I've been taking 60mg of Adderall for about 3 months now.
I have also been a smoker for about 3 years, but I always had it under control, and never felt addicted; I frequently would quit for days or weeks at a time and then pick it up again, smoking perhaps a third of a pack a day, on average.
Since the very first day I started Adderall I felt such a compulsion to smoke that I was up to a pack a day after less than a week on the drug, and stopping proves very, very difficult. On days when I skip my Adderall dose I find it's very, very easy to stay away from cigarettes altogether, and in fact I find myself not even wanting to smoke, on those days.
Within the past week I decided I need to quit or at least significantly reduce my intake. I've switched to hand-rolling tobacco (partly because I hate rolling tobacco so that makes it easier not to smoke it, and partly because it takes much more effort to have a cigarette when you have to roll them yourself, which again makes it easier to not smoke). So I'm now down to 2 to 3 cigarettes a day, for 3 days so far. While that seems great, I also find that now that I reduced my smoking, my dose of Adderall does not seem to have the effect that it used to. In fact it doesn't seem to be working at all anymore. I've completely lost all my energy and drive to do the things I need to do. My house is a mess because I can't seem to get myself to clean it. I'm slow to get up in the morning and barely make it to classes on time. I also can't seem to get myself to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. And worst of all, my focus is completely gone, which is of course the reason I started Adderall to begin with. I can't seem to keep a thought in my head long enough to act on it. Even writing this post seems to take a massive mental effort for me.
I've been reading up on this and all I can find are studies confirming that Adderall does increase most smokers' intake of cigarettes. There is no good conclusion as to why; some say it's because smoking increases the effects of Adderall, since cigarette smoke contains stimulants, while others say that it's because it actually DECREASES the effects, ie, it counteracts the aggitation of the stimulants in Adderall and therefore your body craves it to get you more normalized. Still others say it's the reverse; Adderall simply reinforces the craving that smokers have felt for smoking even before taking Adderall, whatever the actual original cause of those cravings was (nicotine dependancy, oral fixation, many other possibilities) and has nothing to do with how the smoke interacts with the effects of Adderall.
What I can't find anywhere is anything on quitting smoking while on Adderall. Nothing confirming my experience that quitting seems to decrease the benefits of Adderall, or any advice on methods for quitting smoking while staying on Adderall.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Anyone successfully quit smoking while on Adderall? And if so, what have you observed about how quitting affected the effects of Adderall? I'm going to try increasing my dose by 20mg to a total of 80mg and see what happens. If anyone has any info on, or experience with this, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it. Thanks :)
While not on Adderal - I'm on dexedrine sulphate. I find that my smoking has actually decreased while on it - down about a quarter pack a day. I'm thinking it's just the extra things I'm doing and not a decrease in the urge to smoke.
Smoking is supposed to bind to receptors in the brain adapted to pleasure and pain. Perhaps the adderal loosens up some extra receptors and makes you want to fill them in? Just threw that one out not a clue.
Maybe you can go on zyban? I'm thinking of talking to my doc as my insurance company lets me have one shot at zyban for free. I'm making sure it's when I can do it or they'll be no second shot for it.
Zyban to the best of my understanding will not interact with adderal - and perhaps as it's an antidepressant too you may get good results. If you try it before me (you may I take a while to decide things LOL) then let me know!
I am currently trodding my way through the litany of add drugs with little or no success!!!However, when I was taking adderal(which I liked at first but then realized it made me more anxious than normal so I quit) I smoked and smoked and smoked!!!!I have been a smoker for about 20 years, have quit off and on, WELLBUTRIN totally helped in that respect(but unfortunately it stops working and when I say stops I really mean STOPS) so I guess I'm writing to say--Adderal increased my desire to smoke like a chiminy and when i'm not on it I can at least manage--Damage control!equazcion!!
I agree on everything you've said!!!!!..... Im 18 and i have been an athlete my whole life... so i never wanted to smoke and said i would never ever smoke. My senior week came and that week I decided not to take my adderall (30mg XR). I tried a cigarette after my friends said.. "come on... its a nice buzz!". I smoked about 3 packs that week and i said to myself "I wont do this when i get home" WRONG. I got back on my adderall and YES my craving is much higher.... AND if in the morning i havent had the right amount of nicotine.. my adderall basically isnt even effective! I am playing football in college so i dont want to smoke .. so i started to Rub... but i still smoke about 2 - 3 cigarettes a day anyway to keep my adderall working..... I looked online for ways to quit while on adderall and couldnt find anything except this forum..... We need to find a way! i was even thinking about taking a week off of my adderall to see if that could help... but then not having adderall AND nicotine would put me in a depression of sorts! This being said.. YES I HAVE EXACTLY the same EXPERIENCE as you!
