Adderall and Autoimmune Disease

You have narcolepsy and lupus?! I thought I would be the only one in the world that would. It makes me wonder if there is a correlation between them or if anyone else has this same issue. They are both awful and pretty much make everyday hell. If anyone give you information as to either I'd love to know! It's like doctors leave you in the dark with medication for you to pretty much get sick all the time and sleep.

You're problem is that when he was on the adderall he wasn't eating enough his blood sugar ran so low all the time like a hypoglycemic would , there for he developed diabetis .

I am just a freshman in college and this is just what I think.

I have been taking adderall for two years and am very healthy, play water polo, eat right, and no drugs. I have just been diagnosed with lupus and was also wondering if there was a connection. I know many people who take adderall who have no autoimmune diseases and many who do.

I was thinking that when I get a cold i'm not sick as long as people who do not take adderall, things go through my digestive system faster than people who do not take adderall. I think adderall speeds up our system, so as soon as we take it long enough our autoimmune diseases develop faster. Maybe adderall is not the cause but adderall turns on or triggers the disease we were already going to get. 

I am in my first week of withdrawal from Adderall. I'm 52. Tonight I almost called the fire dept b/c I couldn't understand why, if my oven was off, the stove top burner remained on. There must be something wrong with my stove. I needed to hear you say that the Adderall loses its effectiveness so that I'm not tempted to go back on the stuff. It worked so well.....for awhile. I have scabs all over my scalp and behind my ears from all of the itching. It has gotten better since laying off of the Adderall. It placed my allergies in hyperdrive. I plan to exercise every other day to get some natural dopamine and pray for another solution. He's helped me get this far. I pray for all of you who are suffering.

Hi all, I know this blog thread is old but maybe someone could help provide some insight to the situation I've found myself in. I'm a 23 year old basically healthy female - some past injuries, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, I also have general anxiety disorder with spouts of depression and have been on Zoloft for 2/3 years now, with Xanax as needed also. I have always had a difficult time being able to concentrate but I thought that was normal behavior - when someone informed me that indeed, it was not normal and could be adult ADD (no hyperactive qualities at all). So I took some adult ADD tests online, talked to my dr he said sure lets try meds. Ok so, I was put on Ritalin which didn't do anything and then switched to adderall. I've now been on adderall IR for about.. 4/5 months I believe. Still trying to figure proper dosage, but somewhere between 40-70mg at most over a 16/17hr day. Normal symptoms (a bit of weight loss - I assumed due to loss of appetite, at times increased anxiety, perhaps increased agitation, headaches when coming off the medication) but nothing particularly alarming. Okay so, I've been under an insane amount of stress for a very long time; in short, my mother was diagnosed with a terminal degenerative disease and disintegrated right in front of me as I took care of her every day for 15 months, until she lost her battle to ALS this pass November. The whole time I was taking care of her, I continued school and work to try and maintain some level of normality to keep my sanity. Well, once my mother passed I thought I needed to remain busy (more so than ever before) and for this semester at school, I signed up for way more than I could handle - 8 classes, two jobs and an internship. In hindsight, after the trauma of losing the most important person in my life, it probably wasn't the wisest choice. Okay so with all of that history in mind... About a month ago, out of the blue, I experienced a shooting pain down from my both hands to my elbows. My hands swelled so much so that they didn't even look like my hands. I freaked out, as an artist I know my hands, and I know my body... I knew something was wrong. Symptoms: symmetrical on both sides of my body, inflammation in hand joints (knuckles specifically - index, middle finger and pinkies) discoloration, joint stiffness, swelling, worse at night, some tingling and numbness. Joint pain is also in wrists, elbows, sometimes my knees but none in feet really. I've noticed when I'm having this "flare ups" that last for days, I feel my body is not as well as it should be - specifically my immune system. Last week, I had a few canker sores in my mouth, I've been feeling a UTI for a few weeks but never full blown, felt like a cold sore was coming on... Glands in my throat were swelling last week and a bit again today, I just can tell I'm not up to par. My normal doc said nothing was particularly wrong, I asked if it could be related to adderall but he didn't see how - didn't appear to be an allergic reaction of anything. He said maybe just inflamed muscles from overuse or trigger finger, thought I presented no finger locking... In short he didn't really believe the amount of pain I am in, and with my high pain tolerance the fact that I was coming forward about this at all is a huge flag. I've seen a rheumatologist, she didn't seem to think anything was conclusive. With the blood work I had done, I'm hoping it will show something and she can give me better answers next Monday. I know this is so much information and I hope someone can comment on this. I'm wondering if adderall could be playing a factor in this situation? My body is making me think it's some kind of autoimmune response targeting my hands - as awful as it is to say, I'm hoping it's arthritis over lupus, but these are the kinds of scary things Ive been coming across. When typing in my symptoms, majority of the peculiarities I've been experiencing were pulling up blogs about RA. I know this is a ton of information, and I really hope anyone can add to it. I know stress can do crazy things to the human body, and I know I've been and am continuing to go through a lot but I am stressing even more so with not being able to use my hands to do any art or school work. Thanks to anyone who reads!

