hello. i am new to this forum. i am very confused. i have been taking adderall xr for about a year now, i was on 10mg for 3 mos and then i started on 20mg. i took that for about 4 months but i realized it was making me drowsy (long story i had a paper route and i though the only cause for my tiredness was that i was up until 7 am every day and sleeping til 2) so i went down to 15mg. when i started taking 15 i noticed an increase in my heart rate when i first took it so i went down to 10. i know i should be taking the whole 15 but i am too scared it will kill me. its possible i am just having panic attacks but i am not sure does anyone know is 15mg adderall xr enough to kill you? i dont smoke, drink caffeine and i am 19 yr female. i dont have any heart problems. so what is cause of increase of heart rate? has anyone else experienced this? or am i just having anxiety? i am so scared to take my medicine but if i dont take it then i cant finish anything and i cant focus on anything. please help! thanks!

Adderall stimulates the central nervous system, which for some, and at some doses, results in a higher heart rate. I started Adderall XR 10 (1 mo.), moved to 15 (3 mo.), and and think I've found my ideal dose at 20 (2 mo.). Each time I titrated up, I experienced increased heart rate and blood pressure. I also felt (and thought I could literally hear!) my heart pounding. It's near non-existent now.

I think as long as you don't sense irregularities, and don't sense too much pressure, it is fine. My guess is that your symptom will gradually disappear with time as your body gets used to it. If you are really concerned, you should talk with your prescribing physician right away. I always just waited until my next appointment, which I keep monthly.

Also, you are of course right that dead on that anxiety and panic will raise your heart rate, Adderall or no! Try and relax, and good luck.

Frank

I would suspect that what you are having are anxiety or panic attacks - the risks of taking 15mg of Adderall as a healthy 19year old non-smoking female would be exceptionally small, I should think (I'm NOT a doctor or health care pro of any kind, by the way! So I AM guessing) - otherwise your doctor would not have prescribed them?
Adderall will increase your resting heart rate by a bit - 10 or 20 BPM is what I notice in myself, but I don't notice any difference when excersizing (I use a heart rate monitor to keep track of my gym visits, so I can tell fairly acurately that it's not noticably higher).
Adderall can make people more anxious, especially when taking it at first, and of course the more worried you are about taking it, the worse the anxiety effect will be once you start to feel it! Panic attacks are often confused with heart attacks - shortness of breath (hyperventilation), pounding heart, pain and tightness in the chest, etc. (mostly by middle aged men at risk for heart attacks!) - but your age, sex and health status would pretty much preclude any risk of a heart attack. I'd talk to your doctor and perhaps ask him about a lower dose until you get used to the drug?
Good luck,
Greg

thanks a lot you guys, that makes sense. i probably am having problems with anxiety, because i am barely taking 10mg now because i am scared to die from it but it isn't making me able to concentrate. and i havent gotten a proper amount of sleep since june because i have been readjusting my body to go to sleep around midnight. should i sleep 10 hour a night instead of 7 or 8, maybe that would help anxiety and heart rate? i dont want to stop taking adderall altogether, because i dont accomplish anything then. what should i do?

Definately talk to your doctor about the anxiety - there is treatment for that as well, both therapy and medication are effective. Getting enough sleep is always a good idea - depending on how much your body needs. If you feel like 7 or 8 hours isn't enough, it probably isn't and this might contribute to the anxiety problem.

yes. i am actually going to start up therapy for the anxiety thanks. and i also went and saw my pcp yesterday and she says since i quit smoking it can make the adderall more potent. so she reduced my dose to 10 mg xr and so far so good... and also i learned never divide up adderall xr pills, i was dumping out a lot of the extended release beads and only getting the instant ones. no wonder every morning it was like a kick in the butt to take it. lol. thanks for all the help guys.

i actually had the same problem i was taking addreall for a year also and towards the end of me taking it,, ive been off about 2 months now, i was having these heart problems. like when i was comming down from taking it,,,, or mainly on days i had not been takin it , my heart was having a sharp jabbing typing feeling which is difficult to fully explain. So i went to the doctor and they ended up making me wear an event monitor which monitors ur heart, i had to wear this contraption for like 1 months and some. but my heart was hurting , beating fast etc. but after i stopped taking addreall was when it was mainly hurting. now since ive been off it 2 months like i said and i havent had anymore problems..... they said nothing was wrong but i never got a recording while i wore it,,, i am pretty sure it was from the meds,,, im taking other stuff now cuz it wasnt right for me

My heart rate has skyrocketed on Adderall, both XR and immediate release generic. By skyrocketed, I mean from resting rate of 60-66 bpm to the neighborhood of 110 when on Adderall, rarely dropping below 90. I also have had some prostate problems (which I doubt you will have!). I quit the Adderall, with near disastrous results to my job, and I tried Concerta, with near disastrous results in other areas of my life. I'm back on Adderall at a lower dose, without much benefit, and am about add Strattera in tiny dosages to try to curb some impulsivity. Like getting on line and reading the ADD forums when I should be working.

