may exacerbate symptoms
• Bipolar disorder, as these medications could induce a manic or “mixed” episode, which includes depressive and manic symptoms simultaneously

Before beginning any stimulant, it’s important that you or your child are screened thoroughly for the presence of any existing psychiatric condition, particularly psychosis and bipolar disorder.

Stimulants also carry a low risk (about 0.1%) of causing psychotic or manic symptoms in children or adolescents without a prior history of those conditions. Symptoms may include:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Manic episodes

If symptoms occur, discontinuation of treatment may be appropriate.

Aggressive behavior is a common symptom seen in children with ADHD. Although there is no evidence that stimulants cause aggressive behavior or hostility, patients who are starting treatment for ADHD should be monitored for increased aggression or hostility.

Adderall XR carries other risks that you should be aware of. For instance:

• Stimulant use may impact growth in children. If your child is taking Adderall XR and isn’t growing or gaining weight, you may need to check with their doctor on interrupting their treatment.
• These medications can be problematic for people with seizures. Stimulants may increase the likelihood of a seizure for people with a prior history of them, with established electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities, or, very rarely, for people without a history of this condition. If seizures are present, Adderall XR shouldn’t be taken.
• Stimulant treatment can disrupt vision. Blurred vision may occur with this type of medication.
• Stimulants may cause blood circulation problems. These medications are associated with disrupted circulation to the extremities (called peripheral vasculopathy) and with Raynaud’s phenomenon, which involves decreased blood flow to certain areas of the body, like the fingers or toes.
• Tics may worsen with stimulant usage. If you or your child has Tourette’s syndrome, Adderall XR could worsen motor and vocal tics.
• Adderall XR could impair your ability to operate machinery or vehicles. You should use caution while operating vehicles and hazardous machinery, especially if you’re just beginning to take this medication.

Other Stimulants

Together with the immediate-release version of Adderall, other common stimulants used to treat ADHD include:

• Aptensio XR, Concerta, and Metadate ER (methylphenidate extended release)
• Daytrana
• Desoxyn (methamphetamine)
• Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine)
• Dyanavel XR (amphetamine)
• Evekeo (amphetamine sulfate)
• Focalin XR (dexmethylphenidate extended release)
• Methylin (methylphenidate chewable tablets and solution)
• ProCentra (dextroamphetamine sulfate oral solution)
• Quillivant XR (methylphenidate extended release oral suspension)
• Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Ritalin SR (methylphenidate SR) 
• Vynase (lisdexamfetamine)

Dosage

Adderall XR is administered at the lowest effective dose, and dosages depend on the therapeutic needs and response of each individual.

All listed dosages are according to the manufacturer. Check your prescription, and talk to your doctor to make sure you are taking the right dose for you.

In children who are between the ages of 6 and 12, medication is often started at 10 milligrams (mg) once daily in the morning. The dosage may be adjusted in increments of 5 or 10 mg at weekly intervals. There may be times when a physician decides to start the dose at 5 mg once in the morning.

The maximum recommended dose for children 6 to 12 years of age is 30 mg per day. Doses greater than 30 mg per day have not been studied in children, and Adderall XR has not been studied in children under 6 years of age.

In adolescents with ADHD who are between the ages of 13 and 17, the recommended starting dose is 10 mg per day. The dose may be increased to 20 mg per day after one week if their ADHD symptoms are not adequately controlled.

In adults, the recommended dose is 20 mg per day.

Adderall XR comes in capsules with several dosage options, each with differentiating color combinations:

• 5 mg capsules (clear and blue)
• 10 mg capsules (blue and blue)
• 15 mg capsules (blue and white)
• 20 mg capsules (orange and orange)
• 25 mg capsules (orange and white)
• 30 mg capsules (natural and orange)

Capsules should be taken by mouth and swallowed whole. They should not be chewed or crushed, as this could release all the medication at once and increase the risk of side effects.

Modifications

The entire contents of a capsule may be sprinkled on a small amount of applesauce just before taking. The mixture should be swallowed immediately and should not be chewed. This may be particularly helpful for young children who are resistant to taking the medication.

How to Take and Store

Adderall XR can be taken with or without food as directed by your physician. It is usually taken once in the morning and should be taken the same way with every dose (such as with or without food). Drink a glass of liquid after each dose.

If you forget to take your medication, take it as soon as possible. Take caution when taking it in the afternoon, however, as it may interfere with sleep when it’s taken too close to bedtime. You should also avoid doubling up on this medication—if it’s almost time for your next dose, skip the one you missed and go back to your normal schedule.

Overdoses are possible with this medication, and they can be fatal. Symptoms include:

• Abdominal cramps
• Aggressiveness
• Arrhythmias
• Circulatory collapse
• Confusion
• Convulsions and coma
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue and depression after the stimulant wears off
• Hallucinations
• High fever over 106 F (known as hyperpyrexia)
• Hypertension or hypotension
• Nausea
• Overactive reflexes (known as hyperreflexia)
• Panic
• Rapid breathing
• Restlessness
• Rhabdomyolysis, a condition where the muscles break down
• Tremors
• Vomiting

If you believe that you or a loved one has overdosed on Adderall XR, seek help immediately. In the United States, you can contact the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222 or call 911 right away for help.

Store Adderall XR at room temperature (59 F to 86 F). This medication is a controlled substance and should be kept in a secure, safe place in a tightly closed container.

Since Adderall XR is a controlled substance, you should consider planning ahead if you need to travel. While Adderall XR is approved for use across the United States, you may need to comply with different drug labeling requirements while traveling from state to state. Your safest option may be to keep your medication in its original, prescribed container and ensure that you travel with roughly the amount you need—don’t bring a large number of extra doses. If you plan to fly, you should keep your medication with you in a carry-on bag or purse, rather than checking it.

Traveling internationally with Adderall XR presents different problems, as this medication is not legal in certain countries. Check with the foreign embassy in your destination to determine if your medication is restricted in any way; if so, you’ll likely need to comply with strict requirements for documentation. You should also speak with your doctor about what to do if you run out of medication while abroad.

Side Effects 

Adderall XR has a number of possible side effects, which can range from mild to severe. It is important to talk to your doctor about what to expect while taking Adderall XR, and you should always keep them informed about any new or unexpected reactions you experience.

Common

Side effects can vary depending on age. For children age 6 to 12, the most common are:

• Abdominal pain
• Emotional lability, or rapid mood changes
• Fever
• Insomnia
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Nervousness
• Vomiting

In adolescents age 13 to 17, the most common side effects include:

• Abdominal pain
• Insomnia
• Loss of appetite
• Nervousness
• Weight loss

Common side effects for adults are:

• Agitation
• Anxiety
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth
• Feeling weak
• Headache
• Insomnia
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat)
• Urinary tract infection
• Weight loss

Severe

Severe side effects of Adderall XR can include:

• Allergic reactions 
• Depression
• Eyesight changes or blurred vision
• Heart attack
• Impotence
• Increased blood pressure
• Psychotic episodes
• Seizures
• Slowing of growth or height in children
• Stroke
• Sudden death due to existing heart problems
• Trouble operating vehicles or machinery

If you are taking too high of a dosage of Adderall XR, you might experience symptoms like:

• Hyperactivity
• Irritability
• Marked insomnia
• Personality changes
• Psychosis that’s indistinguishable from schizophrenia
• Severe skin issues, like lesions

Warnings and Interactions

Adderall XR is a Schedule II drug (meaning it has a high potential for abuse) and a controlled substance. It carries risks of abuse and dependence, and these risks may be higher if you’ve experienced a substance use disorder in the past. It’s important that you follow your doctor’s orders and do not increase the dose, take it more often, or use it for a longer period of time than is prescribed.

If you decide to stop taking Adderall XR, you should work closely with your doctor. Quitting cold turkey may lead to withdrawal symptoms (such as severe tiredness, sleep problems, or mental/mood changes like depression). Withdrawal symptoms are more likely if you have used this medication for a long time or in high doses. You should only decrease your dose or discontinue your medication under the supervision of your physician.

Adderall XR may interact with other medications and cause serious side effects, so it’s important to talk to your doctor about any prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements that you or your child take. Tell your doctor if you or your child takes:

• Antidepressants
• Antihistamines
• Antipsychotics
• Blood pressure medicines
• Blood thinners
• Lithium
• MAOIs
• Medication for seizures
• Opioid pain medication
• Stomach acid medicines

Adderall XR has not been evaluated for use in children under 6 years of age or in older adults.

If you are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant, discuss your options with your doctor. While it’s not clear if Adderall XR is safe to take during pregnancy, data from animal testing show that there is a possible danger to the fetus, and there are well-established side effects for infants born to mothers with a dependency on amphetamines.

That said, Adderall XR may be used during pregnancy if the benefit to the mother outweighs those potential risks. Nursing mothers, however, should not breastfeed while taking this medication, as amphetamines can travel through the breastmilk.

It’s important to remain under the care of a physician while taking Adderall XR. Your doctor can ensure you remain safe and free from serious side effects while evaluating your dosage and long-term treatment plan.

Adderall Side Effects, Uses, Dosage, Interactions: ADHD Medication

What is Adderall XR? Is Adderall a Narcotic?

Adderall XR is a once-daily, timed-release stimulant ADHD medication primarily used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD) in children ages 6-12, adolescents, and adults. It has not been studied in children under the age of 6. According to the FDA, Adderall XR is a federally controlled substance (“Schedule II Stimulant”) because it can be abused or lead to dependence. It is an amphetamine.

Stimulant medications like Adderall are typically the first choice to treat ADHD symptoms because they improve symptoms for 70-80% of people with ADHD.¹ Adderall XR (Generic names: dextroamphetamine saccharate, amphetamine aspartate, dextroamphetamine sulfate, and amphetamine sulfate) may improve focus for people with inattentive ADHD and decrease impulsivity and hyperactive behavior, two hallmark symptoms in patients with attention deficit. The benefits of Adderall XR are typically felt within an hour of taking the medication.

Adderall was first used to treat ADHD in 1937 and is well known for its efficacy and safety. The statistical calculation called Effect Size that measures how well a treatment works is very robust. Stimulants that treat ADHD are some of the most effective medications.

