Hello fellow travelers!I was diagnosed about a 6 months ago and have been on Adderall since. It has been incredibly helpful cognitively and emotionally. Also, I have some wear and tear injuries and osteoarthritis in hips and knees. I feel like the Adderall may be making my joint pain worse... but I can't be sure, it might just be that the injuries happen to be worsening anyway. Some reddit threads suggest the meds may be a problem.
So, two questions: have you found this to be a problem with Adderall? And would switching to a methylphenidate stimulant help?
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Babyjane1980
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I’ve had sciatica pain since I began mine, and I think I know why. Many of the problems you get with these stimulants can be linked to dehydration. With sciatica pain, you have to imagine water filled muscles easing the impact of bones, joints, nerves. Now take away that padding and dry it up, and you have the source of the pain. Dehydration causes muscles to tense up, and reduces blood circulation and any healing in your body. So, my main recommendation to all of us on medication is to drink water, a lot more water than you use to. If you don’t have to take the medication every day, then you could also let your body catch up on the off day. Continue to drink a lot of water on those days.
On a similar note, the medication will cause your skin to dry up. You may need lotion, and dry scalp shampoo like head and shoulders to prevent any embarrassing surprises.
Thank you, this makes a lot of sense! I thought I was doing a decent job with water and electrolytes, but probably not enough. I will double down and add in coconut water, magnesium, etc.
CinemaVerite, Thanks for the great hydration information. Hope this is not too personal a question but is your avatar photo of a waterfall? Thanks. (PS: my photo is of a black Labrador)
Addy (as I call it will dehydrate you with a vengeance every day. You really have to push a lot of water throughout the day more than the average person. I prefer to add electrolytes to my water because you need to make sure you have enough, and potassium levels stay normal. That is the biggest thing with Addy is hydration and do not eat citrus with it as well. Protein is also important to keep up with any stimulant.
Citrus and acidic things make the Adderall break down and not absorb properly. If you take the juice far enough from your med dose, it isn't an issue! Don't deprive yourself if you enjoy it.
It messes with absorption and effectiveness. You may be able to take your meds first , let it get in your system and then have your citrus. Alot of medications are like this with citrus.
Yep, I am realizing that this may be the key. I am going to make hydration my full time job, lol! Electrolytes, hydrating fruits and veg, etc. Honestly, it is worth it for the cognitive and emotional benefits.
I have hip dysplasia, and my pain definately increases when I'm taking meds. It's likely because of the decreased blood circulation and also dehydration if you drink/eat less. It has been so painful at times that I am concidering taking breaks.
I'll explain my best understanding on stimulants, dopamine, and something I learned by reading some research on pain, but I'm not a doctor or a neuroscientist, so take this with a grain of salt.
.....
The two stimulants, Adderall and methylphenidate, do the same thing: they are dopamine agonists (they stimulate the release of dopamine).
Some people respond the same to both, some people respond better to one than the other, and a very small percentage of people with ADHD aren't helped by either.
But each person responds differently to medication. We are each unique and complex.
I've found plenty of mentions in my online searches that say dopamine can help to reduce pain. (I found a study done with mice that said that in male mice dopamine reduced pain response, while in female mice dopamine increased movement activity. The researchers hypothesized that in the female mice, the increased movement was to distract from the pain.)
~~~~~
However, our bodies use many more neurotransmitters than dopamine.
While listening to a particular episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, I learned from professor of Neurology (and Opthalmology) Dr. Andrew Huberman that the same neurons that release dopamine also release glutamate.
• I've since read more information on this, and some of the research. It seems that when dopamine is released, glutamate is also released at the same time.
Glutamate is the most abundant neurotransmitter, because it's essential for many things. One of its essential functions is that it tells nerves to start transmitting signals. (If you think of nerves as a road, glutamate is a green light.) We can't live without it; like I said, it serves essential functions.
Reading more about glutamate, I found out that according to some research, an excess of it can make a person experience more pain (longer lasting). Experts don't all agree on this. The research is limited on it, but there are definitely some studies that concluded this.
[Excess glutamate is also believed to contribute to more frequent migraines, other headaches, insomnia, restless leg syndrome (RLS), and some other problematic conditions.]
~~~~~
If glutamate is the green light, then the red light is a neurotransmitter called GABA. It tells nerves to stop signal transmission. It quiets nervous system activity.
The powerful pain medication gabapentin acts on GABA neuroreceptors; it does in a targeted way what GABA does in a more general way.
Some research has concluded that having a deficiency of GABA can also cause pain to be prolonged.
GABA is also believed to help with sleep, and has been suggested to help reduce the occurrence of migraines and RLS.
~~~~~
{I was married for 20 years, and my wife had all these issues, all of which seemed to increase in frequency during the last few years that we were married. My motivation in reading so much research on it was because I love her and wanted to help her get better. I couldn't get her to try a GABA supplement, to see if it could help her. ~~~ After she divorced me, I started having problems with my own insomnia again, so I started taking the GABA supplement that I had bought for her, and it really did seem to help. Before going to bed every night, I take melatonin to help me get to sleep, and GABA to help me stay asleep. I don't have pain issues, so I can't say from my own experience that it works for that, but I believe the research that I've read and the anecdotal product reviews that I've read about GABA supplements. ~~~ As far as I know, over the counter GABA supplements are only available in the US.}
Omg.... I have also been taking a glutamine supplement!!! I bet I have too much in my system, which is likely contributing to the pain (on top of the dehydration). Thank you so much for chiming in!!!
I had to refresh my memory about glutamine. It's an essential amino acid, while glutamate is a neurotransmitter. They can be converted into each other. So, when the body needs more glutamate, it can make it from glutamine, and vice versa.
What I was sharing was a little known connection between the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, and their effect on pain.
However, when it comes to pain in the body, there can be numerous factors. That's why it's always best to work with qualified medical professionals in managing pain, or any other medical condition.
I am 44. It's interesting, I was just starting to wonder if that could be it as well. I am definitely in perimenopausal territory. Thank you for being another nod in that direction. I am going to ask my pain doc.
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