one thing i recall from about 10 years ago when this was still a new ish med was when this problem ocurred and the doctor was quite helpful-if you find a pharmacy that has a supply - even if it is not what you might normally get-you call then run by your doctor to get an rx for the exact amount of pills and then run[cos the pharmacy won't hold something] ...iseem to remeber needing the exact a

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From what I read, the shortage is to last about four months - most likely into September. I was advised to use more of a smaller dosage. For example, for 30mg XR (the most "popular" of the meds in short supply), just use three 10mg XR, etc. However, your physician has to indicate it on the prescription that s/he will allow this. Thanks.

Dr. H

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I am from El Paso, TX and my wife and I have experienced the same problems. Tried 10 different Walgreens until we found on that had just enough to fill the presciption.

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Adderall XR is available as a generic (about 1/3 less expensive than the brand name version). See

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/best-buy-drugs/adhd.htm

For a listing of prices and available generics. Consumer Reports write up on ADHD is actually pretty good.

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I have had problems here in California getting my grandson's generic Ritalin Rx's filled for the past 3 months. He takes 5 -20mg tablets and 1 -10mg tablet per day. I had no idea the problem is so widespread. I had considered switching him to Adderal as a substitute for some of the 20's, but I see that is not a solution either. In the meantime, Rite-Aid can't get it at all, so I have to take his Rx's to Walgreen's a week ahead of time. That's working so far.

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I learned from the Medical website MEDSCAPE that the shortage was caused by the DEA's failure to release enough amphetamine salts to meet current needs. Isn't it just peachy that methylphenidate and related medications are still politically incorrect and that the DEA wields such power . I understand that Ritalin may have been prescribed too freely thirty years ago. I've read that some students on Ritalin have sold their medication to fellow students or have been bullied into giving it to classmates. What does that have to do with you or me? I'm a 66-year-old scientist who would be, at the very least, semi-comatose without methylphenidate.

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There is a shortage in Northern Florida too, and I finally switched from Adderall XR to the short acting and not only is it not in shortage, it's cheaper! I was also having issues with insurance paying for the XR, so it's better financially for me too!!

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I went to Walgreens which had my generic Adderall 30mg non-XR tablets in a different manufacturer. They are in the shortage too, just not as hard. Ugh.

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I've been having trouble finding generic adderral xr 30 for my son in colorado. I called this number and found that the number is listed incorrectly. It should be 1-800-828-2088. I got Shire on the phone at the correct number. They take you're name and number and zip code and ask how far you would be willing to drive. They are supposed to be calling me back with a pharmacy who has the pills on hand. Seem nice and helpful so we will see if they find it!

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ihappy said: The video link provided earlier, http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/health/doctor_jo/adderall-shortage-to-last-through-may-04152011 , mentions a toll free number from the manufacturer that you can call to see which pharmacy has adderall. The number is: Adderall XR | Shire | Pharmacy Finder Hotline 800-828-2008 (select option 5.) Hope this helps.

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None of the Walgreens in Wichita, KS have generic 10mg or 20mg. they said they have no date by which they expect to be resupplied! Wiill try the 1-800 number....thanks!

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I am in California, and all the pharmacies around here can't even order it ! WHY? I finally got a job after almost 3 years of being unemployed, and have only been there 1 week with trying to learn everything I don't know what to do or how I am going to survive without help focusing and concentrating! Does anyone have any suggestions? Different meds? I take the generic adderall 20mg's and on top of my new job I am a single mom and a caregiver to my own mom... Now what? And are they going to take it off the market? because apparently this "shortage" has been going on for a long time. I have tried some of the other add meds but nothing has worked even close to the life changer Adderall was. I guess all the people complaining about us ADD drug addicts that have this "imaginary condition" made enough stink about it that they feel this drug should be eliminated ... but that's another story! Well, I hope this resolves for all of us --- SOON! thanks for letting me vent.

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As an experienced investigator, this did not take long to figure out, so here is the short version.

The active ingredient in generic or name brand is closely regulated by the DEA. I will refer to this ingredient as DEX and the manufacturer as S for simplicity.