Originally, Adderall was developed to treat narcolepsy; it should not be used to treat tiredness or other sleep-related problems without a doctor’s specific instructions and prescription.

How Long Does Adderall Last? Adderall Dosages Explained

Adderall XR is taken orally, with or without food, once daily. The first dose is typically taken first thing in the morning; it should be taken at the same time each day for the best results.

Adderall capsules should be swallowed whole with water or other liquids. If your child is unable to swallow the capsule, it can be opened and sprinkled over a spoonful of applesauce. Taken this way, the mixture should be swallowed whole without chewing, followed by a drink of water or other liquid. Capsules should never by crushed or chewed. As with all medications, follow your Adderall XR prescription instructions exactly.

Adderall capsules are available in the following dosages: 5mg, 10mg, 15mg, 20mg, 25mg and 30mg. The time-release formulation is designed to maintain a steady level of medication in your body throughout the day.

The optimal Adderall dosage varies patient by patient; is not determined by age, weight, or height, but rather by how a person metabolizes the medication. The following factors impact dosage:

• How much of the medication is absorbed into the blood stream and across the blood-brain barrier
• How much of the medication is absorbed into the blood stream from the intestines
• How acidic the GI tract is — high acidity from fruit juices can keep amphetamine from being absorbed while low acidity from taking an antacid can accelerate absorption
• How quickly the amphetamine is excrete in urine

Your doctor may adjust your daily dosage by 5mg increments until you or your child experiences the best response — that is, the lowest dosage at which you experience the greatest improvement in symptoms without side effects.

If you or your child exceeds the prescribed dosage, call your doctor or poison control, or seek emergency medical care.

Some patients report developing a tolerance to Adderall after long-term usage. If you notice that your dosage is no longer controlling your symptoms, talk to your doctor to plan a course of action.

What are the Side Effects of Adderall XR?

Most people taking Adderall XR do not experience any side effects. That said, the most common side effects of Adderall XR are as follows:

Children (ages 6 to 12):

• loss of appetite
• insomnia
• abdominal pain
• emotional lability
• vomiting
• nervousness
• nausea
• fever

Adolescents (ages 13 to 17):

• loss of appetite
• insomnia
• abdominal pain
• weight loss
• nervousness

Adults:

• dry mouth
• loss of appetite
• insomnia
• headache
• weight loss
• nausea
• anxiety
• agitation
• dizziness
• tachycardia
• diarrhea
• asthenia
• urinary tract infections

Adderall and Weight Loss

Adderall should not be taken off-label to help you lose weight. Weight loss is not an approved use for this medication.

Adderall and Eyesight

Changes in eyesight is another serious side effects of Adderall XR. Taking the medication may impair your or your teenager’s ability to drive, operate machinery, or perform other potentially dangerous tasks. This side effect usually wears off with time. If side effects are bothersome, or do not go away, talk to your doctor.

Adderall and Heart or Blood Pressure Related Problems

Report to your doctor any heart-related problems or a family history of heart and blood pressure problems. Patients with structural cardiac abnormalities and other serious heart problems have experienced sudden death, stroke, heart attack, and increased blood pressure while taking Adderall XR. Stimulants can increase blood pressure and heart rate. Physicians should monitor these vital signs closely during treatment. Call your doctor immediately if you or your child experiences warning signs such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or fainting while taking Adderall XR.

Adderall and Mental Illness

Disclose to your physician all mental health issues including any family history of suicide, bipolar illness, tics, or depression. The drug manufacturer of Adderall XR, Shire, recommends evaluating patients for bipolar disorder, tics, and Tourette’s syndrome prior to stimulant administration. Adderall XR may create new or exacerbate existing behavior problems, bipolar illness, or Tourette’s syndrome. It can cause psychotic or manic symptoms in children and teenagers. Call your doctor immediately if you or your child experiences new or worsening mental health symptoms including hallucinations or sudden suspicions.

Adderall and Circulation Problems

Discuss circulation problems with your doctor before taking Adderall XR, which has been known to cause numbness, coolness, or pain in fingers or toes, including Raynaud’s phenomenon. Report to your doctor any new blood-flow problems, pain, skin color changes, or sensitivities to temperature while taking Adderall XR.

Adderall and Substance Abuse

Amphetamines like Adderall XR have a high potential for abuse and dependence, especially among people who do not have ADHD. It is a “Schedule II Stimulant,” a designation that the Drug Enforcement Agency uses for drugs with a high potential for abuse. Other Schedule II drugs include Dexedrine, Ritalin, and cocaine. People with a history of drug abuse should use caution when trying this medication. Taking the medication exactly as prescribed can reduce potential for abuse.

The above is not a complete list of potential side effects. If you notice any health changes not listed above, discuss them with your doctor or pharmacist.

Who Can Take Adderall XR? Medication Precautions

You should not take Adderall XR if you have any of the following conditions:

• Advanced arteriosclerosis
• Glaucoma
• Symptomatic cardiovascular disease
• Moderate to severe hypertension
• Hyperthyroidism
• Known hypersensitivity or idiosyncrasy to the sympathomimetic amines
• Glaucoma
• Agitated states
• History of drug abuse
• During or within the administration of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

If you’re thinking of becoming pregnant, discuss the use of Adderall XR with your doctor. Animal studies indicate a potential risk of fetal harm; infants may be born prematurely, with low birth weight, have learning or motor deficits, or experience withdrawal. Adderall XR is passed through breastmilk, so it is recommended that mothers do not nurse while taking it.

The effects of Adderall XR on the elderly have not been studied.

Store Adderall XR in a secure place out of the reach of children, and at room temperature. Do not share your Adderall XR prescription with anyone, even another person with ADHD. Sharing prescription medication is illegal, and can cause harm.

Interactions Associated with Adderall XR

Before taking Adderall XR, discuss all other active prescription medications with your doctor. Adderall XR can have a dangerous, possibly fatal, interaction with antidepressants including MAOIs.

Exercise caution with medicines including anti-psychotics, lithium, narcotic pain medicines, seizure medications, blood thinners, blood pressure medications, stomach acid medications — like antacids —, and cold or allergy medicines that contain decongestants. Even over-the-counter medications may contain ingredients that raise or lower the level of the medication in your blood to a dangerous level.

Share a list of all vitamin or herbal supplements, and prescription and non-prescription medications you take with the pharmacist when you fill your prescription, and let all doctors and physicians know you are taking Adderall XR before having any surgery or laboratory tests. The above is not a complete list of all possible drug interactions.

Sources

¹Advokat, Claire, et al. “Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulant medications as cognitive enhancers.” Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7: 82. 29 May 2013. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00082
²http://www.shirecontent.com/PI/PDFS/AdderallXR_USA_ENG.PDF
³http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm085819.pdf

More Information on Adderall XR and Other ADHD Medications

Adderall XR Dosage Guide – Drugs.com

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Dec 10, 2020.

Generic name: DEXTROAMPHETAMINE SULFATE 1.25mg, DEXTROAMPHETAMINE SACCHARATE 1.25mg, AMPHETAMINE ASPARTATE MONOHYDRATE 1.25mg, AMPHETAMINE SULFATE 1.25mg
Dosage form: capsule, extended release

Important Information Prior to Initiating Treatment

​Prior to initiating treatment with ADDERALL XR, assess for the presence of cardiac disease (e.g., perform a careful history, family history of sudden death or ventricular arrhythmia, and physical exam) [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)].

​Assess the risk of abuse prior to prescribing and monitor for signs of abuse and dependence while on therapy. Maintain careful prescription records, educate patients about abuse, monitor for signs for abuse and overdose, and periodically re-evaluate the need for ADDERALL XR use [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1), Drug Abuse and Dependence (9)].

Dosing Considerations for All Patients

Individualize the dosage according to the therapeutic needs and response of the patient. Administer ADDERALL XR at the lowest effective dosage.

Based on bioequivalence data, patients taking divided doses of immediate-release ADDERALL, (for example, twice daily), may be switched to ADDERALL XR at the same total daily dose taken once daily. Titrate at weekly intervals to appropriate efficacy and tolerability as indicated.

ADDERALL XR extended release capsules may be taken whole, or the capsule may be opened and the entire contents sprinkled on applesauce. If the patient is using the sprinkle administration method, the sprinkled applesauce should be consumed immediately; it should not be stored. Patients should take the applesauce with sprinkled beads in its entirety without chewing. The dose of a single capsule should not be divided. The contents of the entire capsule should be taken, and patients should not take anything less than one capsule per day.

ADDERALL XR may be taken with or without food.

ADDERALL XR should be given upon awakening. Afternoon doses should be avoided because of the potential for insomnia.

Where possible, ADDERALL XR therapy should be interrupted occasionally to determine if there is a recurrence of behavioral symptoms sufficient to require continued therapy.

Children

In children with ADHD who are 6-12 years of age and are either starting treatment for the first time or switching from another medication, start with 10 mg once daily in the morning; daily dosage may be adjusted in increments of 5 mg or 10 mg at weekly intervals. When in the judgment of the clinician a lower initial dose is appropriate, patients may begin treatment with 5 mg once daily in the morning. The maximum recommended dose for children 6-12 years of age is 30 mg/day; doses greater than 30 mg/day have not been studied in children. ADDERALL XR has not been studied in children under 6 years of age.

Adolescents

The recommended starting dose for adolescents with ADHD who are 13-17 years of age and are either starting treatment for the first time or switching from another medication is 10 mg/day. The dose may be increased to 20 mg/day after one week if ADHD symptoms are not adequately controlled.

Adults

In adults with ADHD who are either starting treatment for the first time or switching from another medication, the recommended dose is 20 mg/day.

Dosage in Patients with Renal Impairment

In adult patients with severe renal impairment (GFR 15 to < 30 mL/min/1.73m2), the recommended dose is 15 mg once daily in the morning. In pediatric patients (6 to 17 years of age) with severe renal impairment, the recommended dose is 5 mg once daily. The maximum dose for children 6 to 12 years of age with severe renal impairment is 20 mg once daily. ADDERALL XR is not recommended in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) (GFR < 15 mL/min/1.73m2) [see Use in Specific Populations (8.6), Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)].

