Yeah I can totally relate to that, from your friend's point of view. I am a recovering addict. I have been clean for 14 months. I am sure you want to help your friend/roomate but the fact of the matter is that she won't stop using unless she wants too. Telling her parents would only make her upset with you and cause her to distance herself even more. A doctor can't do anything for her without her cooperation either. So honestly, in my opinion, the best thing you could do for your friend is to show her some tough love. Unfortunately more often than not for an addict to quit using it takes something drastic to happen in their lives, where either they force themselves to stop or the law does, before they get clean. That is the sad reality of the disease. I wish you and your friend the best of luck.

Acendaisy,

how did you quit? Did it take someone saying something to you or did you realized it on your own? I had read another message where they said to let a doctor know so that they can slowly take you off of the medicine. I don't know if this would really work because she would just get more from friends. Its just gotten to the point to where she takes it for the first little anxious moment and when that is over she takes another one. It doesn't even help her in school anymore. Some of our friends wouldn't give her b/c they all know she has a problem too but she is know to steel them herself. She doesn't steel 1 or 2 pills she steels 30 to 50 pills. It's getting to the point where its messing up my life having to deal with her being up all night long making noises and then trying to make it to class. And then I just worry about her heart giving out. Sorry this is so long but I just needed to get info from people who have had this problem instead of talking to my friends. Thanks for your advice.

Tennessee,
many people told me how much I had changed and how horrible I acted and looked, but you know what I cared more about getting high than I did about what anyone said or thought about me. How I quit was I moved to a differant state. I stopped talking to everyone I knew that used. I didn't know anyone and they didn't know me. It has been great because it has allowed me to discover myself sober, which is something I don't ever remember being. I had been using for 6 years. I didn't have an identity outside of drugs. So anyways back to your friend, maybe telling her Dr. Would be a good thing because then she would stop getting them prescribed to her, but if she wants them bad enough she will find a way to get them. Does she get prescribed them because she has add?
I can understand how it is affecting your life, that is where the tough love comes in. If it is a big enough problem, kick her out or move out. I know you are probably thinking I can't do that it would hurt her feelings. But you know what I can guarantee she's not thinking about your feelings when she's staying up all night making noise? That's the thing with addiction it is a selfish disease, the only thing it cares about is the next fix. I am sure you are really worried about your friend but you know what this is a problem she's going to have to work out on her own. The best thing my true friends and family did for me was let me go. I mean they all just stopped talking to me and seeing me. Sure I was mad at them then, but I now realiize that they knew I wouldn't stop unless I hit rock bottom, and sure enough as most addicts do I did. Well I hope that I helped you with some of your questions if you have anymore just let me know. I don't always know the right answer but I know what worked for me. Take care

My son has adhd-inattentive type. When he started taking adderall, it just kept him awake is all. Although I will add, that sometimes that is the issue. That being that they are so lethargic. I am the same way. If I sit down, I go to sleep. I cannot stay alert and in those situations, that is where all of my stress comes from- from trying so hard to stay alert.

However, 10 mgs of adderallxr that I took once, drove me nuts. I was speeding and wanted it to stop. It was like being on a fast ride at the fair and wanting to get off of it. It was too intense, I had the jitters from it.

I thought I was adhd - inattentive as well. Ritalin seems to work better.

They say that if you really have adhd then you cannot become addicted but I don't know if I agree. I am concerned that it can affect brain chemistry to the extent that it can make one addicted to it.


How does one know if you will? What were the signs that you were becoming addicted?

Thanks
drew

I don't know if there is one specific way to tell if you will become addicted to anything. A lot of people will argue this but addiction is a disease. So like with most other diseases you can check your family's history.Such as your parents being addicts or alcoholics. Or if you are a codependant person you are more likely to become addicted. Neither of these are 100% fool proof ways but in some cases they might prove affective.
I have heard also that if you have add or adhd you will not be affected the same way by adderall as opposed to a person that does not. I personally don't know because I don't have add or adhd. I took it as a party drug. That is why it blows my mind to think that it would be able to help people stay focused. It did everything but that to me. I do have a friend that has adhd and she just started taking adderall and she says it does help her concentrate on her homework. Since she has started taking it I did notice a change in her personality, she has become very spacey and says she rarely feels hungry. So I personally don't like the drug...But who am I to say what it right or wrong for another person. Well I hope I helped a little. If you have any other questions let me know.
Take care

