# adderall or ritalin? for treatment resistent depression/ social anxiety



## prufrock86 (Sep 18, 2008)

Hello,

I have been diagnosed with both major depression and social anxiety. I do take an SSRI and have Klon as needed, but I've also been on Adderall for about 5 years now. My psychiatrist agreed to prescribe it to me for treatment resistant depression.. It has worked nicely with my other meds, to get out of bed, out of the house.

I recently just switched to Ritalin LA because my body got used to Adderall and it was not effective anymore. Literally just got my first bottle of Ritalin today. 

Does anyone have any experience in taking both drugs and have anything to say about the differences that they felt on being on Adderall vs. Ritalin?

These stims can be used for a lot of purposes. Just wondering if anyone here has been on both and can tell me what the difference felt like.


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## barry1685 (May 25, 2011)

prufrock86 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been diagnosed with both major depression and social anxiety. I do take an SSRI and have Klon as needed, but I've also been on Adderall for about 5 years now. My psychiatrist agreed to prescribe it to me for treatment resistant depression.. It has worked nicely with my other meds, to get out of bed, out of the house.
> 
> ...


Stims are not a treatment for depression or social anxiety. Unless taken wisely. 90% of the time the crash and tolerance build is not worth using.


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## The Professor (Jul 31, 2011)

prufrock86 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been diagnosed with both major depression and social anxiety. I do take an SSRI and have Klon as needed, but I've also been on Adderall for about 5 years now. My psychiatrist agreed to prescribe it to me for treatment resistant depression.. It has worked nicely with my other meds, to get out of bed, out of the house.
> 
> ...


Never tried ritalin so I can't answer your question, but when you're not on adderall to you feel f***ed? like absolutely no motivation? It downregulated my dopamine receptors and I'm in the process of trying to get off it and that's how I feel.

do you/did you go to college?


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## Cashew (May 30, 2010)

I'm interested to know too. I take ritalin and it does very little for my motivation. I'm on an average dose but I can hardly notice it. I never want to leave the house. Been thinking about trying Adderall, I heard a lot of people prefer it


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I prefer to take Adderall XR over Ritalin for SA. I only take Ritalin anymore if I need to take some stimulant late at night that wont last long. I just got a script for 60mg Vyvanse to try instead of Adderall XR 25mg if I like it. I also got some Dexedrine 5mg IR script too. I may just take any of the 4 whenever the situation suits best for each.

None of them are good for depression long term, they are just good to get you enough motivation to get work accomplished when you would otherwise be too depressed to get anything done. 

But Adderall XR is excellent for SA in that it makes you more talkative, more extrovereted, more willing to do exposures, which then in turn cause permanent progress in your treatment towards SA.


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## MilkWasABadChoice (Nov 16, 2010)

Vyvanse sucked compared to adderall in my experience.


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

prufrock86 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been diagnosed with both major depression and social anxiety. I do take an SSRI and have Klon as needed, but I've also been on Adderall for about 5 years now. My psychiatrist agreed to prescribe it to me for treatment resistant depression.. It has worked nicely with my other meds, to get out of bed, out of the house.
> 
> ...


Ritalin ER and amphtamine are both as good with me, atleast if i take it with mirtazepine and lexapro. On its own ritalin sucks.


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## metamorphosis (Dec 18, 2008)

My best advice would be to talk to as many trusted sources you know. You'll end up getting alot of freaks on here espousing one way or the other. And doing so without any subjective reasoning but their "own".


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

barry1685 said:


> Stims are not a treatment for depression or social anxiety. Unless taken wisely. 90% of the time the crash and tolerance build is not worth using.


Things like memantine help tolerance, combine it with a one or 2 day break a week for tolerance issues, for the crash curcumin helps alot in my case.


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## hanzsolo (Jan 2, 2011)

In my personal experience, ritalin was the worst stimulant I tried - the crash was bad, it didn't last long at all, left me anxious at times, and just didn't feel right. Same for concerta and the whole methylphenidate family. 

But for some, they prefer ritalin and co - so it's really a trial/error thing IMO. Some people react better to amphetamine, others to methylphenidate. It also depends what other meds you're combining it with.

I liked Adderall XR (no access to Adderall IR here in canada) but found it slightly over stimulating - some love the extra kick that the levo-amphetamine in the Adderall gives, others don't. 

So for me, Dexedrine IR works best. Its not overly stimulating, it lasts a good 3 hours, it's cheap, and the crash isn't bad. 

Keep in mind I am on a cocktail of meds though, so I never have a 100% read on anything - just my daily logs and comparisons. 

And as crayzy said, adding memantine to your regimen will stop the tolerance (not reverse it though) for any stimulant and keep it effective (pro social, mood lifting, less crash, etc) provided you take 1 day off per week.


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## Huk phin (Oct 30, 2011)

hanzsolo said:


> In my personal experience, ritalin was the worst stimulant I tried - the crash was bad, it didn't last long at all, and it just didn't feel right. Same for concerta and the whole methylphenidate family.
> 
> So for me, Dexedrine IR works best. Its not overly stimulating, it lasts a good 3 hours, it's cheap, and the crash isn't bad.


I Agee. The Ritalin/methylphenidate family were the worst for me. The one upside is that I experienced a short, I mean short, euphoric period before the anxiety and crash would set in. This family of stims produced the most anxiety and had the worse crash for me.

I take stims for add and the trick is the dosing. As some have mentioned, the right dose and the stims can actually help with some aspects of SA. Conversely, the wrong dosage can lead to major anxiety and panic attacks. It is a fine line.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.


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## prufrock86 (Sep 18, 2008)

The Professor said:


> Never tried ritalin so I can't answer your question, but when you're not on adderall to you feel f***ed? like absolutely no motivation? It downregulated my dopamine receptors and I'm in the process of trying to get off it and that's how I feel.
> 
> do you/did you go to college?


Yes. It is the worst (coming down).. I'm currently in college. Blarggh


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## prufrock86 (Sep 18, 2008)

MilkWasABadChoice said:


> Vyvanse sucked compared to adderall in my experience.


 Totally agree


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## prufrock86 (Sep 18, 2008)

hanzsolo said:


> And as crayzy said, adding memantine to your regimen will stop the tolerance (not reverse it though) for any stimulant and keep it effective (pro social, mood lifting, less crash, etc) provided you take 1 day off per week.


Hmm, I've never heard of memantine. I'll do some research though. Thanks for replying


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## baranok (Nov 17, 2011)

how long will it work that memantine+amp combo? like after 10 years of this combo it can still be effective?


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