Frequently asked questions

More about Adderall XR (amphetamine / dextroamphetamine)

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Further information

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Medical Disclaimer

Neurohacking # 3 – Personal experience on vc.ru

This collection of articles contains reports of people who have taken nootropics. Everything described below is purely subjective experience. Efficiency is measured by the results of the work performed and the subjective level of personal happiness. You can also share your story by writing “There is a story” in the comments.

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Neurohacking # 3

Mr.Clever

This article describes the course “Piracetam 1800 + Bifren 250”. Author’s text has been edited.

Hello everyone, my name is [no name 2]. At some point in my life, I was faced with the problem of burnout.I worked as an enikey in a state office. The work is not dusty, and I even liked it. But at some point, I just stopped feeling the taste of life. Realizing this, I decided to change the situation.

About drugs

Piracetam is the most popular nootropic, and the most studied.It was the perfect starting point for anyone who has ever tried a performance-enhancing drug. For more information on Piracetam, see the solo report, and the Piracetam + coffee report.

The second drug of the course was Phenibut, namely its Ukrainian generic Bifren. What is a generic drug? If the classic drug is the iPhone, then the generic is the Xiaomi product.The composition is the same, those. process and synthesis are the same. But there is no original license.

Bifren is also positioned as a nootropic, especially with a slight sedative effect. It allows you to slow down the central nervous system, while without loss of performance. Ideal for dealing with panic or excess stress, allowing you to concentrate on a specific activity.Why did you take it? Piracetam – to disperse the brain. And Bifren – in order not to overdo it with stimulation, a blues for healthy sleep.

Specific dosages

I took Piracetam at a slightly overestimated dosage.Pharmacy labeling is ideal for the elderly, or for those who have been prescribed a drug by a doctor. I needed something more, so that the body both received a nootropic effect and was always “charged for performance.”

At the same time, Bifren was taken in order to smooth out the effect of piracetam and give the body a great sleep.

1800 mg of piracetam was divided into 3 doses of 600 mg three times a day.This allowed both to maintain a constant effect and to accelerate the acceleration of the brain. I took Bifren in a dosage of 250 mg (1 tablet) 30 minutes before bedtime.

Reception diary

Along with taking medications, I also got a sleep mask.This allowed me to normalize the production of melatonin and get enough sleep more deeply, especially under Bifren. The course lasted 7 weeks, and this is how it was.

Effect of drugs

The goal was to get rid of burnout and get yourself back on track.Each awakening was accompanied by the intake of piracetam on an empty stomach. After that, I gradually got involved in the work with specific goals:

1. Solve working moments as efficiently and quickly as possible;

2. Plan your free time to do things that are interesting to me;

3.At the same time, keep a diary, noting what you managed to do.

From piracetam I had a hard tone. I felt like a bare, electrified wire. Each case was carried out with strange excitement and under tight deadlines. If I didn’t do anything, I felt like I was wasting my time. In fact, I had to do anything to be included in the process.

The dream was perfect, or rather, it was not.I took Bifren, put on a bandage and fell into bed. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell into the darkness, and the vibration of the alarm clock pulled me back.

After 3 weeks of taking, the effect of the drugs became normal for me. I not only returned to working mode, but also became faster and more productive.Work, which used to take 3-4 hours, was done under preparations in 1-2 hours. And I’m not sure if this was a stimulation effect, or an awakened interest in me to grow and develop. Having withstood the course for a month, I began to reduce the dosage of Piracetam, but continued to take Bifren.

If it was easy to give up Piracetam, then Bifren “held” me strongly. Not taking it before going to bed, I could not sleep for a long time, tossed and turned, started flipping the tape.The exit came by itself, I began to gradually postpone the reception time by 30 minutes. It took me 10 days to start taking Bifren at 6 pm, respectively, having held out on this regime for 2 days, I just stopped drinking it and fell asleep normally. That’s the whole story.

This was a report from one member of the Neurohacker group.What do you think of this course and the results? Have you had similar experiments on yourself and what did they lead to? Write in the comments or leave the tag “There is a story” to share with your audience and help people improve their minds more effectively. Read more about nootropics and brain boosting methods on the blog.

Strong neural connections, neurogenesis and may success be with you, friends!

“Generation Adderall”

Have you ever been to Anfield? Until the age of 23, when I lived in London and finished my studies, I had not even heard of him.One afternoon, I received a notice that a package I had been waiting impatiently for was stuck in customs and was now in a FedEx warehouse in Anfield, an inconspicuous London suburb. I immediately left the apartment and an hour later I was on the train bound for Anfield and looked out the window at the cloudy sky. This package was sent from Los Angeles and contained my month’s supply of Adderall.

Adderall is the trade name for a mixture of amphetamine salts. Its circulation in the UK is much more strictly regulated than in the United States.In the United States, where a year earlier I became one of the millions of people prescribed stimulant therapy.

The trip to Anfield was far from the extreme extreme I had taken in those 10 Adderall years. Sometimes, I scoured someone else’s first-aid kit, rummaged in garbage cans, where I had previously thrown pills in an attempt to quit, wrote essays for classmates in exchange for the coveted drug. Once, when I was living in New Hampshire, I did not show up for work. Instead, I spent 3 hours on the one-way road to get to a clinic where my prescription had not yet expired.I have never been more resourceful than when I needed more Adderall.

Adderall is prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is a neurobehavioral condition that manifests itself in the form of inattention, hyperactivity, and irascibility. This disease was included in the D.S.M. (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – US Nomenclature for Mental Disorders – approx. New than ) in 1987, and it was observed mainly among children.It is also called attention deficit disorder and has been diagnosed with increasing frequency over the past decades. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the 1990s, approximately 3-5% of school-age children were attributed to the disease. By 2013, this figure reached 11%. It continues to grow, and with it the number of prescribed stimulants. In the 1990s, about 600,000 children adopted them. Most of it was Ritalin, which in many cases had to be taken several times a day.In 2013, 3.5 million children were on stimulants, and Ritalin was replaced by Adderall, officially launched in 1996 as a new, improved choice for ADD patients, a more potent drug that lasts longer.

The very name of Adderall reflects the hopes of its creators for expanding the client base: as Alan Schwartz writes in his new book “A.D.H.D Nation”, it was based on the phrase “A.D.D for all”. When I went to college in 2000 — four years after Adderall graduated — 5 million people were discharged; in 2005, a year before my graduation, that number almost reached 9 million.Then the total revenue from the sale of drugs for ADHD in the United States amounted to more than $ 2 billion.

By the mid-2000s, the number of adults prescribed the drug was growing the fastest. In 2012, Adderall was discharged to an estimated 16 million people between the ages of 20 and 39, according to QuintilesIMS, an information service that specializes in medical data. Now Adderall is widespread on campuses, students take it with and without a doctor’s prescription. Even if not in the majority, but in many schools a kind of “black markets” for the sale of this drug have appeared.In fact, a study published in 2012 in Brain and Behavior found that non-prescription stimulant use was the second most common form of drug abuse in college in 2004. Only marijuana has gained great popularity.

We know very little about what happens as a result of years of Adderall’s use during and after college, along with all the experiences that make up adolescence.There is little research to date highlighting the long-term effects on those taking this drug. So we are a kind of walking experiment. We, who were about the same age in high school, first met Adderall, at a time when this drug was literally everywhere, and then, years later, we could not get rid of addiction. The question is, will we ever be able to do this. We, both physically and mentally, are barely up to the point where we can take a potent drug that we do not need at all, and so for many, many years.Sometimes I want to call us the Adderall generation.

As it is now known, Adderall owes its appearance to chance. In the late 1920s, American chemist Gordon Alles, in search of a way to treat asthma, synthesized a substance associated with adrenaline. It definitely helped to soften the bronchi. Alles created beta-phenyl-isopropylamine, more commonly known today as amphetamine. After the test injection, the scientist noted “feeling great,” which was followed by “a rather sleepless night,” which can be found in the book by Nicholas Rassmussen “Gaining momentum: the many lives of amphetamine”.By the 1930s, the drug Benzedrine, which was only a trade name for amphetamine, was being used to lift mood, energize, and increase focus. During World War II, US Army soldiers were given Benzedrine, also called “pep pills.” After the war, slightly modified and named Dexedrine, this drug was prescribed for depression. Many people, especially women, loved this drug for its appetite suppressing side effects and took it to keep from gaining weight.There was even such a means for losing weight as Obetrol. But in the early 1970s, when about 10 million people were using amphetamine, the Food and Drug Administration came up with tough regulation and the drug was phased out of widespread use. More than 20 years later, a pharmaceutical company manager named Roger Griggs decided to “resurrect” the almost forgotten Obetrol. After refining the formula, he named the drug Adderall and launched it into production, targeting millions of children and adolescents who were diagnosed with ADHD.The current version of the drug was released several years later. Now the time for the drug to enter the bloodstream has been extended, and the possibility of addiction, according to the creators, has decreased, which means that it was easier to “get off” from it. In theory.

I first tried Adderall in my sophomore year at Brown University. I complained to my friend about my bitter fate: by the next day I had to write 5 pages about the book I had just started reading. “Would you like an Adderall pill?” She suggested. “I can’t stand him, because of him I want to stay awake all night, and instead turn the wheel in the lobby.”

Who could have thought of a more tempting description? A friend squeezed two blue pills out of foil and handed them to me.An hour later, I was in the basement of the library, in an Absolutely Quiet Room, in a state of incomparable euphoria. The world no longer existed, there was only me, in love with the book. I read, and thoughts appeared out of nowhere and turned, it seemed, into an incredible treasure. As dawn began, I sat hunched over in the unkempt living room of our dormitory, jotting down my feverish judgments, hardly realizing that the sky outside was turning pink. I was alone in my new secret world, and this very loneliness was part of the intoxication.Nobody and nothing I needed.

