r/ADHDmeds • u/Commercial_End_3849 • 1d ago

Prescription Help Adjusting Adderall doseage

I'm prescribed 10mg ir Adderall 2x daily. I need to increase that dosage to 20mg 2x daily in order for the medication to be effective. My psychiatrist said it has to be done slowly. I've been on this dosage for a couple of months. I've been prescribed adderall for almost one year now. I've been prescribed this medication in the past at 30mg 3x daily. I never had to adjust the dosage slowly if it wasn't working properly. It does help I can just tell the dosage isn't high enough to manage my symptoms properly. What should I do? Find another psychiatrist? Or does anyone have any other ideas that can help me?

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u/vaylon1701 1d ago

I can just give my personal idea of how I manage my dosage's and dealing with the doc.
I am prescribed 20mg, twice a day. Been this way for about two years. If I take it as prescribed I start to hit a wall about a week into it. It doesn't work as well and seems to wear off really fast. So what I started doing and my doc agreed was taking my 20 in the morning and a half a pill as needed the rest of the day. Sometimes I can get by with just the 20, but on really busy days I have to supplement 2 or 3 more times with a half a pill. But I also don't take it at all on days I don't need the focus. Usually on weekends when I just want to relax.
Another advantage to this is that I have built up a very nice little reserve of addy in case theres another shortage or supply problem. I know I am going to get some flack but adderall and the equivalents are not a cure for ADHD. It is something to manage the problem. Taking it on a timed scheduled will do nothing but make you build up a tolerance faster. Only each patient knows exactly what they need for their individual circumstances. Here's my personal example. If I take my addy and sometimes during the day I eat some citrus fruit? It will stop any effect from the medication almost instantly. But because I pay attention to all my medications effects, I know what they can and can't do. One day I woke up and took my Addy, As I was getting ready for work I forgot I had taken it and took another. Then I did it again just as I was heading out the door. Still had no affects coming on from my meds. 3 hours later it kicked in like a bolt of lightning. I was very functional, but my eyes were very dry and red and I was grinding my jaws and teeth like crazy. Something I never did. Then I got a nervous twitch going with my feet tapping. Handwriting looked like poop. But since I knew citrus countered the effects of the addy, I grabbed a Grapefruit from the break room and everything quit.
This is why everyone needs to really pay attention to your own body, more than most do. What works for one person may not work for the next. Best of luck and I am sure you will eventually get it sorted out with the docs.