Difference Between Adderall And Amphetamine Salts (Page 29)

I was recently diagnosed with Adult ADD and have been prescribed Amphetamine Salts (Generic for Adderall) for a few months now. The initial dosage was one 10mg tablet/ three times a day and recently my Doctor upped the dosage to one 30mg tablet/ twice a day. I know that overall this has been very beneficial for me but I cant help but wonder if the generic brand (IR Amphetamine Salts) has less of the active ingredient, and more unnecessary side effects(irritability, fatigue). I know that while the active ingredients are likely to be the same, the "fillers" usually are not and even the active ingredients can vary up to 10%. I also know that everybody reacts differently depending on their bodies' make-up as well as the drugs and I have always reacted sensitively to any kind of drug. The more I "google" the more I want to stay away from the generic form. Also- almost every pharmacy around has little to no Adderall Brand IR tablets in stock, they only have the generic brands and possibly Adderall brand but only the Extended-Release. My Doctor seems to firmly believe that there is no difference between Adderall XR and Adderall IR, and because she prescribed me the generic form (Amphetamine Salts), she probably doesn't see a difference there either. I don't have the time to ask 10 doctors what they think so if anyone has any information or experiences please share! Thank you!

REPLY

REPORT

I have been taking Adderall for years to help with depression/anxiety. My dose has not been increased since it was leveled out a few years ago. All drugs are dangerous. That is why you take them only as prescribed by your doctor.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I am a 56 year old female that has been in therapy off and on since I was in the 6th grade. Never actually had any of my therapists care enough to take the time to diagnose my symptoms. So I started self medicating. I used street drugs off and on for 30 years.
I never felt like fit in anywhere but the drugs made me not care, or at least I was able to convince myself that I did not care. I continued rotating using therapy or using drugs.I have been giving everything from lithium to paxel. However I always went back to street drugs. The meds that therapist gave me caused me to have no emotions, I just didn't care about anything or anyone.
Recently when I was sick I showed up for my appointment with my new doctor. For some reason she just came out and asked me if I would mind talking with a therapist that just so happened to be at that office on that day. That day changed my life. I began seeing her weekly and one day I asked her why my doctor suggested I talk with her that day and her reply was that the doctor not only wanted her to talk to me but she wanted her to commit me to a mental institution. She told me that after talking to her that first day she trusted that I was no harm to myself or anyone else at that time.
I feel so blessed for that accidental meeting. After a few sessions with her she began having me fill out questionairs. And she would not really ask me questions but talk to me about my responses which lead to her diagnosing me with ADHD. However most insurance companies have this ” age out” for any drugs that are used for ADHD. It took 3 months for her to get the ok for amphatamin salts.
Due to bring blessed enough to find someone who cared and the amphatamin script I don't wake up wanting to just end it all and I make it through the day understanding that their is a reason that I have felt different, its because I am different. Pills may not teach skills but at least now I can stay focused long enough to learn about my disorder and educate the people in my life so that we can work together to make living with this mental disorder more accommodating for everyone.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 3

Lies! Scare rhetoric by someone with no interest in the truth!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Hi, I actually prefer the generic. It honestly works better for me.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

In my experience with many drugs, ADHD meds included, the "brand" has as much chance of being the best manufacturer (for me) as any of the others. And, yeah, extended release is as likely as not to be more desirable than taking regular release several times.

So, if the generic is working for you, I wouldn't assume the "brand" will be better. It might be, but it also might be worse.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I have taken both I'm prescribed the 30mg ir Adderalls and they work perfect, I've taken Adderall since I was 11yrs old , so they work the best they are orange oval pills ,sometimes I break them in half..the other stuff is worthless

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

The best come from Kroger orange pill, been on since 2011

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Hello, i really do believe that the generic is just as good if not better, it's all about the money especially in the pharmaceuticals your fine take your medicine and be glad your doctor saving you money while given you the best medicine. Don't forget to thank the doc on the next visit.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

That's funny, I can take amphetamine salts and practically fall asleep at my desk an hour later.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 3

Looking for Answers, I can really appreciate your comment. I, too, have no trouble whatsoever sleeping, even though I take Adderall. It shows me that you are one of very few these days who actually need to be taking it. Unless one has ADD or ADHD, they just don't get it. I get wise cracks from some who know of my meds, and because they are aware of amphetamine being one of the active ingredients of Adderall, they compare it to "speed". I have to explain I am not strung out on methamphetamine and that the amphetamine used in Adderall is equivalent to about a pin-head size of what a methamphetamine user would ingest when they take a "dose" of methamphetamine. Anyway, for those of us who take it because we suffer with ADD or ADHD, it actually has more of a calming effect then a "speedy" effect, except for MAYBE the first few times we ever had the medication. After those initial early days the body quickly adjusts & helps us to do what it was supposed to help us with - better settle & focus. It's not an issue of being more mature or exercising better self-discipline. I try explaining it to people like this, think of it as being in a Walmart Super Store, which we all know is a HUGE sprawling store. I don't even attempt going to Walmart if I haven't had my Adderall yet - as for me it is the difference between being in Walmart for a half hour versus being in there for 5 hours. With all of the choices I have had trips there where I spent upwards of 45 minutes in just 1 aisle. It's very debilitating but highly treatable.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 3