Over and over again I returned to this feeling over the next two years, as soon as I found Adderall on campus, which happened often, but not enough. The Adderall watch has become the most precious timepiece of my life, of course too valuable for an Absolutely Quiet Room. Now I had to sit at the farthest table in the darkest and most desolate corner of the upper level of the library, hiding as far away from the noisy campus life as possible.This life did not interest me anymore. Instead, those lonely hours that I spent pondering, for example, Immanuel Kant’s judgments about “high” acquired the greatest value.

It suited me. All of this was and was “high”, those days spent in concentration free from any restrictions, when I absorbed the complex thoughts set forth in the book in front of me. I understood everything, my mind was sharp as a razor, I literally absorbed books, making them a part of myself. More precisely, a part of the person for whom I took myself, that cold, not distracted person.Of course, I preferred her much more than the lazy, “inhibiting” real self, suffering from bouts of fatigue and a pernicious passion for Swedish Fish gummies.

Adderall dropped the question of willpower. Now I could study all night long, then run 10 miles, then casually flip through the weekly issue of the New Yorker, all without stopping, without a pause, when I could wonder whether I should chat with friends or go to the movies. That was incredible. I lost weight, which was also very pleasant.Although I was lashing out at my friends, suddenly showing a rage of such depth, which I could not think of before. Once my neighbor went home for the weekend, forgetting to turn off the alarm. He squeaked for two days behind her closed door, and I completely lost control of myself, calling her with abuse in New York. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept for more than five hours. What for?

In the last year in college, the workload has only increased to almost impossible limits.For the first time, I couldn’t handle her. My playful aristocratic teacher of Russian history gave me a grade for the final semester test. One Friday night in mid-December, when our ideal New England campus was emptying out for the winter break, I sat alone in the Science Library, the only one that didn’t close for the night. I squinted at my notes about the Russian intelligentsia. And outside the window was a blizzard. Inside, fluorescent lights illuminated the basement room. I felt strange and carefree.It was a particularly “chemical” week, for several days I had not slept for at least a few hours, and to compensate for this, I took more and more pills. I looked up from the notebook, and suddenly the room seemed to expand, giving the impression that I was not in it, but in some strange mirage. Panic gripped me, I did not understand what was happening. I tried to breathe, to bring myself back to reality, but nothing worked for me. With shaking legs, I reached the phone and called my friend Dave in the room.“I had some trouble in the research library,” I said in a voice that didn’t belong to me.

An hour later I was in the ambulance taking me through a blizzard to the nearest hospital. The volunteer paramedic was student Brown, whom I met only once or twice. All the way he held my hand. “I’m dying?” I asked him over and over again. Dave and I spent 4 hours in the waiting room until they took me behind a screen when a skeptical looking doctor came to me. I was not used to the way he looked at me, as if I was crazy, maybe even incapacitated.But then it became easier for me, I was no longer so sure of my imminent death. Lying down on the couch before the examination, I even joked: “I will recline like an ancient Roman!” His face was uninterested. I described the drug I was taking. He was diagnosed with amphetamine anxiety disorder. This was my first panic attack, an unknown and rare reaction to an Adderall overdose. At the hospital, I left a container of blue pills, which I had been diligently begging for before.I still remember him lying next to the examination table.

_{Author: Chad Vis. The original image was taken from the Getty’s Open Content Program. Portrait of Louise de Keroual, Countess of Portsmouth, by Peter Lely.}

A few days later, I corrected my academic failure and went home to New York. My father knew about the hospital incident, and I promised him that I would stop taking the drug. And I honestly tried. I spent those long winter vacations at the public library on 42nd Street, languidly flipping through essays that I had not been able to sort through while on amphetamines.What I didn’t know then, which I couldn’t have known, was that no one knew whether Adderall improves mental abilities if it is not taken as prescribed by a doctor, whether it is really a nootropic. It took several years before studies showed that the impact on cognitive process was more than ambiguous. Martha Farah, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, did a lot for this research. She studied the Adderall effect on many standardized tests that measure the level of withdrawal, memory and creativity.In general, according to the test results, they found almost no improvement as a result of the use of Adderall. Ultimately, she says, “people with problems get better, more productive ones may not have, and on the contrary, their cognitive performance may deteriorate.”

My pill-free period did not last long. I went back to my studies and got grades every day. But as the final exams approached that spring, I reverted to the familiar pattern of moments of hard work alone followed by days when I slowly “walked away.”I could do nothing for hours, eat ice cream with spoons straight from the container, satisfy my desperate need for sugar, hardly finding the strength to at least get to the shower.

After graduating from college, it took me a year to make a decision that would define the next stage in my life for years to come. It was a revelation for me. I could become independent of those ADHD children who sold their prescription pills at exorbitant prices. I could get my own recipe! This idea came to me when I was strolling among the palm trees on the campus of the University of California.By then, I was living in Los Angeles and working as a tutor for high school students, many of whom took Adderall themselves. I also took summer courses in psychology and neurology, in order to then go to graduate school. I decided that I wanted to become a psychologist, which I thought was much more real than my secret dream of becoming a writer. Infinitely more real. Like many people in their 20s, my decisions were made in a panic and haste, but they also, of course, depended on how many pills I had.

I was now surrounded – well, or surrounded myself – by people who had also fallen into Adderall’s trap. Together with two of my closest friends, we traveled all over Los Angeles with relentless, false energy, trusting each other more than ever. Adderall maintained our friendship, and if one ran out of pills, the other would make up for the deficiency. Riding in the sun-drenched Los Angeles, immersed in a trance, I easily lost count and did not know how many pills I had in a day.

As soon as it became clear to me that I could get my own prescription, I ran to the nearest computer on campus and typed in “Cognitive Behavior Psychologist, Westwood, Los Angeles, California.” Then I already knew enough about psychology to avoid psychologists who would discuss treatment with me for weeks or even months and why I was so confident in the need for drug treatment. No, I could not contact them – I needed a specialist, a doctor, who would focus on achieving a result, and all this 10 minutes from the University of California.The next day, I sat in exactly the place I needed, in a faceless room with gray walls and furniture upholstered in black leather. I told the young psychologist opposite me about how I always had to develop some kind of compensation strategies in order to keep up with my studies, what difficulties I had to focus on one thing, that I was best at coping with the jobs that meant multitasking, like working as a waitress. Of course, this was all not true, I was a focused student and a terrible waitress.I learned all this by looking on the Internet for the symptoms of ADHD and the criteria by which it is diagnosed. These were the answers needed for any psychologist to take a pencil and write “Adderall 20 mg, once a day” on a prescription sheet. So I took advantage of them.

50 minutes later, I was standing on San Vicente Boulevard in the bright California sun, the recipe in my hand. This is the only doctor’s prescription that I received in less than an hour, I took it with me wherever I went, whether it was Los Angeles, London (where I used FedEx), then New Haven, where I got it. once a month at a treatment center in Yale, then again in New York, where the doctor whom I found on insurance, without any problems prescribes this drug to me again and again, based only on my words that I had already been prescribed it before, that I’ve been taking it for years.

Any book on the basics of neuroscience will explain how Adderall works on the brain and why it is so difficult to get rid of addiction. Over the years, most of the publications by scientists like Nora Volkov, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, have described studies on the nature of addiction that revolved around the neurotransmitter dopamine. Amphetamine stimulates the production of dopamine and norepinephrine, which rapidly spread across synapses and increase the level of nervous system arousal, concentration, general tone and targeted motivation.In fact, the release of dopamine is accompanied by any experience that gives you a particularly pleasant sensation, be it sex or eating a chocolate cake. It is for this reason that dopamine is central to modern addiction models. Once a person begins to abuse, the brain, which seeks to maintain homeostasis, tries to compensate for the excess dopamine by blocking its own dopamine receptors. As the number of receptors involved becomes less, a person needs more and more active ingredient in order to achieve the desired level of euphoria.In addition, the reduction in the number of receptors can explain the withdrawal syndrome: after giving up the stimulant, a person is left to be content with the abilities of his own brain with a reinforcement system that works worse than usual. The question of whether the brain is able to recover from drug withdrawal remains open.

In 2008, three years after receiving my prescription, I ended up in a psychiatrist’s office in New Haven, where I was completing my master’s degree. Choking with sobs, I told him that my life no longer belongs to me.I spent a long time convincing myself that, using Adderall, I was completely in control of my error-prone nature, but in reality it was quite the opposite: Adderall made my life unpredictable, raising black hurricanes over my horizon completely without warning. And yet it was impossible to give up. The psychiatrist was probably a Serb, with a completely imperturbable expression on his face. He examined me calmly and prescribed Wellbutrin, a mild accelerated antidepressant that was supposed to alleviate the withdrawal syndrome by making it less painful to withdraw from Adderall.This sounded reassuring. But very soon I was just taking both drugs.

When I took Adderall, my life was a paradox. I believed that he was vital to me and at the same time I understood that he acts as a toxin, as a poison for art, love and life. In 2009, I got a contract for a book on psychoanalysis and neuroscience, and a little later I took a one-day job as a reporter for a news site. I was required to continually supply short, catchy details: be lively and easily switch from one to the other.Addiction to Adderall was perfect for maintaining such a rhythm – and in stark contrast to what it takes to write a book slowly and thoughtfully. Week after week, slowness and thoughtfulness seemed to me more and more unattainable. It didn’t go unnoticed to me how the Internet made possible what happened in the 1990s, when Adderall swept the market, and these two events were like a blueprint for the lives of Americans.

From time to time I tried to give up the drug.Each attempt started the same way. Step one: collect all the tablets available to me, including those that are previously hidden in kitchen drawers and closets with clothes. Spend a few hours arguing with yourself about leaving one “for an emergency.” Break yourself down with a sharp effort of will and flush the pills down the toilet. Step two: For a day or two, it’s perfectly okay to feel like I’m really going to get over it. Step three: feel how time is piling on a gloomy, heavy slab, when even the simplest daily actions require tremendous efforts, and the future is drawn into an endless series of duties that I have long been tired of performing.The work on the book stops. Panic comes. Then Adderall’s inner voice suddenly takes over, forcing me to jump out of the table and get a new prescription – almost every time it’s easy – or just borrow a few pills from a friend, if need be. And the circle closes again. I was ashamed of these moments and kept them secret. Few people knew to what extent the drug actually shaped my life.

