Weight Gain on Adderal XR | ADHD Information

I found it very strange too. I know most of the meds for ADHD do make you lose weight. I questioned wether or not the med was working because of the sudden appetite. He seems to be adjusting well on it,. My first posting spoke of his anger but after adjusting the meds to 40mlg. He is happy, so it seems but he is eating everything in sight. I hope he doesn't blow up from this. By the way do you know if it is a 10 hour release or less, alot of the postings say that they take a second dose on the Adderal. He was on concerta and that was a 10 hour release and only took it once a day. Just curious where this is a new drug to us.

Thanks for your help..

That sounds very strange that he is eating that much. Sometimes when I forget to eat all day I get really hungry at night when the meds wear off but never while I'm on them. Plus before being used for ADHD Adderall was a weight loss drug.

Obviously it is some kind of side effect although unless he is gaining a ton of weight I wouldn't worry about it.

I've been a member of a lot of forums and talked to many ADDers over the years and can honestly say you are the first to say Adderall increases appetite. That doesn't mean it has never happened so please don't take my shock as anything more than just simple surprise. I obviously don't know everything about Adderall or ADHD it just struck me as strange.

my son is the same way since starting on ritalin,he has always been underweight but in one month since starting on ritalin he has gained alittle over a pound.this is one reason why i have'nt asked the dr. for a longer lasting med like adderall,maybe down the road i will.

I noticed since my son started on the Adderal XR he is constantly eating...I have read most or all of the side affects and they all say weight loss. Is it common to anyone else to be so hungry on this drug. When he was on Concerta I couldn't get him to take a bite of food till around 7 p.m. when it was wearing off, now he is always looking for something to munch on.

Any help would be appreciated. Plus I noticed he is getting real goofy always smirking and looking for attention.

By the way he is 9 and been on Adderal XR 40 mlg. for a week now.

Well just came back from the pedi and she said, She can give him an adderal booster of either 5-10 milgrams for him to take after school to get him through homework and sports,. The only downfall may be that I probally will have to give him the Trazadone to help him sleep. I am going to wait till the weekend to try it out and see if it is to much at the end of the day, Do you know how long the regular Adderal lasts is it about 4 hours till its out of the system?I'm thinking it lasts him through the school day. I see a change in him again around 3:00 p.m. I give it to him at 7:30 A.M...I am going to find out if I can give a regular adderal at that time to get him through homework. He is also going right to sleep by 8:00 p.m. with no sleeping meds, when he was on concerta he never shut his eyes and would take trazadone and clondine to go to sleep. He seems happier and very chatty which is a change. Hopefully it will continue working.yeah that is the only catch without another dose of adderall he has trouble with homework and after school stuff. Adding another dose however will probably wind up messing up his sleep again. It seems like a ctach-22 situation when treating ADHD. We get help for some things but create problems for others.A higher dose won't last longer it will just be stronger.Thanks that is good to know. Maybe I will have to add a reg adderal at 3 maybe a 5 mlg to get him through the rest of the day and hopefully it wont screw him up at night. I'll let you know what she says/Yes definately let me know. I have a lot of trouble sleeping so maybe whatever your doc suggests will work for me too. When he took the Concerta and Ritalin together he never shut his eyes,,,,he had a pysch who believed in just throwing drugs at me,It is a long story to summ it up. Christian was diagoned in first grade with severe ADHD. They refered me to this shrink. She started him on 36 mlg of Concerta we saw no change. She upped it to 54. After 6 months she upped him to 72 (which is not even made). That lasted about a year. When I told her I didn't think it was woirking and asked to change him to something else (I'm sure that he became to immuned after a while) She made me add 25 milg of Rittalin) Still no change she told me he had anxiety so she then added Abilfy. Well he never stopped eating and never slept..So more drugs, Now we add Klonidine at night and Trazadone. Slept but was so drugged that he was a walking zombie. Calm, miserable and never smiled. When I questioned her on that she said he is in a deep depression lets add Tripedal. When I got to the pharmacy the pharmacist started yelling to get him away from her. As the parent I took the proffesionals advice thinking my child needed all this, The pharmacist told me people in Phsyc wards are not that drugged. I talked to the pedi and she was horrified at what he was on...So we stopped it all. Had a lot of set backs from being so drugged. But I'm not sure if he should be this animated, is this my real kid who can concentrate at school , not be violent and still have fun. Needless to say we have pulled him from the pysch and the pedi is taking over. I still give him a half of trazadone for sleeping but am hoping to ween him off that too..He seems much happier but it isn't lasting long enough. I will let you know what she suggests, sorry about the winded story but thought you should know from how it all started.

Oh my god.

I can sympathize with the horrible psych. Mine had no experience with ADHD so decided I was depressed even though I told her I wasn't. She loaded me up on one drug after another of course never getting a result because I wasn't really suffering from depression. Like you I figured she was a professional, so she must know what she is talking about. So I kept taking more and more meds until I literally could not get out of bed. I would have to lay there for a half hour or more just to be able to get myself up to go to the bathroom. I told her how sick the meds were making me and I brought a long list of all the side effects I was experiencing. She told me that the medicine I was on doesn't cause those side effects, it was all in my mind. I had, had it at that point so I immediately stopped seeing her and taking the meds. I was sick for awhile from the withdrawal. It was really bad for a month but got better and better as time went on.

