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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by bryan Shift on October 16, 2001, at 13:43:58
Two years ago I went to my regular doctor complaining of fatigue, the growing inability to concentrate and remember certain things, and a few other similar symptoms that I’d always attributed to my personality. He diagnosed me as depressed (a diagnosis I did not particularly agree with, although the comment in and of itself depressed me!). Since then he’s had me on a few different antidepressants. Most recently I’ve been taking Prozac. Most of these antidepressants have helped a great deal with my temper. I’ve also felt my mood improve slightly. Unfortunately I feel as though my body’s ‘hooked.’ If I miss a few days I develop a terrible mood; worse then before. So I obviously try not to miss a dose.
I was finally convinced the original symptoms I addressed by visiting my regular doctor were not entirely from depression if at all. I started having issues with my performance at work. My concentration and tendency to become easily distracted was unbearable.
So I swallowed my pride and saw a psychiatrist. He promptly tested me for, diagnosed me with, and began treating me for Adult ADD (I’m 27) and I’ve been taking Adderall now for a few months. I started with 5 mg twice daily and am now at 20 in the morning and 10 in the evening. I try not to take it when I don’t find it’s necessary, but it has certainly made a distinctively better difference in many aspects of my life.
Unfortunately last week I began noticing very minor bouts of anxiety (almost depression). Is this a common side affect? I have only had a few anxiety attacks before and those were over a year ago and associated with the loss of a pet I had since childhood. They’ve never reoccurred. It was an isolated incident.
I’d prefer to continue taking Adderall. Does or has anyone else had these ‘anxiety’ attacks or something similar? Would a different medication like Concerta or Ritalin possibly suit me more than Adderall?
Any help or input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Posted by JohnX on October 16, 2001, at 23:37:01
In reply to Adderall and Anxiety, posted by bryan Shift on October 16, 2001, at 13:43:58
> Two years ago I went to my regular doctor complaining of fatigue, the growing inability to concentrate and remember certain things, and a few other similar symptoms that I’d always attributed to my personality. He diagnosed me as depressed (a diagnosis I did not particularly agree with, although the comment in and of itself depressed me!). Since then he’s had me on a few different antidepressants. Most recently I’ve been taking Prozac. Most of these antidepressants have helped a great deal with my temper. I’ve also felt my mood improve slightly. Unfortunately I feel as though my body’s ‘hooked.’ If I miss a few days I develop a terrible mood; worse then before. So I obviously try not to miss a dose.
>
> I was finally convinced the original symptoms I addressed by visiting my regular doctor were not entirely from depression if at all. I started having issues with my performance at work. My concentration and tendency to become easily distracted was unbearable.
>
> So I swallowed my pride and saw a psychiatrist. He promptly tested me for, diagnosed me with, and began treating me for Adult ADD (I’m 27) and I’ve been taking Adderall now for a few months. I started with 5 mg twice daily and am now at 20 in the morning and 10 in the evening. I try not to take it when I don’t find it’s necessary, but it has certainly made a distinctively better difference in many aspects of my life.
>
> Unfortunately last week I began noticing very minor bouts of anxiety (almost depression). Is this a common side affect? I have only had a few anxiety attacks before and those were over a year ago and associated with the loss of a pet I had since childhood. They’ve never reoccurred. It was an isolated incident.
>
> I’d prefer to continue taking Adderall. Does or has anyone else had these ‘anxiety’ attacks or something similar? Would a different medication like Concerta or Ritalin possibly suit me more than Adderall?
>
> Any help or input is greatly appreciated!
> Thanks.After prolonged exposure to a dopaminergic
stimulant, you can actually develop something called "reverse tolerance". It actually becomes
more powerfull. This can lead to more anxiety,
sleeplessness, and in the limiting case symptoms
consistent with a psychosis.Here are some meds that can help with the
anxiety:-Neurontin,Catapres,Tenex,Serzone,
Zyprexa,Rispideral,Geodon to name a few.Good luck,
john
Posted by Mitch on October 17, 2001, at 11:53:46
In reply to Adderall and Anxiety, posted by bryan Shift on October 16, 2001, at 13:43:58
> Two years ago I went to my regular doctor complaining of fatigue, the growing inability to concentrate and remember certain things, and a few other similar symptoms that I’d always attributed to my personality. He diagnosed me as depressed (a diagnosis I did not particularly agree with, although the comment in and of itself depressed me!). Since then he’s had me on a few different antidepressants. Most recently I’ve been taking Prozac. Most of these antidepressants have helped a great deal with my temper. I’ve also felt my mood improve slightly. Unfortunately I feel as though my body’s ‘hooked.’ If I miss a few days I develop a terrible mood; worse then before. So I obviously try not to miss a dose.
>
> I was finally convinced the original symptoms I addressed by visiting my regular doctor were not entirely from depression if at all. I started having issues with my performance at work. My concentration and tendency to become easily distracted was unbearable.
>
> So I swallowed my pride and saw a psychiatrist. He promptly tested me for, diagnosed me with, and began treating me for Adult ADD (I’m 27) and I’ve been taking Adderall now for a few months. I started with 5 mg twice daily and am now at 20 in the morning and 10 in the evening. I try not to take it when I don’t find it’s necessary, but it has certainly made a distinctively better difference in many aspects of my life.
>
> Unfortunately last week I began noticing very minor bouts of anxiety (almost depression). Is this a common side affect? I have only had a few anxiety attacks before and those were over a year ago and associated with the loss of a pet I had since childhood. They’ve never reoccurred. It was an isolated incident.
>
> I’d prefer to continue taking Adderall. Does or has anyone else had these ‘anxiety’ attacks or something similar? Would a different medication like Concerta or Ritalin possibly suit me more than Adderall?