Year after year, various experts in the field have told me that it is not so difficult to abandon Adderall.The rejection will be relatively quick and painless. And I often imagined that those futile attempts at rejection were my most shameful failures in life. I found some consolation when I saw how my experience was reflected in the multitude of individual voices coming from sites and forums dedicated to drug withdrawal. I will always remember one of these messages left by a certain mother on QuittingAdderall.com:

I started Adderall in October 2010.And my story is not very different from the rest. … First the honeymoon, then the jump from the cliff. It seems to me that I no longer remember who I was and how I felt when I spent at least one minute without Adderall. I look at photographs of who I was before I started taking the drug and I can’t understand how I could have been “happy” without it, because now I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown if I even come close to not taking the drug all day. Sometimes I cried with shame as I put my daughter to bed, because the time she spent that afternoon with her mother was not real.

“No one starts fighting addiction by saying ‘I’m going to deal with my addiction,’” Jeanette Friedman, a drug addict social worker, told me when I met her in August at her Upper East Side office. – Not a single person is going to become addicted. However, nowadays, taking something like Adderall is a common thing – the harm from taking such drugs seems to be negligible, or the drug allows you to increase productivity. And in our culture, productivity is, one might say, the most important thing.Society places a tremendous emphasis on not only doing your job well, but constantly striving for more. ”

Staying face to face with the patient, Friedman explains that what is at stake is his very ability to “become a full-fledged person without a hint of continuous need for anything.” Adderall exacerbates the usual dynamics of drug addiction by being closely associated with productivity, high achievement, and success. “It’s very difficult to accept the thought of giving up because it seems like you’re going to lose productive abilities,” she says. “Many survivors report that those abilities never go away.But the fear of losing them makes people continue to use. ”

I remember experiencing similar fears at school and later at work, and they can be felt in those messages from Internet forums:

I feel even worse now than when I suffered from ADHD and became addicted to this thing. Right now, I don’t feel like I can defend my PhD. I don’t feel like I can do a term paper, I have lost interest and enthusiasm for the things that I used to love. Dear readers, tell me it will pass.

Harris Stratiner, a psychologist and addiction specialist at the Caron Treatment Center in Manhattan, told me that every year he meets more and more people desperate to get off Adderall. He estimates that to date he has had 50 patients aged 24 to 40 with a similar problem. Most of them are creative people who wanted to connect their lives with art. However, many have chosen other, safer paths, abandoning their dreams, without even trying to fulfill it.

“They often gave up in favor of practicality. Then they decided that they had missed their opportunity. And after taking Adderall, they began to enjoy life again and stopped all the time to return to the idea that they were “sold out.” Many people take this drug to hide their dissatisfaction with themselves, because it narrows the circle of their thoughts to an elementary living day after day, allows them not to think about their goals in life, ”explains the doctor.

“This gives rise to both mental and physical dependence.It’s a real drug and it’s very difficult to get rid of it, ”admits Stratiner. Side effects reported by patients include nausea, chills, diarrhea, physical discomfort, pain, and even seizures. Sometimes his patients need hospitalization while getting rid of addiction.

Ultimately, I could not give up Adderall alone. I had a wonderful psychologist. I’m sure she saved my life. On the wall in her office hung only one painting – a reproduction of the work of Henri Matisse.As the course progressed, Matisse began to embody creativity. You start your journey in one place, painfully go to the unknown, to something that can surprise you. We both agreed that Adderall was a twisted version of this journey. I was 30 when I finally got rid of addiction. The realization of how much precious time I gave to this drug still scares me, even after 3 years.

In the first weeks after leaving Adderall, I was tormented by constant unbearable fatigue – it took me an effort to escape even on the smallest errands.And the gym was out of the question. I was tormented by a craving for the drug. As soon as someone just said the word “Adderall” in my presence, I began frantically to think of a way to get at least one pill. Or maybe two. I was scared, I was horrified by the thought that something irreversible had happened to my brain, and it may turn out that I would not be able to write without my special pills. I had no idea that only after giving up amphetamine my book would finally become real.

Even in those first weeks full of doubt, there was something good. Simple pleasures became available to me again. When I talked to my friends, I laughed more often and noticed that they too. I have spent many years of my life in a state of unnecessary tension. I kept thinking about whether I should be elsewhere, whether I should work harder and achieve more. It was only in a state of deep exhaustion that I was able to understand that this annoying desire was caused by a chemical substance, and that it was precisely this that kept me at a distance from my friends – and from myself too.

One of those first days without my drug, I walked slowly, frightened. I had to go through nothing to get to the meeting that was scheduled in Midtown Manhattan. It was a delightful summer evening, the sun was going down. When I got to Bryant Park, I heard music and wanted to watch. A rock band was playing on the stage. I staggered somewhere at the far end of the crowd. The singer, muscular and bearded, held the microphone with both hands and put his soul into every word of his song.His voice was in the air on this summer night. Suddenly I realized that tears were rolling down my cheeks. I was embarrassed, but I couldn’t stop either. I had the feeling that during all these years I had never heard music.

By Casey Schwartz, author of In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis. (“In the vastness of the mind: discovering a new science of neuropsychoanalysis”).
Original: The New York Times Magazine.

Translated by Nikita Pinchuk and Natasha Ochkova.
Edited by Artyom Slobodchikov and Anna Nebolsina.

90,000 Do we need a magic pill to improve memory and attention?

• Zaria Gorvett
• BBC Capital

September 13, 2018

Photo Credit, Getty Images

Nootropics, drugs that supposedly improve mental performance and increase performance, are gaining in popularity. But are they really effective? And what will happen if everyone starts using them?

Honore de Balzac was an avid coffee lover who believed coffee was the best way to stimulate the brain.Every evening he went in search of nightlife coffee shops, and then wrote until morning.

They say he drank 50 cups of his favorite drink daily. And … he literally absorbed ground coffee in spoons – it worked well on an empty stomach.

The writer said that after a sip of coffee powder, “ideas in my head began to march cheerfully, like battalions of a great army that go to the battlefield to rush into battle.”

Obviously this really helped. Balzac was an incredibly prolific writer, having written nearly a hundred novels, novellas, and plays.True, he died of heart failure at the age of only 51.

Photo author, Getty Images

Pidpis to the photo,

Honore de Balzac was one of the first proponents of nootropics – to stimulate creativity, he absorbed a huge amount of caffeine every day

For centuries, caffeine was the only assistant in overcoming the mountain of boring and painstaking work …

And only the last generation of workers began to experiment with substances that, in their opinion, enhance intellectual abilities and contribute to fantastic performance.

In fact, some of these “smart dragz” (“pills for the mind”) are already quite popular. A recent poll of tens of thousands of Americans showed that 30% of them took such drugs during the past year.

Perhaps soon we will begin to do all this.

But what will be the consequences? Will there be a new generation of thought giants whose brilliant inventions will usher in the space age of humankind? Will we achieve insane economic growth? Or maybe the working week will become noticeably shorter, because people will work more efficiently?

“Changes the mind”

To answer these questions, you first need to understand what exactly scientists are offering us.

The first drug of this group, piracetam, was synthesized in the early 1960s by the Romanian chemist and psychologist Corneliu George. He was looking for a substance that would induce drowsiness, and after a few months he came up with Compound 6215.

It was safe, but there was no sedative effect either. It seemed quite the opposite. In patients who took it for a month, memory improved significantly.

George immediately realized the significance of his invention and coined the term “nootropic” – a combination of the Greek words νους (“mind”) and τροπή (“turn, interfere, change”).

Today, piracetam is the favorite “magic pill” of students and young professionals who want to improve their performance. Although several decades after the invention of the drug, there is not sufficient evidence of its effectiveness.

Piracetam is only available with a prescription in the UK, although the FDA has not approved it and has not approved it as a dietary supplement.

Texas-based entrepreneur and podcast author Mansal Denton takes phenylpiracetam, a close analogue of piracetam, developed in the Soviet Union to help astronauts overcome the stresses of space life.

Photo by Getty Images

Sign up to photo,

Creatine has always been a staple of dietary supplements for bodybuilders, but now it is also used to improve mental activity

“When I use this drug, my speech skills improve, and therefore in such days I usually record a lot of podcasts, “he says.

In fact, this effect is quite typical for nootropics. Despite the abundance of their passionate admirers, the intellectual effect is practically invisible or absent altogether.

Brain gain?

Take creatine monohydrate, for example. This dietary supplement is in the form of a white powder, usually mixed with sugary drinks or milkshakes, or taken as a tablet.

The substance travels to the brain, and recent studies show that creatine actually improves working memory and intelligence.

Although creatine is a relatively recent discovery by aspiring young professionals, it has been known to bodybuilders for decades.The substance is the main ingredient in many dietary supplements, and in the United States, sports supplements are a multibillion dollar industry.

According to a survey conducted last year by Ipsos Public Affairs, 22% of adults said they had consumed dietary supplements in the past year.

If creatine had a serious effect on human performance, we would definitely notice it.

Of course, there are drugs with a stronger effect.

“Some of them are quite effective,” says Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University.

There is one category of nootropics that scientists and biohackers (amateurs who are trying to change the physiology of their bodies at the molecular level) are very interested in.

These are psychostimulants.

The most common of these are amphetamines and methylphenidate, which are sold by prescription under the brand names Adderall and Ritalin.

Both drugs are approved in the United States for the treatment of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But now they are often abused by people whose work requires a high concentration of attention.

Photo author, Getty Images

Pidpis to photo,

The psychostimulant “Ritalin” is intended for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but it is often used simply to improve attention

Amphetamines have long established themselves as nootropic substances.

This feature was well known to the legendary Hungarian mathematician Pal Erdös, who with the help of amphetamines withstood 19-hour mathematical sessions.

They were used by the writer Graham Greene to write two books at the same time. Today, their use is quite common among journalists, creative professionals and financiers.

Those who took them swear that they really change consciousness, although not in the way you expected.

