adderall, aggression and potential withdrawal affects

Well first off a little about me, im 5'11", 150-160 pounds, 22, and a smoker. and ive been on adderall since I was 11.

Early age dosage was a 10 XR in the morning
Teen age dosage was a 20 XR in the morning
Currently my dosage is a 30 XR in the morning

How I feel and do on it (workdays):
I feel slightly jittery, no feelings of parnoia, no mood swings, I feel a strong drive to accomplish the task at hand, less distraction from exterior stimuli.
I feel like after i finish my current task I need to find something else to do right away. I chain smoke when on it. I don't regain my appetite till later at night. I can see the broader picture of things. Easily stressed at times. It makes me much more talkative and open with people.
Rarely there have been instances when I try to wake up from a nap and, I find myself in a kind of paralytic state that lasts for a couple of seconds to a minute.

How I feel and do when im off (weekends):
I feel lethargic, I have no drive to do anything productive, I go without smoking completely with no cravings at all. Over-eating is a major issue, I eat even though I know I'm full, I find myself rummaging through the fridge for no reason. I typically dont feel any emotions related to depression, nor mood swings. I find no trouble in getting to sleep. To get myself up off the couch to mow the lawn is a battle.
I have rarely suffered the withdrawl symptoms of those mentioned in other posts.

Note: Hang-overs do not exist for me, trust me i've tried.

The reason might be in the fact that my body, over the many years of adderall use, has come to acclimate itself around the drug. Therefore my habits and behaviour on it are "normal" as opposed to how I am not on it.

In summary: My taking of Adderall from childhood through puberty and into adulthood has possibly altered my personality, tolerance and how my body deals with the drug, and its absence.

I have been on this stuff for so long I truly don't know if that little orange pill is really who I am.

Hello- I started taking adderall rx 30 mg about 2 years ago and was an insomniac school freak and did very well in school. I lost alot of weight and made it through school at 8 am to working till 1 am almost 5 days a week. It kept me going and having wonderfully productive days. about a week ago i decided to stop taking it. The second day of not having it I was extremely tired and irritable. I am a waitress and I could barely even stand/walk for a five hour shift. I got 2 complaints about my slowness. I had an extreme hunger clawing at me. I started eating regularly and after the 4th day I felt good agian. I was sleeping 7 hours and getting drunk after 3 beers. I gained 10 lbs, after 3 weeks. I still find it very hard to concentrate, and focus but I have regular energy. I find it difficult to watch people who arn't on the drug have so much energy and capability of studying or staying alert in class. I really miss taking adderall but I obviously can't take it till I'm 40. I had to stop sometime. I feel that there isn't really a "withdraw" but your body has to get back to its normal functions without the drug and I would say it takes about 1 week to feel like a normal human without the extreme tiredness and irritability.

After failing out of school most of my life despite certain and abundant gifts due to inattention, at 21 years old I finally took a practitioner's advice to take Adderall. I had avoided taking it for years because I knew that I liked it too much. Adderall helped improve my grades for the first 2 years of taking it and I respected its use with great caution. Then as hard things in life happened, boyfriend leaving for Afghanistan and grandfather passing plus economy dampening I lost self control to feel in control with more Adderall. Like the poster of 8 years, I became less motivated, flunked out of all of my classes and went into financial ruin. This could be from the circumstances obviously but now that I am off the Adderall I find that I am noticing my surroundings more but am unable to respond due to a lack of energy- I hope it passes. I am supplementing with Red Bull and coffee. My appetite is returning as well as my mood swings lessening. I noticed extensive aggression, poor and impulsive decision making-including sexual immorality (thinking about having casual hook ups instead of healthy expression of relationship) and boundary pushing of others in my environment. I enjoy the idea of picking a fight despite my anorexic frame-not a good combination. LOL.

I think the key to this medication is respect for the serious consequences, moderation, and self discipline. Check in with your healthcare advisor if you feel you want to take more than usual, I would try taking the weekends off, take vacations off from using it. It's when I neglected these principles that I ran into trouble. Now it's finals week and I am out...and will most likely fail the semester-but it's better than getting into illegal drugs or hurting my body with more drugs.

I must remember to respect the fact that we are nothing more than the sum of our chemical reactions-be careful what you put in yourself!

I am the guy about 7 or 8 posts ago who went off of it after 5 years last December. The headaches subsided after about 3 weeks. It was a little tough to get off of. However, I do not have the anger outbusts and my four kids have noticed. As far as my ADHD is concerned, its going untreated. My big cup of coffee in the morning helps a little, but I have no where near the focus I had when I was on Adderol. Furthermore the VA was going to put me on Ritalin (sp?) because they dont use Adderol, but they wanted me to take a urine test once a month. This would not work for me since I live 45 miles away from the VA hospital. Therefore, I am stuck having to deal with this drug free, and it sucks. I cant keep focused on a task and fall into bouts of depression. I'm almost out of business, no help to the economy, but the lack of medication doesnt help either. I can only hope I can figure something out soon.

