Any feedback out there: adderall vs ritalin - tbi / cptsd

[cherileisman]

Anyone have any thoughts, experiences, wisdom about Adderall and/or Ritalin in drug therapy?

A few months ago, I was more or less forced into seeing a GP & went Viking all over the place, but it has turned out very well. She believes, as I do, that I need to be in control of how I go forward from here.

At the start I only wanted something for sleep & absolutely refused to consider anything else, telling myself that even after all this time I was a super fly Batgirl who could fix herself without pharmaceuticals. She was cool with that decision, gave me zopiclone for sleep which did the trick, and advised me to do some research of my own on pharmacology and neurosciences. Ya, right, I've basically been in a vegetative state for couple years now, I told her not to have expectations I would be able to do it, but that primal drive kicked in and off I went into the ether.

At my next appt. I took a print out of the Canadian and US clinical treatment guidelines and we discussed and reviewed together the pharmacological options. I'm sure you guys are already hip to the recommended medications so I'll just say I went home with a 'scrip for SSRI paroxetine and within a few days I had evident and measureable improvement in the anxiety symptoms but no benefit in any other symptom clusters so I kept up with the googling and eventually ended up at the MMDA studies/trials and to make a long story short, that led me to Adderall and Ritalin and my brain went boom! gotta get me something like that.

And, I did hard research which was incredibly difficult considering my cognitive functioning is like -3000 but eventually told both my therapist and doc same thing: want to try the Adderall. Of course, the substance itself being what it is led them both to suggest Concerta as an alternate but I stuck with trying the Adderall.

Have been on 10mg for less than a week now but have had quality of life improvement to the nth, and I do mean big league - its been a complete 360 in every dimension of my life and I'm curious to find if any other TBI/C-PTSDers have had similar success or failures.

I appreciate any feedback anyone may share...peace out

 

[Justmehere]

Maybe try Focalin. Worked for me well as adderall and less side effects.

 

[cherileisman]

Maybe try Focalin. Worked for me well as adderall and less side effects.

I haven't come across that one, will look into it. Thanks much & have a good rest of your day

 

[Friday]

I have ADHD, so while I’ve taken almost every med out there for it at one time or another, I can’t really speak to off-label effects.

Although I’ve been curious for a long time if atomoxetine -which is used off label for anorexia- would be helpful for people with hypervig issues. It’s the only thing I’ve ever taken that made me not be aware of my body to the nth degree (each beat of my heart down to about my elbows, the way my skin touches itself, the feeling of my bones inside the muscles)... makes a helluva lot of sense to me why anorexics are often given this stuff. It’s also the only medication I’ve ever been on that let me sleep because I wanted to (decide I need to be up early, lay down, be asleep in 15 minutes), or decide to think about something later, and just do that. So if any of those effects transferred over to the neurotypical crowd I could see it being super useful for PTSD.

But since my baseline neurology reacts to stimulants differently than most people, I can’t really speak to how any of those meds might affect others.

 

[pamcoco]

I take Adderall XR and an amphetamine mixed salt in late afternoon. I am also on Lexapro. While I don't have a huge amount of experience with other ADD meds my brief trial of Ritalin wasn't great. I tried one other ADD medication but don't recall the name. What I do recall is my desire to curl up in a ball on the floor and sleep anywhere and everywhere. But admittedly I have unusual chemistry.

I have ADD, but I also have pharmaceutically induced mania from SSRI's. The Adderall serves the dual purpose of managing my ADD and calming me down from mania. I sleep really well on it and need no sleeping agent.

 

[KwanYingirl]

I sincerely hope you find a recipe for feeling better. I also have extreme reactions to chemicals. I tried Adderall and I felt too amped up and I couldn’t get to sleep. I was disappointed because it does help a lot of people.

 

[cherileisman]

Thank you all for the feedback! It's really great to hear from people who understand and get it!