Back in 2015, a scientific review showed that the effect of amphetamines on intelligence is quite “modest”. But most people use them to improve their mental abilities, but rather to increase energy and motivation to work.

(Both drugs have serious side effects, more on that later).

One of the effects of psychostimulants like Adderall and Ritalin is to make it easier to perform psychologically grueling tasks.

One study showed that under the influence of “Ritalin” mathematical problems seemed more interesting to the researcher.

Assuming that all people start using mental stimulants, we have at least two main consequences.

First, people will stop avoiding unpleasant tasks.

Tired office workers who have spent years perfecting the art of idleness in the workplace will frantically sort documents, update spreadsheets, and enthusiastically attend boring meetings.

Secondly, competition among employees will start to grow rapidly. This side effect of nootropics has been talked about for quite some time.

But is it so good, a debatable question.

“Many Silicon Valley and Wall Street professionals already use mental stimulants.This is starting to resemble professional sports in the field of intelligence, where the stakes and competition are growing daily, “says Jeffrey Wu, CEO and co-founder of HVMN, which makes a line of nootropic supplements.

But there are also significant disadvantages. Amphetamines are similar in structure Methamphetamine, a powerful addictive drug that has ruined countless lives, can also be fatal

There are many reports that Adderall and Ritalin are addictive.And they also have a number of side effects such as nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, stomach pains, and even hair loss.

Finally, psychostimulants are unlikely to increase productivity in general.

An important question, how will a person feel the next day? You can work at the peak of your ability for 12 hours, but then you will feel a strong decline in activity for a day or two.

However, we still have a few proven options that can be bought without a prescription in every coffee shop.

This is, first of all, coffee. Unfortunately, no one has calculated the effect of caffeine on economic growth yet, but many other studies have found many of its benefits.

Author of the photo, Getty Images

Signs to the photo,

It seems that the best stimulant of intellectual activity is still coffee

Interestingly, caffeine was more effective than a commercial additive based on it, which is produced by Woo and which now costs 17.95 dollars for 60 tablets.

Well, and secondly, nicotine. Scientists are increasingly realizing that it has a powerful nootropic effect that improves a person’s memory and helps focus.

Although the risks and side effects are also well known to everyone.

“Some well-known neuroscientists chew Nicorette to improve their mental performance. But in the past, they all smoked, so this is most likely a substitute for addiction,” notes Guberman.

What happens if we all start taking brain stimulants?

It turns out that many of us already do this on a daily basis.And Balzac could tell you about this.

The purpose of the article is general information. It cannot replace specialist medical advice. The BBC is not responsible for any diagnosis made by a reader based on information from the site. The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external Internet sites to which the authors of this article link, nor does it recommend any commercial products or services mentioned by on on any site. Always consult your doctor if you have any questions related to your health.

Adderall Xr 30 Capsules / Adderall Capsule in English – Item

is it possible to become smarter / Habr

Hello,% username%!

I would like to talk about various pharmacological ways to improve memory, thinking, attention and other qualities necessary for successful professional and other activities.

In this post I will try to provide information on some interesting drugs.Some of them are available, some are available only by prescription, and some are practically prohibited. But, I think, some information from psychopharmacology, presented in this post, will find its reader.

Spoiler : NZT hasn’t been invented yet, but a number of potentially interesting things have been synthesized.

Disclaimer

I’ll tell you right away: I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m a psycho. In the truest sense of the word. Personal history summary Worked in IT, first in a Russian-level company, then in an international corporation from Silicon Valley.

And then well-known geopolitical events happened, relations between the Russian Federation and the United States deteriorated, the American government imposed sanctions on our largest customers, and the company, seeing the rapid decline in the market, practically left our country.

Like almost all employees, I was laid off, but now, I could not find a new job. Because he lost his mind. What they didn’t put on: depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, GAD. I was discharged from the madhouse with f21.8, then a specialist with whom I work privately found a dissociative process that explained the difference in diagnoses.

I was twice in a psychiatric hospital, I was treated for quite a long time on an outpatient basis, but there was no sense. Therefore, I was puzzled by the study of psychiatry, psychopharmacology and other related disciplines. I want to share this knowledge with the audience. Perhaps someone will be interested.

Once again, just in case: I’m not a doctor. Please consult a professional before taking anything. Don’t use drugs. Wash your hands before eating and generally behave yourself.

Industry

I think many would like to “be able to think faster and better.”We will leave the discussion of the goals and psychological attitudes behind this desire for the next time, and now we will consider that it is quite logical and justified, focusing on the means of achieving it.

So what exactly can we improve? First, memory. Everything is simple here: the better our long-term memory, the greater the amount of necessary information we can remember. What to do with this – everyone will decide for themselves: someone will remember the CCIE dumps, someone will try to memorize all of Knut’s volumes, and someone will spend on memories of where and how much money they spent.

Improving short-term and / or working memory (there are different opinions as to how they are related) gives us the opportunity to improve the so-called. mobile intelligence, i.e. ability to think logically and solve problems without having similar previous experience.

In general, increasing memory is good.

The second aspect that can be pumped is to improve attention, i.e. the ability to selectively focus on activities and perception. Everything here is not as obvious as in the case of memory, but if you remember your experience (it seems to me that everyone has it), when it was not possible to concentrate on the task (this is not always associated with procrastination), then you will appreciate the ability to this very selective concentration.And if you, like me, do not let LMM, have attention disorders, then even more so.

And the third aspect is the intellect itself: mobile and crystallized (according to Cattell) [2]. Here, I think, there is no need to explain: the first is mentioned above, and the second is the ability to use the accumulated experience.

And one more aspect. Formally, it is offtopic, but I would also include it – this is endurance – the ability to experience high mental loads for a long time (we are interested in them) and not lose efficiency.

Now that we have decided what we are going to improve, we can proceed to the direct consideration of drugs.

PRL-8-53 (methyl 3- (2- (benzyl (methyl) amino) ethyl) benzoate)

There was such a scientist in the 1970s, Dr. Hansl. And he worked incl. over cognitive enhancers. One of the results of this work was the substance we are talking about now.

I would like to point out two very important points: firstly, at the moment this compound has the status of research chemical: i.e.e. clinical trials have not been conducted, side effects are not clear, hazard class has not been established, etc. And secondly, the level of evidence is, to put it mildly, very far from what is desired.

To be precise, there are only three scientific studies [3, 4, 5] of this substance, the sample is quite small. However, the results are so promising that I decided to include this molecule on the list.

In one of them, a statistically significant effect of this substance on the ability of subjects to memorize words and numbers was established.The subjects were asked to memorize words (orally), and then asked to repeat them.

It turned out that the effectiveness of the drug depends on how good the memory of the subject was without it.

The most impressive results were shown by those who had obvious memory problems (those who memorized six words or less) – their memory improved by 87.5-105% [3].

Those who had better memory without medicine showed a much more modest result: 7.9-14% [3]

The age aspect is interesting: in people who were over thirty, they demonstrated an increase in the ability to memorize by 108-152% [3].

In addition, an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of PRL-8-53 on the ability to perform mathematical calculations. The subjects were offered the following task: it was necessary to subtract seven from a given number, then add one, then subtract seven from the result obtained, add two, then subtract seven, add three to the result, etc.until another number specified by the experimenter is obtained. And here, too, there were improvements, expressed in the fact that the task was completed faster after taking the drug.

There is no data on the mechanism of action of the drug. Like this: there are simply no scientific publications that would investigate this issue.

Hansl himself believed that the drug somehow affects cholinergic transmission (cholinergics are generally an extremely promising thing for the development of any brain enhancers), inhibits the action of serotonin ( hello to lovers of prescribing SSRIs to everyone! ) and potentiates dopaminergic transmission.But this is his private opinion, not based on anything.

The substance is legal in the Russian Federation, it can be purchased relatively easily on the Internet.

I haven’t tried it myself just because there is no extra money. But I’m ready to become a test experimental rat, I promise trip-report review containing a detailed description of the subjective and objective (I have a certified clinical psychologist sitting next to me from a psychiatric hospital, can take measurements) of the result.

Valproic acid

This is a normotimic.A drug used, firstly, to treat epilepsy (prevents the occurrence of seizures), and, secondly, to stabilize mood in affective disorders (prevents patients with bipolar disorder, schizo-affective disorder, and others from falling into depression or flying into mania) similar diseases). Sold without a prescription (some pharmacies may require it, this is not a problem *).

But we will consider off-label use. The evidence is also not very good here (and with it, all cognitive enhancers are not very good), but Dr. Philip Bird of the Gosforth Clinic argues that valproic acid can significantly improve attention, and not only in patients with ADHD [6]. but also in healthy people [5].And in general, of all normotimics, valproic acid is the most intellect-friendly [7]. They even tried to give it to dementy people with a very encouraging result [8].

The proposed mechanism of action consists, firstly, in the GABA-ergic effect of this substance itself, and, secondly, in the regulation of the expression of genes encoding receptor proteins that respond to neurotransmitters in brain cells.

That is why the effect does not come immediately, but after 1-2 weeks (you just need to wait until this whole inert system starts swinging: expression changes, new proteins are produced, the brain rebuilds to a new configuration).

I have personal experience with this thing, and it is wonderful. Under it, I can read, write and even think for a long time. For example, if measured in text, then with it I can master 150 pages of text in a day, without it – 70-90 (with the same difficulty). Of course, perhaps this is the placebo effect, but I have no opportunity to conduct an RCT, so I am sharing what I have. By the way, similar effects were noted at “Neuroleptic” [9], but this is also far from the best source of information.

The only “but” – the dosage should be subtherapeutic, about 100-300 mg.And let old-school psychiatrists say that less than 1000 does not work: explain to them that the drug is not for BAR or F25, but for concentration.

Amfonelic Acid

What will a person on the street say when asked about means to increase endurance? Most likely, he will name cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine. But they are prohibited, which means they do not suit us.

But if you think about it, we don’t need them: we are not interested in drug intoxication here, but in the opportunity to somewhat “speed up” thinking, increase endurance and remove drowsiness.

