Can amphetamines like Aderall help with depression?

03-30-2008, 09:41 PM

I have been seeing a really good MD for the past 2 months or so and after telling him my symptoms (mainly there because of bad mood swings) he diagnosed me as depressed and put me on Celexa 20mg daily. I was told that it takes a while to get into your system and begin working so I gave it a month before my next appointment but I really didn't feel that different. When I told him about the problems with the Celexa and possibly upping the dosage to see if that would help he decided to switch me over to Lexapro and up my dosage telling me that the Lexapro was a much more "pure" form of the same active ingredient found in the Celexa. I went with his recommendation but after about a week or so found that it wasn't even working as well as the Celexa. I went back to the Celexa (20 mg daily twice a day) for about another week but was still fighting back the urge to explode at people whenever I got even the slightest bit stressed. I decided on my own to begin taking (in addition to the 20 mg of Celexa twice daily) 20 mg again just before bed and when all that seemed to do was prevent me from waking up in a bad mood I went back to see him. I gave him several examples of recent days where I wanted to explode and just held it in and then asked him if perhaps the dosage just wasn't high enough regardless of how many times per day I take it (I was beginning to get desperate as this had been affecting my marriage for the past several years and I have been on the verge of getting divorced countless times.) He told me that he really didn't support more than 20 mg at a time at which point gave me a referral to see a psychiatrist.

My whole point in telling you this is that I don't even think I am really depressed and wound up seeing this MD in the first place when I asked my neurologist about whether or not I may be bi-polar due to my mood swings. I asked the MD about what I told the neurologist regarding my concern about being bi-polar and the MD told me that if the neurologist thought I was he would've told me. I don't know what to do. The only thing I do know is that I've been taking St. John's wort forever and a day and it really hasn't helped at all. I take 1000mg of Tegretol daily for my epilepsy which I understand is the same drug used in the treatment for patients who have been diagnosed as being bi-polar and still have these horrible mood swings. Some days I just wake up literally on the "wrong side of the bed". My father was/is like this too (I hope it's not genetic) and now it's just something that I struggle with and with every explosion comes the risk that my wife is going to leave.

I am bringing all of this up to see if anyone has ever heard of amphetamines being used to treat this type of thing. My wife had some Phentermine that she got a while ago for weight loss and discovered she couldn't take it due to it's side-effects. When I began gaining and then worrying about it I started taking them and discovered that every now and again that it would put me in a really good, happy mood for quite awhile. I have also discovered that Aderall does the same thing but it's effects last much longer (self-medicating I know but I am desperate). It works significantly better than any anti-depressant ever prescribed so I was just wondering if anyone else has ever heard of this type of drug being used.

Thanks,

J.

04-03-2008, 02:32 PM

I doubt that a doc will write a script for them. I would stay away from amphetamines.

04-05-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtelep

My whole point in telling you this is that I don't even think I am really depressed and wound up seeing this MD in the first place when I asked my neurologist about whether or not I may be bi-polar due to my mood swings. I asked the MD about what I told the neurologist regarding my concern about being bi-polar and the MD told me that if the neurologist thought I was he would've told me. I don't know what to do. The only thing I do know is that I've been taking St. John's wort forever and a day and it really hasn't helped at all. I take 1000mg of Tegretol daily for my epilepsy which I understand is the same drug used in the treatment for patients who have been diagnosed as being bi-polar and still have these horrible mood swings. Some days I just wake up literally on the "wrong side of the bed". My father was/is like this too (I hope it's not genetic) and now it's just something that I struggle with and with every explosion comes the risk that my wife is going to leave.

J.

Amphetamines and epilepsy are a bad fit.........Good luck

04-05-2008, 06:53 PM

jtelep. I agree with the others, and you should know you are treading on very dangerous teritory. Taking the phentermine and adderall if they are not prescribed to you amounts to misuse of drugs, not to mention that it is illegal. There is a reason why people get addicted to amphetamines, becasue they make you feel great (for a while). Please do not continue on this path. Have you seen the psychiatrist yet? You really need to go if you are feeling that edgy. One of the biggest symptoms I had when I was really depressed was irritability. I obviously can't say for sure if you are depressed or not, but you should certainly see a specialist.

