I took adderall for my ADD an it works great but.... I ended up with a pretty nasty addiction to it. I finally got my sh** together and quit taking it but now my attention span is like nothing. What are some of the alternatives that have worked good for you guys. I know nothing will come close to amphetamine but I just cant deal with that stuff anymore.

l-deprenyl

hit the search button with this one

Currently using wellbutrin 150 BID, Alpha-GPC 400 OD, ALCAR 1000 TID, Phosphatidylserine 100 QID. Noticeable improvement in focus and working memory. Memory for names improved. On this combo for 9 months. No s/e's to complain about.

Do a search for 'atomoxetine' or 'strattera.' Ergoman500 had some great posts on it.

This is all very helpful. Thanks guys

Bump on this one. Effexor would be another one to consider.

It does, however, depend on what kind of ADD you have; different types respond differently to different treatment regiments.

Also, increase your protein intake, and make sure you take a good multi.

Acetyl-l-carnitine showed significant improvement in ADHD kids. That abstract's being a bitch and hiding somewhere in my bookmarks.

i am a pretty big fan of provigil. if you are able to get a script for it, give it a go.

what are some of the side effects you guys have experienced from those drugs/supplements you have suggested?

I posted this in another thread, but I have had great success with 5mg of deprenyl, 150mg of 5-htp, and 500mgs of DLPA, 3x per day.

I may follow your stack there. What is DLPA? Would you recommend starting out with the dosages your taking or lower?

DL-phenylalinine
I think it is a fairly safe dose to start.

The DLPA and 5-HTP can be found on vitaminshoppe.com for fairly cheap. For the deprenyl, you will have to order overseas from somewhere like mastersmarketing.com.

Hi prolongtum, I read your post and you say you have taking lexapro/bupoprion/adderall without side effect. Now you take DLPA/deprenyl/5HTP. Do you change because the second stack is better than the first or you change because the first doen't work anymore after fews weeks or months ?
When I read post of dante about snorting selegiline, I've tried. I feel fantastic good, but I don't sleep for 2days. I think snorting selegiline is to strong because you have to much selegiline metabolite in the brain (methamphetamine, amphetamine). I think you can be addict with snorting selegiline
Have a good day.

straterra (modanifil) is a nasty little drug. the reason doctors are so high on it (pun intended) is because of the kickbacks they get from the pharmaceutical company who makes it. plus, it's only a c-IV drug so there's virtually no script restrictions as with adderall or ritalin.

my doc tried pushing that garbage on me when I was first diagnosed w/ Narcolepsy. couldn't handle it. I was hearing noises, ears ringing, alcohol made me DEATHLY ill for days after drinking a reasonable amount, and I couldn't eat a thing on it.

apparently these sides are common, says my doctor while I sat across from him contemplating a BeAtch-Slap.

right now I manage myself on a low dose of adderall 10mg/morning, 5, 5 rest of the day. and GHB once when getting home from the gym, about 5pm, then again as I'm going to bed.

Also take Al-Car, and Green Tea instead of coffee, I've tried various natural product stacks since high school. many of the products discussed here too. the adderall is a life saver for me. I know I won't get strung out on it because I get no recreational high from it. In fact, If i'm planning on using other recreationals, I don't take my last two doses of adderall.

After all, it pretty much counteracts alcohol, and makes my heart beat like crazy when I smoke some weed.

i think modafinil (provigil) and strattera are different. strattera is a non-stimulant ADD med. it works okay, but the main problem is that you build tolenrance to it so you have to keep upping the dose and at some point you may reach a point when the side-effects overweigh the benefit.

also, since it's non-stimulant, it does not give the same kind of kick adderall does that helps you do shitloads of work. purely for attention it's okay. also you aren't supposed to mix deprenyl and strattera, so it's one or the other (or neither).

-5

I usually take the wellbutrin/adderall/lexapro for a 3 month span, but only when the wellbutrin is available to me, via my GF's uncle (whom is a doctor) I dont like to stay on adderall too long either.

you're right. my bad, I meant to say provigil, not stratera. completel different.

Id like to BeAtch-Slap my doctor for putting someone who he knew had cocaine abuse problems on amphetamine. He did have adderall posters all over his office along with posters of other drugs he had me on.
I quit smoking weed when i took adderall and havents since then. With adderall it made me paranoid as hell. But i was also on depakote and effexor.

I've heard the abuse potential w/ Adderall XR is much less than w/ regular Adderall. Don't know if that's BS or not.

