Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin. There are many different types of medications for ADHD. But which one should I be using for my adult ADHD? Get the facts from Dr. Scott Shapiro, NYC Psychiatrist and Therapist.
Do you have adult adhd and wonder which medication is going to be best for you well i’d like to talk today about the different medications that are effective for many people with adult adhd and the way i often explain it to my patients is that they’re really three classes of medications there are the ritalin type medications and the wins in that class would include
Ritalin focalin concerta there are the medications that are in them that amine class of adhd treatments and that would include vyvanse adderall and nicknamed ketamine salt and then the third class of medications would be the non stimulant medication that is strattera and this has also been an fda approved for adult adhd in my opinion the most effective medication
For adult adhd typically are the stimulant medications and so then one might ask well which stimulant medication do i use from the research stimulant medications are effective for people with adult adhd in about 85 to 90 percent of his situations out of that group of people who tolerate it where they get where they their symptoms improve and they don’t have side
Effects that are intolerable about 50% of the people in this cohort will do well whether you give them a stimulant from the ritalin type of medications or whether you give them a stimulant from the amphetamine or adderall type medications and what’s interesting is that about 25% where of patients where stimulants are effective they will preferentially do better
On the ritalin or methylphenidate type medications and about 25% of patients who do better with stimulants or who respond to stimulants will do better preferentially on the amphetamines now let me go back for a moment and just talk about why there’s so many different names and what some of the different medications are in each of the different classes within the
Stimulant medication classes of ritalin or the generic name of it which is methylphenidate there are several preparations that are all ritalin based or methylphenidate based but have different release mechanisms and they’re for different durations of time where they’re effective so for example you have ritalin immediate release where the half-life is anywhere from
Two to four hours you have ritalin long-acting release which where that half-hour is half-life is anywhere between eight to ten hours and then you have concerta which has a much longer half-life and the half-life can be anywhere between 10 and 12 hours now let’s go to the amphetamine type medications and talk about some of the common ones that you may have come
Across there is adderall and the generic for that is called mixed amphetamine saw and that’s an immediate release preparation where the half-life or the time of epithet c would be between four to six hours there would be adderall extended release and the release mechanism for that and the half-life would have you benefit between ten to twelve hours and then you
Have another medication that is called vyvanse and that is another long-acting amphetamine similar mechanism of as to the adderall and that or long-acting however it has a much longer half-life of twelve hours and some people find this medication smooth or acting in terms of the third class of medications one of the reasons why i don’t find this medication my top
Choice is that strattera is very similar to an antidepressant and it can have some side effects and tends to not be as effective in my clinical experience as well as what the research says in terms of it’s been a fitz i hope that you have found this video helpful my name is dr. scott shapiro and i’m a psychiatrist been who has been practicing in new york city for
Over 15 years and if you have liked this video please subscribe to this channel so you can see other informative videos thank you very much
Transcribed from video
Adult ADD + ADHD – Adderall + Vyvanse + Ritalin – How Are the Medications Different? By Scott Shapiro MD