Hello-
I'm not the most educated on adderall (I've been on it for 10 years, and, like most of you, have been experiencing strange symptoms lately -- lightheadedness upon standing *not* due to orthostatic hypotension, night sweats, among other things), but I do have stage 4 endometriosis and have had 11 endometriomas (ovarian tumors caused by endo) and hemorrhagic ovarian cysts rupture in the past 16 months, so I've become quite educated on the endo. I'm responding to your post just because there is a theory on endometriosis (one of a few) that is considering that endo may be an autoimmune disease. And when you have one autoimmune disease, others generally follow. Your joint pain/inflammation sounds like it could be the beginnings of arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease). I don't know. Overall, while I love how functional adderall has made me (& it's definitely helping me while I'm working on my masters degree), I've always had a gut feeling that it was doing some really bad things to my body. Be careful with the adderall. You've been on it a short enough time that you can still stop it with too much withdrawal. Plus 70 mg of adderall is crazy high! Also, I wanted to mention that I've done a lot of reading on the proper diet to follow with endo (which has helped a lot when I *really* stick to it -- if you're interested look up "endometriosis diet" and you'll find plenty of results -- there's also a book by Dian Shepson Mills that I found particularly helpful), and one of the main tenets of the diet is to avoid caffeine. I've asked 2 doctors if, knowing this, if the adderall could potentially be harmful to my endo. They always say no, but I still feel that an amphetamine is quite similar to caffeine as they're both stimulants. I just wanted to respond to you, so you can consider these factors. I don't know what stage your endo is, but it can be a very scary condition. My last surgery (last month) discovered my left ovary was stuck to my sigmoid colon (with adhesions), which was also stuck to my left uterosacral ligament, pulling my uterus onto its left side. If you can still get off the adderall, you should really try. It's a very serious drug, and you need to treat your already suffering body gently.

I have been taking adderall for 5 years and started developing eczema probably around the same time that I began the medication. I'm starting to believe the two are connected. There isn't much of a test to diagnose what's causing my dermatitis, ( at least that I've found) but when I stopped the medication, my eczema seemed to get better. I also have autoimmune diseases that run in my family, both my mother and grandmother and so on. They likewise believe I have one however we have yet to figure out what I could be. I wouldn't doubt that the eczema and autoimmune disease is worsened by the adderall because it gives you a heightened stress level when you take it. Hope that helps!

Something to check out is Moringa. It has helped me A LOT....I am trying to wing myself off Adderal as well due to some health issues ( I am pretty sure it is because of being on Adderal for the last 8 years). It helps with feeling full after eating, helping with energy & concentatuion. Check it out! It is super cheap on Amazon too! 22$ for a bottle. It is healthy vitamins too! Good luck too you...prayers coming your way to give you your health and strength back.

type one diabetes isnt that child onset or am i confusing it with something else? i thought type two was adult onset

I've been looking into the matter and I agree with you. What I remarked is that many people with autoimmune or related diseases show signs of attention deficits, sometimes as the first symptom. And taking adderall can exacerbate the symptoms of the autoimmune disease because it can make you dehydrated, it's a vassoconstrictor, it can augmented your heart rate and so on. (It made me really anxious for some reasons). But not everyone reacts the same way. I think the biggest problem is not in the drug but in the gap between doctors and patients view healthcare. ADHD is supposed to be idiopathic, meaning that your doctor should make sure that you don't exhibit symptoms related to other thing than psychiatric disorder before sending you for evaluation. This does not mean that it happens in one appointment. You both know that it's not possible. He expects you to come back to him or her if you see anything abnormal that is worth asking questions about like extreme fatigue or reccurant pain. From my experience, finding a team of physician (yes a team!) you are confidant in is very important, because you'll be able to communicate with them without them dismissing you, saying that you are anxious. My second point is that some autoimmune or related diseases begin to show small signs (like Raynaud's and innatention) when your young. The thing is that they will only be fully blown as you get older, it can be gradual or not. So I guess that the only thing the adderall does is to magnify your symptoms. Remember it's important to get informed (and to avoid getting paranoid reading too many Wikipedia articles) and ask questions to your doctors. If they can't answers ask them who could. If they don't want to do that wish them good luck with their career and ask them to send your medical file to your new physician. It is still important to try to stay with the same gp because he will know you like no one does. Knowledge is important when you have a complicated condition.

Hi Clint. I was on Adderrall for years and got off. I eventually got back on and am now seeing health issues. I am going to get off of it ASAP. I too am a small biz owner and the pressure is great. But our greatest asset is our health - I am worth it and you are too. I realize you posted some time ago but I just wanted to let you know that it is possible. - Leigh

The "yeast related" infections - have they been in your intestine?

Thank you for giving such descriptive reply as this a serious concern and nedd to be look after carefully.

I have had Crohn's Disease for 13 years now. I don't get flare ups, I have the same consistent issues daily- no better and no worse. I have a Rx for Adderall that I take as needed for my work/school duties. One thing I have been noticing is that on the days I take my adderall- I go to the bathroom about 75% fewer times!!! Which for me is incredible since I usually go 20+ times a day. I don't know what it is that is causing the difference- but it works for me!!

I have been taken adderall/vyvanse (not at the same time lol) for 14 years and I am 26 now. I was diagnosed w antiphospholipid antibody syndrome when I was 18. hypothyroidism, hasmo's and lupus in my 20's.. and the other two have been recent. I wonder if it is linked :/