I take Benzidrine/Amphetamines so I guess that is the same?

If so it\'s ok - it helps a bit. It is very very weak. Hence you have to take more, but the doctors naturally are scared of giving you more.

Usually my stock finishes fast then.

I like Benzindrine because of all narco meds - it seems the gentlest. Even compared to caffeine!

But again it requires a large dose, 5mg is nothing.

I find it peculiar that this medicine is meant to be dangerously addictive as I continuously run out of it - but never experience withdrawal symptoms.

But then my doctor says something along the lines that these medicines are only addictive for non-narcoleptics.

Doug, I am very intrigued by what I am reading in here and hope that we can all help one another.
My boyfriend is currently taking enough meds to kill a horse (his Dr\'s words) and now even those dont seem to be working.
He has been taking 180 mg Adderall daily, 400 mg Provilgil daily and 24 cc of Xyreme at night. Now, as a result of the hypnogogic hallucinations he is seeing a psychiatrist and taking Abilify to calm his thoughts down...it is constantly a trial and error process and even though he is on all these meds...and they DID work at one time they now appear to be doing nothing.....he still sleeps.....look forward to the new friendships here.....

i justgot diagnoesed not that long ago. At first they tried ridilen but thatjstgave me headaches. Then they put me on adderall, worked great the first couple days, now im falling asllepp a little bit after taking it. im on 20 mg, its not the extended

I've been taking Adderall instant-release for about two and half years and has proven to be the most effective drug for treating my EDS. I've taken Ritalin instant and extended release forms with no real success, as well as Provigil and the extended-release form of Adderall. Its worth noting that the extended-release version of Adderall differs significantly in its effectiveness for treating EDS due to its very slow onset.

Currently I take 80mgs a day divided into four 20mg doses. I started on 40mgs a day two years ago and eventually had it increased to 60mgs, (30mgs twice daily) then 90mgs (30mgs three times), and settled on 80mgs.The benefits of Adderall over other stimulants are its quick onset, stronger action and smaller side effect profile. Its weakness is that its effectiveness can be mitigated by several secondary factors such as taking it too close to a meal, taking it with something acidic, (ie orange juice) or simply your weight. These factors tend to negatively affect either its onset or duration to varying degrees, in my experience the latter is most often affected.

Flexibility and making up for the drawbacks of the medication I believe are key to effective treatment strategy. Realistically speaking, Adderall's maximum duration of effectiveness seems to average around 3 hours. Taking into account the mitigating factors I mentioned above, the unpredictable nature of life and of Narcolepsy, its necessary for successful treatment to have more than you would need to treat EDS alone, quality of life must be taken into account. All that said, I believe there no such thing as a maximum therapeutic dose and that there is a minimum therapeutic dose.

80mgs is at the moment effective to treat my EDS and the ensure the maintenance of the quality of life which I define as being able to do what I need to do and being able to do what I want to do without undue worry about my supply of medication.

I forgot to mention that on average a 20mg pill will last just as long as a 30mg pill. An increase in the amount taken at once will only affect the strength of its onset, not increase its duration or have it kick in faster.

I just started taking adderall xr 30mg in the a.m. and adderall 10mg 2 at noon followed by 1 in the evening. Prior to this, I was taking dextroamphetamine 10mg 2 tablets per day (before I was switched to adderall, I was taking 1 of these every couple of hours instead of 2 at a time). I still don't know about the adderall. I feel more tired in the afternoon than before. Is this normal when 1st starting this medication?

I've just started talking adderall. This isn't my first medication for narcolepsy...
I take 60mg at noon, due to th fact i also have a sleep delay, it is impoosible for my to fall asleep until 3am or later, no matter what i do.
so far i havent really noticed anything other than some side effects. I have extreme dry mouth, more irritable than i usually am.
The adderall for me, its really a touch and go...the doctor is hopeing it wll work, but there is a huge factor against it working...bcuz i had a severly bad reaction to ridalin...and since they are both in the same family...i have to be watched by family and friends.

So far Adderall has worked the best for me. I do take a high dose of 4-20mg pills a day and at times can still easily fall asleep. I have tried to stay awake longer by adding Nuvigil 1-250mg which keeps me awake but leaves me feeling like a zombie. I am still searching for that magic combination of meds that will give me my life back!

I take it and it has worked fine for me. I am not happy about having to take a stimulant but at least it gives me a semi normal life now. With out it I would be having C attacks all day that would last for hours each.
Adderall is really inexpensive as well. Some of the others cost hundreds even with insurance.
I dont just take that alone though.......I take it with Effexor because the combo is what helps the most for people with cataplexy.