getting off aderall acan be tough i get 240 30 mg that's 9 aday no i don't need that i sell180 a monthy at 10 each that leases me 60 2 aday i'm cutting down to half in the mornig and half at night extra 300 plan on getting off them soon and it suck sometimes i sell to many and i cant get outta bed for a week or to but after that i;m fine altmost normal

started taking Adderall in 1996 can't live without it .i am addicted to adderall and even after a 6 month break and gained a 100lbs and became depressed i had to go back on. lost 80lbs with a trainer and the adderall. i believe my death will be from a heart attack i'm 24 will i live to see 30 i doubt it but i'm addicted. i'll keep seeing my dr. once a year so i can continue to get my perscription. i wish i had some friends on it so i wouldn't feel alone. its going to make her crazy when she stops hallucinations tellher to talkt to me and i'll scare her i have lots of problems due to a 11 year addiction perscribed by my doctor

Sandmaster, your story was like mine and I see myself in all these posts.
I have recovered from Adderal abuse when I entered treatment in 2005. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do but the weight gain and the intervention and return to my family was so worth it. I was brought up that appearances were everything! I thought as long as this drug is making me thinner, and I can go faster, I must be getting better! I turned into a monster, I was very narrcissistic, isolated myself, was paraniod, sleep deprived and had a huge personality change. I didn't care about anything but myself and going to get my prescription felt like a kid going to the candy store. Now THAT is an indicator of a problem! My friend turned me onto it and then gave me the number to her nurse and it was as good as having a legal dealer. After 4 years on it I felt like I was going crazy and nearly lost my marriage, my family, friends and my life. Yes I gained 38 pounds in rehab in a 3 week period, but I was alive for my fortieth birthday ( I will be 42 in March). After rehab there is nothing like a friend looking at you and stating "you're back" as in "I see the old you, the REAL you", not the person who was on Adderal.
I agree with your statement that " I have problems with an 11 year addiction." I'd like you to see thirty, forty, and fifty, but you may not get there unless you want to get help. I'ts your choice and you'll need to be honest with yourself about what you want and feel is more important, the drug or your life. Denial is a powerful thing that feeds our addicitons. You can recover if you want to, If I can do it others can too.
Good luck and God Bless

I just saw where Canada has already put a ban on Adderal. I have a funny feeling that the FDA here in the states may follow suit soon if they think it is getting out of hand which it looks like it is.

I am 42 y/o. I have used Adderal for the last 6 years. During the last two years, I started abusing the drug. I was prescribed 90mg/day and took 4-5x that dose per day. When I would run out before the end of the month, I had my bestfriend "supply" me with some of his extra Addys.

I was able to come off of it without a choice b/c I was on the EMSAM patch for depression and the two of those drugs DO NOT mix well together. I started having anxiety/panic attacks and was in the ER 7x since January (this now April). I would take Adderal to wake me up and keep me up. I would then take Klonopin or Xanax to help ease me down and to be able to go to sleep.

I, too, was told that I had a major personality change. My pupils were always dialated; I was really thin; I had energy out the waz-zoo; I participated in ALOT of RISKY behaviors. I was constantly warned by my "supplier" that I was going to regret what I was doing with the drug because of the known physical damage it would eventually cause. However, at the time, I was not "ready to hear" what my supplier and other concerned friends were saying to me.

I only became "ready" when I became dependent upon the benzos and had to start asking people for money to help me pay for my scripts. To top it all off, my fool psychiatrist just kept handing out the scripts for both drugs and knew I had a problem after I had told him several months ago.

My main withdrawal problem was getting off of the benzos. The w/d symptoms were (and still are) EXTREMELY hard to endure. I spent six days in a local hospital with doctors who had no idea of how to bring someone off of benzos. I was not able to go into an official rehab center as I have no insurance d/t no job. I am detoxing on my own with no "official medical supervision", however, a pharmacist friend has been a tremendous help with advice. I am six weeks post my last dose of benzos and greater than 8 weeks post my last dose of Adderal.

THE PHYSICAL DAMAGE... I, too, gained 40 lbs back after I quit taking the Adderal. It really freaked me out to gain this much weight b/c I'd had gastric by-pass surgery in 2001 and wasn't supposed to gain any weight back. The WORST physical damage is in my teeth. They are literally starting to decay - every one of them. I am so embarrassed that I consciously will NOT open into a wide grin when I laugh. With God's help, I will get a job again soon and will have dental insurance to fix the ongoing damage to my teeth.

Seeing the physical damage is scaring me to death b/c I worry about what other damage is occuring in my body that I can't SEE.

