Adderall tolerance is not somethig you’ll see spoken about a great deal online today. The vast majority of people searching for information about Adderall are interested in ways to make Adderall stronger, or to replicate the effects of the drug without having to use it (because they don’t have a prescription), whether by using OTC Adderall replacements, or by using other prescription ADHD medications.
However, Adderall tolerance is something everybody who uses the drug needs to think about. Adderall has a steep tolerance curve, which is a large part fo the reason it is so easy to become dependent on or addicted to Adderall.
In this article, we’re going to look at how Adderall tolerance develops, how it can be managed, and some techniques you can employ to lower your Adderall tolerance back to baseline. If you have experience struggling with Adderall tolerance, please share it with our readers in the comments.
Adderall Tolerance Chart
The Adderall Tolerance Chart shown here shows just how quickly you can develop a tolerance to this and other prescription medications:
As you can see from the chart, the effectiveness of Adderall can begin to decline after just a couple of months using the drug. This building of tolerance tends to happen much faster in people who abuse Adderall or use it without a prescription from a doctor; using Adderall when you don’t have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) will produce much steeper tolerance curve than this.
Do you build a tolerance to Adderall?
Yes you can develop a tolerance to Adderall.If you use Adderall for a long period of time, it is highly likely that you will need to gradually increase your dose over time. This is extremely common among prescription drugs, especially powerful stimulants such as ADHD medications.
ADHD symptoms are treated with Adderall by stimulating the central nervous system. It may seem counterintuitive but stimulants such as Adderall or caffeine stimulate the brain’s reward system, increasing excitement, confidence, and energy as well as improving focus and behavior control.
Adderall can have a life-altering effect, especially at the beginning. Illegal use of Adderall as a smart drug is less effective. It can help people focus but it can also cause anxiety and worsen memory.
Regardless of the stimulant, the brain is capable of adapting to it quickly. Adderall appears to be no exception.
Most people find that after just 2-4 months on the drug, they are using much larger doses than they were to begin with, or they have maintained their current dose but have moved on to stronger forms of the drug, such as Adderall XR.
There are two types of Adderall: Adderall XR (or extended release) and Adderall IRT (or immediate release). There are differences between the two types of Adderall, but each may need to be taken in higher doses gradually over time as you become more tolerant to the ADHD medication.
How fast do you build a tolerance to Adderall?
Adderall’s mechanism of action means that tolerance will develop at a different rate depending on many factors. The factors that influence tolerance are genetics, dosage, and body weight. Tolerance will develop much faster in someone who takes a high dose than in someone who takes a lower dose.
It is not uncommon for dosages to be increased within a few months. Addiction to Adderall, which can often involve taking higher or more frequent dosages, may speed things up.
Why is my Adderall not working anymore?
Adderall works in the same way as any prescription drug. It alters a biological process, particularly in your brain. Your body adapts to drug administration over time so that a new balance can be reached. Some or all of your symptoms may return when this happens.
People tend to develop a tolerance for stimulant medication more slowly than they do with other drugs. People who use Adderall to help with focus may develop a tolerance faster.
Adderall’s effectiveness can be affected by other factors such as taking multivitamin or vitamin C supplements.
Can You Decrease Tolerance to Adderall?
If you’ve been using Adderall to manage your ADHD symptoms for a long time, then it is almost certain that you’ll eventually build a tolerance to the drug.
This is a serious problem. After many months, your tolerance level may be much higher than the recommended dose for controlling ADHD. This means the medication no longer helps you manage the symptoms of ADHD.
Thankfully, there is a way to decrease your tolerance to Adderall.
The bad news is that it is neither pleasant nor easy: detox.
The best way to lower your tolerance to Adderall safely is to quit by slowly reducing your intake. After several months of being on an Adderall detox, your tolerance to the drug may decline. Eventually, you will find that you can enjoy the benefits of the drug again at normal doses.
How can I lower my tolerance to Adderall?
Unfortunately, once your tolerance has been established, there is only one way to reset you brain: stop taking Adderall.
