Question by Brian: Adderall XR: What is the difference between use, abuse, and dependence?
A 31-year-old male, I’ve been prescribed 20mg. Adderall XR for the past 8 – 9 months.

Was having a lot of occupational trouble, such as writing reports, following conversations, listening to clients, making careless mistakes, learning new information, efficiently applying new knowledge to work habits, etc. In addition, when meeting with client, I felt nervous, lacked confidence in my position of power, felt very anxious, stuttered, etc. Never had these problems in the past, as I was able to get through high school, college, and grad school without significant difficulties. Also, had stable job, but these symptoms have recently emerged, and interfered with work. My primary care doctor prescribed the Adderall.

I have chronic anxiety. If my world is going well, I come up with novel problems to worry about. As such, I recently worried if I am “addicted” to Adderall, or am taking as indicated. I don’t take the medication on weekends, and occasionally take double the recommended dose (40mg. in a day), which I find out is counter-productive.

What distinguishes an addict from a normal user? My work suffers when I’m not on Adderall, and I feel more productive with the medication, and do a better service to clients. I take the drug legally, and “crave” it cause it helps me.

Best answer:

Answer by Messacheckabee
Use is when you take the medication as prescribed and it helps you. Abuse is when you take more than the prescribed dose to “get high” or similar reason. Dependence is when you take too much, and then try to cut down, and it makes you get withdrawal symptoms, like nausea, headache and so on. It sounds to me as if you are using it as recommended.
But there are other, non stimulating medications for ADHD and that might be better for you since you have anxiety too. See a psychiatrist instead of a primary care doc, they know much more about that kind of medication and can help you figure out how to get all symptoms under control.
For anxiety there are other treatment options too, like yoga, cognitive behavioural therapy and they can be good, something to consider.
Take care

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