Adderall Agitation / Anxiety

[Anonymous]

I am new to taking medication for my ADD and to this site. For the last five months I’ve been taking Adderall, which I think has been very helpful, although I’m still not sure if I’m taking an optimal dose. Dr J wrote in one posting about adderall: “Anxiety and agitation may occur around 1-3 hours of taking the meds. Try to do more of the harder attentional tasks during this time as it soaks up the Adderall XR and makes the side effects lessened.”

This seems like good advice for dealing with those feelings. However, I think I experience the agitation at a later time from when I take it. So, I assumed that my feeling was a symptom of the drug wearing off. Is this common? Is it common for one to experience agitation at different periods when it is in one’s system? I guess I’m looking for consistent indicators that would inform me of how to regulate my medication better.

I probably haven’t read enough of what other people experience here. I realize that everyone is different and there is trial and error involved. I fully intend to bring this issue up with my psychiatrist but want to have a better understanding so that I can be more concise during our short 15 minute session.

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[veronica]

i was getting agitated when i started taking it. yoga helped out a lot. reading. taking time to myself at the end of the day to decompress.

i spoke to my doc about it and he lowered my dosage. when i was still getting agrevated he put me XR… that helped out immensely. then, he stuck me on a no meds for 3 weeks diet. he said this would help me figure out what i was benefitting from with the meds and when i was getting anxious…. it worked. getting off the meds helped me be more centered and focus on the things that were my personality type (which in turn helped me realize when i was getting anxious about something i had no control over verses those things that i could do something about… like work and taking my meds).

now i’m back on the meds and when i get that feeling of anxiousness or irritation i take a time out. and allow myself to be present and fully understand why i am annoyed, or frustrated… which leads to my being anxious.

write down when you’re feeling this way…. for a week. write what you have eaten, what activities you did and how you are feeling.

read over it at the end of the week… you may find a pattern, or learn that you may not need the level of meds you’re on.

good luck!

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response Veronica. What I’m taking away is that I need to document my experiences more. I’ve never been much of a ‘self-quantifier’, which is part of the challenge. It sounds like it was a good experience to stop for a short time to reassess.

Many times when I feel anxious, upon reflection the whole experience was conjured up in my mind. This confirms to me that it is medication related. But the thing that I don’t understand yet is that 2, 3, 4 hours after my dose, I feel very good and competent. Then, when it seems that I come down from this ‘high’ I experience a period of agitation. Its something that I can deal with in the same way you are. But the question I have to ask (myself, my psychiatrist, other forums) is: could this be an indication that I’m taking too much? not enough? Or do I need to take something that stretches out longer like XR? I’m thinking the last option is what I want to try.

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[veronica]

i don’t know that i am qualified enough (i’m not doc or nothin), but from my experience the more unnecessary mg i was taking the more agitated, anxious and annoyed i got with those around me when the meds faded.

perhaps you may want to try a different medication. my physician had mentioned concerta to me once, but that medicine costs me $175 WITH insurance… i was like, ‘uhm, not just no, but HELL no… i can’t afford that’. so, he put me back on adderall XR with the agreement that i would document at the end of the day how i felt and he would regulate based on that.

i had started a word doc that i could just go in and type and type to my heart’s content. and looking back on it really helped. i knew to stay away from certain people and situations that weren’t healthy.

good luck, ben!

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the confirmation. I’m in the same predicament with the other med in terms of cost. And Adderal is so inexpensive. Last week decided to try and break up my doses to 3 times a day instead of two. I think this is helping, as long as I remember to take them on my break times at work. So, we’ll see over the long term. I’m also going to start something like your word doc, as well.

Thanks again

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[Anonymous]

Hi, I’m on the instant release version of adderall and experience similar side effects. In terms of social behavior I seem to do just fine, I keep to my self and keep quiet if I have nothing of value to add to a conversation, and am the embodiment of social grace. Among family members and those friends who are close to me I tend to be a little snappy at times. Thats at least how it was brought to my attention, that and the fact that “its the adderall” so far everyone dogs me about taking it, like its made me a different person or something. I think i’m able to focus on a subject long enough now that it can affect and change my mood but it is topic sensitive. For instance, my step-father refers to those with mental illness as retarded, underestimating the sererity or different degrees of mental illness. Since i had been diagnosed earlier this year i’ve investigated more into mental illness and take some offence to comments made, so in conversation if the topic would arises it tends to upset me a bit. The emotional instability is undercontrol more than it ever has but with a lack of ability to vent stress, and anger that builds up. Perhaps those closest to me get the brunt of it due to the fact that i’m comfortable around them and am less afraid of loosing them. Family should love me unconditionally right? At least it all makes sense in my head.

I’m not sure what else I can do other than put more effort into not upsetting anyone although it seems to be the case most of the time thus I just keep to myself.

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[Anonymous]

kylep –

Im on XR…

People are telling me that I am on a short fuse, I snap easily…things like that. And I too am facing everyone blaming it on my new meds. Do you think that being on the Adderall is causing an inability to vent any stress, causing any supressed anger/frustration…to settle and stew… so that each time we get frustrated we just lash out in these short bursts?

I feel like I have no patience… I get aggrivated or frustrated easily. And the people who know that I am on these meds are blaming it all on the new medication… At least the ones that are getting the short temper.

I am having a really hard time though determining if this is because of the meds or because coinsidentally I am starting to loose my patience on my own during the same time I happen to have started on this medication

I only recently started taking adderall, however I was diagnosed when I was 13 and on adderall for about 5 years when I was in grade school. stopped taking it when I graduated. Back then it was my parents and teachers who noticed something possibly not right. But now that I am an adult I notice things on my own. Adderall helps me focus and consentrate, my brain is no longer running a million miles a minute…I feel like I am able to still think about all those things , but now I can compartmentalize, and process everything one at a time and for lack of a better word…better.

I guess I am still a little nervous about bringing this up to my Dr. because I like the effects of the meds as far as my thinking… I don’t notice the outbursts, or at least I don’t feel like they are always my fault… but Im afraid he will change my perscription to something else or lower my dosage and I won’t get the same things out of it that I get with Adderall… I know adderall works, and how

 

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