If you have developed tolerance to Adderall, the easiest solution is to increase your dose. This can lead to adverse side effects, so it’s not always a good idea. While your doctor may recommend other medications, Adderall is the best choice for ADHD treatment.
In ideal situations, you would be able to keep the original dose while still ensuring that it is as effective. There are a few tricks that can use to prevent Adderall tolerance building up. Students who took their medication only during school and stopped using it over the weekend were less likely to develop a tolerance. Even a brief break can make all the difference.
You may need to take a longer rest if you have a high tolerance to Adderall. As withdrawal symptoms can occur, it is best to consult a doctor before you do this. Adderall withdrawal symptoms (also known as Adderall crash) can include:
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Restlessness
- Appetite increases
- Nightmares
There are many factors that will determine the length of the required break to properly reset your Adderall tolerance.
How long does it take to lower your Adderall tolerance?
There is no simple method to determine the amount of time it takes to decrease tolerance. Similar to how tolerance is built, it can also vary depending on genetics and body mass. Tolerance to Adderall can be quite low, however.
A person who abuses Adderall to the point that they become addicted can have serious consequences for their ability to take a break. Stopping suddenly if you are suffering from a substance abuse problem can lead to severe and potentially fatal withdrawal symptoms.
Adderall Tolerance Reset: How to lower your Adderall tolerance faster
As we’ve already said, the only way to really lower or completely reset your Adderall tolerance is to take a break from the drug.
That said, there are things you can do to speed up the process. There are also things you can do to make your break from Adderall much more comfortable, increasing your chances of completing the reset successfully.
Use Natural Stimulants
Of course, in an ideal world, your Adderal tolerance reset would include a total break from stimulants. This would undoubtedly make your tolerance decline faster and the overall effect greater. But realistically, natural sitmulants such as caffeine, nicotine or methylliberine can be your best friend during an Adderall tolerance break.
if you’re used to taking a dose of Adderall first thing in the morning, then going cold turkey is likely to leave you totally fatigued and lost in brain fog all day. Starting your day with some coffee or a high quality caffeine pill is a good wsy to get you through to the afternoon.
Eat Well & Eat Healthily
An Adderall tolerance reset is not the time for a crash diet. Nor is it the time to be binging on junk food regardless of how tempting it might be. Resetting your tolerance to Adderall by taking a break is exactly the time you need to be eating healthy and eating properly.
Be sure to eat several proper meals ever day. Try to avoid meals that are mostly carbs, instead opting for healthy fats and filling protein. Blood sugar spikes and crashes are not what you want while you’re trying to kick stimulants!
Exercise
Using Adderall – or any stimulant drugs – greatly increases the levels of dopamine in the brain. Long-term use of prescription stimulants will get your brain accustomed to frequent doses of dopamine. An Adderall detox can cut these dopamine spikes off and leave you feeling demotivated and depressed.
As well as using natural dopaminergic drugs like nicotine and caffeine, exercise is one of the simplest ways to boost your dopamine levels (and the one with the most therapeutic benefits).
Use Dopaminergic Drugs
According to the dopamine theory of ADHD, the symptoms which characterize ADHD are largely caused by a disruoption in normal dopamine pathways in the brain. In other words, dopamine dysfunction, or a disruption in dopamine activity, may be the cause of impulsive behaviors, lack of focus, and scattered thoughts.
This theory exists because the stimulant drugs which help ADHD work by stopping your dopamine receptors from reuptaking the neurotransmitters. The use of dopaminergic drugs or natural dopaminergic nootropics will go some way to preventing a dopamine crash when you come of Adderall.
Use Magnesium
Magnesium is generally recommended as a great supplement to take with Adderall. There are a few reasons why you should take magnesium with Adderall, and they are the same reasons that you should take magnesium while on an Adderall tolerance break.
Magnesium promotes restful sleep, which can be a real issue when taking a tolerance break from Adderall or other stimulant-based ADHD medications such as Adderall XR or Vyvanse. It also reduces muscle tension and calms the brain by decreasing activity across the entire CNS.
Adderall alternatives to use to minimize effects of withdrawal
There are some incredible natural Adderall alternatives out there which can go some way to replacing the drug while you take a tolerance reset break.