And among research compounds there are many substances that are not drugs (in the legal sense), but can give us the desired effect. One of these substances is amphonelic acid.

Technically, it is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor [11]. Those. in the usual mode, the dopamine released from the vesicle is pulled back with the help of DAT, but under the saber substance it is not tightened. Or it takes much less time.

This substance is of interest precisely because of the selectivity of its effect: it does not increase aggression [10], does not affect noradrenergic (it seems, it is written in Russian) transmission [12], and therefore does not have unpleasant vegetative side effects.And it also does not lead to the release of dopamine [13], which, on the one hand, makes it safe for neurons (unlike the same meta, it does not have neurotoxicity), and, secondly, it reduces the risk of addiction (but does not neutralize we still cling to the dopamine!).

Quite simply, this is an ideal stimulant. Like an amphetamine, only without a drug “arrival”, while maintaining clarity of thinking and the ability to adequately interact with reality.

Reviews on it are different [14, 15, etc.] – for some, this substance is “like a lubricant for gears in the brain”, according to some users, it MUCH increases productivity. “The mind stays clean” is a motive that repeats in reviews. Others compare the effect to caffeine or say they felt nothing.

But there is one powerful “but”: technically, this thing is an antibiotic from the quinolone group, and the constant use of antibiotics, as we all remember from the school biology course, is not very good.

(±) -2- (diphenylmethyl) -sulfinyl acetamide

Better known under the trade mark Modafinil.Analeptic. In the Russian Federation, it is included in the “Psychotropic Substances” section of the list of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, the circulation of which in the Russian Federation is limited and for which control measures are established in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and international treaties of the Russian Federation (List II).

In practice, this means that it is almost impossible to get it legally (the maximum that I could manage was to get substances from List III, because doctors have some very hellish bureaucracy associated with the prescription of such drugs, and they are extremely reluctant they are appointed).

It has been proven that it has at least the ability to restore (ie, improve) impaired cognitive abilities after chemotherapy [16]. In addition, it can reduce the manifestation of depressive symptoms [17]. But this is not so simple with the sick, with the healthy.

Despite the fact that modafinil is quite popular as a “cognitive enhancer” [18, judgments on RAMP, I do not give a link to which for obvious reasons], the study [18] shows that its effect is more likely associated with a bias in favor of previously encouraged behavior versus abandoning behavior that is associated with negative reinforcement, which is by no means an improvement.

Meta-research [19] also showed no effect of improving memory and intelligence. So it makes no sense to be puzzled by the search for this drug as a means of overclocking the brain.

But, like many stimulants, it helps fight sleep and fatigue. And in this capacity it may well be useful (if used correctly).

“Phenibut”, * racetams, hopantenic acid, etc.

Usually, when it comes to drugs for “brain acceleration”, someone remembers “Phenibut”, “Piracetam”, “Phenotropil” and other nootropics.

Perfectly aware that the effectiveness of the drugs presented in the previous sections has been proven, to put it mildly, in no way, I would venture to devote a separate chapter to the criticism of nootropics.

Let’s start with the fact that we are interested in the ability to improve memory, attention and thinking abilities and are not interested in other effects. For example, the same “Phenibut” has some sedative effect, but this is not what we need.

So, the first thing that interests us is the Resolution of the meeting of the Presidium of the Formulary Committee of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences from 2007 [20], in which the following is written in Russian:

1.Immediately withdraw from the list of drugs for which drug provision is carried out in the DLO program obsolete drugs with unproven efficacy – Cerebrolysin , Trimetazidine, Chondroetin Sulfate, Vinpocetine , Piracetam , Phenotropil , Arbidol, Rimantol inosine, valocardine, etc., including those sold without a prescription;

Piracetam [21, 22], as well as phenylpiracetam (“Phenotropil”) developed on its basis, have no proven efficacy in improving the ability to think (in a broad sense) is silent about “Phenotropil”].

Less reliable sources (for example, [23]) report the presence of a short-term stimulating effect in “Phenotropil”, but according to reviews from the same RAMP, it quickly passes, and fontyracetam cannot be used as a stimulant.

As for hopantenic acid (“Pantocalcin”), which one of my psychiatrists loved so much, it also has no proven effectiveness.

A “Vinpocetine”, which was so actively advertised in the 90s – 2000s, does not help with dementia [26].And Santa Claus does not exist.

Why am I so nitpicky with these drugs about having quality meta-reviews on Cochrane when I haven’t done so in the previous sections? Because all sorts of PRL-8-53 and amphonelic acids are not drugs, they are not positioned anywhere as nootropic agents, and therefore they can be forgiven for the lack of large-scale clinical trials. Perhaps it will come to them, perhaps not.

But if a certain substance is sold as a medicine, and even included in VED, then it simply must have proven effectiveness!

Group B vitamins

It’s simple: they don’t work.Contrary to popular belief, neither B6 [24] nor B12 [25] increases brain performance.

Training memory and intelligence

Someone might say that farming is the wrong way, and you just need to train your memory / intelligence, and everything will be OK. Well, let’s check it out.

We have a study that shows that a healthy diet, memory exercise and physical activity in the short term improved fluency [27], but not memory.

However, this effect is not generalized [28] – if you train short-term memory in a certain way, then your progress will be only within the framework of the method that you use, but not in other areas.You cannot become smarter in this way.

On the other hand, there is a study [29] showing that playing musical instruments improves verbal, working and long-term memory. So – everyone to the music school!

Well, and the saddest news in the end: the training of the intellect as such also does not work [30].

Conclusion

On the one hand, everything is sad. Nothing that could make a person smarter is not sold in pharmacies. Yes, and with independent work and self-development – it is also not so simple.

On the other hand, chemists are constantly synthesizing all sorts of interesting things, one of which (or a combination) may someday make my dream of NZT IRL come true.

I did not consider here the question of whether such a desire is legitimate at all (after all, the fact that we really want to become smarter can be a symptom of neurosis [31, 32], a consequence of improper organization of the work process, and finally (as in my case) as a consequence of mental illness). Perhaps I will return to these issues in future articles.

* On the availability of prescription drugs

Postscript: There is a proven way of getting prescription drugs legally. You will be surprised, but this requires a sane psychiatrist (which, at least in our province, is rare, but I managed to find one). Then everything is simple: go to him for a paid appointment, show links to research, explain what and why you need, and get the required recipe.

And the bonus will be that notorious “consultation with a specialist” who, if the condition of sanity is met, can really suggest something sensible.

Literature

In order not to be accused of propaganda of piracy, I give links to magazines, but I think everyone knows how to use sayhab;)

1. Susanne M. Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, John Jonides, and Walter J. Perrig. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 May 13; 105 (19): 6829-6833. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2383929
2. Cattell, R. B. (1971). Abilities: Their structure, growth, and action. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
3. Nikolaus R. Hansl, Beverley T. Mead. PRL-8-53: Enhanced learning and subsequent retention in humans as a result of low oral doses of new psychotropic agent. Psychopharmacology, January 1978, Volume 56, Issue 3, pp 249-253
   link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00432846
4. Donald E. Butler, Ivan C. Nordin, Yvon J. L’Italien, Lynette Zweisler, Paul H. Poschel, John G. Marriott. Amnesia-reversal activity of a series of N – [(disubstituted-amino) alkyl] -2-oxo-1-pyrrolidineacetamides, including pramiracetam.J. Med. Chem., 1984, 27 (5), pp 684-691
   pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jm00371a023#
5. Patent US 8957099 B2. Treatment of ADHD. www.google.com/patents/US8957099
6. Nicole Laporte, Guillaume Sébire, MD, PhD, Yves Gillerot, Renzo Guerrini, MD, PhD, Sophie Gharianicorrespondence. Cognitive epilepsy: ADHD related to focal EEG discharges. Pediatric Neurology, October 2002 Volume 27, Issue 4, Pages 307-311
   www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887899402004411#
7. R.A. Gillhama, N. Williamsa, K.D. Wiedmanna, E. Butlera, J.G. Larkina, M.J. Brodie. Cognitive function in adult epileptic patients established on anticonvulsant monotherapy. Epilepsy Research
   Volume 7, Issue 3, December 1990, Pages 219-225
   www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0920121190

   Q

8. Alan M. Mellow, MD, PhD Carlos Solano-Lopez, MD Sue Davis, BS. Sodium Valproate in the Treatment of Behavioral Disturbance in Dementia. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology.October 1, 1993
9. neuroleptic.ru/forum/topic/231- valproate-depakine-convulex-convulsofin
10. Johns JM, Joyner PW, McMurray MS, Elliott DL, Hofler VE, Middleton CL, Knupp K, Greenhill KW, Lomas LM, Walker CH. The effects of dopaminergic / serotonergic reuptake inhibition on maternal behavior, maternal aggression, and oxytocin in the rat. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2005 Aug; 81 (4): 769-85.
    www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15996723
11. A.V. Juorio. The effects of amfonelic acid and some other central stimulants on mouse striatal tyramine, dopamine and homovanillic acid.Br J Pharmacol. 1982 Nov; 77 (3): 511-515.
12. M.D. Aceto, I. Botton, M. Levitt, R. Martin, H.C. Bentley, P.T. Speight. Pharmacologic properties and mechanism of action of amfonelic acid. European Journal of Pharmacology. Volume 10, Issue 3, June 1970, Pages 344-354.
13. Ben H.C. Westerink, Geert Damsma, Jan B. De Vries, Hylko Koning. European Journal of Pharmacology. Volume 135, Issue 2, 17 March 1987, Pages 123-128
    www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014299987
    0?np=y
14. www.reddit.com/r/Drugs/comments/1c9rjy/the_holy_grail_of_bizarrely_psychoactive
15. www.longecity.org/forum/topic/66192-amfonelic-acid
16. “Doctors are finding it harder to deny ‘Chemobrain'”, The Virginian-Pilot, October 2, 2007.
17. Cochrane evidence. Psychostimulants for depression.
    www.cochrane.org/CD006722/DEPRESSN_psychostimulants-for-depression
18. Bellebaum C, Kuchinke L, Roser P. Modafinil alters decision making based on feedback history – a randomized placebo-controlled double blind study in humans.J Psychopharmacol. 2016 Sep 20.pii: 0269881116668591.
    www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27649777
19. Avellar AB, Carvalho LB, Prado GF, Prado LB. Pharmacotherapy for residual excessive sleepiness and cognition in CPAP-treated patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. 2016 Dec; 30: 97-107. doi: 10.1016 / j.smrv.2015.10.005.
    www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27865102
20. Resolution of the 2007 meeting of the Presidium of the Formulary Committee of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
    www.rspor.ru/mods/news/docs/Resolution_Formulary_committee_meeting_16.03.%202007.doc
21. Cochrane evidence. Evidence for the efficacy of piracetam for dementia or cognitive impairment is inadequate for clinical use but sufficient to justify further research.
    www.cochrane.org/CD001011/DEMENTIA_evidence-for-the-efficacy-of-piracetam-for-dementia-or-cognitive-impairment-is-inadequate-for-clinical-use-but-sufficient-to-justify-further -research
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RITALIN VS ADDERALL – DIFFERENCE AND COMPARISON – HEALTH

Health 2021

While Adderall is considered more addictive, Ritalin has more side effects, especially with long-term use.This comparison examines use, efficacy, dosage, side effects,

Contents:

While Adderall is considered more addictive, Ritalin has more side effects, especially with long-term use. This comparison examines the use, efficacy, dosage, side effects, withdrawal, and abuse of Adderall and Ritalin, psychostimulants prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy.

