Adderall or Ritalin?

[dedqgirl]

Which one works for you, and why? What kind of side effects do you experience? What do you like and dislike about each of them

Comments

[bheansidhe]

Tell us what your dose is, and what medication(s) you were taking before this one, and how long you've taken this dose of the A-XR.

[aprilstarchild]

Adderall, hands-down. Ritalin helps me focus (thought not as well as Adderall), but only on one thing at a time, and it's difficult to change tasks. Sometimes it makes me feel "spacy," as well.

[savetheanimls12]

I never took ritalin but I took concerta which is supposed to be much of the same thing, and it didn't do anything for me. I take adderall XR and it's very good. Perhaps you need a higher dose? Anyway, the side effects for me are not bad. Just dry mouth and appetite loss, but the latter is more of a miracle than an unwanted side effect. Also, when I'm on my period and a couple days before my period the adderall stops working. That's been quite a bummer but not really a side effect per say, just a non-effect. Oh, also if I take it too late I can't sleep.

[ashleyboo]

I was first put on Concerta, went up to 54 mgs and it did pretty much nothing for me.

Switched to Adderall and then the XR which I've been on for around 6 years, at one point I was up to 40 mgs of the XR but I was experiencing anxiety on that dose so I brought it down to 30mgs. The 40 was definitely more effective but I couldn't stand the constant anxiety.

On this dose I get dry mouth and a small crash (mostly just feeling tired) when it wears off, for the first few months on it I had the appetite loss but not anymore.

It's definitely not a miracle drug, I still am often distracted and I feel I have to really work at focusing, but it makes it slightly easier for me and pulls me together a bit more.

Have you ever been on a higher dose than you are on now?

[berlee]

i am going through this dilemma right now, too. i have been taking adderall for a couple months, and am now going to try concerta or focalin, depending how insurance behaves. in my case, i have the inattentive type of ADHD, which usually responds better to adderall, apparently, because it works with both dopamine and norepinephrine, which ramps you up a bit. this has diffused my hypervigilance but left my focus scattered and swaying in the wind with no direction, coming off of it is SUPER cranky making, and i can't eat to save my life until it wears off (orgain liquid meal replacements have been my friend). the ritalin family of things apparently just aims at the dopamine, so will ideally help wake up the focus part but not ramp up the rest of my nervous system, and in theory this should be more helpful for me because i also have PTSD, which is why it's suspected the adderall is messing with me a bit...