When I was feeling better I started talking to others that had taken the same meds as me and they reported the same side effects. Then I searched on line and found the side effects I experienced listed very clearly under the medication I had been taking. I eventually went to another doctor who put me on adderall and I'm doing much better but that first experience has made me pretty leary of doctors now. I was sick for 3 years because of that first doctor and it took me about another year to recover after stopping the meds. I still have some side effects from it but for the most part I'm healthy again. It just amazes me the lengths some doctors will go to just so they don't have to admit they were wrong.

Do I know how you feel, Imagine being an 8 year old and being so drugged that you can't function. He just turned 9 this month and he seems happy. I just hope and pray that it lasts. As for the physc I am reporting her to the medical board, She "supposidly" dealt with children but drugging a child that much was insane. If the pharmacist hadn't said something to me 2 weeks ago I would still be drugging him like that, My whole goal for him is to just be a happy non violent child. His grades have gone from d' and f's in September to all A's and B's. The teachers only complaint has been that he is chatty,,,,,and you know what, as far as I am concerned that is a good thing, it means he is on his way to being happy. I called the pedi and will meet with her this afternoon. I think for now I am going to leave him on the 40 with nothing else. If the grades go down then I will think about adding something else. But he has never been a straight A student and as long as he behaves and keeps his hands to himself I will be happy..He starts basketball next Wednesday and it is after school so I will see how he does and if he is OK I am leaving him.... Talk to you soonHow true that is, this is the first time in three years that he has fallen asleep at a reasonable time and has been waking up hapopy. It stinks for him but hopefully after all these years and a million differant meds we can finally get him adjusted. Do you know what doses the regular and the xr come in. I have been trying to find them but haven't been able to. Also what seems to be the normal does that everyone takes.

I have seen such varied doses that I couldn't tell you the most common. I know technically both Adderall and Adderall XR are prescribed from 5mg to 30 mg but just like everything else doctors can prescribe higher dosages when they are needed. It is not uncommon to hear of people on 40mg to 60mg of Adderall XR.

I'd say from a very vague look at what others have posted the most common is between 20mg to 40mg of Adderall XR.

How is this for a theory. When my son is medicated he becomes sort of anxious.

could the Adderall be causing anxiety and you gs in a comfort eater????

He is taking 40 right now but I am trying to figure out if they give him 50 will it last longer. I don't want to screw up his sleeping again by giving him more but I want him to be able to do the after school activities without being in trouble. He is on all kinds of sports teams but I dont want to go back to having him to hyper to be able to concentrrate and play the game.I have to call the pedi this morning to let him know how he is doing on this and I will see what she suggests. For my Adderall Xr lasts 7-8 hours and regular Adderall lasts 3-4 hours. I'd be interested in seeing how this works for others.

I really don't think the medicine is the probem at all.He growing My son did the same thing and he still does but now he's finally slowing down and the only thing that has changed is that he is older.He burning up his fuel faster and I strongly think that's what the medicine does it burns it up so he slows down,but his body needs to replace it so he eats more.My son did the same thing from about 9 or 10 to now and he currenly 15.He did the same thing in the past on 2 other meds but still doing it now on adderall just started to slow down.I didn't read all the replies to your posting so I don't know if anyone said this but this is just my opion but every child is diffrent so maybe I'm wrong either way good luckHi sorry I didn't respond sooner. I got knocked out by a killer cold the other day. I'm feeling better now finally. Regular Adderall is supposed to last 4 hours, for me it lasted 3 hours so there is a little difference for everyone I'm guessing. Did you wind up having to give him Trazadone? I've bever tried that med so always curious to see if there is something out there that can help me sleep. I've tried a bunch of meds for sleep so far both prescription and OTC and they all make me groggy the next day. I actually seem to function better without sleep then I do with the dopey hangover I get from the sleeping pills. Of course my body feels the effects of my sleepless nights so it's a lose-lose situation.Glad to hear you are feeling better..I met with the pedi again and have decieded on the days that he has an afterschool activity to give him the adderal booster in the afternoon. Unfortunatly adding that in I have to give him the trazadone agin to sleep. He was taking 100 mils of the trazadone but I have cut it down to 50. Yesterday I gave him the booster at 4:30 because he goes to open gym on Friday nights and I dropped him off at 6 and picked him up at 9 and at 11 last night he was still awake. I gave him the 50 of trazadone and by 11:45 he was finally sleeping. Idid noticed that is anger is more prominante when I give him that, So he woke up pretty grumpy and angry. Its a catch 22 with him. The adderal is working great so far, but it doesnt lsat long enough. Giving him the booster keeps him up all night and giving him the trazadone makes him angry. So I am at a stand still again. We have a halloween party from 4-8 tonight so I gave him the adderal at 9:30 because of no school, it should last him till at least 5, but am I going to be chasing him around like a nut at the party by six if I don't add the booster. If I do is he going to be up till tomorrow if I don't give him the trazadone. Maybe I should just see how he does, I just hate for him to embaress himself at this age, because the kids are so cruel. I did notice how happy he was with out the Trazadone, so as for you trying it, I know it does alter his mood some, but he doesn't seem to have a hangover feeling from it, the grumpyness wears off after about an hour of him being up,,but then again Im not real sure because in that time frame he takes his other meds, I know the doc said it shouldn't have any major side effects of being to tired or lethargic from it. I'll let you know how he does tonight. Talk to you soon L

Hope the halloween party was fun and your little guy didn't tire you out to much .

