First, welcome to this board! Who knows? Maybe you do have ADHD and just aren't diagnosed. (Keeps this thread relative to this board).;)
I'm sorry for all your suffering. It's interesting to me that your doc chose Adderall for you; I would think that Provigil would be a more logical choice. I wonder what his rational was.
Here is something for you to put some thought into.
It would be a good idea for you to REALLY watch your symptoms in relation to each dose of Adderall. In fact, it would probably be useful if you kept some kind of a simple log for a little while.
The reason I suggest that is this. Adderall actually peaks at about 3 hours. It's unlikely that your dose is wearing off at that time; it's more likely that what you are experiencing at 3 to 3.5 hours is actually the peak of the medication's effect. If at 3 hours you are feeling worse rather than better, it may well be that the Adderall is actually making you more tired.
I know you are convinced that you are rapidly metabolizing the Adderall and that it is wearing off at three hours. It would be useful, I think, for you to consider that it's having the opposite effect. Keeping a log would give you a better idea of what is really going on. Especially, if you are as foggy as you say you are - it may be hard for you to keep track of dosages and symptoms without one.
Thanks so much to all of you. I truly appreciate your insight!
Index, great, great, great advice, thank you! I would never in a million years have considered that Adderall could make me more tired, because all of my research has turned up the "be careful, it's like a prescription for speed" information. Very, very interesting to know it could be affecting me in the opposite way.
I do keep a journal, although I can barely read my own handwriting late. I went from perfect penmanship to complete chicken scratch. And I can never concentrate, so the ADD thing is not so far-fetched, though I do suspect it is more a side effect of the major fatigue. Who knows? I try not to self-diagnose. It's so easy to convince yourself you have one thing and then you can miss the signs of something else.
Anyway, thanks again. I really appreciate hearing from you all!
p.s. index, i should mention that I asked all of my many docs about provigil since I have read great things, but none of them had ever heard of it being used for ms or fibro related fatigue(?!) I have been to clinics and hosptials affiliated with Ivy League Universities and have seen very highly respected docs, and I just can't believe none of them are willing to prescribe. They all tell me they only know of using for narcolepsy.
Also, after an hour or hour and a half on adderall I get a short, not very intense lift in energy and clarity. That's why I assumed it was "peaking" early, after an hour or two, and wearing off around 3 hours. Now I wonder what the heck is going on. My doctor seems convinced that we just haven't gotten to a high enough dose yet.
Well, this is very interesting food for thought (when I can actually think.)
My gratitude to you all. :)
One last thought for you. I know that Provigil is normally prescribed for narcolepsy and not what you have. It's also true, though, that Adderall isn't normally prescribed for what you have. It seems to me that your situation is closer to narcolepsy than it is to ADD. Just IMHO, of course!
PS Your questions are NOT annoying. Ask all you want. Probably won't have any answers, but we're happy to be asked anyway!
Great advice! I've been on both Adderall and Provigil and had similar questions. I created a thread in the Drug Interaction forum here. I hope I get some replies. Thanks! :angel: :wave:
[Quote]Great advice! I've been on both Adderall and Provigil and had similar questions. I created a thread in the Drug Interaction forum here. I hope I get some replies. Thanks!
Great, I'll have a look at it although I might not have anything to offer! Maybe others here will.
Even though I am "bone-tired" I felt I needed to post my unique experience with Adderall, prescribed for the same exact reasons, fatigue and brain fog. Diagnosed 15 years ago with Fibro, it overtook me 3 years ago, taking a healthy active creative person down to wishing I would just die. Never suicidal because there is always hope, but just plain miserable. I sought help from my pcp for 2 years trying every antidepressant the drug companies are pushing right now and none worked. He finally gave up on me and referred me to a psychiatrist. On my first visit I told him all I want is some energy to get me back on my feet and I will work myself back to where I want to be. He started me on Adderall regular the same as your doc. I went back for a followup and told him I might as well be eating candy. He upped me to 40 mg. a day too, and when I went to see him 15 days later I was totally amazed at what I had discovered. I had been "waiting" for all this energy to hit me so I could speed through my dirty house and finally see some results from taking a pill. It Never Happened. What did happen was a wonderful lifting of the depression, ceased the crying spells immediately and allowed my brain to say..."you've got to help yourself". I forced myself to start walking again on my treadmill and after a week you would have thought I had conquered the world. Now, with my doctor's okay, I space out the time between pills and the amount. I can't take a "holiday" as the depression comes bouncing back the next day, and if I have to live on Adderall for the rest of my life hey it's better than having no life at all. Geez I'm 56, I have to do what I have to do. I did discover that taking 20 mg. in the morning is better for me (I thought mornings were naturally my best time of the day) and then 5, 10, or 20 mg. by 2:00. This is the dose I change around. I did try provigil...I felt like a zombie stuck in mud too on that. I couldn't even lay down and rest, forget napping. My rheumy recently added Klonopin to help me sleep at night even though I told him I had been taking Xanax .5 mg. for 6years for that reason. OMG if Elvis felt like I did he is in a better place. Uppers (adderall) and downers (klonopin) only work for drug addicts or people taking it for reasons other than medical. I dropped the klonopin like a hot potatoe and 2 days later I was back to my normal self. After that experience I am satisfied with Xanax' 5 hours of sleep because when I get up in the morning it's out of my system. It's not fighting the Adderall. I have also, which no pill will do, started to accept my limitations as my new way of life and it's ok. Fibro brings on the worse kind of depression because it's not a chemical imbalance that a pill will improve, it's reality. Fibro will not leave you day or night, there is no pill that helps me with the pain and soreness and I struggle to sleep. I sure hope for the younger patients (like you) they find "something, anything"...to alleviate the fatigue first and I really think the other problems associated with fibro would improve naturally just from that. The medical field just doesn't get it because they can't prove on paper what is causing it. I had the trauma to the head theory, being involved in an accident when I was young, head cracking the windshield. Who knows? Who cares...just find us some relief. Didn't mean to go on and on, it's just my heart breaks when I read posts from young women starting on the same road that I've been down. I wish my mother were alive so I could tell her...mama you were right about experience being the best teacher. Now I tell my children that and I see that "same look" I had. Oh well. Take care and please don't hesitate to ask any questions I didn't answer in this loooong post. And please don't give up, just try to start accepting now the changes that Fibro demands (until they find a cure?), because when you add menopause on top of Fibro....you need to be ready for anything.