The amount of DEX allocated to S is closely monitored by the DEA. It is worth noting there is only one manufacturer for both name brand and generic and that is S. If S believes the demand for their product will exceed their ability to produce, they must apply to the DEA for an allocation increase of DEX. My understanding is that S made such a request in late 2010 to which the DEA never acknowledged. I am sure there is more to the story, but given a limited supply of DEX, S decided to divert it into their name brand product and not to actively pursue a larger allocation from the DEA. This would of course maximize profits at the cost of the patients.

It was patient complaints to the DEA that finally brought this to light and I believe the allocation has been increased recently, but I have serious doubts it has been resolved.

I have heard about this shortage issue for about a year now but have managed to get refills with 2-3 attempts. As of August 14 2012, it appears that name brand and generic is unobtainable in the greater Kansas City Area.

Since insurance plans rarely pay for name brand when generic is available it is a safe bet that many patients have bitten the bullet and forked out the average $200.00 themselves for refills, thus depleting the name brand inventory. This has been a boom for the pharmacy business and explains the smug “Who gives a SH* attitude presented by a majority of pharmacists and their helpers I have come in contact with. None of them is willing to offer a clue for the cause of the shortage.

The above is what I know, but unanswered questions remain. (1) Why does the DEA have any control over the availability of a legally written prescription for a legal FDA approved medication from a qualified medical professional? (2) If the patent rights of Adderal are no longer in effect, why is only one manufacturer making a generic version?

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This is exactly what the church of scientology was talking about first the psychiatrist insist that all these children have ADD and all these adults and that THEY MUST be put on this medication. THEN, at their disposal they just yank it! It is numerically impossible for all these companies to be out at the same time! So what we have here is an American Government Pavlov Experiment with the average american citizen whos been dooped into believing their Government and their Doctors. What we all need to do is to black ball these drug companies and their Government Psychiatrist and start using scientology on all of the paitents and wipe out the psychatric field completely. We also need to shut down all these drug companies and put criminal charges against the criminals that run these companies. Enough is enough! Apparently all of these paitents dont need these medications because they have gone a whole week with out them. Nation wide. Or parents should pull all of their children out of school. Until they get their medication. At any rate there should be class action suites against these drug companies and the government. maybe that would straighten things back out. so we should all stand together and everybody that reads this should pass this on to everybody else. Until we have an army of fed up citizens whats it gonna be next? nobody can get their heart medication? too much power = total corruption thats all.

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I live in Philadelphia and have been running into this problem for months. However, CVS normally pulled through eventually. Today I called CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens etc. and they said they are on back order until January. The problem is more and more people are getting prescribed adder all too quickly and manufactures cannot keep up with the pace. Therefore, this is going to be a continuing problem, so I would take my medicine in smaller dosages.

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In response to KC0GHI's post, I have been in the pharmaceutical business and I agree it is a completely corrupt system. I am on Adderall XR and IR myself and am experiencing the shortage and the outrageous prices for generic. I have been without insurance for the past 3 months and just had to pay $175 out of pocket for a 30 day generic XR script! That's absurd! The reason being that there is only one generic company (TEVA) making the XR since it just went generic a year or so ago. And then it is a simple supply and demand situation, when multiple companies start manufacturing it, then the price will come down. What happens is that when a drug goes off patent or close to going off patent, the branded company (SHIRE) and usually one generic company (TEVA owns the market) come to an agreement in court for a large sum of money that they will be the only generic company to be able to mfg the generic version for X amount of time, then the other generic companies can jump in. So don't kid yourself that the generic companies aren't making $$ hand over fist! They are as corrupt as they come. At least the branded company put the $$ into the research+development, clinical trials to bring the drug to market. All the generic companies do is piggyback off their coat tails and manufacture a cheaper version and charge the same as the branded. Outrageous! This is definitely a real problem that nobody seems to want to address. If there were suicides or people dying from not getting their medication, you bet the government would take action. Until then, they are getting paid handsomely from the lobbyists and everyone is happy except the patient!

