adderall makes me sleepy!

[Johna]

My bet is that you don't have add/adhd because of your reaction adderall. The latest I can take my afternoon dosage of adderall is 2:00 pm otherwise I am up all night, and I am dx with add. I don't think I ate very much for the first few months of being on adderall. check with your doc you might have anxiety.

[seriousperson]

Yes, I take 1.5mg/day Risperdal for anxiety, as well as Clomapramine for OCD and Zoloft for depression.
When I was just taking the Adderall by itself, I lost weight and didn't sleep much.
The other meds were added in stages and are all sedating.
Nevertheless, as with coffee, it seems Adderall's aggitating effect has diminished with use, and a sedating kickback effect has taken over.

I suppose it's possible the psychiatrist is wrong, and that I don't have ADHD symptoms, that they are just a combination of being rude and manic and just having a "hyperactive imagination," the latter being how I used to refer to my abnormal thought processing.

Afterall, these diagnoses are just labels for collections of symptoms.

But I do wonder if Adderall having a calming effect is an indication of anything.
I'll ask at my next appointment if I can remember.

[noinwi]

wonderdaffodil
Stimulants CAN make you sleepy. I am a 54yo woman that was dx'd about 4 years ago with inattentive ADD(although my symptoms have been lifelong). I also have chronic depression, but am unable to take AD's. I have taken dextroamphetamine with good cognitive results and no sleepiness. I have also taken ritalin extended release with success(it also improved my mood a bit), but ritalin regular release makes me sleepy...so sleepy in fact, that I was prescribed 5mg ritalin for bedtime to help me sleep. It was a good combination with the dex, but not all doctors are willing to mix stimulants. I only tried adderall once and it made my muscles tense up even at low doses. My doctor told me that I had "paradoxical" responses as you do. Everyone responds differently to medications and it takes time to find the right dose and combo. Keep working with your doctor til you do. Good luck.

[wonderdaffodil]

It's weird that dexedrine would help so much (made me feel more focused, capable, organized) and Adderall would be such a disaster. But it sounds like a lot of people have to go through several tries to get to the right combination. The good thing is, just realizing that all these symptoms might add up to something has already made me more aware and thinking about ways to cope better. It's still a bummer to have tried a medication and have it fail so spectacularly.

Anyway, your information here has all been very helpful! Let me know what you find out!

[seriousperson]

I was never enamoured with Adderall, but the doctor got me to say that it helped a little, so I'm still on 10mg in the a.m. It also seems to exacerbate my OCD, so I'd just as soon not take it.

Adderall and Zoloft make my muscles cramp and cause me to jiggle my legs and feet uncontrollably. When Lexapro did that while I was seeing a different psychiatrist (before my employer played the annual Let's-Switch-Health-Insurance-Companies game), she took me off of it. My current doctor has me taking Requip, which does quell the side effect symptoms.
But, as I heard in an advertisement while getting ready for work this morning (I know, I would get ready faster without such distractions), Requip can cause sudden sleepiness. So, maybe the Adderall doesn't make me sleepy. But I know coffee does if I drink it for more than 2 weeks, so...