Well, it isn't so much that you are necessarily getting injured, just that you are overdoing it- which can lead to injury and will certainly result in being sore.
The best way to state it is through an example. Say you go and lift weights and you lift a 50 pound weight 10 times and at the end feel like you acheived muscle fatigue and are appropriately tired. Then you take a stimulant the next day and go lift a weight. This time, the 50 pound weight doesn't make you as tired after 10 reps like it did the day before without the stimulant. So you get a heavier weight, perhaps it takes 70 pounds now to feel the same level of muscle fatigue as what was 50 pounds without the stimulant. You aren't suddenly that much stronger the next day, but the stimulant makes you feel like you aren't exerting as much effort on the lower weight. So, if you lift that extra 20 pounds everyday for a week or more, then your muscles are getting more and more worn out which will result in increased soreness and then possibly injury from overuse.
It doesn't make the stimulant bad or anything and you shouldn't stop exercising or cut back on what you were doing before you started taking stimulants. You just need to be aware that you aren't increasing the amount you are doing too fast once you are on the stimulants. And I am a huge believer that all people with ADHD need to get out and exercise as much as they want because it makes me feel so much better.
And not everyone metabolizes their meds the same, and not all ADHD meds are metabolized the same way. I just noticed that if I took my meds before my runs, then the meds cut off about an hour earlier that day. So taking them after my intense workouts prevents that. (My runs are usually about an hour long and over 6 miles.) When I go to the gym and just do some light weight lifting and stretching for about 30 min., it does not seem to affect the meds.
Again, I am not a doctor, just someone who has been running competitively for about 18 years so this is just from my experience and theory. I would suggest if you are sore from working out and think it might be related to your meds that you talk to your doctor about it before taking anything for the soreness or continuing your workout.
~ADHDgirl
http://ijustlearnedihaveadhdnowwhat.blogspot.com/
[QUOTE=patrickmc]Interesting. Yesterday, when I posted, I was more sore than usual, though today it is pretty much gone. The day before yesterday I had gone to the gym (the first time in about a month) and lifted a few weights for upper body and then ran on the treadmill. I'll mention this sternum business to my doc. when I see him in about a month. If he knows anything about it, I'll post it. I googled "costochrondritis" and "adderall" and found a couple of cases. It's not anything serious, I don't think, I just wish it would go ahead and heal. I'm trying to find the right medicine to help with some of the tension and anxiety caused by the Vyvanse. Such a medicine might very well help with this sternum soreness if indeed the stimulant is to blame. [/QUOTE]
Hey Patrick, I've been on Prozac for my Anxiety for a long time (since before I was diagnosed as being ADHD), I take it along side Vyvance and I'm fine with it. The Prozac seems to calm my original anxiety as normal and any additional anxiety which may be caused by the Vyvance.
I am not a doctor or personal trainer or anything, but I have been a competitive athlete for many years. My first thought in reading this is that it isn't so much the stimulant that is causing it, but the stimulant that is masking the strain and overuse. One of the reasons stimulants are banned in athletic competition is because they allow an athlete to push themselves farther/harder/faster without feeling the aches and soreness and desire to stop as soon. Long term use of stimulants and too much exercise would possibly cause you to miss the signs that you have trained too hard. Since some stimulants can act as a sort of anti-inflammatory, they can make you feel like you are healing and not as sore, when really you haven't - just like Advil can make you feel less sore, but you are still injured.
I have found that if I take my stimulant before my workouts that day, the stimulants were used up faster and the workout seemed much easier. For these reasons, I will do my intense training workouts first thing in the morning before I take my meds.
I am sure your doctor may have a better answer, but that would be my first guess. I would suggest either taking your meds after your workout if you can or lightening up on your workouts for a while and see if that gets better. If it is muscle overuse, then ice packs for 15min. at a time every hour or two on the sore area will help it heal.
~ADHDgirl
http://ijustlearnedihaveadhdnowwhat.blogspot.com/
That might very well be it, adhdgirl. When I first started the Vyvanse this summer, I was going to the gym almost every morning. This would be about an hour after taking the medicine, and so, unsurprisingly, I was working out harder. I probably overdid it and continued to exercise when, unbeknownst to me, the affected area needed more time to heal. Thanks for the post. That was very insightful, ADHDgirl. So you're basically getting injured but don't feel it until you are REALLY injured, is that correct? My son is only eight but is constantly "exercising" like crazy because he is so HHH. Also interesting is your link between using up the meds and movement. I'll have to remember that.