Comparison table

Uses

Ritalin and Adderall have similar applications.Both drugs are used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Some doctors also prescribe them for depression and obesity. They have similar mechanisms of action – drugs increase the amount of dopamine and norepinephrine between synapses in the brain.

Adderall is sometimes prescribed to treat sleep cycle disorders. Ritalin can be used to treat postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and treatment-resistant lethargy.Ritalin can also be used to treat people who are addicted to methamphetamine.

In the following video, psychiatrist Dr. Edward Frutman, MD and medical director of Trifecta Health Medical Center, explains how he decides whether to prescribe Ritalin or Adderall to adults with ADHD:

Effectiveness

In a study published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1999, compared the efficacy and temporal dynamics of Ritalin and Adderal.The researchers found that Adderall is usually more effective than Ritalin after a few hours, especially at low doses. In general, lower doses of Adderall produced effects comparable to higher doses of Ritalin, and clinical guidelines favored Adderall for long-term treatment.

Another study, also published in 1999 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that although both Adderall and Ritalin improved behavior as assessed by parents and teachers,

A single dose of Adderall appears to be as effective as 2 daily doses of MPH, and therefore increases the ability to manage treatment without involving school in medication.In addition, young adults who have previously been unsuccessfully treated with MPH due to adverse side effects or poor response can be successfully treated with Adderall.

Another study, published in the same journal less than a year later, titled Double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Adderall and methylphenidate in the treatment of attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder concluded that the behavioral effects of Adderall last longer than the effects of methylphenidate [ Ritalin] after taking individual doses.

Dosage

Adderall is available as extended release tablets or capsules. The tablets are usually taken 2-3 times a day at intervals of 4-6 hours. For people 6 years and older, the dose starts at 5 mg once or twice a day and can be increased in 5 mg increments every week. The dose rarely exceeds 30 mg. The capsule should be taken once a day in the morning and swallowed whole or opened and sprinkled with applesauce. Adults taking the capsule usually get a dose of 20 mg per day, while children and adolescents usually start at 10 mg per day before the dosage is increased.

Comparison of popular ADHD medications Focalin, Adderall, Vyvanse and Ritalin.

Ritalin is available in the form of immediate-release tablets, medium-release sustained-release tablets, or extended-release sustained-release capsules. Regular tablets are taken two to three times a day, preferably 35-40 minutes before meals. Everything should be taken before 18:00. An intermediate-release tablet should be taken once or twice a day, in the morning and early in the day, 30–45 minutes before meals.The extended release capsules are taken once a day in the morning. Everything should be swallowed whole or cut up and sprinkled with applesauce. The average dosage is 20 to 30 mg per day, but some people can get up to 60 mg.

Side Effects

Adderall may cause a temporary decrease in growth rate, but does not affect the ultimate height of an adult. This can reduce appetite, leading to weight loss. It can cause insomnia, headaches, increased muscle tension, irritability and anxiety, and increase the risk of heart problems.

The most common side effects of Ritalin are nervousness, drowsiness and insomnia. Less common side effects include abdominal pain, hair loss, chest pain, loss of appetite, changes in blood pressure, dizziness, euphoria, headache, hypersensitivity, nausea, and drowsiness. This can stunt growth in adolescents. Research shows that 6% of children who use Ritalin become psychotic after months or years of use; these symptoms disappear after discontinuation of the drug.People diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder usually have an earlier onset of the disorder if they took Ritalin as a child.

Limitations

Adderall should not be taken early in pregnancy or within two weeks after taking any MAOI medications. This raises the risk of serotonin syndrome when combined with SSRIs.

Ritalin should also not be taken during pregnancy or for two weeks after taking any MAOI medications. It should also not be combined with tricyclic antidepressants or taken by patients with severe arrhythmias, hypertension, liver damage, drug seeking behavior, or severe nervousness.Particular care should be taken in patients with epilepsy, as this can lower the seizure threshold. In combination with adrenergic drugs, it increases the risk of toxic effects on the liver, and in combination with SSRIs such as Zoloft or Lexapro, it can cause hypertension, hypothermia and seizures.

Conclusion

Adderall is an addictive drug. When a person stops taking Adderall, they may experience extreme fatigue, insomnia, irritability, and mental depression.

Ritalin cancellation can occur if a person suddenly stops taking the drug. Symptoms include psychosis, depression, irritability, and a temporary worsening of the baseline ADHD symptoms.

Abuse

Both Adderal and Ritalin are often used by college students to improve concentration. Adderall is the more popular of the two.

Popularity

According to a report by Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit management company in the United States, the market share of various types of ADHD drugs is as follows:

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90,000 What dose of caffeine will kill you?

The caffeine molecule. Image by Nikoloz Jorjikashvili

Caffeine molecule.Image by Nikoloz Yorzhikashvili

Caffeine is the lifeblood of a productive civilization. Behind every bridge, monument, and skyscraper in America is a caffeine-powered workforce. If you imagine society is Popeye, then coffee is his spinach. But, like everything good in life, if there is too much of it, it will kill you. This is exactly what the FDA was trying to convey last week with the tough warning regarding powdered caffeine.The official clarification came after two people, 18 and 24 year olds, were diagnosed with an overdose of this powder earlier this year. And these were not the first cases of caffeine poisoning. 24-year-old Scotland passed away earlier this month after taking too much caffeine diet pill; 23-year-old in England died a few years ago after adding two tablespoons of caffeine powder to an energy drink at a party; and another 90,327, one person in the UK, 90,328 died of HEROEnergyMints in May last year.And these are just some of the cases.

But exactly how much caffeine is enough to kill a person? The FDA says you can safely consume about 400 mg per day. However, it is extremely unlikely that you will die, even if you consume more (400 mg, roughly equal to four 200 gram cups of coffee). A 2005 study of causes of death of two people from caffeine overdose, conducted in 2005, showed that it was necessary to swallow about five grams of caffeine, which is 10 times more than the FDA’s recommended dose.According to other sources , this dose is likely to be about ten grams, equivalent to 50 shots with 5-Hour Energy. But in 2011, girl died of “caffeine toxicity” after consuming just two cans of Monster, which was only 480 mg of caffeine, roughly is the same amount of caffeine found in Venti-sized coffee at Starbucks.

Thus, there is a lot of different and ambiguous information. To find out, I asked Dr. Patricia Broderick, who, among many other accomplishments, is also Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Caffeine Research .We immediately started with the main question (“Can you die from a caffeine overdose? No, no, caffeine can’t kill you” – that was, oddly enough, the first thing she said), but in the end she told me something interesting: we just don’t know how much caffeine is needed to be fatal. This statement can be made because caffeine tolerance is a very individual thing. “Women are much more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than men,” said Dr. Broderick, adding that young people also have significantly lower levels of caffeine tolerance.

I found the same findings in a very old study, “ Factors Affecting Caffeine Toxicity .” The study, which is essentially a body of existing scientific information, shows that caffeine affects people in different ways depending on age, gender, body weight, drug tolerance, comorbidities, and the presence of other substances that a person uses. Caffeine is most toxic when given intravenously, but can be fatal when given “orally, rectally, or subcutaneously.”The lethal dose depends on the route of administration, but about 200 milligrams per kilogram seems to be sufficient, or slightly more if you enter it through the anus, or slightly less if the caffeine is administered intravenously. (If you find it difficult to calculate as explained in 1967, try this handy calculator ).

This is exactly what the FDA warned about in its statement about pure caffeine powder: it’s dangerous because “one teaspoon is equivalent to about 25 cups of coffee.”But as Dr. Broderick reminded me that coffee and caffeine – are two completely different things, is not the same . If you drink 25 cups of coffee without being yourself, the immediate effect will not be the same as if you ate the equivalent of pure caffeine powder. Much depends partly on the substance with which caffeine enters the body (Dr. Broderick’s research shows that coffee and tea soften the effects of caffeine), and partly depends on the method of administration. It’s like swallowing all of Adderall at once, or taking in portions, or even sniffing it in powder form.Caffeine works in the same way: it will take you out completely if you sniff it in powder form, and the likelihood of an overdose increases significantly.

Given that the dose of caffeine must be high enough to cause death, it can be assumed that overdose reports are very rare. Surprisingly, this is not the case. American Association of Poison Control Centers receives thousands of calls every year from people concerned about the effects of caffeine on the heart.Last year they received 3033 of these calls about the impact of energy drinks only, 1835 of which were from people 18 years of age and younger. Of course, not all the people who called actually had an overdose of caffeine, they only thought that there was an overdose. And many of these calls were from people who are also under the influence of other substances : alcohol, herbs or other drugs, so caffeine is not the main reason for what happens to people, but in any case, its effect is very unusual.