# Thinking about changing from Adderall to Dexedrine?



## inVis420 (Jul 15, 2009)

I am currently prescribed 30mg Adderall IR (30 tabs a month) for adult ADD from my primary doctor. How should I go about asking him for Dexedrine instead? Is the switch worth all the possible trouble? What are Dexedrine's main positives over adderall?


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## BearFan (Mar 22, 2008)

Why do you want to switch? There are also Adderall XR, adn Vyvance.


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## Raptors (Aug 3, 2009)

Adderall is basicially 76 percent dexedrine. So what's wrong with adderall?


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

inVis420 said:


> I am currently prescribed 30mg Adderall IR (30 tabs a month) for adult ADD from my primary doctor. How should I go about asking him for Dexedrine instead? Is the switch worth all the possible trouble? What are Dexedrine's main positives over adderall?


Just ask him about switching. You can tell him why you'd like to switch. I assume there is some reason, even if the reason is simply to see if pure dextroamphetamine (which I take) works better for you. My pdoc says that his experience is that 80% of patients can't tell the difference and the other 20% prefer one or the other.

Adderall is mostly dextroamphetamine already, so it's hard to see why a doc would have a problem with making this minor change. In theory, d-amphetamine is supposed to have less peripheral effects than the l-amphetamine that is mixed in with Adderall.

As for Vyvance mentioned above, that's metabolized by your body into dextroamphetamine. So instead of taking cheap (10mg x 120 pills for $40 at Walmart) dextroamphetamine, if I had money to burn I could help make Shire even richer by taking their "new" drug that is nothing but a expensive indirect way of taking dextroamphetamine. Shire dreamed this one up so they could keep raking in the cash after the patent on their Aderall XR expired. And Shire created Aderall XR when the patent on their Adderall was about to expire. If anyone is wondering why medical costs in America are going through the roof, they need only look at Shire and the rest of big pharma for part of the answer.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

BearFan said:


> There are also Adderall XR


Both IR and XR versions come in generic form, though the XR version still costs significantly more (either to you or your insurance, which ultimately gets passed on to you).

This was an issue I discussed with my pdoc. He personally doesn't care one way or the other, saying that some patients prefer prefer IR and others prefer XR. He even noted that many who tried XR versions ended up deciding to switch back to IR. He did note that XR was more convenient for kids, such that hyper little Billy doesn't have to visit the school nurse at lunch time every day to be handed his mid-day dose. I'm sure school nurses much prefer XR over having to hand our IR stimulants to a line of 50 kids each day.

I take the IR version of dextroamphetamine because it's cheaper ($40 vs $110). I also like to be in control of my dosage amount and timing. XR doesn't allow one to cut it if you want less. XR also is a problem if you need some later in the day, since XR will keep on going for 12 hours which you likely don't want if you'd like to sleep in 6 hours. IR would be my personal preference even if they cost the same.


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## Upekkha (Dec 10, 2009)

I have taken both, and I noticed a difference. Adderall made me extremely relaxed when it was working and made me to an equal extreme restless when it wore off. Vyvanse (dexedrine) does not induce any great relaxation nor does it have any significant rebound effect, which I find superior. 

I think asking directly is best the way. I asked for dexedrine and got Vyvanse, which is far more expensive but maybe has a smoother release. My pdoc did not want to use dexedrine (or the dexedrine spansule) for some reason.


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## inVis420 (Jul 15, 2009)

Upekkha said:


> I have taken both, and I noticed a difference. Adderall made me extremely relaxed when it was working and made me to an equal extreme restless when it wore off. Vyvanse (dexedrine) does not induce any great relaxation nor does it have any significant rebound effect, which I find superior.
> 
> I think asking directly is best the way. I asked for dexedrine and got Vyvanse, which is far more expensive but maybe has a smoother release. My pdoc did not want to use dexedrine (or the dexedrine spansule) for some reason.


I've tried vyvanse before it was pretty good but lasted way too long. I had to take it early or I would get no sleep. But I do remember it having less side-effects then adderall. I prefer IR to XR so I would need Dexedrine.


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## silverfish (Sep 18, 2009)

UltraShy: I'm not sure that you are right about Vyvanse - at least regarding its role as a medication in general. According to this site, it is a medication that has some big advantages. To quote it:



> It is long release. It has drug release characteristics that are very helpful to people with ADHD and outperform competing formulations on multiple dimensions. There are studies which show it works well for at least a year. It is hard to abuse. It typically has some effect for 14 hours. It is made only of d-amphetamine. And it is pretty effective.


Source: Vyvanse: Many Advantages as ADHD Therapy?

Now for treating SA, it may not have that much of an advantage over dexedrine and may indeed last too long.


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