Long-term effects of Adderall

I've been following this thread for a few months since I got prescribed Adderall for ADHD-PI.  It's PI, but I have my H moments as well.  :-D

First I want to say shame on those of you who are attacking the people who say that Jesus comments are ridiculous.  The suggestion to "try Jesus" came first and THAT is what doesn't belong in the thread.  How dare you tell people they can't respond to something off-topic that someone else chose.  That original poster basically said "stop taking medication for your ADD and try jesus."  Well, I did that in high school, and trust me it don't work.  As an atheist I am offended that people with my point of view are dismissed as "negative" and "not adding to the conversation."  It's hypocrytical.  

I am in my mid-thirties and was only diagnosed this year.  I can't say anything about long term side effects (that's why I'm here - to learn what others have experienced), but I can tell you as someone who was not medicated until recently a lot of what people are describing as psychological side-effects of discontinuing Adderall are symptoms I experienced thoughout my life without knowing what was causing them.  Lack of motivation, poor or inconsistent social skills, fatigue, mood swings, foggy thinking, inability to find the right word, etc.  I know that doesn't prove that these are symptoms of ADHD and not side-effects of the medication, but I think it should be considered.  I also wanted to comment that it is being on Adderall that is finally allowing me to LEARN skills that I floundering without.  I think it's great that some people learn these skills without medication, but I bought book after book and tried therapist after therapist for years trying to figure out some behavioural trick that would fix me.  One of my friends once said to me she never knew anyone to "try so hard."  I was able to develop a lot of coping skiills to get me manage a complex job, but I was still lost socially.  When I started medication it was like putting on glasses for the first time and being able to see what was going on around me.

For the first time I'm starting to see respect in the eyes of people I've worked with for years, not because I'm working harder, but because my soft skills are improving.  Until I had the ability to "notice," I couldn't even tell when I was acting inappropriately.  Yesterday my med wore off before I left work and I did talk too much and interrupt, but I also knew I was doing it and was able to apologize.  I'm also working with a therapist, which I think everyone should do - kids and adults.  Your ADHD will never go away and coping skills are required whether you are on medication or not.  

Since this post have you heard from "Lauren"? I'm pretty sure I posted that rant a few years ago during a really bad episode. Unless "Lauren" replied to you. Either we had the exact same episode and have the exact same suicidal nervous breakdown...at the same time...or it was really coincidental. We have the same writing style and the same written emotions.  If this is my post..it was posted anonymously and i forgot how to access it. Please let me know if you have heard from this writer. So I can go into more detail. Thank you :) I'm  99% I'm the Lauren.

I know exactly how you feel like someone has been living your life for you i was so small and so young when i was prescribed this terrible drug i was in 5th grade and threw a fit about taking it i continued to take it until i was in 10th grade when finally i decided that i wanted my life back i didn't want this other person who was "better" in the eyes of society to my doctor or my teacher or anyone else i stopped taking it and my life got a lot better i could feel and love which i was too focused to do before i was like a zombie going through the motions of the day not caring to talk to anyone because i was so focused on my thoughts my grades suffered but i did not care i was free at last to live my life how wanted to. if you are a parent or have a friend thats a parent and they prescribe there child an ADHD medicine they are only dampening a persons freedom einstien had ADHD before we even knew what ADHD was honestly my whole take on the matter is that corporate medicine invented a disease that most people have lack of motivation, laziness, "too" active and then made a drug that "fixes" you YOU DONT NEED TO BE FIXED you were made like that for a reason and you need to accept yourself and stop this drug there are other natural ways of dealing with it this stimulant is not the way to do so. all i have to say is F U C K ADDERALL

Hey Lauren,

Reading your post was like reading my own journal no one ever sees. I completely broke down while reading. Trust me sweet heart, aderall is most defintely a factor you are exactly right and don't let anyone no matter what their degree or profession might be tell you different. I can't tell you how much I can relate to the vicious cycle, it almost feels like self sabotage when all I'm trying to do is make everything better, but it only gets worse. You can get through this, and so can I. There is so much more to life than anxiety and panic. We must learn to simply live free.