One of the best adderall tolerance reset supplements is Vyvamind.
This stack was purposefully developed to act as an over the counter, natural alternative to prescription drugs such as Adderall, Vyvanse and Ritalin.
Vyvamind combines caffeine, tyrosine, citicoline, theanine and B vitamins to deliver a rapid increase in mental energy, sharper focus, faster information processing, and reduced anxiety. It will help fix the dopamine depletion that comes with heavy Adderall use. It also has broad neuroprotective effects and none of the negative side effects of prescription smart drugs.
For those looking for a complete stimulant break while they reset their Adderall tolerance, NooCube is probably the best option.
The ingredients in NooCube have some of the most robust backing from clinical studies of any stack on the market right now. Taken together, the 13 ingredients in NooCube support optimal cognitive performance, reduce anxiety levels, and promote better brain health all at the same time.
More specifically, NooCube ensures you remain mentally sharp and energized while also undoing some of the damage done by frequenct Adderall use (dopamine depletion, neuron damage, anxiety, etc).
Either of these supplements would make an Adfderall tolerance break significantly easier, more productive, and ultimately more successful. Both can also be continued once you resume taking Adderall.
In Conclusion: Should you take an Adderall tolerance break?
Tolerance to stimulants can build extremely quickly. It can also be extremely dangerous to allow your tolerance to stimulants like Adderall to build, since this leads to you having to take larger doses to avoid drops in cognitive performance and the negative side effects of physical dependence.
This greatly increases the chances of side effects, overdoses, even addiction.
When we’re talking about highly addictive medications and drugs of abuse like amphetamine salts (which are the only ingredients in Adderall), then tolerance development can quickly turn into a crippling addiction.
This is why taking a period of abstinence from Adderall is really important, especially if you find your minimum effective dose rising over time. A relatively short break from Adderall can quickly reset your tolerance and prevent your brain chemistry being too negatively affected by the drug.
Our #1 Rated OTC Study Aid: Vyvamind
Vyvamind is our top rated over the counter study aid. This nootropic stack is easily the best supplement for quickly enhancing focus, increasing processing speeds and boosting mental energy that money can buy. Vyvamind has been purposefully designed to offer you a broad spectrum of cognitive enhancements without you needing to have a prescription, and without worrying about the side effects that come with using synthetic smart drugs and prescription ADHD medications like Vyvanse and Adderall.
The benefits of using Vyvamind include:
- 100% legal and available OTC
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If you are considering using powerful study drugs or synthetic nootropic stimulants, then it is defintiely worth considering Vyvamind. We tried this nootropic and it genuinely goes a long way to replicating the effects of pharmaceutical-grade study drugs but without the negative side effects.
Related articles:
- Adderall weight loss
- Adderall and caffeine
- Supplements to take with Adderall
- Stimulants make you sleepy
- Best nootropic supplements for ADHD
Adderall Tolerance FAQs
Can you take Adderall every day?
Adderall is normally taken every day. The normal recommended dose for ADHD is Adderall three times daily, while Adderall XR is typically taken once per day.
Can you take Adderall forever?
It is not normally recommended to take Adderall forever. There can be serious negative consequences to using Adderall daily for long periods of time.
Can you have caffeine with Adderall?
No you should not have caffeine with Adderall. Ingesting a small amount of caffeine with Adderall is unlikely to be harmful, mixing these two stimulant drugs is not a good idea and is highly likely to cause side effects including headaches, jitters, anxiety, heart palpitations, shotness of breath, and panic attacks.
What is the best magnesium for Adderall tolerance?
The type of magnesium you take for lowering Adderall tolerance does not seem to be important. However, because it is more bioavailable, people usually recommend taking magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate to lower tolerance and reduce side effects.
Brian Johnson is current Editor of Vagarights.com and a long-time writer for VAGA. A former psychologist, Brian is passionate about improving mental health and finding ways to stave off cognitive decline. He is an expert on nootropics, cognitive enhancement and biohacking more broadly. You can see his work on Google scholar.
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