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I live in Upstate New York and we are just starting to see a shortage with Adderall as well as many other medications. My boyfriend does not have health insurance and he use to pay $32 dollars for a thirty day supply, now they want over $100 for a 30 day subscription. He just started college and I am afraid that without the medication he will not succeed. I believe that this shortage is spreading across the US. There is no reason for our drug companies to run low on such a widely used medication. Call me crazy but I think they planned this so that they could jack-up the prices. Let me know if the online pharmacey's work.

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i called shire, who manufactures adderall xr, at 1 (800) 828 - 2088, because the FDA website on drug shortages noted that Shire would help patients find restocked pharmacies in their area that have medication available. but since i take adderall ir (the orange tablets that are not extended release), they forwarded my call on to teva, who manufactures regular adderall. (both the shire and teva reps were very friendly and helpful.) the teva rep said that there was a nationwide backorder due to manufacturing problems, and that they wouldn't be able to begin shipping medication out until sometime next week at the earliest. (i called today - 10/04/2011).

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FocusedMom said: Has anyone else experienced this in their area? I just went to my regular pharmacy where I fill my Adderall XR every month and was shocked to hear that the medication was back-ordered!

Thinking it was just that one pharmacy's order issue, I went to another pharmacy. They reported also not having it in stock and that it was a manufacturing shortage. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, is there an online pharmacy that you trust to get it from?

Thanks!

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lori girl72 said:

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FocusedMom said: Has anyone else experienced this in their area? I just went to my regular pharmacy where I fill my Adderall XR every month and was shocked to hear that the medication was back-ordered!

Thinking it was just that one pharmacy's order issue, I went to another pharmacy. They reported also not having it in stock and that it was a manufacturing shortage. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, is there an online pharmacy that you trust to get it from?

Thanks!

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Hi people of attitude. My name is Niina and I am from Norfolk, VA. I have been to both of my pharmacy's trying to fill my adderal and it seems there is a manufacture issue, obviously:-). Well, I was wondering if anyone knows a pharmacy or two in my area that still has some to fill my script? :-) I take the 20mg 3Xs daily monthly so 90 pills... please help if possible. :-)

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Hi people of attitude. My name is Niina and I am from Norfolk, VA. I have been to both of my pharmacy's trying to fill my adderal and it seems there is a manufacture issue, obviously:-). Well, I was wondering if anyone knows a pharmacy or two in my area that still has some to fill my script? :-) I take the 20mg 3Xs daily monthly so 90 pills... please help if possible. :-)

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The shortage affects my productivity, disrupts my routine, and is stressful. The name brand does not work as well for me as the generic and the cost difference with my insurance is over $100. Nine pharmacies in my area are out for over a month. I had the same issue last month. My prescription plan stopped mailing the med to me, which I never thought this was a good idea since the amount of paperwork they would send made it very easy for the post office to figure out what the package contained. Phone calls to customer service are a waste of time, although I do enjoy the touch-tone music of press 1 for and 2 for... My life would sound like the NY Philharmonic with a 5-year-old conductor if I did not take generic Adderall. The pharmaceutical companies, FDA and any others involved should be ashamed of causing so much turmoil. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/generic-adderall-xr-shortage-leaves-patients-scrambling-find/story?id=13547267 I posted to ABC news; maybe more media coverage will help us.