I know how you feel about him embarressing himself. Having friends is so important to a kids self esteem. It's amazing how cruel kids can be to each other. Of course they just as quickly switch gears and shock you with their sensitivity. It seems like they live only in the extremes. I never met a kid who was just a little mean when they get angry or just a little sensitive or caring about others. I remember my little brother used to shock me because he could be so mean to another boy at the park by our house one day. Then come home crying the next because of something that the teacher or another student said at school. I guess until then I just thought some kids were nasty and some were super sensitive but not really both.

Ok I'm rambling here and not even sure what I'm talking about. LOL must be too much cold medicine. Talk to you soon.

Cara

HI,

Well the party was long needless to say. I did notice that when I relax around him he does much better. I have and still always am so much on edge when we are in a social situation because for so long I never knew what he would do. He surprised me yesterday. I gave him his meds at 9:30 yesterday morning and we left for the partyat 4. I gave him a 5 mil booster instead of the 10.right before we left, hoping to get him through till 8. He was great, a little running around more than I would have liked but, there were 40 other kids doing the same thing. I of course jumped up a million times to tell him to stop, then of course the if looks could kill I would of been dead face came on, but then I soon realized that I was the only parent jumping up and down and noone else seemed to care that they were all running around..so I sat, and sat and sat somemore. The funny thing was, that he calmed more when I sat and he had a great time. He didnt like the fact to much that his sister and brother were invited too and that she would go near his friends and talk to them, but I just told her to go stay with the first graders and leave him and the fourth graders alone and she was fine with that,I was more shocked that when I said it is time to leave he immediatly got his goodie bag and the pieces of his costume and said OK mom....I more trouble getting my 3 year old to leave. I let him stay up last night and we made some snacks and watched the Red Sox game, We are from Boston,,,,,just him and I and the 2 little ones went to bed, so all in all he had a great day.

Gave hm a 50 trazadone last night and he slept in till 8:30 and has helped me clean all day....it is now that he started to act up, but I have nothing to do and no where to go so I am not going to give him a booster today, I think he is just getting tired and grumpy. He wants to go out and play but it is raining here. I tried to bargain with if your very good you can watch some of the game tonight but don't think he is going to make it. he is on the edge of blowing now...We will see.

I hope your cold is better and that you are up and around again. Talk to you soon. Wow dd I just ramble now that I read it back to myself...Have a good one..

Lisa

I take Adderal and I have gained weight. I think that it is because I love to cook, but before I took the Adderal I was not organized enough to shop and follow a recipe...now I print out recipes off tv etc. Maybe he has calmed down enough to enjoy meal time....or maybe it is from Anxiety ....they say that almost always ADHD is coupled with another disorder and it could be that his anxiety is more prominent with the Adderal or his age. Also eating can be calming or fulfilling and when he was hyper maybe he had to focus on that feeling and now that the hyperness is gone maybe he has discovered that other feelings are present and food helps....I would address this early if this is the problem...find out what is wrong and help him comfort himself some other way. Also don't reward kids with food...if you do then he could be rewarding himself with food for feeling well and having a "good" day at school.

I am taking 10 mg of Adderall daily and in the evenings I take a booster 5 mg of Focalin if I need to pay special attention to something. Anyway, although I am a woman in my 40's I have maintained my same eatting habits that got me into a plump state. Oh' by the way I take Adderall for ADHD not weight loss. However, I thought that that would be one of the benefits would be weight loss but no such luck.

it is a common reaction of the body to crave food when actually what it needs is water. How much water does your son drink in a day? during these winter months it is an arid environment in addition to him taking medications, his body is really in need of lots of fresh water. Sometimes the simplest approach is the most apparent solution. Good luck.

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Any help would be appreciated. Plus I noticed he is getting real goofy always smirking and looking for attention.

By the way he is 9 and been on Adderal XR 40 mlg. for a week now.

My son also went on Adderall XR 20mg for a week and from day 1 experienced a dramatic increase in appetite - even more than he normally would eat. He also experienced being less focused and more angry so we are going to ask the doctor to go back to regular Adderall. I don't know why the XR would be any different though.

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I met with my doctor today too and she said it probally wasnt the adderal xr with the anger,,but I still think it is,,,we have cut him down to 20 xr and 10 regular adderal but it isn't much better,, we are now going to try him on 25 xr and see how that goes if there is no change I am going to put him back on concerta,,,His appetite has cut back some, in the past few weeks but not to much, I did notice that he has not been eating all his lunch again, but as soon as he gets home he is starving....I am curios to know how you make out, so let me know,,,Hope all went well..

Lisa