adderall, aggression and potential withdrawal affects

I began taking adderall about a month ago. The first few days/weeks were too good to be true. I had taken Straterra about 3 years ago, and noticed some effect, but the sexual side effects outweighed any good.


After an amazing first few weeks on the Adderall, insomina and sleep deprivation gradually caught up and I noticed mood swings and the need for more dossage. Has anyone else noticed that as the meds wear off that unexplained aggression or rage emerges?
The disturbing aspect is that it isn't my normal behavior, and it goes away if I take a pill.

I tried going off of the meds to see if it made a positive difference, but experienced such extreme exhaustion that I was forced to resume the meds.

2 questions:
1. any other aggression experiences, if so how did you remedy.
2. if I decided to go off the meds, what happens? withdrawal symptoms?
Can anything positive result from going back to "normal?"

im curently off it i had taken it for 8 years and got off it.it was the most unpleasent expirience iv ever had.but it did go away after like 2-3 weeks and just recently i had ben put on it agin but i took the same dosage as when i had ben taking it before 50 milagrams,and it was a bad idea i mean i hated it and i felt way outa my normal state of mind so i stoped taking it and agin am going thru the withdrawl and the only thing i find to help is no its ganna hapen so do what u got to and take and think to give u energy so u can function with out feeling the need to sleep or lay down. all in all the afecs of aderall r not worth the withdrawl and mental change in mood.

I was on adderall xr for almost two years, and I did experience the major mood swings. Ecspecially when i got off it, or forgot to take it for a day. I did what the previous person said, I would take one day that i could sleep and hang around not doing too much of anything and not take any adderall. Also the insomnia never quite went away, but one way it was easier to counter it was if i woke up pretty early in the morning and excercised, I would take my adderall when i first woke up so by the time i got to the gym i was wide awake and ready. By the tiime i hit the pillow at tnight i could fall right asleep by 930 or so. When I got off it i had some serious withdrawl, it was the type of horirble mood swings you have experienced, and being very angry with everyone, last about id say weeks, I also gained some weight slowly over the course of a year after I went off it. Good luck

I sometimes take less on the weekends if I think I might need to catch up on my sleep or if I get busy and forget to take my second dose and realize it's much too late. (You should never take Adderall after around 2:00 PM, and ideally you should take your last dose at noon.) I start to feel scattered and frustrated, like my old self, but I wouldn't say that I feel aggressive, although I probably anger more easily.

By the way, when I first started taking Adderall, I found I couldn't go to sleep at my normal bedtime. At first this scared me because I had just been diagnosed with sleep apnea about a year before and had been profoundly sleep-deprived. I found I needed at least 8 hours of sleep, with a CPAP machine, to be completely alert during the day. I thought the Adderall was going to make it impossible to get that much sleep and I'd have to choose between being alert or being focused.

But after the first week, getting about 6 or 7 hours of sleep, I was surprised to find that it simply wasn't catching up with me. I wasn't nodding off and I was waking up before my alarm went off about 80% of the time--better than I had been doing before.

I'm a freshman in college and I've taken adderall for about six years. I started on 30 mg but later dropped it to 15 mg. This past summer, before my first year of college, I stopped taking it to gain some weight back and to reduce my tolerance. I've noticed now that if I decided to take it just for one day, if I don't take it again the next day I get extremely irritable and experience episodes of explosive rage at little things like mild traffic and whatever. Then my mood deteriorates into bleak depression. I have found though that drinking a pot of black coffee really helps feed my stimulant needs and improves my mood. But I am concerned about the horrible withdrawal symptoms. But if I don't take it I will undoubtedly fail out of school. (I'm an engineering student at the University of Texas, Austin). I'm at a loss for what to do.

I have been on adderall for almost a year now and had to keep upping my dossage. A couple of months ago I started taking supplements that have drastically lowered my tollerance and now I take about half of what I was taking, which is now 20 to 30 mg a day. I take a 10 in the morning, and another after lunch, then if I have to study or do homework I take another 10 around 5 or 6. I am alert as late as I need to be, but then whenever I decide to go to bed, I take a 200mg L-Theanine which inhibits the stimulatory properties of adderall and caffeine. Like an on/off switch. It takes about 20 minutes before I feel that its working, and then I can go right to sleep. Its a great change from not being able to sleep no matter how hard I would try.

am333, you really do need to get a doctor to prescribe adderall. a) because it's heavily regulated and requires a special kind of prescription b) because you need to be monitored in case of side effects and c) of course they need to evaluate you to be sure they agree with your ADD diagnosis. You could try calling a local psych and explain you don't have insurance; maybe they can give you a cheaper rate or suggest a doctor or clinic who can. As for requesting specific meds: in my experience, doctors are quite responsive to listening to what you've taken that has and hasn't worked well for you.

