Hey everyone.

I'm currently 21 years old and I've been taking adderall off and on since about freshman year of high school, so about 6 years, and fairly steadily for the last two years--so I'm very familiar with how it effects me both positively and negatively. Recently though, whenever I take it I get horrible heart palpitations to the point that it is very uncomfortable and hard to sit still and tolerate. Additionally, I have tremendous chest pains and this huge feeling of tightness and discomfort in my chest like there is a massive weight on it or something. I've narrowed the cause of these problems definitely to the adderall, because when I don't take adderall for a period of days I am without this chest/heart pain, which returns upon taking it. This is beyond the typical heart fluttering or sped up heart rate associated with the onset of adderall--it's an extremely uncomfortable chest achey pain combined with the almost intolerable sped up heart/palpatation. I'm actually a bit worried about this and am wondering if anyone has experienced something similar or has any advice for me. Thanks for your help.

Call your doctor immediately. Hell, even if you weren't taking Adderall, you should contact your doctor immediately when you feel those symptoms. Even if it isn't cardiovascular (I had similar symptoms in response to a respiratory staph infection once), they're serious enough that you need medical help.

strongly agree with Hyperion. Especially if this has been happening for a while, you should get it checked out right away. I put off going to the doctor for a heart thing for quite some time, only to find out I might have a condition which meant I was doing serious irreversible damage to my heart by waiting (haven't gotten my event monitor results back yet).

I had this and couldn't figure it out because I had been on Adderal for a long time and gotten past the side effects after the first few weeks. Turned out that it was anxiety from the stress in my life that was being magnified physically by the adderal. As soon as I filed for divorce I had the chest pains less and less. Now it is rare that I get that chest pain but everytime it has been the same stressor that brings it on. I have to make myself relax and think my way through whatever buttons he has pushed and then I'm fine.

I've even had my dosage increased recently and the chest pain didn't come back. I would definitely talk to my doctor about it if I were you simply because worrying about the pain seemed to make it worse too. Especially with all the stuff that has been in the media about adderall.