Stimulants causing fatigue?
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For the past six months I have been fairly stable on 25mg Adderall XR, 150mg Welbutrin, and 20mg Celexa to treat my ADHD, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and an autonomic nervous system dysfunction called POTS.
About a week and a half ago my psychologist recommended that I increase my Welbutrin dosage to 300mg, and add a second afternoon 25mg Adderall XR dose, to deal with my fatigue issues and better deal with my depression.
I have felt TERRIBLE since starting these new meds. I will sleep for 14 hours and still not feel rested, and need to take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. My normal schedule is to wake up at 6:30, take my morning meds (the Adderall and Welbutrin), and go back to sleep for another 15-30 minutes so I feel more alert getting ready in the morning. However, on the new dosages, I will take these meds, and immediately pass back out until noon! I don’t know how but these stimulants are making me more fatigued than ever. I tried this morning to get up and have breakfast and then take my meds right before I had to leave for class. The moment they kicked in I felt like I was going to collapse, and immediately went back to bed. The afternoon dose of the Adderall has also done similar things recently, not acting as long, as potently, and crashing much harder much sooner.
My current theory is that there is some kind of drug interaction going on that I don’t understand, or I have diagnosed narcolepsy (not a joke).
Anyone have any idea what is going on, or have any advice on what to do?
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I’d go to a endocrinologist who isn’t afraid to prescribe the dosage of thyroid meds some people need. If the fatigue is not related to your pills and thyroid is responsible. I’ve never felt better or had my meds work this well, until I got on 90mg of NP Thyroid & I’m only 33 years old. Thyroid does not just affect old-er people. Look up everything your endocrine system does. If it’s out of whack, adrenal fatigue, weight gain, lethargy, memory problems, etc etc. It’s the manager of the body. Hope you feel better soon!
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Sleeping 17 hours a day and still tired? This is a big deal and you need to get seen ASAP.
Skypark’s info about thyroid contains some accurate info, but it’s a bit overstated.
Thyroid is ONE possible factor in fatigue. It is common and often underdiagnosed and undertreated, or goes undiagnosed for too long. To say that “if you’re tired like that, it MUST be thyroid” is not accurate at all.
Thyroid problems do not come on suddenly and make you suddenly – within a week – start sleeping most of the day and still tired. They creep up on you gradually over months or years. And hypothyroidism does not cause unintentional weight loss.
Any sudden change in your health or worsening of symptoms that happens immediately after a change in meds is most likely related to the meds. Call your doctors office and get an appointment ASAP. Tell the receptionist you believe you’re having a bad reaction to the meds and that you’re sleeping 17 hours a day.
They should get you seen right away. That is not normal or okay.
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My TSH was in the “normal” range. But, what’s frustrating is the normal range is relative. It will vary by lab & who’s to say that your “normal” is my “normal.” Based on my symptoms, the 1st dr finally prescribed me a measly 15mg and I’ve been feeling like I needed thyroid for the last 6yrs.
This 2nd doctor want you feeling “GREAT.” He knows that normal range doesn’t mean much if you’re still suffering and not feeling good. He is not stingy or too conservative with his thyroid rx’s. My mom found him after struggling to get the dr. to prescribe the current amt she was taking before. I encouraged her to find someone better & she found this guy for us both.
GOOD LUCK!!!
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I’ve been on both Wellbutrin and Adderall before. If you’ve ever taken Wellbutrin on its own, did it make you sleepy? Drowsiness is a common side effect. It made me sleepy when I took it, too. Maybe this is too simple a theory, as you must have considered it, but the Adderall addition might not be enough to offset the Wellbutrin addition (even if they are technically the same proportion as before, people react differently to different dosages of medicines).
Definitely also ask your doctor about the drug interaction.
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Keep in mind that we are all unique and we will all respond to medication in different ways. That is part of what makes a psychiatrist’s job so difficult. If you are having issues with your medication, work with your doctor to make small incremental changes. A few things to consider:
1. try a different stimulant; Ritalin, Focalin, Strattera
2. try MYDAYIS, this is a newly released form of Adderall XR that extends the release further into the day
3. try to remove Celexa or replace it with another SSRI or an SNRI, seroquel, abilify or another medication. There are lots of choices you can discuss with your doctor. Your issues may well be with the Wellbutrin or Celexa and extreme fatigue is a side effect of these types of medication.
