I have been on adderall 20mg since July 2019 when I was diagnosed at age 47. It has been great for my focus and decreased my anxiety but I have put on 40lbs! I am always hungry on adderall and have a history of compulsive eating. Any advise? Should I look at changing medications? This has been a miracle medication in so many ways but the weight gain is unbearable.
Thanks
I haven't been on Adderall so I can't be much help. My PA prescribes Vyvanse for me. It's supposed to help with ADHD but also with binge eating, which was something that happened after I stopped Wellbutrin. So far it doesn't really help for me. That being said, it is an approved medication for binge eating so it may be worth asking about. From the ADHD perspective Vyvanse has worked great for me.
I recently moved from vyvanse to concerta because the vyvanse wore off mid day. Coupled with a cocktail of klonopin and Zoloft and I’m a drug store
Impossible.
Actually not impossible at all. Please don’t be so mean. It’s not attractive. There is a forum that describes women of a certain age with compulsive eating issues and weight gain on adderall. I have found it can actually trigger compulsive behaviors as a negative side effect. I was simply seeking to find out if anyone on this forum experienced the same.
My apologies. I wasn't trying to be a. Mean b. Rude or not attractive.
Can you tell me the source or your studies on your "trigger"
I have found it can actually trigger compulsive behaviors as a negative side effect.
Hey! Can you let me know where and how to find that forum please?!? I just found this and I think that would be so helpful to me. Thank you for your post 💙🧚♀️
My initial instinct was to say that normally doesn’t happen. But I agree actually that it causes weight gain because when it wears off at night and if you have had a suppressed appetite all day then yiu are more likely to binge eat, at night which could lead to eventual weight gain. That did in fact happen to me. But there’s always many other factors at Play as well. I would try vyvanse because it helps prevent binge eating by allowing people to eat smaller amounts throughout the day instead of unintentionally starving all day on adderall and binge when you come down. There’s no crashing with vyvanse
While what you are stating is likely true, I actually was hungry and gained wait whileAdderal was active in my system, not when it wore off. I eventually switched to Vyvanse and while I do not have hunger the way I did on adderall, it does not help you lose weight. I still have to watch what I eat and work very hard to get the weight off that gained while on adderal.
I am a 39 year old female and I gained 29 pounds on adderall xr (which was the first medication tried). All I wanted to do was eat. Same with Ritalin. It’s not uncommon or impossible, and you’re not alone!!! Tried vyvanse which was awesome but made me feel flat and detached. Right now, am on Wellbutrin and adderall ir (versus xr) and seem to be doing pretty good! There’s something that will work for you, just talk through it with your doctor to make sure he/she knows as you don’t have to experience unbearable side effects!
PS I too have a history of compulsive eating/emotional eating
Amen! Someone to talk to! I need to look up Adderall IR. I am not familiar with it. But yes, you can gain weight on Adderall!!! I am proof!! And there are more of us out there we are just not the norm.
Thank you!!!
I started taking 10mgs of Adderall about a year ago, a few months ago, I noticed weight gain. No matter how much I work out and diet, I can't get it off! And I'm a Personal Trainer. I stopped taking it for like 4 days and decided to go back on in a variable dose like I was before I started taking it daily. It is so frustrating!
Adderall IR is instant release (short acting) only lasts 3-6 hours and XR lasts 8 hrs. People take IR multiple times a day. That doesn’t help me. It’s too much toRemember and lots of come downs and could lead to more binging later.
No need to answer, but if you are a woman, sudden weight gain accompanies menopause- which has REALLY pissed me off since I didn’t anticipate this additional cherry on the cake. Pretty depressing in combo with the meds. I learned of my ADHD at age 50 (which really pisses me off too), so still figuring out how to change my diet and stress management approaches. Take it one thing at a time.
Vyvanse stopped the binge eating for me. Adderall worked but the anxiety I felt cause me to make a million trips to the kitchen, 7-11 or whatever. When I switched to Vyvanse the weight came off.
Wow!! I am so glad to hear that vyvanse turned it around. Has it helped the adhd issues? The adderall helps me so much but it has really sent me to food constantly as well. I want something that is as effective but stops the weight gain!! Thank you for the hopeful feedback!
It works better than anything else I have taken in the past.
Also, may ask what mg of vyvanse worked for your binge eating?
I am on a high dose due to absorption issues. I take 210 mg. a day.
gained 8 lbs in a month. switched from welbutrin after horrible constipation issues.