I am on my 3rd week of adderall XR. I was prescribed to take anywhere between one and two 20mg capsules in the morning, however the dr said i could open one up and take a half. I was apparently, to my knowledge, doing ok on the approximently 1.5 20mg capsules in the morning. On my next visit about 2 weeks later he thought I should get 30mg.

On the 20mg capsules for the first week I wasn't having much of a racing heart rate as a felt kinda jittery at times, but these 30mg capsules I can predict exactly when it's going to happen. My lips chapped and mouth cottoned, I've developed soreness in the right side of my chest, which isn't where the heart is . So this time I was prepared and decided to measure my blood pressure and pulse to make sure I was at least close to normal.

I found some interesting results:

120/100 at first
150/93 about 20 minutes later
127/78 about an hour later

at each reading my heart rate was averaging 100bpm

It happened at the exact time the extended release capsules release their second dosing.

I decided to call my psychiatrist who told me he thinks I should stop the evening meds he just prescribed to go with the 30mg which lasts me through the day. The evening med 10mg regular adderall. He told me I should go see my family practitioner because he says the number of people experience high blood pressure due to adderall is very very low. He said he wanted me to continue the 30mg for a week.

Today...
I took the 30mg in the morning as prescribed and about an hour later noticed that my heart rate had taken a serious increase to about 110bpm. My resting heart rate that morning before meds was 66bpm. I did not take my blood pressure since I had an appointment with my family practitioner and he was going to check it.

By the time I got to the office I had calmed myself down the best I could, but I could still feel my heart pounding a bit louder than normal. His blood pressure reading was 130/83 and said that was nothing to be concerned over. He told me not to worry unless it gets to be sustained at over 160/100. He listened to my heart and said there were no murmurs or anything.

He went on to say that I should exercise some common sense and go with what I feel is right. He said if you're feeling that irregular then you should probably cut back on the drugs. I happen to agree. The drug is completely worthless to me when their side effects are distracting.

I'm wondering if I was just tollerating the side effects for the benefit it had, except when he prescribed me the 30mg XR during the day and the 10mg regular at night, which is just unacceptably distracting; however, not inducing insomnia unless taken too late.

Tomorrow I'm considering cutting all the doses in half because I'm really unhappy with how my heart rate feels at the range of 90-100bpm. I don't like the soreness in my chest, my chapped lips, cotton mouth, and initial shock when it kicks in.

Today was the first time though that in the middle of the 30mg XR dose I didn't feel the second jolt I normally do, and the soreness didn't exist until after the evening dose had started to fade, which I thought I'd try because I didn't have such a bad experience on the 30mg XR today. Big mistake. My heart rate jumped to about 110 when it kicked in and stayed that way for about 3 hours which made concentrating and listening in class nearly impossible. During this time I had to communicate with some fellow classmates about a project we were doing and I swear I had diarrhea of the mouth. I was in a hurry to explain some things, but I packed as more information into their heads in 12 minutes than the professor for over the past hour and a half.

I'm concerned the Dr will think I'm lying to him when he asked if I was doing ok on the meds. I just thought I hadn't been on them that long and had been reading online that the side effects do go away gradually as your system builds a tolerance. I had been on these medications as a child (ritalin, dexadrine), but don't recall this experience. My history through elementry, middle, and high school indicate that these drugs assisted me in the past. He has all the records and feels this is the right treatment for me.

My family practitioner didn't know the specifics of adderall, but he said I should use some common sense and back off them if I'm not feeling well; however, my psych indicates that I should try them for another week at the strength I'm taking minus the evening dose.

I'm looking for some guidance on how to handle their contradictory statements.

Also, the practitioner wants me to come in tomorrow for blood tests because I hadn't had a checkup in a few years (cholesteral, weight, basic stuff). The checkup will be performed early in the morning right around the time when my morning/day dose kicks in and begins to elevate my heart rate. Should I take the adderall before or afterward?