4. I take Adderall XR (2x20mg). I take them one before breakfast and one after (about 45 min later). This allows for a smoother and prolonged effect through the day. I also keep a bottle of Adderall (immediate release) that i can adjust my dose late in the day by adding 1/4, 1/2 or a whole tablet depending on need (I never need the whole tablet late in the day).
5. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – well worth the investment for ADHD, anxiety and depression.
Unfortunately, changing medication take time and you need 2-4 weeks on each change to see if you get the desired effect. Hopefully, you have a doctor that is patient and will work with you through your side effects and some can be rough to get through. You are the world’s foremost expert in your own mind and body. You should have a doctor that works with you and treats you that way.
Good Luck!-
Holycrap! A new adhd medication, my fingers can’t look this up fast enough.
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When did this come out?
HOLYCOW, it’s $280-ish dollars on goodrx—better have good ins for this one.
They do have a savings offer until 12-19-19…maybe this’ll get some people till they add it to their good insurance’s formulary.Very cool, long acting single-entity amphetmine. I haven’t researched fully, but my guess is, this doesn’t have the d-amphetamine in it.
Wow, according to their study, they claim it works up to 16hrs.
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I have heard that if adderall makes you tired, you probably need a lower dose, but I don’t know if that is true. I will say I started on 5 mg adderall xr once daily and eventually got up to 20 mg. I felt really sleepy on the 20 mg and had major restless leg syndrome, so I went back down to the 15 mg and feel much better. I still get worn out in the afternoons, but I think it is from medication wearing off. Good luck!
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I’ve had the opposite effect and so have many I’ve talked with including my previous doc. You may need a higher dose.
Also 2-4% of users experienced drowsiness.
https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=aff45863-ffe1-4d4f-8acf-c7081512a6c0
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Some of the answers here are entirely untrue. This has nothing to do with your thyroid. It could be serotonin syndrome which is an emergency. However, you should not be taking wellbutrin and celexa together. Hope you’ve gotten this straightened out
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When I was on 25 after about a year I had the same experience. My sweet spot was 15 mg anything more I got too much side effects. Fatigue anxiety weight loss.
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Hey guys , I was taking adderall 20mg for awhile and it was great . I even got a second job and was really excelling. I moved to a different area and changed pharmacy. I was getting TEVA at Walgreens and started getting AUROBINDER at CVS (different generic brand) . It made me feel the complete opposite. It was terrible . Problem was I get 3 months at a time due to COVID. Therefore , I was basically stuck with these, so I did my research and realized my body had a reaction to the CVS brand. Once 3 months passed I called and got my script sent to a Walgreens . Issue was solved . Adderall is not suppose to make you fatigue and tired . Doctor can’t help when it comes to brand .
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Thanks for letting us all know your outcome…usually you never know how things turned out!
Your posting reminds me of the many I have seen on this discussion forum, in which people were ADHD and have often thought that they were narcoleptic also…possibly because of excessive theta waves in the brain, (this is JUST ONE possibility some people have brought up).
Don’t know about the excessive theta wave theory, but I think I have narcolepsy as well. Surely the symptom of “often falls asleep at traffic lights” should count for something?? BTW, I get plenty of uninterrupted sleep, and more since Covid quarantine…probably ten hours a night. Yucch. I don’t want to sleep my life away. -
There are too many simpler explanations than a lot of the ones proposed…. like the POTS (Exhaustion / fatigue is listed as a symptom) a stimulant could potentially increase the tachycardia, the severity of the depression, and the side effects of the non-stimulant meds.
I would want a comprehensive overview of everything that you are dealing with for an explanation with an updated physical and blood work-up.
After that, I would push for a second opinion.
This is definitely not the work dor Dr. Google.
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There are two types of thyroid diagnosis- Hyperthyroidism & Hypothyroidism. One makes you lose weight unexpectedly, and the other makes you gain weight unexpectedly.
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Truer words were never spoken, Dr. Eric.
Dr. Kim
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