Posted by lars1 on January 15, 2005, at 16:00:57
In reply to Stimulants, acute tolerance, number of daily doses, posted by ed_uk on January 15, 2005, at 13:47:19
> How many hours per day do you attempt to 'cover' by use of the stimulant? eg. 12h, 16h etc.
As many as possible, consistent with being able to sleep at night.
> Do you find that the efficacy of your stimulant decreases throughout the day?Not if dosed properly (see below).
> Do you suffer from insomnia?
Initially, yes. Less so as time went by. When I have it, I just take Ambien. I was wary of that at first, since it's a scheduled drug and the label says that it's for short-term use only, but after doing some web research, it seems that people can and do use it long-term, and it works and doesn't really cause any problems. You might have some rebound insomnia the first few nights after stopping, but that's about all.
> But acute tolerance may be a problem if stimulants are used to 'cover' a larger fraction of the day........This is an issue with Adderall, too. The subjective duration of effect is usually only 4-6 hours, even though the elimination half-life is about 12 hours. I assume that acute tolerance is the reason. It's not really a problem, it just means that you need to dose in such a way that the drug concentration gradually rises through the day. Concerta is designed to do this automatically.
Lars
poster:lars1
thread:442219
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050113/msgs/442483.html