[QUOTE=magnolialady;3197904]Even though I am "bone-tired" I felt I needed to post my unique experience with Adderall, prescribed for the same exact reasons, fatigue and brain fog. Diagnosed 15 years ago with Fibro, it overtook me 3 years ago, taking a healthy active creative person down to wishing I would just die. Never suicidal because there is always hope, but just plain miserable. I sought help from my pcp for 2 years trying every antidepressant the drug companies are pushing right now and none worked. He finally gave up on me and referred me to a psychiatrist. On my first visit I told him all I want is some energy to get me back on my feet and I will work myself back to where I want to be. He started me on Adderall regular the same as your doc. I went back for a followup and told him I might as well be eating candy. He upped me to 40 mg. a day too, and when I went to see him 15 days later I was totally amazed at what I had discovered. I had been "waiting" for all this energy to hit me so I could speed through my dirty house and finally see some results from taking a pill. It Never Happened. What did happen was a wonderful lifting of the depression, ceased the crying spells immediately and allowed my brain to say..."you've got to help yourself". I forced myself to start walking again on my treadmill and after a week you would have thought I had conquered the world. Now, with my doctor's okay, I space out the time between pills and the amount. I can't take a "holiday" as the depression comes bouncing back the next day, and if I have to live on Adderall for the rest of my life hey it's better than having no life at all. Geez I'm 56, I have to do what I have to do. I did discover that taking 20 mg. in the morning is better for me (I thought mornings were naturally my best time of the day) and then 5, 10, or 20 mg. by 2:00. This is the dose I change around. I did try provigil...I felt like a zombie stuck in mud too on that. I couldn't even lay down and rest, forget napping. My rheumy recently added Klonopin to help me sleep at night even though I told him I had been taking Xanax .5 mg. for 6years for that reason. OMG if Elvis felt like I did he is in a better place. Uppers (adderall) and downers (klonopin) only work for drug addicts or people taking it for reasons other than medical. I dropped the klonopin like a hot potatoe and 2 days later I was back to my normal self. After that experience I am satisfied with Xanax' 5 hours of sleep because when I get up in the morning it's out of my system. It's not fighting the Adderall. I have also, which no pill will do, started to accept my limitations as my new way of life and it's ok. Fibro brings on the worse kind of depression because it's not a chemical imbalance that a pill will improve, it's reality. Fibro will not leave you day or night, there is no pill that helps me with the pain and soreness and I struggle to sleep. I sure hope for the younger patients (like you) they find "something, anything"...to alleviate the fatigue first and I really think the other problems associated with fibro would improve naturally just from that. The medical field just doesn't get it because they can't prove on paper what is causing it. I had the trauma to the head theory, being involved in an accident when I was young, head cracking the windshield. Who knows? Who cares...just find us some relief. Didn't mean to go on and on, it's just my heart breaks when I read posts from young women starting on the same road that I've been down. I wish my mother were alive so I could tell her...mama you were right about experience being the best teacher. Now I tell my children that and I see that "same look" I had. Oh well. Take care and please don't hesitate to ask any questions I didn't answer in this loooong post. And please don't give up, just try to start accepting now the changes that Fibro demands (until they find a cure?), because when you add menopause on top of Fibro....you need to be ready for anything.
You are very wise. I have accepted the hand I have been dealt however it doesn't mean I have to like it. I guess what really bothers me the most are all the drugs I am on and it seems that none really help what they are supposed to help. I keep trying though and hopefully one day, just maybe, they will get it right. Thank you for your kind words. Jenn