Regarding the tegretol for bipolar: Tegretol HAS been used for bipolar, but it is only one of the many choices, and is not necessarily something that most docs would choose as a first choice. For that reason, I would say it is totally possible that some other mood stabilizer (used for bipolar) would help you. I also think you might be on the right track thinking that you need a higher dose of anti-depressants. It took a while for my doctor to continually increase and increase my medication before it started working. I now take 300mg of Effexor and it has been the best thing to happen to me, but if we had stopped at 150mg and said "it just isn't working," I would have missed out on the benefits I am getting at the 300.

I really do hope that you can find some treatment that helps with your symptoms. If your dad had anger management issues, it's possible that you have some learned behavior that some therapy might help. It's amazing how much we pick up from our parents. In anycase, good luck and keep us posted.

04-06-2008, 10:54 AM

One of the worst side effects of taking '"speed" is that eventually it will destroy your pleasure center and you will never feel "normal" again. I know from experience. Try searching for something else sir.

04-07-2008, 02:24 PM

Depression is a side effect of Tegretol....Maybe a different seizure med will do the trick.

04-08-2008, 11:30 AM

I agree that the misuse of any drug (prescribed or otherwise) is a bad idea and I am not bringing this up because I am out to high. I have seen learned behaviors before (trust me I have two Autistic children) but I don't believe that they can make you so edgy that you want to put your fist through a wall. I also agree that amphetamines are not the answer if all you're looking to do is "unwind" (an odd thing to say since they are a stimulant) during particularly stressful times. I don't think they effect everyone the same way though as I have asked my 16-year-old about how he feels when he takes it and does he feel "euphoric" or does he get a big boost of energy, does it keep him awake, etc. and he tells me no. My wife says she gets heart palpatations when she takes one of her Phentermine so again it's not for everyone. People though take it for ADD/ADHD/Narcolepsy on a regular basis so there are times that it is indicated. After looking at all of the things that set me off and watching my behavior I am beginning to suspect that I have some ADD myself and am wondering if my ability to focus in stressful situations gets comprimised. I show signs of having both over-focused and temporal lobe ADD with things like being obsessive and inflexible as well as sometimes being inattentive (especially if I am not interested in the conversation) and aggressive. Mood instability also follows the latter of the two as well which my wife will more than attest to. So this all begs the question of did I receive the right diagnosis in the first place? I am guessing the GP sent me to see a shrink because he's not really sure at this point. I also think just like the Adderall XR can be bad if you don't really need it that continuing to take a more and more of an anti-depressant until it relieves your symptoms may not be the way to go either. I mean I can probably get anyone who has my type of symptoms doped up on Lexapro and eventually they will no longer have outbursts, sure but does that mean that's really what the problem is? I would rather take a low dosage of Lexapro and Adderall XR than wind up being prescribed some 200-300 mg of an SSRI (what kind of havoc can that wreak on the human brain after years of treatment?) I guess I am looking for someone to validate that that might be a possibility and I am not entirely crazy. I agree that there can be a certain euphoria that goes along with the drug when it is first taken (we'll say in the first couple of hours) but if it's still working and you are in a better mood 6 or so hours later than you have to wonder if there's not something else going on. From what I understand there is normally a crash that occurs some point after the drug wears off that has the opposite effect and either makes people moody, depressed or just downright mean. This hasn't happened either time I tried this for my symptoms. How do you tell your shrink you think you may be ADD without them looking at you like all you're doing is looking for drugs when the only evidence you have is from trial and error via self-medicating? From what I understand if you even elude to that they'll immediately tag you for a person with an addicitive behavior and that will be the last drug they'll ever let you near due to the way the governments got it tagged?

Thanks,

J.

Can amphetamines like Aderall help with depression?

Sign Up Today!

Join Our Newsletter

Whoops,

Thank You