Mandi, thank you for posting your comment & I hope people take the time to read & understand it. I am only 10 years younger than you at 46 but still of a generation where ADD/ADHD were not common diagnosis given & certainly not a lot of meds and/or therapies were described 30 years ago. I think of how much better I would have done in school & enjoyed being in school by high school, when after hitting puberty my ADHD really began to take on a life of its own. I am still grateful to this day I had enough friends & supportive & structured enough home/family life to have been able to stick it out & complete highschool & go on to even just community college. I knew I just never really felt "right" & was continually frustrated to see my friends do things so easily that I seemed to struggle with, though I was not at all any less intelligent or creative than they. Once I hit 14-15 & like most young teens started going to parties & experimenting with alcohol & marijuana for the first time, I felt like I had found the Holy Grail. Not so much smoking pot, but alcohol was a different story. It took away way my many anxieties, sadness, insecurities, and made me feel I way I really liked because it was a relief to get a temporary reprieve from feeling the way I walked around feeling every day. Fast forward to mid 20s & having good jobs & health insurance so then started therapy & the trial & error game with antidepressants began - and like you, I never really found relief, but did find myself "numbed" enough to become indifferent to things, so they were always more of an escape then a cure, making these antidepressants, for me, no different then the various street/recreational drugs I had begun to experiment with. It was only by getting sober in 2006 that I was able to start attacking the problem from another angle, and it was still no picnic because I no longer had a crutch. By August 2011 at age 40 I was finally diagnosed ADHD & prescribed Adderall for the first time. I had never had this prior to then so it was new to me. Almost 6 years later & several tweaks and changes with Adderall & I am so much closer to being who I feel is the best or at least better version of me! ADHD really IS a mental/psychiatric disorder that needs to be taken seriously.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Wow, not sure how this 5 year old post escaped me, as I've been in these forums since 2011. Wish I saw this back then, but maybe someone can get something out of it now, at least. This subject of brand name versus generic seems to be a taboo subject like Politics & Religion, where there are always going to be people on either side of the coin who feel adamantly about their position, and of course there is no real wrong or right answer in this subject, it really is a personal choice based on your own experience.
I can only qualify myself by stating that I have worked for several large Pharma, as well as being someone who has done the trial & error work with ADHD medication over the last 6 years, and I personally know for myself, I highly recommend Adderall XR - but it MUST be the Adderall brand name made by Shire. I have had periods of taking both & for me it is night & day as far as how they work. I think part of the reason the XR version gets the bad rap that it does may be because of the generic versions that are out there, and I know there are tons! If you are able to with your prescription coverage/insurance, please ask the Pharmacist you give your script to to fill it with the brand name if they hopefully have it. Unfortunately, there is no longer a brand name of regular immediate release (IR) Adderall available, but somebody mentioned a 30 mg tablet a few posts below, oval shaped & orange, & that is the Teva brand made in Israel, and it is the closest you can get to the old brand name & a very good medication. It has a nice deep score & easily broken in half for when you don't want the whole dose, which of course as most of us taking these meds know, the less you can take, the better. Our bodies cannot help but to build up tolerance to amphetamine salts when taken regularly, so also try to skip taking it when you know you are in a position to get away with it. They used to like saying "take a vacation" from it, a few days or a week or so, and you quickly notice how effective it becomes again. Most, myself included, can't really take med vacations, so try to just take as little as you can take & still have efficacy. I absolutely find the brand name Adderall XR, in either the 20 mg or the 30 mg capsule, to be, hands down, the best ADHD medication out there. I had uncomfortable side effects with the generic XR, number one being nasty frequent headaches that even Exedrin couldn't banish, so that was obviously having a bad effect on my life - who wants to have throbbing headaches 5-6 days a week?