>
> Any help or input is greatly appreciated!
> Thanks.I went off antidepressants and onto Adderall+Neurontin a couple of years back. The Adderall worked fantastic for depression and my ability to focus. However, I had trouble with the anxiety with it as well. This developed into panicky feelings and a thyroid problem (runs in my family though). You may need to reduce the Adderall dose and possibly restart your Prozac (at a low dose) with it to settle down the anxiety. Also, it wouldn't hurt to get a thyroid profile (blood draw/test) done-just to make sure it isn't tweaking with anything it shouldn't.
Mitch
Posted by Cindylou on October 17, 2001, at 13:45:47
In reply to Adderall and Anxiety, posted by bryan Shift on October 16, 2001, at 13:43:58
Hi Bryan,
I had a similar reaction to the Adderall, although for me, it happened after only 5 days... I felt great at first, then crashed big time (horrible anxiety that turned into horrible depression.) I posted about this, and found that this crash effect can happen in some people -- perhaps that's happening with you.I tried the Adderall three separate times, and the crash happened every time. So I had to quit, which was a bummer since it initially helped out so much.
Other options are Provigil or Adrafinil. They are said not to give that crash effect (although I did crash on Provigil, but I'm exremely med sensitive.)
Or, you could try augmenting the Adderall with some of the suggestions mentioned by JohnX and Mitch. If you look in the archives, there are other suggestions on what you can augment Adderall with -- I know Memantine was suggested, although I think that is still in trials.
Take care, and keep us posted on how you are doing...
-cindy> Unfortunately last week I began noticing very minor bouts of anxiety (almost depression). Is this a common side affect? I have only had a few anxiety attacks before and those were over a year ago and associated with the loss of a pet I had since childhood. They’ve never reoccurred. It was an isolated incident.
>
> I’d prefer to continue taking Adderall. Does or has anyone else had these ‘anxiety’ attacks or something similar? Would a different medication like Concerta or Ritalin possibly suit me more than Adderall?
>
> Any help or input is greatly appreciated!
> Thanks.
Posted by Rakken on October 17, 2001, at 16:27:05
In reply to Re: Adderall and Anxiety » bryan Shift, posted by Cindylou on October 17, 2001, at 13:45:47
I'm currently taking Adderall and I also have some very severe anxiety. I told my pdoc this when I was on Dexedrine. She switched me to Adderall to try and reduce the anxiety. When she checked a year back she saw that I had been having a lot of anxiety while on Risperdal and Remeron. Anyways, I still have very intense anxiety that is with me basically all the time. I have always been anxious I suppose, but never this severely. I tried Concerta and Provigil before. The concerta was a miracle drug for 3 days or so and then I got more irritable. So I got off of it. Later on I tried the Provigil and got no effect from 400 mgs. Dexedrie and Adderall have been wondrous and I couldn't be more pleased aside from the anxiety. When I decrease the Adderall dose I don't get enough of an effect from the med to hold my focus. I don't want to go the tricyclic route, and anti-depressants don't work very well for me it seems. The risperdal didn't help the anxiety so I'm not sure another anti-psych would work well or not. I don't really trust Buspar since it has some dopamine binding effect which can cause some syndrome I think. So I'm not sure what to do. I have a feeling my pdoc won't prescribe a benzo like klonopin. But I haven't brought it up yet either. I have a feeling that she'll laugh at me or something. The clonidine doesn't seem to calm the anxiety at night. Anyways, I've also had the anxiety attacks lately so you're not alone. hopefully we can find something that will reduce this side effect. It gets old really quick and ends up causing depression it seems.
Posted by Mitch on October 17, 2001, at 23:29:53
In reply to Re: Adderall and Anxiety, posted by Rakken on October 17, 2001, at 16:27:05
> I'm currently taking Adderall and I also have some very severe anxiety. I told my pdoc this when I was on Dexedrine. She switched me to Adderall to try and reduce the anxiety. When she checked a year back she saw that I had been having a lot of anxiety while on Risperdal and Remeron. Anyways, I still have very intense anxiety that is with me basically all the time. I have always been anxious I suppose, but never this severely. I tried Concerta and Provigil before. The concerta was a miracle drug for 3 days or so and then I got more irritable. So I got off of it. Later on I tried the Provigil and got no effect from 400 mgs. Dexedrie and Adderall have been wondrous and I couldn't be more pleased aside from the anxiety. When I decrease the Adderall dose I don't get enough of an effect from the med to hold my focus. I don't want to go the tricyclic route, and anti-depressants don't work very well for me it seems. The risperdal didn't help the anxiety so I'm not sure another anti-psych would work well or not. I don't really trust Buspar since it has some dopamine binding effect which can cause some syndrome I think. So I'm not sure what to do. I have a feeling my pdoc won't prescribe a benzo like klonopin. But I haven't brought it up yet either. I have a feeling that she'll laugh at me or something. The clonidine doesn't seem to calm the anxiety at night. Anyways, I've also had the anxiety attacks lately so you're not alone. hopefully we can find something that will reduce this side effect. It gets old really quick and ends up causing depression it seems.
Raaken,I am trying to think of a possible add-on to Adderall for the anxiety that could work. I did try Risperdal and Seroquel, but that caused other problems. A benzodiazepine *would* be a tough sell, but who knows? Why not ask? What about adding 1.0mg/day of Klonopin for example?? I also tried some Zoloft with the Adderall-that lasted ONE day-the intense GI spasms/diarrhea forget it! The Adderall by itself seemed to "shut down" my GI tract and I had NO IBS problems with taking it. Maybe...a relatively serotonergic TCA like amitriptyline (Elavil) at bedtime-maybe 25mg?? With the Adderall in the morning to knockout the anithistamine hangover from the TCA... it might work quite well.
Mitch
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