Stimulant Questions

Do they help with bad depression?
Which is the least addicting?
Which is the safest?

Stimulants don't usually help with depression. Only during the first 3 days or so. But they can help some people with lack of focus that comes with depression..

Long acting stimulants are better because you don't have to take them multiple times a day unless you want more control over your dosing. Vyvanse, Adderall XR, Concerta (Long acting) or Dexerdine, Adderall IR or Ritalin (Short acting).

It doesn't really matter which is more addicting because addiction only happens in a small number of people so it's just a risk like the many side effects that comes with stimulants such as loss of appetite/weight loss, dry mouth, anxiety, etc..

I hope you find some happiness even in the little things..

where did you pull 3 days from? My treatment-resistant depression was significantly helped for more than a month by Vyvanse and Concerta.

In terms of addiction, “addiction” has many different interpretations. W.r.t. stims, it generally means that the lose efficacy over time, and that has been my experience. Some take “stimulant breaks” for several days and find that that keeps the tolerance in check.

Right now my 3 Adderall doses are the only periods of my day I have any chance of vaguely enjoying. So, whilst that ostensibly sucks, it’s better than nothing.

Good luck.

"depression" covers a lot of ground. I think...with other drugs, a carefully selected, low to moderate dose of a stimulant can be a good thing.

Ritalin (and now focalin, which is sort of like super-Ritalin) was, once, the preferred stimulant for low mood and straight up depression. less euphoria than amphetamines, also less risk of dosage increases, psychosis, agitation. i think its a bit safer w/ the heart, too, but i could be wrong. downside: well...some people just do better on amphetamines. it is what it is.

the amphetamines include adderall, vyvanse, dexedrine, now evekeo, and rarely Desoxyn (prescription methamphetamine...once somewhat popular in depression). personally...I'd take dexedrine or vyvnase over adderall, especially for depression. watch the dose. ive never taken evekeo or Desoxyn. I think both are expensive.

i did find that when on my 'atypical' tranquilizer (Abilify), I got better results from Focalin and Ritalin than Adderall. again; watch the dosage. a downside with uppers+tranquilizers is that it makes the twitches and tics side effect more common and harder to deal with...id tolerate it OK until the AM dose of Ritalin started wearing off, then I'd have twitches. weird, huh? dont do that. i was young and had slack doctors.

sorry to ramble on you...i just hate to know about other people suffering so much, so im trying to be helpful. If you and the prescriber go for uppers, I'd -seriously- recommend using xr, sr, er, etc. preparations, not the tablets, and trying to keep the doses of -all- your psych drugs as low as possible, but especially uppers, tranquilizers, and benzodiazepines.

sorry you're going thru it. :-(

Buproprion, an antidepressant (Wellbutrin) has 'stimulant' properties that doctors I have seen have described as sort of lifting in terms of depression that is especially affecting one's energy and drive to do daily tasks. From my own experiences, it worked quicker than say SSRIs and so forth, as it has similar structure to classic stimulants.

I do not think that the classic stimulants such as Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse, Adderall etc. aren't recommended as first-line treatment.

And yes, the atypical antipsychotic, Abilify has activating properties as well.

I have been on Modafinil for a few months and have been in a depressive episode for 13 months now.

I can say it has started to help, it took about 6 weeks before I saw a difference and the change was really subtle.

It was a gradual lifting of my mood from severely depressed to moderately depressed. My pdoc might increase my dose soon to help me get to baseline.

I can't speak about the addictiveness but I don't feel any difference when I miss the occasional dose. But like anything else I think stopping it would have to be done gradually.

I hope you feel better soon!