Possibly addicted to adderall, worried about long term effects...

[adam81]

So here is my story:

About 4 years ago me and a bunch of my friends tried adderall (a drug used to treat add) for recreational purposes, basically to be able to stay up all night and party. It was a great time and everyone loved it, back then i was kind of shy and this little pill really gave me the personality i've always wanted, all of a sudden i would get WAY more girls at bars, etc. Since then we have all continued to take it on a regular basis.

Some of my friends are out of control with it, to the point where they use it to treat depression, perform better at work, party, socialize, and everything else it can be used for. Some are taking several pills a day and have shown some side effects that they refuse to accept.

Now in my case i have kept it a lot more under control then they did, i never snorted it, never increased the dosage as all my friends did gradually, never took more then 1 pill (30mg is the most i've taken but its usually 15 or 20s) at a time. I don't drink excessively while on it as i know that is extra dangerous but nonetheless the next day my heart beats like a 1000x per/minute for about 6 hours then it goes back to normal.

At this point i take about 2 pills per/week generally fri and sat night and on occasion i take a small dosage of ritalin (similar drug) to help study for big tests.

The side effects i have noticed (and i don't know if all are necessarily associated with it ) is some increase in fatigue, i've wrestled my whole life and in the past couple years i have noticed some decrease in my conditioning. I have no physical urge but there is a mental addiction to take it. I mean i have gone months without it before and was fine but when i do go out it's still in my head that i feel like i would be having a much better time if i was on it. I have a very weird almost suicidal impulse i get only when i drive by myself for a long period of time its like something tells me to crash the car, i have enough common sense not to do it offcourse but a couple times it got bad enough to where i had to pull over on the shoulder to chill out (again not sure if this is caused by the drug but i do not recall having this until a couple years ago.

Now i decided to finally do some research about the long term side effects and from what i've read there're definitely some very serious ones but from what i've seen people reporting them have been taking around 30mg 2x per/day now i am no where near that and i do have enough control to where i don't feel i will ever get there, again i never increased the dosage in the 4 years i've been taking it. With that said i do have some concerns after what i have read.

So anyone who has had experience with this or knows something about it please give me some advice on what this type of usage can cause later in life. I'll be honest i don't feel quite ready to see a doctor about it so i'm pretty much just asking for some advice and stories from people who have dealt with this specific thing.

[bvaljalo]

Um ... how's this ...

STOP TAKING IT NOW.

And you'll be totally fine, unharmed by what you've done for the rest of your life.

If you DON'T ... you might end up completely addicted, eventually moving on to oh, I dunno, smoking/shooting up crystal (a very similar drug, basically meth-amphetamine vs. dex-amphetamine), losing all your teeth, looking 30 years older than you are, with a damaged heart, brain, and other organs.

I speak from some level of experience, done plenty of ritalin and adderall and dexedrine over the years. I ended up doing crystal eventually because it was cheaper and easier to come by (and just as good a buzz). So I'm not just pulling this advice outta my rear end, okay?

LOTS of us 'played' with our drug of choice for YEARS before we finally got hopelessly addicted. NONE of us thought it would ever GO THAT FAR. No way, not US, why we're <insert some indication of 'specialness' here> and would NEVER become addicts.

Consider yourself lucky that you've become concerned about this problem in the early stages. Stop now, and you'll be fine.

Fail to do so, and you risk consequences.

That simple.

[Kuroikitsu]

I was diagnosed with ADD as a child, and they put me on Adderall. Like you, I was only taking one pill a day, but unlike you I only took a 5mg pill. It screwed me up, for life. Though no doctor or study will admit it, Adderall has some dangerous and life altering effects that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

Here's a simple story. Every morning I would wake up, get out of bed, walk downstairs, eat a bowl of cereal, and take a pill. I would go out to the bus stop, dragging my feet with fatigue, and hopefully not miss the bus. Two hours later I'd have a panic attack. Same time, every day. The rest of the school day I was happy. I paid attention in class. I hung out with my friends. The bell would ring, I'd catch the buss home. I'd walk into the house, crawl up the stairs, and crash. Most of the time I only slept till dinner. Sometimes I slept straight through till morning. This means I only had a total of about 8-10 hours a day I was actually functional. I never did any homework once I got home. When I started working, I suddenly had a huge new problem, panic attacks at work. Throwing up from over working myself. Loss of weight and appetite.

I quit Adderall cold turkey after taking it for two years. To this day I still have panic attacks and I still crave it. I never had severe insomnia before I started taking it, or panic attacks. I was mildly depressed, but I never had suicidal thoughts until after the Adderall. I got off lucky, Adderall can cause severe psychotic reactions in some users, such as paranoia and hallucinations.

The Adderall made me feel good, and it helped me concentrate in class, but the health risks just aren't worth it. If you need to pull an all nighter, put on a pot of coffee and plow through it. It doesn't keep you up as well, but it's safer on your body by a long shot. See a doctor about getting off it, stopping cold turkey like I did can be bad for your health as well. If you don't feel safe seeing a doctor or councilor, try to taper off your use, but either way, get off the stuff. It'll ruin your life.