Has anyone been given Adderall?

[Nattie]

I recently learned that some doctors are trying Adderal for severe antidepressant resistant depression. It sounds promising, but the psychiatrist I saw will not prescribe it. I’m wondering if anyone out there has been able to try it. 

[Richie4747]

Yes.    My Dr prescribed methylphenidate after my lack of response to more than 10 antidepressants over a 2-3 yr period.   No motivation, no energy, etc.   that worked briefly but I became too anxious.   He then put me on Adderal 30mg.......after two months increased to 30mg in am and 20mg early afternoon.     It’s been very helpful 

[sleepystupid]

glad to hear that it's been helpful for you!

the one thing to be careful about with off-label use of amphetamines is that coming off them can cause severe rebound depression and anhedonia. it's bizarre, but many health care professionals don't seem to understand or acknowledge the long-term withdrawal effects of Adderall. most will tell you that you'll be fine in a few weeks - at best this is misinformation, at worst its straight up negligent. the withdrawal is not life threatening (you could probably cold-turkey safely), but depending on the frequency and duration of use, it can years to recover.

but i can certainly understand exploring all options when nothing else seems to work. Adderall will definitely deliver euphoria early on, but this effect tends to fade fairly quickly. 

[sober4life]

It can help.  It works in the same way caffeine does.  It has a crash just like caffeine does but I suppose if you keep taking it there won't be a crash.

[Steveab63]

I was on it once briefly, as well as Ritalin. It helped a little, but nothing remarkable. Guess everyone is different.

[SqueezeWax]

I wonder if that is why my psychiatrist has suddenly hinted around that he might consider putting me on an ADHD medication...We haven’t spoken about anything resembling ADHD symptoms lately. I was prescribed it three years ago by the psychiatrist I briefly worked with in an outpatient program. He decided within five minutes of meeting me that I have ADHD. I experienced terrible mood swings on it. Most definitely the worst experience I’ve ever had on a medication. 

[CrazyEddie]

I have excessive daytime sleepiness and am on Adderall for that (15mg xr in the morning, 10mg in the afternoon). I've stopped falling asleep at my desk at work since I started, but I'm still fatigued and have to lie down in the afternoon, anyway... Though it's much less of a big deal since I'm alert during meetings and can rest during my break.

I don't think that it's doing anything for the depression, though.

It's *technically* off-label for me, since I'm diagnosed with ideopathic hypersomnia without narcolepsy (and Adderall is only approved for narcolepsy) so maybe I'm lucky that my psychiatrist is letting me take it at all.

I had tried Provigil / Nuvigil in the past, but those gave me *horrible* headaches so I couldn't tolerate them (they did have effective wakefulness properties, though)

Edited February 3, 2019 by CrazyEddie