I'm having good luck w/ low dose Adderall XR, Lexapro, L-tyrosine, and vinpocentine (did I spell that correctly?)

Yeah, the Adderall XR has a lower "abuse" rate because the 10-12 hour duration of action allows blood levels to gradually rise, as opposed to immediate-release Adderall which is absorbed slightly quicker. Also, blood levels rise higher with immediate-release which correlates with a higher "likeability" incidence.

When I was prescribed these meds for ADD 2 years ago, the XR version felt soo much different than immediate-release that I could hardly even compare the 2 with eachother. The XR's really start to kick in over 4 hours after ingestion, and the effects are much more "even".

I also used DLPA/L-Tyrosine along with vinpocetine which allowed me to lower my daily dose of Adderall from 80mg down to 5-10mg/day.

The study below shows just how potent and helpful L-tyrosine supplementation can be. Many other studies have shown that 6-10 grams of L-tyrosine is roughly equal to 5-10mg of D-amphetamine when it comes to enhancing the ability to perform well mentally and physically during stressfull situations...


Nutr Neurosci. 2003 Aug;6(4):237-46.

Effects of tyrosine, phentermine, caffeine D-amphetamine, and placebo on cognitive and motor performance deficits during sleep deprivation.

Magill RA, Waters WF, Bray GA, Volaufova J, Smith SR, Lieberman HR, McNevin N, Ryan DH.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.

Cognitive and motor performance are critical in many circumstances and are impaired by sleep deprivation. We administered placebo, tyrosine 150 mg/kg, caffeine 300 mg/70 kg, phentermine 37.5 mg and D-amphetamine 20 mg at 15.30 h following overnight sleep deprivation and compare their effects on cognitive and motor performance in healthy young men. Tests of visual scanning, running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, the Stroop task, four-choice serial reaction time, time wall take, pursuit tracking, visual vigilance, Trails ( task and long-term memory were evaluated at standardized intervals before, during and after sleep deprivation and drugs. Performance decrements with sleep deprivation occurred in visual scanning, running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, the Stroop test, the time wall test, tracking and visual vigilance. Interestingly, with sleep deprivation some tests improved and others did not deteriorate. Improvements with medication following sleep deprivation were seen in running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, tracking and visual vigilance. Although less effective than D-amphetamine, tyrosine improved performance on several tests. We conclude that all drugs tested improved at least some aspects of cognitive and motor performance after sleep deprivation. As a naturally occurring amino acid, and thus amenable to nutritional strategies, tyrosine may deserve further testing.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 12887140 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

What dosage respectively?

Some good research on possible alternatives to Amphetamine/Ritalin for ADD/ADHD treatment...


Effects of chronic nicotine and methylphenidate in adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Levin ED, Conners CK, Silva D, Canu W, March J. Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. edlevin@duke.edu

Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2001 Feb;9(1):83-90

Acute nicotine treatment has been found to reduce symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults (E. D. Levin, C. K. Conners, et al., 1996). In this study, chronic nicotine effects were compared with placebo and methylphenidate. Acute and chronic nicotine treatment significantly attenuated the rise in hit reaction time standard error over session blocks on the Conners Continuous Performance Test (C. K. Conners et al., 1996). Acute nicotine significantly reduced severity of clinical symptoms on the Clinical Global Impressions scale (National Institute of Mental Health, 1985). Nicotine caused a significant decrease in self-report of depressive mood as measured by the Profile of Mood States test (D. M. McNair, M. Lorr, & L. F. Droppleman, 1981). This small study (40 participants) provided evidence that nicotine treatment can reduce severity of attentional deficit symptoms and produce improvement on an objective computerized attention task.


Effect of the herbal extract combination Panax quinquefolium and Ginkgo biloba on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a pilot study.

Lyon MR, Cline JC, Totosy de Zepetnek J, Shan JJ, Pang P, Benishin C. Oceanside Functional Medicine Research Institute, Nanaimo, BC.

J Psychiatry Neurosci 2001 May;26(3):221-8

OBJECTIVE: A combination herbal product containing American ginseng extract, Panax quinquefolium, (200 mg) and Ginkgo biloba extract (50 mg) (AD-FX; CV Technologies, Edmonton, Alta.) was tested for its ability to improve the symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

DESIGN: Open study.

PATIENTS: 36 children ranging in age from 3 to 17 years who fit the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.

INTERVENTIONS: AD-FX capsules were taken twice a day on an empty stomach for 4 weeks. Patients were instructed not to change any other medications during the study.

