Adderall and anxiety - HELP! | ADHD Information
Hi, I am pretty new to this forum and also to ADHD. I was diagnosed about 6 months ago although alot of the symptoms have been there for along time. I am 32 and a graduate student and I am definitely not living a life that is healthy for ADHD. Or probably anyone else really. When I was first diagnosed, I was on Ritalin, which helped a little but not great. I went to a neurologist in July and he had me switch to Adderall. For a while I it was working really well, but in the last month I'm not so sure. One thing, I have noticed is that I seem to be having a serious problem with anxiety. I hung up on my best friend the other day because she was talking and talking and not saying anything really important and I started hyperventilating and I thought I was going to pass out so I hung up. I have been feeling generally anxious and depressed. Alot of things in my life are super stressful right now so that could be why, but I am wondering if it could be related to the medication. Has anyone else had problems with Adderall and is there something else which might work better? I'm new to ADD too, and I just tried Adderall and experienced mild anxiety at only 10 mg. It's pretty common! You're certainly not alone.Yes, adderall causes anxiety. I have OCD(which is an anxiety related disorder) and ADD and while I need the medicine to focus and concentrate, the anxiety at times drives me crazy. I have found that taking 15-20 minutes a day for myself with NO disctractions (cell phones included) has helped me a great deal.
I too, sometimes find that when taking the adderall, I have no patience with people not getting to the point. It's really bad when I have PMS. Some days it doesn't bother me at all. But, just the other day, my friend was talking to me and I was trying to cook dinner, keep the kids in line, etc. and all she wanted was my full attention and it was driving me crazy!!!! What is it with people that see you are super busy, but don't care.....they just want to ramble and ramble.It comes and goes....Do you take anything in addition to adderall for anxiety...i.e. zoloft, lexapro, etc.????
Not sure how to deal with this myself.
Maybe you should try a combination of Adderall + Strattera? I find that Strattera is very good at reducing anxiety. I am have anxiety too with Adderall to (im on 15mg xr). My doctor put me on Prozac, but now I feel sluggish. How much longer will I feel this way? I am wanting to stop everything.
bman, you obviously don't realize the importance of being able to focus. some of us have tried other medications and adderall seems to work best for the focus aspect of add. sounds like you may have a bit of anxiety the way you sort of blasted out that way. how about giving some support, not a smart alleck, insensitive remark?????woahh,
why so grumpy!? Im sorry if there was any offense taken. I guess it does look that way..... I guess I could have suggested to try a different med. However, my opinion would not take another drug or "drug cocktail" to cover the side effects of another drug. 
bman3039063.0944328704not grumpy, just honest. everyone does have an opinion and it would be bliss if there were a medication (especially stimulants) that didn't have a side effect. i guess we all have to make the choice, happy, well rounded life, with a "drug cocktail" or take med after med, become frustrated and eventually just give up. who knows? i'm pmsing like a crazy person, so you'll have to pardon my grumpiness. being a woman sometimes SUCKS!
I am taking Adderall XR(60mg), Lamictal (150mg)which is a mood enhancer and Klonopin (1/2 mg if taking it by day they have me on 1mg which makes me very sleepy so I only take the 1mg if I cant sleep).
But the 1/2 mg Klonopin kicks my anxiety down a few notches for certain! Also, I was just increased on Adderall XR and Lamictal as well and it all seems to be working in sync with each other. I take Adderall in the morning and the Lamictal at night and Klonopin whenever but I take it each day. 
I never thought I would find a happy medium...honestly... and like everyone says here, you have to find what works for YOU with the help of your doctor ( I see a psychiatrist for my medication)
There are other ADHD drugs you could try first to see f they worked without causing as much anxiety. I know you have tried ritalin but focalin works well for some without as many side effects and other preparations of ritalin might work differently too, like concerta or the daytrana patch.
Good Luck!