I am the guy about 10 or 11 posts ago who went off of it after 5 years last December. The headaches subsided after about 3 weeks. It was a little tough to get off of. However, I do not have the anger outbusts and my four kids have noticed. As far as my ADHD is concerned, its going untreated. My big cup of coffee in the morning helps a little, but I have no where near the focus I had when I was on Adderol. Furthermore the VA was going to put me on Ritalin (sp?) because they dont use Adderol, but they wanted me to take a urine test once a month. This would not work for me since I live 45 miles away from the VA hospital. Therefore, I am stuck having to deal with this drug free, and it sucks. I cant keep focused on a task and fall into bouts of depression. I'm almost out of business, no help to the economy, but the lack of medication doesnt help either. I can only hope I can figure something out soon.

okay, i been taking adderall and i been having wicked bad pains from it, and i haven't took it for like 3 days now cuz im out of school. do you think the abonmal pain that is in my sides my stomach and every where, is being cause by adderall withdrals, because when i was taking the pill the pain also is their and i can't take it anymore it hurts. i also been having many other side effects and i found out it is caused by adderall, and also does this pill make you feel wicked sick all the time cause i feel horriable, and now that im not taking it i'm still feeling the pain so maybe something else is causing it. Can you please help me out cuz i don't know it if serious enough that i have to go to the doctors. also my dose is 30 mg is the moring and i have to take 5 mg at school, and three days ago i had my regents so i took more than i was suppose to.. i took 45mg, i also DO NOT abuse this medicine at all.. this really sucks! help me out!

This medication should not be causing agression. If you are being prescribed the right meds. My dr and I have had numorus discussions about this medication and if I should experience loss of sleep, or mood swings, that is a sign that the medication is not at the right dosage for you. I am surprised at some of the amounts that you guys said your doctor was giving you. I started with stratera with very lil result from it and a DEEP feeling of depression, got off that for 3 months and asked for Adderall I have been functional but not a busy bee. I sleep better than I ever have, infact the medication has improved my moodswings. I am concerned at all of you who are having agression and with drawl symptoms. I work in the mental health field and I believe this medication does work if you actualy need it. I take a vacation on my medication every weekend, and only after 3 days do I feel scatter brained... once that passes, I can resume my normal daily activities. Please seek another medication if this is strictly for school. You may also have Asbergers syndrom... Getting an IEP from your school will help with giving you a leg up. There are other DX you can get on your medical record other than ADD because that DX can eliminate you from a lot of things later in life, plus taking medications that arent right for you is EXTREMLY unsafe. I hope this helps some of you.

My 9 y/o daughter has been taking adderall since September of 08 almost a year now. She has been taking 40mgs. She is very small framed 45 lbs. and shorter then most of her classmates. I have noticed that with adderal she has had mood swings of aggression and acting like she is bipolar almost, and very limited appetite. She is diagnosed as ADHD. She has done very poorly in school almost not doing any work and failed her math and reading in her second grade year...she is going into third...repeated Kindergarten. She started seeing a psychologist this summer to determine her issues with school and meds. We are now working on finding alternative meds for her, maybe something for anxiety and a smaller dose of concerta for ADHD?. Psychologist thinks she is LD in math and reading and will get her help in those areas. But the adderall has not helped with the adhd as much as we would have liked. She was on Concerta and Straterra before and they didn't really help either. Concerta was as high as 56mgs., made her almost like a zombie. The new Dr. we got in the fall last year said he preferrs the adderall better and perscribed it instead. She instantly became less of a zombie like person that she had been w/concerta but the agressiveness and anxiety increased. Therefore the question we have is, is she really ADHD? She is currently on day two of taking no meds as her psychologist and Dr. have recomended to see how she will react. She has been on some kind of ADHD meds since Kindsergarten.
We know that she may need to take a smaller dose if things start going badly in the withdrawal period. So far she is going cold turkey and only side effect we see is wanting to eat constantly and tiredness, with a bit of hyper activeness.
My question is....everyone on here says they have bad side effects from taking the adderall so long especially when trying to stop the meds...how long is too long....1 year, more? Also how long do the side effects of withdrawal usually last before they taper off? I am trying to watch what she eats and give only healthy alternatives. It is really hard though.
I have also done a bit of research and will do more...but what natural products/herbs may be out there to control the same ADHD symptoms that she has? We see our family dr. on the 4th and will discuss things with him...he is big into wholelistic remedies as well as bioidentical products and prescription meds so I think we can ask him what to use. I just wondered what any of you have used, especially on kids that may have worked. I have read alot on this adderal and am worried we may have made a mistake putting her on it at all. I know I am right to take her off it, but I am scared we may have already damaged our child's pyschy by having put her on it at all. Thanks for any advice in advance.

adderall and amphetamine salts are a problem I've yet to solve. it could be a great tool when used with intelligence and willpower. I've been takin it for 4 yrs on and off. I lost my insurance and went without for yrs. I've suddenly found a supplier and can't resist buying them and basically abusing them (I have a long substance abuse history as is). I took 2 25mg xr's today..yesterday, and one was at 8PM! now I'm drinking vodka like its a joke trying to wrestle myself to bed cause I have to be at work in a matter of hours. my addictive side always takes over and I consume it with no goal except dodging a crash. tomorrow is such a busy day at work I feel so defeated. I know I will only take more to counteract my poor decision from the day before...I may be on feet tomorrow but I get so confused and my short term memory will be a joke. if you're like me and can't help yourself

Ok well I have been taking for as long as I can remember and not addictid to it I can go days with out it easy the only thing iswhen I do take it I don't really eat much. But it helps me focus and brought me from barley passing school to passing with 90s