Has anyone here experience(d) side effects where you have to pee extremely frequently and have muscle tightness? My shoulders & neck ALWAY get really tight and cramps up, making it hard to sit and concentrate. Somehow, I feel like Adderall has some kind of diuretic effect??? Any help would be appreciated!

i was highly addicted...abbused the sh*t out of it and now im off of it and have never felt better...tell your doctor not to give you any anymore all your pain/anxiety/panic attacks wil go away

I am going through the same thing "literally",& i don't know what to do either.I feel SO stuck that i don't know how to even explain it in words,until i read what you wrote..it describes me exactly...everything that u typed..i honestly don't know what to do,or how to handle it..i just want to cry..i think about what i COULD do with my life,but it literally NEVER happens.I always think everything will be different,but it never is. I see a psychologist,but he dosen't understand..i honestly feel noone REALLY understands me. I don't know HOW to explain exactly how i feel,without it coming out completely wrong..i just don't know what to do,& just feel SO helpless..

I don't have the bathroom problem,but since i've been on Adderall xr 20 mg,i have the neck,muscle cramps,& i have to constantly grind my teeth,& feel like the veins are "popping"in my head,if that makes any sense...i also get agitated easily,like i've had ALOT of coffee..

I have been on Adderall for 12 years (20mg 2x a day).. since age 15, I am now 27. I am a firm believer in 'you create your own reality' (law of attraction basically), with your thoughts and expectations- whether you mean to or not. If you fear mental and/or physical health problems because of long term use of adderall, then you can expect them to appear. Any 'flaws' you believe this medication is giving you, whether when or when not on them, may actually be flaws culprit to how you perceive the meds to be effecting you, not the meds themselves. I am a 3.7 criminal justice student about to graduate. I go off the adderall here and there for a month or two at a time (every couple years), and sometimes skip days taking my meds. Usually I take them about 5 days a week on average I'd say. Sure, I have problems. I am pretty sure everybody does. You all take adderall, and believe it will have negative effects subconsciously & consciously and sure enough, here you are complaining about them. Knock it off. I know plenty of people that aren't ADD and don't take adderall that complain about the exact same things all you are complaining about, just it's not quite as often because they don't create reason in their minds for problems to exist like you all do.. that reason being "because I've been Adderall for so long." I personally am extremely happy and fully content with myself and my life and I have been on Adderall for 12 years.. I will admit I have some flaws, I don't let them bog me down and blame the adderall. Adderall doesn't control or effect you as much as you all believe it does.. that being why doctors allow it to be prescribed. The negative effects are your own creation, not the Adderalls.

If you didn't know you were taking adderalls, and your doctor told you they were just really good vitamins, you'd release all the negativeness and fear you create by thinking "it's a druuuug" and you would not only have extraordinary lives, but an edge on those that don't have the adderalls.. think of you having adderall as an advantage, not a disadvantage. We are lucky to have these things! :) I personally love going off them for a few days here and there and just pigging out and watching t.v and sleeping for a few days when I get a break from school and all. It's like a relaxing life-bath of rejuvenation! lol. Gotta love that brief come-down.

 

Adding to my above post here: Don't go tripping yourselves out on 'thought creation' worrying your thinking wrong or whatever either. Just perceive with a positive edge rather than negative for now on and quit discouraging yourselves.

Check out my website (just the information/videos directly at the site are uplifting and encouraging) to understand a little more about my interests (although it is not in my line of schooling lol.. it's a side interest - metaphysics). .. 