It works well for me, along with Xyrem. My first sleep doctor tried to make Vyvanse work after I had increasingly awful reactions to every form of Ritalin I tried. Couldn't even tell I was taking the Vyvanse, though. I actually seemed to be worse-off on the days I took it--the side effects made me less productive and I wasn't getting *any* benefit.

After that, he reluctantly switched me to 30mg instant-release Adderall once a day (???) and referred me to someone else, treating me like a problem patient because he insisted there was no difference between Vyvanse and any of the formulations of Adderall.

LUCKILY he was very wrong, and my new doctor quickly adjusted the prescription to 50mg of instant-release Adderall a day, taken 10mg at a time. Initially she prescribed it as two in the morning and two at lunch (with one right before my 5pm night class), but I found that taking 20mg at once just made the side effects too harsh: I couldn't get anything done while it worked, and as soon as it wore off, I was exhausted. But taking one 10mg pill every 1.5-3 hours (depending on how quickly I feel it wearing off) is working great. I was actually able to reschedule my next follow-up for 6 months from now, which is a first for me since being diagnosed.

I do still skip stimulants entirely on days where I don't have to be mentally alert, since I feel a bit foggy if I take some but don't keep taking it after each dose wears off. Xyrem alone (4.5g twice a night) works enough to keep me functioning on a basic level every day; I use Adderall for homework days and days where I need to be consistently productive without crippling fatigue kicking in too early. The biggest obstacle I have is eating enough on Adderall days. If I let myself go too long without eating (which is easy with the effects on appetite), I find that I "crash" very early, and eating and taking remaining Adderall doses can't really pull me back from it until I've slept.

I do the same as you singing.......

On the days I dont go anywhere I just take the morning dose. I take 3 10 mg tabs. If I am going to be out in the afternoon I will take 2 more tabs because I want to be safe driving and I know that as the day goes on I am more apt to have attacks.

I like being able to monitor my meds like this.......since I hate the idea of taking them to begin with. Also by not having to take an afternoon dose every day my meds last longer.

I'm on Vyvanse, which is supposed to be the new Adderall XR. I'm on 50mg (prescriptions run from 30mg to 70mg), and it's been just about a year. I love it. However, I've been noticing it being less effective the longer I use it. I do kind of seem neurotic when I first take it, and on the weekends, when I'm home at onset, housework doesn't seem so dreadful and I clean/organize with exuberance :) but don't talk to me or you'll have to start looking for the "off" button!

While the doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong with me they had me on addreall.They had me taking 35 MG twice a day and I was sleeping on it. Strange right? Well after trying me on other things like provigual and a bunch of other stuff I slept on all of those as well. They put me on XYREM; its what I call a miracle drug. This is the first time I have felt like myself again in over 7 years, I have been on it for 6 months and it is still working for me. So now I take XYREM 4.5 twice a night plus my Adderall 30 mg only when needed.
From what my doctor explained to me if you have N your sleep is all over the place like stage 1 stage 4 stage 1 and stage3, which is why you are tired all the time. So taking addreal alone did not help me one bit. Once she started me on XYREM my sleeping is now stage1,2,3,4 so I am getting real sleep and I really only use the addreall to help me out during the day when I start to feel tired. This is also why no sleeping pill every worked for me, and let me tell you I tried them all. I would take it, fall asleep, feel like I slept but work up feeling tired and hung over like I had one hour of sleep and was up drinking all night, and I dont drink at all. Because these pills do not help you stay asleep in the appropriate sleep stages in the appropriate order they really dont do anything. It took me 5 frustrating years and like 6 doctors to figure it out. I really hope your doctor will allow you to try XYREM. Take care.

I'm on adderall(1) 30mg XR, adderall (1)10mg, and(4) dexedrine 10mg a day. I take the Adderall XR 30mg and 10mg with 2 dex in the AM, and then the other 2 dex in the afternoon. And it is enough to barely keep me awake. I used to be on the same adderall, but with taking dex 3 times a day, and that seemed to work better. The adderall seems to let me be awake, but I'm not sure if it helps me feel "awake"....I don't think I'm taking enough to get that affect, cause it seems to be the dex that really helps me feel awake and alert....if I take enough.

I use it and I love it gets rid of my cataplexy and everything! =)

I had been taking Provigil 200mg in the morning and 1-200mg in afternoon for 11yearstI loose my job and the insurance company will not pay for it. So my doctor put me on Adderall 30mg 2 in the morning and 1 in afternoon. I cant stand adderall I can take 2 30mg in the morning and fall right too sleep. this is so agrivating It is now 3;15pm I took it at 8a I am just now starting too wake up. my doctor says that he cant give me anything else to go with the adderall that it is against the law. does anyone else have this problem with adderall. it'just so mest up the Provigil was working so good for me.