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I live in Charlotte, NC, and last month when I was to fill my scrip, I literally had to call "10 pharmacies", finally found the Pink round ones by CorePharma (Generic), However, I don't think they work as well as the Peach oval ones, I have read through all the posts, and if I have read correctly someone stated they are " taking the Generic 20 Mg IR off the market"?, and if so, what are we to do? IF I don't have my Adderall, I attempt to do like 8 things per day, but yet not get one totally accomplished. It is IMPERATIVE in my work that I stay focused, and I notice a HUGE difference in the Pink and Peach tables, has anyone noticed that also? I can take mine in the AM, and with the Pink ones, I feel nothing, in fact they almost make me sleepy, while the Peach, I do better on. I was on Ritalin as a child, then went on Adderall in 2007, at first it worked well, but I have noticed that it doesn't work as well.. Heck, half the time my ADHD, forgets to take it (2nd dose) during the day... I have suffered from insomnia my whole life, so I don't take mine past a certain hour in the day, but I also take Xanax 2MG, ( supposed to 2X per day, but I usually don't take that much in a day) I have been on Xanax since 1996. I have severe anxiety, social phobia ( I just prefer to be by myself at times) I like to hang out with my friends, but I am much more in "my zone" at my own house...As, I have read some other forums, I have noticed that one of the side effects of adderall, is Irritable, mean, angry, tends to want to be alone, can't stand loud noises, etc... 2nd) some mention of taking IR adderall 20 MG off the market?? Do they not realize that you CAN go into withdrawl when you suddenly stop taking it?? I logged on tonight to do some work, and here I am... Point Given!!!

