Adderall and Depression Side Effects

cheri · Veteran Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 550

My 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADD and was prescribed some meds but as the time passes by she became depressed. She is now prescribed adderall and I would like to hear of some adderall and depression side effects as well as some general info about adderall. The thing is that I've heard that this med is actually used in diet control and weight loss and I wonder now how it could help my daughter in dealing with ADD and depression.

latrena · Silver Member Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 349

It could help a lot at first place for it is well known to have much less side effects than other med. And you are right it was used in weight loss but today adderall is one of the most often meds prescribed in treating ADD or ADHD that usually comes along with depression. I know that for my 10 eleven year old child was on adderall and still is on it occasionally. Adderall is actually amphetamine that at first place might cause weigh loss and appetite loss as well as the insomnia. Also one of the possible side effects might be dizziness and headaches especially when the adderall dose is high. My son is occasionally prescribed adderall but after a while his doc prescribed him some other medication and the reason is he might develop high tolerance if taking adderall for longer period of time. And also there's a possibility that someone might get adderall addicted if adderall is being taken for some prolonged period of time.

samexplosion · Newbie Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 1

This is mostly anecdotal, but I take dextroamphetamine (it's essentially just one of the base ingredients of adderall) and I'm not really sure how I lived life before it. Actually, I didn't really. I was too tired and too worked up constantly to enjoy or do anything; ADD medication's given me motivation, alertness, and an overall sense of calmness sufficient that I can actually get things done and have a normal life. Medications can have all different sorts of effects on people though based on their make up.

There's more scientific places than an anonymous internet user to get this information that I'm sure you'll be able to find, so the biggest thing I think I should say is that depression or ADD is a description of symptoms, not a cause. It's not 'I don't feel happy because I'm depressed' it's "I don't feel happy, therefore I'm depressed'. Your daughter's depression is as unique as your daughter. If she wasn't depressed before the add medication, chances are it's all a chemical thing, in which case you *might* try prozac (this is the only SSRI I know of approved for children because it's less potent and doesn't have such bad side effects if you fail to take it). From what I understand (i.e. look for yourself) raising levels of one chemical can lower others in the brain and so she might just need a boost that way.

At the same time, adderall works by releasing more dopamine, not creating more of it, which is what causes the crash after it wears off. If your daughter's on the XR version, her brain may just not have enough dopamine and the add medication can't help release what's not there. Backing off on the adderall in that case might help her reach a happy medium.

Personally, I think diet and lifestyle have caused the spike in all sorts of mental issues these days; I recommend looking into over the counter things such as St. John's Wort (a plant which is actually prescribed in some European countries) that might help if her symptoms are relatively mild. Probably ought to discuss it with the doctor if he's willing to listen also, because over the counter things can interact with medications just like prescription medications.

Oh wow. I could just write on this forever with my armchair psychology, but I hope any of this helps. Just keep learning as much as you can about it for yourself, don't rely on *anyone* except yourself and your daughter of course to figure out what's going to work for her and what won't.

Adderall and Depression Side Effects

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