I can honestly say that for one to come off of Adderal, they HAVE TO BE READY and able to admit they have a problem. I am currently working the 12-steps right now and it's been a healthy change. I still have my last script for Adderal in my car that I never got filled. I keep it there to remind me of how my entire life crashed within one year due to my substance abuse. I lost my job, my house, my money, my car, my dogs, my friends, my family, everything. However, for today, I am taking it one day at a time and have learned to turn everything over to God.

I have two close girlfriends from church who have hung with me during the last six weeks. They have seen the positive change in me since coming home from the hospital up till now. My brother has started communicating with me again (after two years) after seeing that I was taking action to regain control over my life. I want to see my nieces again, which is making me work even harder to stick with staying clean - I hate that term - "staying clean".

Again, for one to come off of Adderal, they must mentally be READY to ADMIT they have a problem and their lives have become unmanageable. I only hope that by sharing my experience, I will help save someone else from making the same mistakes I made and losing their foothold in life.

My daughter has been taking this for months. I just recently found out about it, knowing something was wrong and she was acting different. I got a call from the doctor's office one day that she could not be seen there anymore, only to find out that her blood test came back with other drugs in it besides the adderall which he had been giving her. He told her he could not give her anymore adderall due to the blood test. She found another doctor that will and she is still taking it. She had 3 daughters of her own and a step daughter........what do I do and how do I help her get off of it. When I mention it she says " I need it for ADD" Well she doesn't have ADD, she pretends and answers the questions so that she can get the drug.
I am at lost for what to do, please help me. she will not listen to anything I say about it, even to the deaths that I have found on here that it caused. I think she is taking it to try to get off of something else. But the person that is doing the drugs such as cocaine is still visiting her house. What can I do, I can't try the tough love situation because of the kids. PLEASE help me. I am so worried I can't eat or sleep, and no I dont do any type of drugs.

I meant she has 3 daughters, and a step daughter, and she takes well care of them, she just ignores a lot they do and lets them go places instead of saying no, she acts as though its easier to say yes.

I quit two months ago by moving like Acendaisy. I dropped out of college and moved to a new state. The best thing about this is that it absorbed me in other stuff and got me away from the dealers/ college students I was buying from.
I wish I had advice to offer CaringPerson. I've never tried to come off more than one drug at a time, and I was almost put in rehab when my psychiatrist got wind of what was up. I think that might be the best thing.
I'd like to ask people on the board what they like for changing their thought-processes after quitting. I still have a lot of racing thoughts, compulsive thoughts, and poor focus. I still have sleep problems and chilling out is hard. Especially in public. I don't know that all of this is adderall withdrawal, but are there any boarders who experienced left-over hyper-ness like this? I immediately slowed down on day one but it seems to have been ingrained in my system, it's bothersome.

wow thanks a lot helen

I fully understand that addiction takes presidence. My question is how mahy people are buying a childs medicine today?
My sister is an addicited to vicoden and does other opiates.
She has now started to trade and sell her son's adhd meds like concerta, ritalin and adderall. She speaks over him at the docotrs office and dramtizes how bad his nehavior is to increas ethe amoutn he gets. He is prescribed 3 meds per day but is lucky to get one for his own needs.
I am wondering if anyone with yoru experience can tell me what to do about this. He got his medicine a week ago and school starts this week and he has no medicine to help him focus.
He goes through withdrawal and has belly aches, headaches, body aches and has had siezure like behavior at times. He gets a 54 mg and an 18 mg for a week and then BAM nothing.

I need to know how to stop her. Anyone who can help me please speak up

I sent you a pm, Aunt. Check your private message box.

Did you ever try to tell her parents about her situation? She's endanger her and you at the same time. Drug abusion will damage her career and life, you know well about it. Her symptom is very common among drug addiction. Don't hope you can persuade her, try to post help in Forums like this, and get someone help her

I started taking Ritalin in 1976 I was in the 3erd grade, and I am now 43 years old and am dealing with Adderal withdrawl.
I stopped because, like a brick wall it hit me how long I've been on this crap and how it has held me in its grip. DISCONTINUING THE USE OF THIS DRUG ---is HELL. I have always know it would be hard to stop, so I never did---till now.
I sleep for days, and sleep some more then I sleep more and sleep and sleep... just the other day, on a long drive, I had to pull over after driving for three hours JUST TO TAKE A NAP!! This has been going on for almost 16 months! Its getting better but very slowly.
My advice to anyone/everyone: Don't start if you haven't started, and stop now if you have.
Does anyone know what IM going through with 30 years of use?