Opinions - Adderall XR - Is SWIM ADHD? / Concerta XR and Effexor

[Chrispy]

SWIM (18 years old) was diagnosed with bipolar 1 and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) about 2 or more years ago. When she was 12 years old and sent to her first psychiatric hospital, she was hyper a lot of the time. They almost diagnosed her with ADHD, but instead misdiagnosed her with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and depression. A few years later she was again misdiagnosed with something else and over the years doctors have considered diagnosing her with a few other things as well. But the bipolar 1 and GAD stuck. It's confusing, and I'm very confused about SWIM. I think she really might have ADHD and maybe she's on the wrong medication.

The first time SWIM took Adderall, she was in the psych and a roomie gave her 15mgs IR. That day she would not stop talking, could not stop moving, and felt euphoric. No one questioned her cause everyone just thought she was manic.

Before that SWIM would steal her sister's Concerta XR and Effexor. I'm not sure how many mgs she was taking, but she would pop up to 4 Concerta pills throughout the day. It made her all tingly and high, but not energetic like the Adderall did. She couldn't concentrate or do anything productive. Her sex drive got so extremely high that she masturbated (to orgasm) 17 times in ONE day and started trying to get guys online to come to her house to have sex. After over a week or so it got to the point where her mind was racing so fast she just stopped talking altogether because she couldn't put the words together. When she did finally decide to talk, it was to call her therapist (who couldn't understand her extremely fast rambling and wanted to send her to the psych) to tell her she was going to explode. I'm not sure if it was the Concerta that did this to SWIM or the Effexor or the two combined.

For the last couple weeks SWIM has been buying Adderall XR from a classmate. She's been taking at LEAST 30mgs of XR a day, normally parachuted, but sometimes she just takes the pill how it is. The first couple days it made SWIM a little hyper and more talkative. Also, it always keeps her up half the night. But she doesn't feel high when she takes it... ever. She gets things done though and can concentrate and focus MUCH better and does better at school. Over the two weeks or so that she's been taking it, she's been taking more and more at a time, hoping it would make her high. She's parachuted up to 120mgs at once. But she barely felt anything even when she did that. She was a little more productive, but still didn't feel high, just... calm. Even others have noticed how "peaceful" she seems lately. Some days (before she started taking the Adderall XR) SWIM paces up and down the hallway at school between classes cause she has so much energy, even on her "bipolar meds". But she doesn't pace anymore now that she's taking Adderall XR.

SWIM litterally JUST parachuted about 45mgs of XR and snorted about 15mgs. She even took a 100mg caffeine pill to try to help her get high and some Tums (she heard that helps too). She felt tingly for like a minute after snorting, then just started feeling really calm and normal again.

Anyways, my point of all this was to ask... Could SWIM be ADHD? I'm not sure cause if SWIM was ADHD, wouldn't the Concerta have done the same thing to her, make her CALM? Why did the Adderall IR maker her hyper and not the Adderall XR? Since SWIM is bipolar, shouldn't the Adderall XR push her into a manic episode like the Concerta did? Could SWIM be bipolar AND ADHD? I'm pretty sure SWIM is bipolar cause her symptoms match bipolar 1 almost perfectly and she's ALWAYS had intense mood swings, even as a young child. Also, her bipolar meds work and she goes crazy when she's off them and either gets suicidal or manic.

Why doesn't the Adderall XR make SWIM high even at high doses? Could SWIM be tollerant to it already? Is there something keeping SWIM from getting high on it like maybe the medicine SWIM takes? SWIM takes Lithium (mood stabilizer), Ablilify (mood stabilizer), Topamax (mood stabilizer and to counteract weight gain), Cogentin (for side effects of the other meds), SAM-E (for depression), Green-T (diet pills), Trazodone (for anxiety and sleep) and sometimes caffeine pills.

P.S. I'm sorry this was so long. Thank you for reading and thanks even more if you give your opinion on what you think is going on with SWIM.

- Chris