I tried the increased dose of Adderall today of 80mg as opposed to my normal dose of 60mg. It helped TREMENDOUSLY. The benefits of the Adderall are back today, and my ciggy cravings are, well, still there, but much more toned down and easier to deal with. Whereas the past few days I've felt the need to smoke right after breakfast, today I went without a single puff until about 5:00pm. I've had 3 total today and I'm going to bed as soon as I finish writing this (2:00am). I didn't even feel like I even NEEDED all 3 today, but I decided in the beginning that I would allow myself 3 or 4 per day, so it's hard not to do it when I'm "allowed" :)
At this dosage I feel like I definitely have a very good chance of quitting completely. It's only been a day, but if this keeps up, I think it definitely would support the conclusion that smoking enhances the effects of Adderall, so when you quit smoking, you're pulling the rug out from under you, so to speak. Your body is so used to that extra stimulation and giving it up puts you in a kind of hightened withdrawal. Replacing the cigarettes with a little more Adderall seems to have worked so far, but I will report back after I have some longer-term experience with it.
So, bman30, if you can, try increasing your dosage one day and see what happens. Since you're on 30mg a day, assuming you're taking three 10mg pills (they usually perscribe low per-pill doses so you can safely experiment with tweaking you dose, so I'm assuming you don't just take a single 30mg pill), I would try taking an extra 10mg pill for a total of 40mg. Let me know if you decide to try that, and let me know how it works out for you.
Yea, I agree on how you said " Your body is used to the overstimulation." This is exactly what I thought.... I am on 30mg XR.. (extended realease) so I couldnt add dosage because they give me 30 pills for each month.. just enough.
That is a good idea to add your dose, but now your body may get used to your new dosage......... and if u start to get off of 80 back to your normal dose, you may want to smoke again OR just not get off of your 80. But if this works for you to stop nicotine, it could be worth it. I just have read overstimulation can cause high blood pressure and other problems. Hmmmm Get back to me... this is interesting....
Even if I end up staying on 80mg per day I could live with that. It's better than smoking, and a lot cheaper. Insurance rocks.I am also on the XR version of Adderall. When I said I take 80mg, I meant I take it all in one shot in the morning.
Overstimulation is a concern, you're right. You can become hypertense, get high blood pressure, even anurisms. All you need to do to avoid something bad from happening is to remain careful and smart about it; Get a physical once in a while, or even just take your blood pressure yourself somehow, like if you know someone with a machine. You can also pay attention to the physical indicators of your tension level that you can often see or feel for yourself, like your heart rate or pulse, and involuntary fidgeting.
If upping your dose is not an option you can try replacing cigarettes with other things. For instance, I find that caffiene gives me a very effective pick-me-up, even on an emotional level, ever since I started Adderall. I was never affected much by caffiene but Adderall has made me fairly sensitive to it. Perhaps if when you feel the need to have a cigarette to keep your Adderall working you instead had some kind of caffinated energy drink, or coffee, that might have a similar effect (or at least enough of an effect that you wouldn't feel the absolute need for a cigarette).
I HAVE THE PERFECT REMEDY MAN!!
grind up your pills and roll them up with tobaaco and smoke it!
Its the best of both worlds!!!!
You're right, that sure does sound like the perfect solution. I'll be sticking to the non-lethal uses of Adderall though, I think. I've got a 40th birthday coming up in about 16 years that I'd like to be around for.
Haha Equazcion...... That bigjake person posted a Smoking adderall Post....That is so stupid... that is what gives adderall and other perscriptions a bad name!
i didnt take adderall yesterday to see how it would work.... Well the smoking wasnt as bad... but it was a terrible day.. and i still smoked a couple cigs.... so that was not a solution..... I hope ur doing well with your smoking
I was reading this quit smoking thing and this guy had a good idea.....
Anyway you know that voice in the back of your head saying come on smoke a cigarette you need it... and the "good" you is saying no no no!!... And that other voice is too overwelming and is making excuses for a smoke....Well, someone without adderall or a stimulant, only has that voice lingering while they are "craveing" a cig..... Stimulants keep that "voice" around all the time... this is why I think we are having the trouble... This being said..... it will be harder for us to quit.... Whenever that bad voice starts saying ok time for a cigarette... be stubborn and say NO SCREW YOU! I am not .. or say ok quit thinkin about it... this could help... but it is still much harder with our adderall....
"Stop thinking about it" is a bad idea. when you are "addicted" to something, like smoking, your natural compulsion is to smoke. It doesn't matter whether you are thinking about it or not - it's like a reflex, it's an involuntary thing that your brain is always ready to pounce on. Stop thinking about it and you allow your involuntary reflexes to take over, you let your guard down. You MUST think about it in order to quit.
The other idea there was not bad though. Personifying your craving can be beneficial for some people. It gives you a "virtual" entity that you can get mad at, someone to defy and fight, making the struggle less abstract.
Something that works for me in some instances is a bit different. bman, being an athlete, you might like my method better. Simply imagine yourself after you've quit being able to tell people that you did it. IT will make you look really good, people will respect you. Everyone knows how hard it is to quit smoking, and if you can say you did it, you'll feel pretty good about yourself, and others (read: girls) will respect you for having that kind of control and self-dicipline.
i take adderall xr 30 mg. but when i take it i think that i half to smoke or i need to. but when i dont take it i still feel that way. what should i do should i just start hand rolling them myself or what.|
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