To everyone discussing aggression and rage: me too! My doc just tried switching me from short-acting generic adderall to adderall xr, thinking I might have fewer withdrawal effects each day as it wears off. But instead, I have *different* effects... now instead of getting super-tired and scatterbrained as it wears off, I get really angry and scatterbrained... The strange thing is without meds i sometimes get angry and scatterbrained too, but I always thought I was just getting frustrated at my scatterbrained behavior. Anyone else find that the rage problem maps to one type of adderall and not the other?

BTW, I am female. I would have guessed that the aggression side effect might just happen to males, but apparently that's not the case.

Guest wrote:

To everyone discussing aggression and rage: me too! My doc just tried switching me from short-acting generic adderall to adderall xr, thinking I might have fewer withdrawal effects each day as it wears off. But instead, I have *different* effects... now instead of getting super-tired and scatterbrained as it wears off, I get really angry and scatterbrained... The strange thing is without meds i sometimes get angry and scatterbrained too, but I always thought I was just getting frustrated at my scatterbrained behavior. Anyone else find that the rage problem maps to one type of adderall and not the other?

What you're experiencing is called rebound, and, ironically, it is one of the side-effects Adderall XR was supposed to reduce. Try going back to the regular Adderall, with one dose when you wake up and two half-doses at 3 and 6 hours thereafter. It may be that the side-effect is a coincidence, not directly caused by the XR, but only removing it as a variable can confirm this.

I have been on adderall for eight years. Started with regular release then eventually a tolerance built up and at eight years on the stuff I'm prescribed 60 mg! I am not working, extremely depressed, extreme paranoia, One minute I'm irritable and the next I'm really happy, and sometimes I experience symptoms damn close to schizophrenia symptoms. All of which I believe is due to taking Adderall. I'm not completely against adderall in some cases but for me it has destroyed my life! I'm totally dependent on it and I'm not even working! I need it just to get out of bed! If you are thinking of taking adderall... it is definitely not for those with addictive tendencies! Look this is what will happen: If you take it everyday for years your body/and brain will expect it to be in your system! Thats physical addiction! Long term it will change the way you think and eventually stop working (it now makes my add worse! The opposite of what it should do!)! You'll up the dose over the years to feel the way it used to make you feel! And find yourself addicted to amphetines! The physical part withdrawl wise sucks. There is no way around! I suggest that you sleep for the first week! Now comes the hard part! Learning to function again without it! The longer you take it the harder it is to stop! I know! Your brain will still expect and want it for months! I can't function now. I take an antidepressant (tried them all) and addreall and a mood stablizer (tried three different ones) I have so many problems from taking adderall long term that I'm telling you unless its a special case, unless its extremely needed (Iwant to tell you all not to take it but I can't make that call) Use extreme causion and at the first signs of addiction stop before its too late! Its not worth what you will loose! what will you loose? yourself! your life! Its just not worth it! You take it and someday you will have to stop! Someday it will stop working! And you'll have to do what you could already have done!.... Learn to live your life without it! You'll most likely one day have to anyway!

I am very confused by this last post. Is this person serious? The artist who posted said that she wanted to know how to get a "prescription" or how to speak to a "doctor" about it. She stated that she did not have insurance. Has this person, "Guest" ever been in a predicament where he or she did not have insurance? I can remember my husband and I driving in circles in the icy parking lot of an emergency room at 3AM with our 3 month old son buckled into his carseat in the back of our vehicle, listening to his every breath, trying desperately to decide if we should take him in and incur an unGodly hospital bill (we had no insurance-my husband had been layed off when his company moved out of state, and the insurance had not yet kicked in for his new job.) My son had seemed ill, but as usual, by the time we got to the hospital, he was asleep. Until you have to live without medical insurance, please do not judge others who do not have it. It sounds like Adderall was at one time prescribed for this individual and she was diagnosed by a medical doctor with ADD. Classic symptoms of ADD (not ADHD). Shame on you, "GUEST".

As for the person needing the prescription. If you have a prior diagnosis of ADD, then getting the script would probably not be the issue. Google community resources for your county or city. Look for community outreach programs, free clinics, or Community Action Programs. You may be able to see a doctor and get a script. It would help if you could provide medical records of your ADD diagnosis. If not, you will need to get a diagnosis from an MD or sometimes, doctors want a psychologist or counselor to diagnose it. Some MDs will not prescribe, and you need a psychiatrist to do so - still, you'll need a diagnosis from and MD or a counselor. Anyway, the prescription is not really the problem if you have ADD - it is paying for the medication. It is extremely expensive, and many free clinics will not dispense it. You will also have to see the doctor who prescribes the meds at least once/month or once/3 months, and you'll need help paying for the office call (try the free clinics if you can??)
You might look up Shire Pharmaceuticals. They are the creators of Adderall and some companies will give you free drugs if you have a valid script and are unable to pay. If no luck with Shire, look at the companies who make some of the alternatives, such as Concerta. They may have an assistance program for customers who are uninsured. Call United Way, they can give you a list of resources. There are a lot of resources out there for folks who are uninsured. Just need to be a research scientist to find them!!!! Good luck.