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I am a Doctor of Pharmacy who was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with a co-morbidity of ADHD in December of 2003. I had been dealing with Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue Syndrome for several years but still somehow managed to work 50 - 60 hours a week in administrative positions in hospitals around the country. Unfortunately the diagnosis of PTSD and ADHD put a premature abrupt end to my passion to provide the best pharmaceutical care to all patients in the hospital I was currently working at. I was forced to retire at the age of 51 and currently receive SSDI. My family lived below the poverty level when I was a child and I made a vow to myself at the age of four that somehow someway I was going to obtain a full scholarship to a University and study to become a pharmacist. I had two reasons to make that vow: I desperately wanted to escape from the poverty conditions I was forced to live in; my plan was to obtain a position in which I would earn enough money to enable me to never ride on a bus again and shop anywhere for clothes other than K-Mart. I was also quite sickly as a child with multiple episodes of bronchitis and pneumonia (I was living in a town that was the home of a steel company in the fifties 11 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA. There were no systems in place to control toxic emissions from the steel mill at that time - over a 24 hour period about 3/4 of an inch of soot colored dust would find its way into every nook and cranny in your home). I realized at the age of 4 that when I was sick, my mom would take me to see a man who used some object to listen to my heartbeat and chest. He would talk to my mom and give her some pieces of paper. We would then go to a place that had a soda fountain where I sipped at a milkshake while my mom went to the back of the store and gave the pieces of paper to another man. About 15 minutes later he would give her several bottles of "candy" and when we went back home she would give me the "candy". At the age of four I realized that the first man was called a "Doctor" and the second man was called a Pharmacist". The pharmacist gave my mom medications that would make me well. I had already decided that i would work in a hospital when I grew up to help make patients well again. It was the pharmacist, not the doctor, who provided the medications to make me healthy again. My passion to provide pharmacy services to sick patients grew stronger over the years; I graduated from high school as the class valedictorian with a GPA of 4.00. I was awarded a full 5 year scholarship at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA to attend the college of pharmacy which completely paid for my tuition, my room and board, all the books I was required to purchase, along with my lab fees. My off the charts IQ, photographic memory, and passion to become a pharmacist were a gift from God that I would be a fool to ignore. When I graduated from pharmacy school I had already been chosen to fill one of the two highly coveted positions to attend graduate school to become a Doctor of Pharmacy Over the course of my 29 year career as a pharmacist my entire life revolved around pharmacy practice - I would have paid money for the opportunity to fulfill my passion. But God gives, and God takes away, for reasons known only to Him. After my psychiatric evaluation for three hours by the most competent, nationally recognized psychiatrist in West Texas (another gift from God) was finished, and his diagnosis of my mental issues were PTSD and ADHD, he gently told me that I would never be able to fulfill my all consuming passion to practice pharmacy again. I was totally overwhelmed and immediately became completely numb mentally and physically by this information; I instinctively knew that my life would never be the same again. After this psychiatrist gave me some time to absorb this traumatic event, he reminded me that I had gone to college for 5 years, went to graduate school for three years to obtain my doctorate in pharmacy, along with doing a 3 year internship and a two year fellowship in critical care and cardiac care; - it took him the same number of years to achieve his lifetime dream of becoming a psychiatrist. He considered me to be an equal of his; he told me he wanted me to work with him and freely discuss my opinions about my treatment options and goals. Together we would come up with a plan to achieve stabilization of my PTSD to enable me to eventually gain happiness and contentment in my new life. The psychotherapy style we chose was a combination of behavior modification and discussing my problems dealing with mental illnesses and how to address them. for medication we chose Adderall XR 60 mg daily, Klonopin 2 mg 4 times a day, and Trazadone 450 mg at bedtime. I qualified for Shire's Patient Assistance Program and was able to obtain 60 Adderall XR 30 mg capsules monthly at no cost to me. I started taking the Adderall in the third week of December 2003 and since the Adderall helped me stay on task and concentrate on whatever I was doing we immediately achieved one of our goals. I took Adderall XR 60 mg daily until June of 1998 when i received a letter from Shire informing me that they were dropping Adderall from their list of meds available through their PAP. The letter suggested that i talk to my doctor about switching Vyvanse - a new ADHD med that was available through their PAP at no cost to me. My psychiatrist and I have the same conservative, skeptical ideas about newly released medications - wait for some statistically significant data to accumulate over a few years; then decide on whether we would recommend trying that medication. But my options were extremely limited: the amphetamine class of medications are the only medications statistically proven to work in Adult Onset ADHD. Both of us independently reviewed articles published in peer-reviewed journals and we both arrived at the same conclusion: 287 mg of Vyvanse was the equivalent dose of 60 mg of Adderall XR. But the maximum FDA approved dose was 70 mg daily. I reluctantly agreed to take Vyvanse 70mg for 60 days; after the 60 days had passed we would re-evaluate our decision. After 10 days I told my psychiatrist that Vyvanse 70mg daily had absolutely no effect on my ADHD - instead it made me extremely sleepy. But I had made a agreement with my psychiatrist to take this med for 60 days; I fulfilled this agreement. But on 09/12/08, the 61st day, I begged him to search his extensive mental knowledge of psychiatric medications and come up with some other options - and I already knew they were limited. We decided that I would try taking Dexedrine 15 mg Spansules - 30 mg every morning. It was immediately apparent to m after a week that they were better than Vyvanse, but only approached 40% effectiveness compared to Adderall. I also had an issue with Dexedrine's effectiveness varying daily. On 02/23/09, at my weekly appointment with my psychiatrist, I suggested adding