Personally, I had been diagnosed with panic disorder (the hyperventilation and freak outs you were describing) and treated without success for several years before we finally figured out I was ADHD. Of course, for me the anxiety was a direct result of untreated severe ADHD, but stimulant meds still very much caused anxiety issues. Once your body has been conditioned to interpret certain physical signs as anxiety (like heart pounding, shakiness, etc), it'll interpret even medication side-effects as anxiety. It's possible that's what's going on with you right now. Adderall and Ritalin can produce anxiety-like effects, and that's how they exacerbate anxiety in people with anxiety disorders.
Two things have worked for me. On one hand, the cognitive behavioral therapy crap they were giving me for anxiety finally helped out (heh). Merely reminding myself that no matter how freaked out I'm feeling, it's just the adderall kicking in and my body not knowing any other way to understand it helps immensely. It may not stop the anxiety from starting, but it helps me function and keep it from blowing up more than it needs to. Second, I now use a combination of Adderall and Adderall XR. 17.5mg seems to be my optimal dose for my hyperactivity and such, but if I take 17.5mg of SR it tosses me into an anxiety spin for a while as the adderall begins hitting my system. I have found, however, that taking 5mg SR with 25mg XR (which releases 12.5mg twice) gives me all of the benefits of 17.5mg without the liabilities. The reason is that XR has a much lower speed of onset than SR. SR can hit as quickly as 20 minutes (I metabolize adderall VERY quickly unfortunately, so it definitely hits me in 20), but XR tends to take an hour to an hour and a half (it effectively has two casings. The capsul itself must dissolve, then the first beads must dissolve. So it takes longer). It means the 5mg has had a chance to hit before the 12.5mg begins, so the levels of adderall in my body rise slowly instead of quickly. I highly suggest either switching to XR or splitting your dose up between XR and SR to see if that helps you to relieve the anxiety.
Also, as others have mentioned, strattera is great for anxiety. Mixing low doses of strattera with a stimulant seems to be VERY beneficial to a lot of people.
[QUOTE=linderlou]
My son no longer takes Adderall
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I just wanted to tell you my story about my ADHD son. I have a happy ending and thought it may help some other mothers and fathers.When my son was 7 he was diagnosed with ADHD. He was put on Adderall which seemed to work very well in the beginning. I am not a medication person but I had tried several natural things that helped a little but not enough. The longer he took Adderall the more side effects he had. He got to where he didn't want to eat anything. He couldn't go to sleep at night. He didn't enjoy anything which I guess was the first signs of depression. He grew very little the 3 years he was on Adderall. His personality went from one extreme to the other. At school he looked super focused and at home when the medication wore off he had no focus at all. He got frustrated very easily
Someone told me serotonin was supposed to help ADHD. I knew nothing about serotonin so I went on the internet and started researching it. I found a product called Neu-Becalmd that was supposed to help increase serotonin and help a lot of my son's symptoms. I tried it and my son has been off of his medication for over 5 years now. He no longer shows the signs of ADHD and he is doing great in school. Neu-Becalmd works different than medication. It actually restores the brain where medication alters it. Neu-Becalmd usually doesn't work as quick as medication but the longer you take it the more benefits you see. You can find Neu-Becalmd by simply adding .com to the name. I learned a lot by reading the information on the website. I hope this helps.
[/QUOTE]
Folks
This is a blatant sales pitch for a product that has no evidence of efficacy
for ADD ... none.
The website mentioned attempts to fool visitors with pages of scientific
studies about a variety of chemical brain reactions. They intentionally find
the most complicated studies so that the user doesn't understand what they are
reading.
And worst of all, they provide no evidence of a credible clinical study
demonstrating the effectiveness of their product. If the product actually does
anything you think they would be eager to put it to the rigors of a clinical
trial by a credible research University or Hospital.
Be warned. There are dozens of scam products like this out there. Don’t be fooled by their smoke and mirror sales pitches.
MaxDad