Reply To: Experiences with Dexedrine?

[Scattybird]

Hello greentree,

I used to take Ritalin (methylphenidate) and it was brilliant at first but I found it didn’t last long and I was taking progressively higher doses for it to work. It also started making me feel a bit irritable. The longer lasting version, Concerta, didn’t agree with me al all, despite me being OK on Ritalin – at least at the start.

My Psych decided to try me on Dex a few weeks ago. I find it stronger than Ritalin and I think it is working much better. I still get a headache with it but not a bad one – it’s more like the buzzing feeling described earlier. I take 5mg in the morning, at lunch time and around mid-late afternoon. When I took Ritalin, I slept really well but I don’t get the same effect with Dex so I need to take it way before bedtime.

I think it helps me concentrate and I don’t get so wound up by noises and stress at work. There are days when it works better than others. I have discovered that a regular timing is good. If I am particularly stressed or tired it doesn’t feel like it’s doing much, but I think it must be?

So at the moment I am very happy with it – I hope I am not tempting fate by saying that. I used to say the same about Ritalin.

I have realised though, that whilst Dex helps me, it doesn’t run my life for me. So I still need to make lists but it reminds me to look at my lists. So it helps me to help myself if that makes sense.

Neither of the meds I have taken have turned my life around, but the Dex is helping me to do that. When I don’t take it then I know what the alternative is like.

What you describe is a bit like the way I felt when I took Ritalin.

Everyone is different and maybe methylphenidate (Ritalin) might suit you better. There is some evidence to show that people who don’t respond to one med may respond to the other.  Have a chat with your doctor and see what s/he thinks.

I do hope you get a drug that works – having the difference they can make at your fingertips but just out of grasp is frustrating. Keep at it – it can take a while to get the right med and the right dose.

You have only take Dex for a fortnight and at a stressful time with a new job so maybe give it the month and then try Ritalin – or Vyvanse?

 

Good luck with it all.

 

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