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I started taking adhd medications when I was 6. my dad took me to the doctor and he diagnosed me with adhd, I was on and off different kinds of medications, ritalin adderall, concerta ect. all through elementary up to middle school. I had just moved in with my grandparents, I saw a doctor there and i was prescibed some sort of stimulant. I really had not liked it even when I was younger sometimes i would take it from my dads hand stick it in my mouth and spit it out behind my bed as soon as he left. I thought it took the ''funnyness'' away from me i couldnt enjoy anything, at school I was so antisocial when I took it everything was akward, and then when I didnt take it I was the spontaneous little trouble maker i should have been but I still felt akward. when I stopped taking it in middle school I dropped out. I just stopped going. I didnt know it but it seems all the years on stimulants rode me through school like a stallion. when i got off them I crashed mentally, I started drinking, that led to weed. I got kicked out of my grandparents and sent back to my dads. I soon became a homeless teenager at 15 no idea of how the world worked, school wasnt a priority, my only priority was to fill the bottomless hole that those drugs left. I went to 5 different rehabilitation centers and I relapsed everytime. I just didnt get it, what was wrong with me? abusing over the counter drugs, coricidan delsym. I literally was killing myself. for a few weeks I binged on coricidan 16 pills a day or more. Im pretty sure I did irreversible damage to my brain and body. Im 18 now, and I am going to jobcore 6 months in and training to be a cement mason. I was clean the first couple of months not even a hiccup, I was amazed that when I started to realize what was important to me the irresistable craving for drugs became resistable. for a while it was fine I was in the honeymoon stage, but as I got more time, these little nagging thoughts teased me. broke me down. temptation was winning again. I went back out. literally i hopped on a bus and found the same little pothouse I had been so many times. knowing if I failed a urinalysis it would crush my only chance at a career and a decent life. the instant gratification won. I was so desperate to change my reality my brain smothered all logical sense I had. I realize Ive been sawing the branch im sitting on for years. I didnt get a UA instead I saw the phsyciatrist that comes here every tuesday. I was prescribed buproprion for my depression. and due to my records of past doctors and counslers she had no problem prescribing the medication that started all this. 25mg twice a day not on weekends. it gets me through the training day but weekends I dread all week long. I need some help but my character and appearance doesnt suggest that im terribly sick I dont even know how to say it or tell someone, and even if I did would it make a difference? would it change something? I dont know. i never really have posted anything on the internet. if anybody reads this can you tell me? I think that  i feel better now

You're reply made me so happy that I cried. I was convinced by the writing styles and similarities that I wrote that post and signed it "Lauren". I still am not sure to this day and I don't want to take credit if it wasn't me. I really enjoyed your optimism and advice. I read through most of these posts on here and they just took me by storm. Thank you so much.

Corin, I have a very similar experience I'd like to share with you. You are a lot like me. In fact, we could be related. This website sucks at letting you give people your personal information. I would like to help you but I do not want to post all of this on this forum. 

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I apologize for spamming this forum, but I could really use someone to talk to. All of these stories are spinning images of my story. It's so hard to write, there is so much I want to say. I've been staring at this screen trying to find the words. All of us have so much in common and I am looking for some people to support me. I have read almost all of these posts and was amazed at how many people responded to that story. I don't want to write an entire essay on here. If anyone needs someone to talk to--because I know I do--- 

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My ex wife has been taking adderall for about 5 years. When she first started taking it it was an awesome drug for her. made her focus and she did really well. But after about 4 years of being on the drug she too started gertting violent, paranoid and just completely lost it. I blame this drug for our divorce. She thinks everyone is out to get her. She comes up with these ideas in her head that make no sense and gets mad if you don't understand what she's talking about. When she runs out of them and can't get her script filled all she does is sleep. I mean sleep for like 2 and 3 days. It is my opinion that this drug is far more dangerous than people think. She has told me that she wishes she could punch her mother in the face. Thats how mad she gets. She was physically abusive to me in the last days and weeks of our marraige. She has severe mood swings as well. Stay away from this drug. If you are taking it..get off of it. Go get treatment to help with the withdrawals.