I’ve been on adderall - 60 mg a day (I take 20mg 3x a day) for years. When I began taking it, I weighed 130lbs and now I weigh 200lbs. (I’m 40) Can’t lose weight to save my life. My doctor was extremely puzzled and actually didn’t believe me that I only eat a couple of times a day and when I started working out for an hour every day at 5am, and only lost 5 lbs in 6 months, he started taking me seriously.
So, after all that, we found out that my thyroid is WAY under active. Apparently not even adderall will have an affect on weight if your thyroid is the trigger. So after all this time, it has just been figured out.
I would suggest having your thyroid levels checked thoroughly. Sadly, some doctors think you should be losing not gaining when you’re on adderall, but underlying factors get in the way. Push your way into having your doctor help.
Like you, I take 60mg /day, underactive thyroid (Hashimoto's) and have weight gain. I switched my eating habits to AIP (autoimmune protocol) and I was able to lose the 30lbs that I could never shed. I would recommend looking into AIP cause I believe it could be beneficial.
I have been on XR 30mg and 20mg in the afternoon. I used to take vyvanse but my insurance stopped covering it so I switched to adderall. I’m the last year I’ve gained 22 pounds, I run 4 miles 5 days a week and eat incredibly healthy bc I couldn’t figure out the weight gain problem. This chat thread has opened my eyes!
I’m not sure if switching back to vyvanse will help me lose the 22 pounds but I am hopeful! Does anyone have the same experience?
I've gained weight on Adderall. I started taking it everyday about a year ago; before that, I was taking a variable dose, like 3-4 times per week, when I really needed it. I stopped it cold for 4 days, and then started the variable dose again, but so far no weight loss. I like, you, am very physically fit and don't eat a lot. Eating even less and working out more. So damn frustrating. Going to ask my Doc about Vyanese
Hi I’m having the same problem. 20 pounds in the last year. I’m convinced there’s something different in the drug and it’s not the same. Have you lost since stopping.
I am struggling to lose the weight I have gained. I noticed my appetite actually increased rather than decreased on adderall. Vyvanse has not decreased my appetite but it has not increased it. I feel it has addressed my ADD relatively well but I still wonder if there is something better out there.
I am experiencing the same thing and have gained 20lbs. I take 10mg 2x daily and I am starving all day long. It has especially caused me to crave and binge on sweets.
How awful to have such a wonderful change in focus, only to have the problem of weight gain. When I first started taking it, the weight dropped steadily. That was about 10 years ago. However, five or so years ago it came to a screeching halt and the numbers on the scale did a u-turn. I dropped from 230 to 180, but in the past 5 years or so have gained back to 210. I do not eat when I am not hungry, walk, kayak, etc. and nothing works. Unbelievably I gained weight when I dropped my calorie count to 1,000 cal per day. This past weekend I went camping, no junk food, whole foods such as fruit, chicken, and veggies, walked approx. 3-4 miles per day, slept well, and came home to a 3 pound weight gain in 4 days. So I completely understand how frustrating this must be for you.
This post sounds like I wrote it myself ... sooo frustrating ... I’ve taken Adderall XR 30 mg x 1 daily for about 3 years ... all of the sudden I’ve gained 20 pounds and there’s really no reason why ... I’m 44 years old, so hormones might be playing a role? I’m actually weaning off the Adderall as we speak ... guess we’ll see what happens! 😬😉
Regarding weight gain, is it muscle or fat mass? There are consumer grade fat percentage scales which can give an approximate but objective value. Sometimes people worry about weight gain when fit and if it's more muscle then it will be a little misleading
Wow this is spot on my issue. I have a theory and wanted to see if it sounds dumb, but do you think maybe something changed in the drug formula recently that’s causing issues? I didn’t realize it until today but my weight gain problem didn’t happen until I switched from generic “amphetamine salts” to name brand Adderal XR.
I’ve been taking Adderal XR/generic Adderal XR for around 8 years now. I lost literally 120 pounds (was 300 before taking it) within the first few years of taking It, kept it off and maintained my weight and now just within the last two years or so it’s been rising steadily again. I know you aren’t supposed to take it to lose weight, but it’s like it changed my metabolism for a while and now made it worse.
Also I never worked out or ate healthy or anything like that, I was lazy and had an office job sitting all day when I was losing weight. Now I’m basically a fitness maniac trying to get this to stop, working out daily and eating great, it’s bizarre. I just got switched to Vyvanse two days ago and I’m on 70mg which is supposedly the highest and I have absolutely no energy or drive as if I didn’t take anything at all.
