I was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago and wanted to reach out. I have been on and off stimulants but I seem to have the strangest side effect from them. My neck always gets incredibly stiff and tight when I am on them, even at small doses. I have tried Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse and Concerta to no avail. They did help manage my ADHD pretty well but I just couldn't stand the neck discomfort. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and if theres something else that worked for you. I have done some literature research, as I have a background in medicine but I can't seem to find much published on this issue.
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Ben_X
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Can't say I've experienced neck discomfort on stimulants... But I may have some helpful info?
So I've noticed that my breathing is a little different on any stimulant especially if I'm not paying attention. And it turns out a lot of these stimulants are also mild bronchodilators and used to be prescribed as such a long time ago.
What I notice is that I'll switch over to more shallow chest breaths and stop properly stomach breathing as I should. I think this is a base problem for me to begin with due to a weak core, but stimulants make it worse if I'm not mindful of it. And because of the mild bronchodilation effect, I'm not actually short of breath even though I'm breathing less effectively by not engaging my diaphragm. And I get the urge to stretch and crack my upper back much more often than I would otherwise.
I've seen some mention of this elsewhere as well so I know it's not just me. And I've read that a lot of chest breathing eventually leads to stiff thoracic spine muscles and perhaps that is causing your stiff neck?
Hmm. Interesting theory. I haven't noticed any difference in breathing. But from my knowledge of accessory muscle use for breathing, it would make more sense to have sore neck muscles if I was having trouble breathing. Bronchodilation could lead to higher respiratory rate and thus more use of thoracic wall muscles that can make them sore.
I don't suffer from this now, but I'd be interested to know what you learn. When my doctor and I were testing different medications for my depression (prior to my adhd diagnosis) she would regularly ask me to watch for stiff neck and headaches near the base of my skull.
I'd be interested to learn more about this. I'm currently on concerta for my adhd and haven't noticed any more neck pain/strain than usual - I'll come check back and see if there's any new discoveries. <3
One thing that might help is to learn about, and start practicing, meditation. Learning how to slow down, and being more mindful, has helped me combat almost all of the negative side effects of stimulants.
The “waking up” App, by Sam Harris, might be a good place to start.
I have not experienced this personally, but there was a thread on here about a month ago about people experiencing neck pain with extended release formulations. You can try searching “muscle” to see if you can find it.
I don't know, but neck pain kind of makes sense to me. I started adderall last month and while it's super helpful I do find that I clench my jaw more during the day. Your neck pain might be from jaw clenching or some other muscle tension you're holding bc of the stimulant. For me, it's annoying but worth the trouble to be on meds. Like another commentor mentioned, I'm trying meditation stay more in touch with my body and be able to recognize those behaviors and like manually turn them back off. (It's helping but not fully there yet)
this is really interesting, i will be tested for adhd this week, and been on depression medication for a very long time, i see a chiropractor every two weeks and also get massage therapy, the massage therapist always tells me to "let go" and breathe, because i'm always in a flight or fight body mode, pretty much always tense, i can't let go off stiffness, and kind of don't pay attention to breathing, just like you are saying my neck and upper back always stiff, yes i feel great after the massage therapy but it is very short lived, interesting mention that the doctor said with the depression medication and stiff neck and headaches
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