I don't know if any vital details are of any relevance but these are my general stats:

male, 23, 160lbs

Thanks,
Venkman

The effects on BP and HR do wane with time. There really is nothing to worry about. A higher than average resting heart rate doesn't do you any harm - as long as you don't feel like it's tachycardia, or a "racing heart". Often the racing heart is more due to anxiety that's brought on by the Adderall than from the drug itself. I think you will find that your heart rate when you excersize won't be any higher on the stimulant than off - it least it's that way for me, only my resting HR is higher by 20 or 30 BPM. Your BP sounds fine. Keep in mind that blood pressure readings can vary wildly depending on who does takes it, the size of the BP cuff (too small and the readings will be way high), and the presence of a doctor (so called "white coat fever") and your anxiety level - if you are afraid your BP will be high, you'll be so worried about it that it'll raise your BP - a classic self-fullfilling prophecy! The home machine type BP monitors are particularly inaccurate - so much so that I question the worth of them at all!
With regards to dosage it's often best to listen to your body. Too much stimulant can be worse than none at all - it will hurt your focus. The trick is to find the right dose that does the maximum amount of good, and it's you that will decide what that amount is - and the only way to do that is by trial and error. Keep in mind that it takes a little time to get used to the medication so what you find is too much right now might be the right amount in a month or two. It's not that you're building up tolerence, since after you find the right dose and "stabalize" on it, you won't likely have to change it. If it feels as if you are taking too much of a stimulant, you probably are! Good luck,
Greg

when i take adderall, my bp is usually around 110/70 (125/72 being the highest) and my heart rate is usually 70 (with 96 being the highest, mostly if walking around) do you think this will have any adverse effects on me later in life? everyone is telling me the adderall wont hurt me, but it says it can cause sudden death. i wonder if that will happen to me... what should i worry about more, the blood pressure or the heart rate?

K,

I want to reassure you that you really don't have anything to worry about here. Given the numbers you reported, your HR and BP both fall completely within normal guidelines. If you're still concerned check out the AHA's info and I think it will help.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4701

This really does sound like classic anxiety, and I'm wondering if you ever spoke to your Doc about that? Quite some time after beginning Adderall, I had a major anxiety situation, too! I just KNEW my BP and HR were about to cause me to stroke out!:eek: I felt like an idiot, but the pharmacology go-to guy here, Gregster, helped put my mind at ease. Upon testing, my HR and BP were completely normal despite the fact that I was freaking out at the time. I now have both checked regularly and they are right on target, at my lower than average norms, likely due to the fact that I run a lot.

You sound like a healthy young woman to me, and I really hope you can somehow stop worrying so much over this. :) Taking stimulant medication is certainly an issue worthy of deep consideration, but when you're taking it and it's working, the best thing you can do for yourself, IMHO, is pay attention to your own body, recognize the benefits you're receiving as well as any major drawbacks, remain aware of qualitative information, certainly......BUT, especially when you have a tendancy towards anxiety, be careful not to overload your mind with information that is more subjective than factual. For anxious people, a gazillion different opinions are a nightmare bc you worry about every single one of them!!!!;) Been there, done that, understand all too well!!

The anxiety can be dealt with as Greg mentioned earlier. If it makes you feel any better, I don't even use an anti-anxiety agent anymore, which I did for a LONG time! If your sleep is still irregular, as I saw in the first post, that isn't helping the entire equation. Best of luck....and love the screen name by the way.....a sense of humor is always a great thing!:p

Your BP and HR sound just fine to me - I believe your BP numbers are on the low side of average, just where you want to be! There shouldn't be any adverse effects at all. Kids and adults have been taking stimulants for 50 years, so the long term effects are well know. High blood pressure is generally more worisom than high heart rate - unless it's tachycardia (racing heart). Sudden death can happen from any stimulant if you have certain kinds of problems with your heart. These problems involve the production and conduction of electrical signals in the heart from cells that control the beating of the heart. If you have these cells in more than one place in your heart, they can be stimulated by the drug and potentially cause an arrythmia, where the heart doesn't beat in the correct way, if it's serious enough, you can die. You hear about this happening sometimes, usually when someone susceptable takes a lot of cocaine. This kind of heart defect is rare, but it very often goes unnoticed and can effect people who are in very good shape otherwise - if you've ever heard of an athlete suddenly dropping dead from a heart problem, it's often due to this kind of defect.
I wouldn't worry about it, unless you have a family or personal history of heart problems, because it is rare. Your doctor may do an ECG to check for it, but there is no way to completely eliminate the risk since false-negatives and false-positives occur on ECGs.
I rationalize the risks this way - every drug has a risk, be it from allergy or whatever. Stimulants have been used for years, in children, without major problems and if there were serious dangers, prudent doctors would not precribe them. I trust my doctor and know that he has the best interests of my health in mind, so I do not worry at all about any risk, espcially since stimulants have helped me a great deal.

See what I mean about Gregster.....must have been right behind me without my noticing!!!!!
I missed the long term effect part of your question, but ditto to what he said!!!;)