Also I’ve learned Vyvanse works by giving your body a certain chemical that your body takes and naturally changes into the drug given by Adderal and other ADHD medications, rather than giving you the actual drug upfront or spacing it out hourly like Addderal XR. To me that sounds like Vyvanse being effective would rely on your metabolism and tolerance to stimulants.
I’m thinking Vyvanse works like this: 1. The patient has never been on Adderal or any alternative stimulants. That way even if their metabolism naturally sucks and can only break down a small amount of Vyvanse at first, their low tolerance will make them still “feel” it and make a noticeable change in their energy and metabolism to be able to break down and convert Vyvanse and get it working right away.
Or 2. they’re assuming people will be switched to Vyvanse from another stimulant and hope that stimulant is currently helping their metabolism work well enough to be able to break down and convert Vyvanse fast enough to be able to stop taking their current stimulant and let Vyvanse take the wheel.
To sum up my long rant, I think Vyvanse isn’t working for me because I have a high tolerance to stimulants from being on Adderal for so long and also have a naturally bad metabolism that I can’t rely on breaking down the ingredient in Vyvanse well enough on its own. So to everyone like me who’s adderal isn’t working anymore, how do we lower our tolerance so it works again lol
I have gained weight too! Thank you for this, I searched before and thought something else was wrong with me because I couldn’t find anything online everything said weight loss, but my tummy has been an endless pit, I have come off the adderall now for 2 weeks and just back to Wellbutrin . My adderall seemed to have turned on me. No focus anymore, always hungry and just no motivation. Plus the weight gain. Been on it since September 2019 (34 years old) I felt like a miracle had happend for my mental health when I first started it. I have tried vyvanse, I was wayyy to “wired “ I felt very paranoid and anxious , then the concerta knocked me out within an hour and I’d wake up high or something 3 hrs later I don’t like that, but the adderall cleared my mind and I felt normal. Now it doesn’t do that anymore so I’m back to Wellbutrin 300xl . 30lb weight gain and that’s me excervise 3-5 days a week trying to balance my eating
I’m 45 about to be 46 and have been on Adderall off & on since I was 26… When I was younger, I would usually lose weight but I was also going thru many changes like when I was pregnant with my 1st son got off of it immediately and didn’t get back on it till I was in my 30’s Everytime I would start back I would lose weight but eventually gain it back cause honestly women go thru a lot of hormonal changes which affects everything!Over the last 5 months I’ve gained weight and now I have a stomach pouch which I’m doin everything to lose it! Anyway, Fast forward a few years into the pandemic, I stopped taking my Adderall when I had Covid due to the meds & inhalers I had to use, I was afraid of the unknown and didn’t want to take any chances… Just saw the doc and I’m clear to start taking it again… In the past I was on 40mg which I would take 1 20mg early morn & 1 20mg around lunch…. Now I’m starting back with just 20mg … Sorry for all the long info but just wanted you to know that you are not alone!
Is the overeating happening at the end of the day when the meds have worn off? Because I go on big eating sprees when my Adderall doses have worn off as do many other people who take stimulants. That's totally normal, as is overeating on days when you don't take it at all such as weekends or any other "med vacations". It's called a rebound effect.
You just have to be sure to exercise control, count calories (use a TDEE calculator to see how many you should be eating to lose/maintain a healthy BMI) & try to find joy in things other than food. "Eat to live, don't live to eat" as the saying goes. Avoid junk food & calorie-rich things like sweets, high-fat greasy stuff & fast food & opt for healthier things just to keep your stomach full.
If all else fails, talk to your doctor about switching meds. Adderall is far from the only stimulant out there.
I actually feel like I crave carbs/sweets. It is much better now that I switched from ER to twice daily. I am really trying to exercise control. I am going to Google TDEE calculator. Not familiar with that!
Have your doctor order a blood test specifically to check if you have a thyroid problem. Adderall and other amphetamines can mess with your thyroid which regulates things like appetite and metabolism. I’m on 40mg adderall (4x 10mg through the day as needed) and I don’t eat all day, only once at night time, and I’ve gained 60 lbs in 6 months. Turns out I have a thyroid issue that the adderall triggered early (I’m 25y, but my mother’s side of the family has a history of thyroid problems kicking in around 45y). It’s apparently a very simple fix and my doctor is going to start me on thyroid medication to correct my slowed metabolism. Hope this info helps!
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