Skin Picking & Methalphenidate | ADHD Information
A yucky topic, but thought I'd put it out there for anyone else who is having this problem.
I was really ashamed of this, but over the last year I have started
picking at my skin, for some reason, so badly that I tore sores from my
face down to my calves. It was so ugly and embarrassing that I couldn't
wear shorts all summer.
I picked a new doctor and I finally decided to come clean. He told me
that it was more than likely that the Adderall that I've been taking
has been causing me to maybe both break out with acne and to OCD a bit
by not leaving it alone and making a bigger mess. He said the cure is
to slightly increase my anti-depressant. So, I did, and guess
what?
My skin looks very good--no open sores. I still have a lot of embarrassing scars, but they will fade I'm pretty sure.
bb
I take RitLA, 60 mg / day. I pick my nose alot. Imagine what my nostrils must look like!!!Thanks Howie. Yah, I usually don't take as much, but this year I have
had to deal with situations that involved taking Ritalin more often--I
was working full-time on a complicated product and taking care of an
elderly parent (tons of detail work).
It seems that upping my Zoloft a little and just taking as little
Adderall that I can get away with is helping a lot! My legs,
however, look like I have leparcy!!
bb
My thumbs are currently destroyed. Its gotten so bad that I started
wearing cotton gloves this week in an attempt to give them a rest.
It's much better for me now i'm not on adderall, the focalin doesnt seem to make me so agitated.
Last year I did the same thing.I plucked and picked at my eyebrows so much I got a bad staph infection.It looked awful and I had to cover it up with a bandage.It cost me alot of money.I always picked at it when my adderall was wearing off.My Dr.upped my Paxil and Neurontin and added Abilify.I have not picked at it in a long time.It has healed nicely except for the brow hair not growing back.
Wow - so often I read here about picking skin AFTER starting meds. With me - I was unconsciously picking right up until I started them! Once I got on dexedrine the nail biting, scab picking and generally yucky other things went away. I am sure I had OCD and the dexedrine just seemed to erase it right away! I always end up feeling doubly lucky when I hear about things like this.
I know from hearing from others that a lot of MDs seem to start out people on a very strong dose of meds right away - then drop it when they see side effects. Seems anticonstructive to me! My psych started me at 10mg dex once a day - and only when it seemed to be needed did he up it - and then only very very slowly. I've upped it twice in 10 months and only up to 30mg. That seemed very logical to me - and just didn't make sense the other way. Oh well.
I've also heard of people who habitually abuse meth and other amphetamines being driven to pick at healthy skin until looking very damaged. In fact, it's one of the main things police look for when detecting meth abuse in suspects. Scary.
I feel bad for you guys who ended up picking up OCD instead of losing it. I can't imagine how helpless I'd feel if I was still picking away like before. I hope that all of you can find the balance with or without extra meds to make it go away.
Hi Bluebird,
Usually skin picking is associated with those who use methamphetamine. I have not heard of those on methylphenyldate suffering from this. A cut back on the dosage would be helpful.
One of the greatest secrets of using stimulants to medicate ADHDers is fine tuning. People tend to max out on their dose, and take it like clock work. The drug companies like it because you use more product, but ultimate, you don't get the most out of the drug. I take Adderal only when I need to do some real focusing, and then I take only 7.5 milligrams. The cool thing about stimulants compared to other drugs is that if you don't need it for a given task, then don't take it!
take care,
Howie