I take Adderall 20mg x 2 as prescribed by my doctor (psychiatrist). I used to train in martial arts after work but this was before I started taking Adderall. I'm wondering if I may risk giving myself a stroke or heart attack from training while on Adderall. I would take Adderall at or around 9:00 AM in the morning. I would start training roughly 11 hours later at 8:00 PM. Would this be an issue or would it be the same as me not even taking Adderall? I'm really worried as I really don't want to end up dying or killing myself by doing this.

I am overweight so that is an issue as well although it's an issue that training in martial arts can help me handle.

How old are you? Any other health problems aside from the extra weight?

I have been running seriously for less than a year now and dextroamphetamine is noticeable to me now. I take 10mg in the morning and another 5mg in the afternoon.

I've been watching my heart rate closely because of the type of training I'm doing. I now avoid taking the speed if I'm going to work long or work particularly hard. It jacks my heart rate between 5 - 10 percent and that makes quite a difference in my endurance. If I don't have the speed in my system, I go longer, faster with a lower heart rate.

I have no scientific data to support my observations, only my experience. I ran 70 some odd miles this month. I've just begun to introduce some intense workouts for speed and pace and I'll be waiting until after my run to take any meds. I used to train with the dex in my system but I was having trouble staying within the zones I as targeting for training so I began to experiment.

Just as an aside. If fat burning is what you are after, an aerobic workload at 60% of you maximum heart rate burns the fastest fat calories. 220 - age = MHR MHR x .60 gives you your target heart rate. If you take your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by four, you'll be close enough. 60% is dead easy and after six weeks you'll think you are on some kind of "feel good" drug. :D

Hope this helps. -- Ian.

I do Taekwondo, and had a similar concern. I do not usually find it a problem, unless for some reason I wind up taking the Adderall shortly before practice. I take a 10mg dose twice a day. When I take my first dose at 9am, and my second dose at 3, the effect during Taekwondo is negligeble. I just did exactly that today, in fact. In some ways, the Adderall helps a bit, it's decongestant effect makes it easier for me to breathe, with my sinus problems, and it helps me focus better. Occasionally, if I take the second dose later, at 5 or 6, I'm still fine when I go to practice at 7:30, even with it in my system. I might sweat a little more, and need to drink more gatorade, but I'm usually fine. The only problem I've had is on days when I take the dose a little earlier in the day, and find it wearing off midway through practice. The energy drop-off and loss of concentration is a bit rough when it happens in the middle of practice.

If you do practice, make sure to bring plenty of gatorade. Because Adderall is a stimulant, it will dehydrate you a bit, so be sure to drink plenty of fluids. Because you'll be sweating a lot, at least, you'll be sweating a lot if your instructor is a hardass like mine, you'll want to make sure that you're replacing the electrolytes as well as the water.

At least once a week my runs are extending into the two hour range and one recently went nearly three.

I've always been one to jump on ahead of the requirements, but uncharacteristically for me, with the running, I've let the need dictate the input.

After nearly 400 miles of running in the last nine months, I've finally bought a light shirt and shorts specifically for the sport. Not usually my style. I usually have the gear before I have the skills! I think the dex is having it's way in cutting down on the impulsive nature that is mine... :P

I took the same approach to sport drinks. In my first run over an hour and a half in cool weather, I could tell I was short of carbs and could use a booster. I was probably working at 85% of my max heart rate. From what I can glean from the web, the common wisdom is that unless you are going to be hard at it for more than an hour, water is best on a number of points.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade

http://www.gatorade.com/

http://www.lesmills.co.nz/news_content.cfm?&newsid=32
This is one of many places that suggest that taking in a sport drink if you are not working very hard for an hour or more is not better than water and likely can be harmful if you look at how much salt and sugar are in them.

"To replace the fluid you sweat out (and to prevent life-threatening heat stroke), drink 500 ml (2 cups) of water or a sports drink two hours before exercising. Drink 125 to 175 ml (½ to ¾ cup) of cool fluid every 10 to 15 minutes during exercise. After exercise, replenish lost fluids by drinking more water. A general rule is to consume 500 ml of fluid for every pound you lose working out.

Sports drinks (e.g. Gatorade, PowerAde, All Sport) are recommended for exercise that lasts longer than one hour. The addition of sodium to sports drinks stimulates fluid absorption, maintains the desire to drink and helps prevent low blood sodium (hyponatremia) in prolonged exercise. Most sports drinks also contain 6 to 9 per cent carbohydrate, which provides energy for working muscles."


http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/ultramentor/nutrition.html
I liked the info here too.


One of the coolest things I've learnt recently is that if we have been working hard for an hour or more there is a window of 20-40 minutes immediately after finishing that we are better able to replace spent carbs.


So now, if I've been out for a couple of hours, I'll come back and have a couple of cups of chocolate milk. Chocolate milk has about the recommended balance of carbs to protein (4:1) and costs much less than most specialty recovery drinks.
It's made a very big difference to how I feel the next day. Less muscle soreness and generally in better shape than I am when I don't take it in within 20 minutes of finishing. Cool eh?


Cheers! Ian

I don't have any other health problems except for high blood pressure which runs in my family.