D-amphetamine 10 mg IR tablets to boost the effectiveness of taking 30 mg of Dexedrine Spansules in controlling my ADHD. This did help me cope with my ADHD a little bit better, but it was not even close to the effectiveness of Adderall XR 60 mg. On 09/19/09 we both read the same article on the internet announcing the availability of generic Adderall. My next appointment with him was on 09/21/09 - when I walked in the door and checked in with the receptionist, my psychiatrist was standing at the reception desk impatiently waiting for me to arrive. Both of us were jumping for joy that generic Adderall was finally available. but before he wrote a prescription for Adderall, I asked him if Ii could borrow his laptop and research the websites of the various pharmacies in town for prices. The average price I found for 60 generic Adderall ER 30 mg capsules was around $176 - way beyond what I could afford to pay. But the average price I was quoted for 60 generic Adderall IR tablets was $61.41 - I could afford to pay that if I cut back the food budget from $80 weekly to $65 weekly. 09/21/09 through 10/10/11 I had an Rx filled for an average cost of $71.00. When i brought my Rx for Adderall to be filled at my pharmacy I literally passed out cold when they told me that not only were all strengths of generic Adderall 30 mg IR tablets unavailable indefinitely, they also have been having difficulty obtaining any strength of Adderall ER tablets. But it was my "Lucky Day": they happened to have 82 generic Adderall ER 30mg capsules available in stock today. The cost for 60 capsules was $328.29. I was unable to think clearly but it was obvious that I had to purchase those capsules or do without. I have spent the last 60 hours trying to find out what is going on. All the previous comments and opinions about what is going on are all true in some way. The FDA, under a mandate from the DEA, has severely restricted the total monthly manufacturing of the raw ingredients of the four different variations of amphetamine that Adderall is composed of. This cruel decision will not even make a teeny weeny dent in the demand for amphetamine products in the USA; folks this is straight from the textbook for Economics 101 - Supply must equal demand to maintain price stability. When demand overwhelms supply prices WILL go as high as the market will pay. Without Adderall, I cannot even gather the strength to get out of bed, let alone cope with any of my ADHD symptoms. Once I am finally able to crawl out of bed within two hours I have started at least 10 tasks that I quickly lose interest in. Stay on task and concentrate/focus - it just does not happen! I am a neat freak; but without my Adderall by the end of the day my apartment looks like a disaster took place that day. Every day I go without Adderall the disaster increases in severity - I am having nightmares of becoming a hoarder! My advice to all of us that truly have the nasty version of ADHD is (and believe me I know firsthand how hard this will be) is to torture your state and national congressman, President Obama along with his wife Michelle, and all of your local elected officials (this is an election year!) as often as you can by writing long letters about the hardships they have permitted the government to impose on us. Contact the news media relentlessly until it becomes a national story of hardship and discrimination. Severely restricting the supply of raw amphetamine is NOT the right way to approach the multi-headed dragon of abusive use of drugs in our country. I do not have the answers to that problem; all I know is that I cannot afford to pay $328.29 one more time; I did not have the money to pay for it this month. I am going to have to skip paying this months bills for everything except rent, utilities, and a small amount of food. I have a retired service dog and an active service dog; both of them are certified in mobility impairment and psychiatric impairment; and their needs will always come ahead of mine. They can survive without me, but Ii cannot survive without them. I live with my husband who for the first 11 years of our marriage was the kindest, most affectionate, fun loving person who could make me laugh until I got the hiccups; but when I was diagnosed with PTSD and ADHD he turned into his evil twin brother. We are currently totally estranged - he has not spoken a word to me for 8 long years and is totally indifferent to my presence and my needs. he stays in MY apartment for two reasons: technically, according to psychiatric standards of practice, I must have a 24/7 caregiver who lives with me. The second reason is that he has never even looked for a job since I was forced to retire - why should he when he can live off my SSDI? My family does not communicate with me at all, and all my so-called friends disappeared when I was diagnosed with mental illness. The only time I am able to communicate with someone is at my weekly appointment with my psychiatrist. I am responsible for everything involved in running a household including the monthly budget - my husband will not get off his lazy butt and do anything except play online poker day and night. Even with my Adderall I have extreme difficulty juggling all the balls in the air; I have told my mind not to even dwell on the fact that I may no longer be able to obtain generic Adderall - just thinking of it will make what my husband calls me: "Crazy Lady" become true. I do have a few things I can depend on; my core skill is problem solving, I am a 3rd generation Russian American - my grandmother was 4 years old when she stepped off the boat at Ellis Island - and I have inherited all of her stubbornness, strength, and incredible will to survive anything. But I have deteriorated rapidly mentally since I picked up my Adderall Rx on October 10th; I am unable to do anything except sit in my recliner and mindlessly watch TV at this time. My heart and prayers are with all of you in this incredible dilemma - unfortunately it is up to us to solve it because nobody else gives a da.. about people with mental illnesses.

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ustomer Service to me show details 1:35 PM (0 minutes ago)

Thank you for the information however all of our wholesalers are stocked with the branded Adderall XR, perhaps they cannot get the generic XR but Teva also manufactures that as well. If your pharmacy is still claiming that they cannot get the BRANDED Adderall XR please have them call Shire Corporate Accounts and we can contact their wholesaler but I can assure you that Shire is not having any issues with the branded Adderall XR. If you have any additional questions or concerns please feel free to contact Shire Corporate Accounts at 1-800-828-2088 option 5 and one of the representatives will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Kristin Kuciapinski

Corporate Accounts Trade Account Supervisor

kkuciapinski@shire.com

Shire. We enable people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives.

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