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

I am 42 years old and i am back in school after many years. My first semester was extremely difficult. I felt like charlie brown while the proffesor spoke" wok wok wok" and when i would study i could read the same page in the text book 10 times and not retain any of it. I have been told in the past that i probably had add but never tried any treatment for it. Needless to say my first semester gpa was embarassing. 1.8. I put my pride aside and spoke with my doctor. He perscribed adderral 15 mg ir to be cut in half and use one half during class and the other half at study time. The pharmacy gave me generic brsnd. Its been about 2 weeks and all this med has done is make me extremely sleepy and tired. Is this common? If so screw this crap.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

How old are you? Have you notice any major side effects as seizure? My son will start soon on Adderall and I am little bit nervous.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

They aren't the same. In fact the generic is less effective than the brand. All these generic are no good. You'd have to take a larger amount to get good results.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

This person knows nothing about ADHD....Please ignore someone who doesn't have a clue about what this drug is suppose to be utilized for

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Ive been on for three months. Each month is a different generic. I frst noticed a difference after the first month when I thought my wife had forgotten to put it in my morning meds when the meds changed. I could feel the effects of the first generic so sharply I could set a clock by it. The other meds not so much.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I know what Margarit is saying, I take a very low does of adderal and if I could of had this when I was young I think my life could of been much better, how ever I'm 62 and have been on it a little over a year. I'm add but it also has really helped my depression, but if I don't take it I'm very tired so now my body is dependent on it, I know after about two weeks of not taking it the tiredness will improve. My concern is being older and taking it. Depending on which generic I get, it sometimes makes my heart beat to fast and that's just a 10 mg. So that concerns me. I have tried to tell them there is something not safe in the pink ones, that I think could harm kids or anyone for that matter. I don't trust big pharma and just don't want to end up on the Comercial that say if u took this drug and this happened call such and such attorney. I could of been the person who discovered anphetimine treating chemical embalances. When I was about 20 just before they took diet pills off the market, early 70ty's I was just a little over weight so the dr. Gave me some diet pills, back then I think they were straight Dexadrine not sure but anyway I felt normal for the first time in my life, I could complete a task, my depression was gone, I didn't sleep 14 hours a day. I was just able to be more like my friends. It didn't make me hyper or anything I just felt good and new this must be what it's like to feel normal. My sister was more over weight then me and she got some but didn't like how they made her feel, She felt wired on them. So she gave hers to me and I remember telling her, I wish I could take these my whole life, why do they have to be for losing weight only I feel so normal. Then they took them off the market shortly after. I went back to struggling for the next 40 yrs. Then was prescribed adderal, It helps alot but nothing like the diet pills did, I wish I new what was in them back then. My dr. May know I ve never told her this story but maybe should maybe there is a med. That works more like they did. I never felt bad when they wore off either, I would be tired and ready for bed like adderal does. But sometimes the adderal makes me irritable and those never did. Looking back, I now know I had a severe chemical embalance pretty much since I was born. So you do with all medications if the benefits out weigh the risks you take them. Just always educate yourself on all meds. you take. and tell your dr. about any side effects.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

No it is not - I SUFFERED from severe depression and ADD for 48 yrs. I tried everything -mainly lots of exercise and extremely healthy diets. Yet -I absolutely struggled to function and get things done. It felt overwhelming to hold a conversation without being able to focus. I started adderall and suddenly I felt capable to get things done and to focus.
Being productive and feeling less depressed is life changing for me. I was a teen thru the eighties and coke is NOT the same nor is methamphetamine -made from a bunch of chemicals...Adderall gave me my life back.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Thanks for input all. ADHD can be most frustrating. I was ecstatic when diagnosed. Sounds crazy I know. Not half as crazy as lacking focus due to 10 million things on my mind always! Up to the individual to choose how best to cope. I think adderall is a miracle med if used as intended. Irritates me when referred to as "legal speed". If that's the case, why dont methamphetamine addicts switch up? Spare the legal woes. Am I being a bit touchy? I find the comment ignorant. ADHD friends. Use the impairment to your advantage. It can be positive vs negative.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I HAVE BEEN TAKING GENERIC ADDERALL which has always been called amphetamine salts. My last script instead of saying amp...

35 REPLIES

I was taking 20mg with salt and my new presciption is without the salt. Is there any difference? ## It's not actuall...

5 REPLIES

My name is Phil and I am 18 years old. I weigh 170 lbs and I am 6'3. At the beginning of my Freshman year of college...

3 REPLIES

What is the difference between d-amphetamine salt combo (adderall)10mg and dextroamphetamine sulfate tablets (Zenzedi)? ...

7 REPLIES

Hi, Can someone please educate me on the differences between Adderall ER as opposed to Adderall XR? I had no idea there ...

4 REPLIES

Are the M Amphat salts 30mg a generic form of the Adderal XR capsule the same exact thing as a Adderal XR 30mg capsule??...

6 REPLIES

The vast majority of Adderall prescriptions, are filled by the generic version, also, made by the foreign parent, Teva o...

8 REPLIES

I have been taking generic Adderall, Amphetamine salts but yesterday when filling my prescription it says now Amphetamin...

15 REPLIES

For several years I've taken TEVA 30mg Amphetamine Salts 2x daily with consistent positive relief. Focus and a feeli...

254 REPLIES

I was recently prescribed Adderall by my doctor for Adult ADD. My pharmacy gave me Amphetamine Salt. Is there anything d...

4 REPLIES