Anxious

[Soul90]

I've been on Adderall for two days now and so far my experience is not so great. Im on 20mg, I take 10mg in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. My first day on Adderall, was half good and half bad. After taking my first dose I really felt like the medicine was working but for my second dose I notice a spike in my anxiety levels; I had the jitters, and I had a bad headache. After the medicine had worn down the side effects pretty much cleared. The second day taking the medicine I had no benefits. It felt like I was able to focus more but what I was focusing on gave me anxiety. Are these side effects normal; will they leave when my body gets use to the medication?

[quietlylost]

Sometimes your body will adjust. Other times the side effects may continue. It's important to work closely with your physician. You may want to continue the medicine over the weekend and then call your doctor on Monday depending on how you feel. It may be the dose is too high, you need to be switched to extended release, or the medication isn't right for you.

[JuliaDeSousa]

Maybe start at 5mg AM and 5 mg PM and ease your way up. Depends on body weight but that worked for me. Now I do 10 and 5.

[CleoAust]

Hi Soul90,

I was diagnosed about two years ago in my late 20s. I've tried three types of medications (including Adderall) in that time and can definitely empathize with the anxiety you describe as well as focusing on that anxiety. What I've learned in two years of trying to tackle ADHD is that medications work differently in different brains and maybe the right kind with the right dose will come along at some point but this might take time and some experimentation (while working closely with a doctor). For now, and because of this, at least for me, medication is only a small part of the answer. Still figuring out the best approach but I recommend ADDitude Magazine as a good starting point for many things ADHD-related. The publication has a lot of literature on approaches to managing anxiety in tandem with ADHD as they often feed on each other making things especially tricky. Fight the good fight and good luck!

[Eclecticentric77]

Hi there, I have Inattentive ADHD, and had multiple problems with my stimulant medication when first starting on ADHD medication nearly 5yrs ago. After researching ADHD for about 4 years I realized that stimulant medication brings a varied amount of changes/side effects for a good amount of people. Having ADHD, implies that an individual has low levels of these specific neurotransmitters. While stimulant medication helps with Dopamine and Norepinephrine, this leaves out other neurotransmitters that needed to be boosted due to low levels. These are the major neurotransmitters that people with ADHD have low levels of.

Dopamine : A neurotransmitter in the brain that affects your levels of concentration, motivation, pleasure senses, and sense of pain.

Norepinephrine : A neurotransmitter and stress hormone that deals with attentiveness, emotions, impulse control, planning ahead, sleep, and interpreting actions of others.

Serotonin : A neurotransmitter that deals with mood regulation, sleep, nervousness, empathy, appetite, digestion, and sexual urges.

Acetylcholine : A neurotransmitter that deals with muscle contraction, pain responses, mood regulation, REM sleep, and coordination.

I myself also had issues with anxiety and elevated heart rate that I thankfully got taken care of with supplements. The large amounts of oxidation that comes from taking stimulant medication can be taken care by taking the supplement R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, and it also simultaneously helps out with the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (which people with ADHD have low levels of as mentioned above) If this is of any interest, click my profile pic, it will take you to my profile, where in my bio you'll see theres a link of a google doc I made of every supplement I take that includes ones specifically to help those low neurotransmitters I mentioned above, along with some other helpful links and a helpful video I made conveying this info. Hope this helps.