Dose - upping dose and how to tell Dr.???

[blackdb1]

Swim was RX'ed Adderall recently at 30mgs a day (20mg morning, 10mg afternoon). Swim told his Dr. he had used addys in the past as it is his suboxone Dr. and he knows EVERY DRUG swim has used!!! The Dr asked if swim ever smoked a low dose of methamphetamine and noticed a decrease in his ADD symptoms and swim told him he had taken low doses adderall, ritalin, and focalin and noticed increased motivation, its easier to focus on ONE thing, and that it stopped racing thoughts.

Swim noticed VERY LITTLE change from the 20mg dose so he tried 30mgs and that had a more pronounced effect and swims father actually commented on how hard swim was working that morning so it wasn't just in swims head. Swim also noticed that it wears off in 4-5hours and the 10mg afternoon dose didn't keep his motivation, etc. up.

Swim thinks 30mg in the morning and 20-30mgs afternoon would be an effective dose! However swim is not the Dr. so therefore doesn't decide the dosage on the meds he just tells what effects were noticed/ not noticed.

Basically swim doesn't know whether to tell the Dr. that his prescribed dose didn't cause a significant change but that he could feel a light lifting of the symptoms? Or should he tell him he didn't notice much change with the 20mg dose so tried 30mgs and that proved to be effective in treating swims symptoms??? Swim doesn't think a 10mg increase is that much but doesn't want his doc thinking he is playing around with different doses!!!???

All replies are greatly appreciated and swim REALLY needs an opinion on this matter!!! How did anyone reading go about getting their dosage increased on their ADD medications??? Also what is a high RX'ed dose in most physicians eyes? Thanks in advance -bdb1-

Reputation Comments on this post:

good question

[chillinwill]

SWIM was also seeing a suboxone doctor who took over all of his other meds and he was being prescribed ativan and adderall at the time as well....SWIM was originally on 20mg of adderall xr in the morning and 20mg of XR in the afternoon but found that wasn;t working too well so he just told his doc this and he upped the dose to 30mg xr in AM and 30mg XR in afternoon which worked just fine

SWIM was just upfront with his doc and the doc agreed with SWIM even though he knew SWIM was an addict....of course, SWIM had never lied to this doc and had always been honest and upfront with him so that probably played a big part in it too

[Laszlo1]

Originally Posted by chillinwill

SWIM was also seeing a suboxone doctor who took over all of his other meds and he was being prescribed ativan and adderall at the time as well....SWIM was originally on 20mg of adderall xr in the morning and 20mg of XR in the afternoon but found that wasn;t working too well so he just told his doc this and he upped the dose to 30mg xr in AM and 30mg XR in afternoon which worked just fine

SWIM was just upfront with his doc and the doc agreed with SWIM even though he knew SWIM was an addict....of course, SWIM had never lied to this doc and had always been honest and upfront with him so that probably played a big part in it too

swim seconds this, honesty is really a great thing in doctor situations. His/her job is to make sure you're healthy, so honesty is great. Just tell your doctor how you feel, tell him you tried an extra 10mg, and tell him you have no interest in abusing your meds, you just want to be treated well, and you should be fine. Best of luck.

[blackdb1]

Swim thanks swiyou two greatly!!! Swim was thinking being honest with him would be the best thing as swim has been 100 percent honest thus far! Swim will tell him no effect was felt at 20mgs so he tried 30mgs and that felt like a pretty therapeutic dose.

Again swim thanks swiy 2 alot!!! All be safe and have a great evening!!! -bdb1-

[rolypolyman]

It occurred to swim that a good idea is to avoid taking all the pills and leave some in there, then bring the bottle + pills in to discuss some aspect of them with the doctor (e.g. a question about the dose printed on it). The doctor notes there's pills left and they aren't being scarfed.

[blackdb1]

Well swims Dr. TRUSTS swim and just asks swim how many he has used although swim could see bringing the live evidence that are still pills is a good way to prove swim is not abusing the meds... However swim needs an increase in dosage so therefor he thinks showing the doc he has extra pills out of 30 day supply shows he definately has enough meds to make it!??? Maybe not???

Swim actually just saw the doc yesterday and was upped to 30mgs in the morning and 10mgs at noon. Swims suboxone was lowered from 8mgs to 6mgs and the Dr. said swim seemed SO HAPPY and stressless he wanted to take away the extra 1mg Klonazepam swim has for bad days. So now swim gets 45 Klonazepam 2mgs a month instead of 60.

Swim knows this isn't the opiate forum but he is REALLY worried about tapering off the suboxone!!! His Dr. said they will taper long and sloooww so hopefully it'll be alright!!!??? Swim really does not think he is ready to come off the suboxone COMPLETELY... He's fine with getting dose down to 4mgs or so but then would like to stay maintained for awhile to insure swim DOES NOT RELAPSE!!! Swim thought it was the patients decision if he wanted to go off subs completely or stay maintained for a while if they are concerned that without it they might relapse??? Any swimmers have any input on the situation?

Swim appreciates all the replies thus far!!! Be safe and have a great night everyone!!! -bdb1-

[chillinwill]

I would still say that the best option is to be honest with your doctor again about how YOU feel about the suboxone. Let him know that you fear a relapse might happen if tapering happens too fast and that you are okay with dropping down to 4mg/day but want to remain there for a while until YOU feel comfortable tapering even more. If he realizes that this is how you feel and your not 100% comfortable fully tapering yet, I believe he will trust you and let you control your maintenance schedule