OUTCOME MEASURES: At the beginning of the study, after 2 weeks, and then at the end of the 4-week trial, parents completed the Conners' Parent Rating Scale--revised, long version, a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of problem behaviours (and was used as an indication of ADHD symptom severity).

RESULTS: After 2 weeks of treatment, the proportion of the subjects exhibiting improvement (i.e., decrease in T-score of at least 5 points) ranged from 31% for the anxious-shy attribute to 67% for the psychosomatic attribute. After 4 weeks of treatment, the proportion of subjects exhibiting improvement ranged from 44% for the social problems attribute to 74% for the Conners' ADHD index and the DSM-IV hyperactive-impulsive attribute. Five (14%) of 36 subjects reported adverse events, only 2 of which were considered related to the study medication.

CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest AD-FX treatment may improve symptoms of ADHD and should encourage further research on the use of ginseng and Ginkgo biloba extracts to treat ADHD symptoms.

I alternated between DLPA 1.5-2 grams/day, and L-tyrosine at 4-6 grams/day (ingested an hour away from any other food for better absorbtion).

Vinpocetine I take/took with meals at 5mg - 3 times/day for a total of 15mg/day.

Regarding decreasing my dose/day of meds, I also used NADH (Enada) at 5mg - 4 times/day with EXCELLENT results. I was able to decrease my amphetamine intake/day by over 50% in only 2 months...

Yeah the abuse potential with the adderall xr is much less, but being the sinister addict that i was i resorted to grinding up the time release capsules into a fine powder with a dumbbell against a table. That seemed to give me the whole dose immediately. Dont try that at home.

Just quicker absorbtion actually. Amphetamine tablets - of any type - have very low bioavailability when insulfated; IOW you felt it much quicker, but probably got about half the dosage.

Therein lies the difference in abuse potential of slow release versus "immediate". With the slow release preparations you don't get the same "rush" that you get with the IR tablets (and with the IR tablets you don't get nearly the rush as you would insulfating). Since the immediate gratification is so much higher the more quickly the drug "hits" you, abuse potential increases correspondingly with rate of absorbtion.

I was actually drinking the powder with water. Do you think it still had low bioavailability. I would guess so after reading that.

No. In that case, it would be a bit more bioavailable than the XR preparation itself...I think, but would absorb much faster. I know that Ritalin Spansules have lower BV than Ritalin IR (which is why they released Concerta), but XR is a different technology than Spansule; I don't think the verdict is out on whether or not there are any bioavailability problems with the XR preparations.

BTW "insulfated" means "snorted," not crushed.

More evidence of the safety and benefits of Deprenyl/Selegiline...


Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Aug;27(5):841-5.

Selegiline in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children: a double blind and randomized trial.

Akhondzadeh S, Tavakolian R, Davari-Ashtiani R, Arabgol F, Amini H.

Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, South Kargar Avenue, Tehran 13334, Iran. s.akhond@neda.net

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder of childhood that affects 3% to 6% of school-age children. Conventional stimulant medications are recognized by both specialists and parents as useful symptomatic treatment. Nevertheless, approximately 30% of ADHD children treated with them do not respond adequately or cannot tolerate the associated adverse effects. Such difficulties highlight the need for alternative safe and effective medications in the treatment of this disorder. Selegiline is a type B monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) that is metabolized to amphetamine and methamphetamine stimulant compounds that may be useful in the treatment of ADHD. The authors undertook this study to further evaluate, under double-blind and controlled conditions, the efficacy of selegiline for ADHD in children. A total of 28 children with ADHD as defined by DSM IV were randomized to selegiline or methylphenidate dosed on an age and weight-adjusted basis at selegiline 5 mg/day (under 5 years) and 10 mg/day (over 5 years) (Group 1) and methylphenidate 1 mg/kg/day (Group 2) for a 4-week double-blind clinical trial. The principal measure of the outcome was the Teacher and Parent ADHD Rating Scale. Patients were assessed by a child psychiatrist at baseline, 14 and 28 days after the medication started. No significant differences were observed between the two protocols on the Parent and Teacher Rating Scale scores. Although the number of dropouts in the methylphenidate group was higher than in the selegiline group, there was no significant difference between the two protocols in terms of the dropouts. Decreased appetite, difficulty falling asleep and headaches were observed more in the methylphenidate group.The results of this study must be considered preliminary, but they do suggest that selegiline may be beneficial in the treatment of ADHD. In addition, a tolerable side effect profile may be considered as one of the advantages of selegiline in the treatment of ADHD.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 12921918 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]