okay I am taking 20 mg of adderall XR once a day, in the morning. This is my first day taking it, and I felt tired most of the day, but very calm. I did not feel anxious, my thoughts were smooth, I felt happy, not depressed...But around noon( I took it at 7:30) my heart rate went up a little.. I am a hyprocondriact(sp?) and can feel when things change in my body... the weird thing is I kept myself calm, is this normal, and is it normal to want to sleep alot the first week of meds. also I was not hungry till I got home and now I feel blah after eating. The thought of food made me feel blah :eek: during the day... Also I usally love the hot weather, but I went out today and thought I was going to die, made me feel sick...

Then after work I kept zoning out big time... Now I feel sort of sick / zoned out....

Hello can anyone help :(

oh just letting you know I did not litterly think I was going to die, LOL

Actually, just about all your symptoms were fairly normal. Many people with ADHD find the meds to be a little bit sedating. It wasn't until I mentioned to my doc that I'd sometimes take naps during the day, especially after taking my second dose (back when I was taking IR), that he told me to try taking it before bed to see if it would help me get to sleep, and sure enough, for the first time in my life, I actually looked up at the clock when the Daily Show ended and went "oh wow, it's kinda late, I should go to bed now," and was asleep right when my head hit the pillow. I guess I was so bad that I couldn't even focus enough to go to sleep before.

Some people find that it lowers their appetite. You still need to eat, you just might not feel hungry. I haven't had that happen very much, though, because it helped me remember to go eat lunch.

The heart thing is odd. If you took it at 7:30 and felt the heart thing at 12:30, 5 hours later, it's hard to say. On the one hand, if it was going to increase your heart rate, it would have been far more likely to happen when you first took it. On the other hand, Adderall XR does release the second half of the dose after around 4 hours (for me, I notice the difference right at 4 hours, which means that it's probably releasing early for me, since it takes 45-90 minutes for me to notice effects when I take it initially), so there is always the possibility that what you felt was the second half of the dose entering your system. There is nothing inherently wrong with raising your heart rate a little bit (happens when you exercise anyways), but it is dangerous if it went too high. Also, panic attacks in and of themselves can raise your heart rate, although you say you were pretty calm at the time, so maybe that's not it.

Oh, and the calmness thing, yeah, apparently that's how neurotypicals feel. Comes from the confidence you get knowing that if you put your car keys in your pocket, they'll actually still be there by the end of the day. I actually found that my blood pressure went down from where it was before taking meds (although I also became involved in a fairly demanding sport during that time and got into much better physical shape, which probably played more of a role than being calm from the meds did).

But yeah, mostly normal. If you're worried about your heart, most pharmacies have a little booth next to them that will tell you your heart rate and blood pressure. I check it every time I refill my meds, just to be safe, but haven't seen any serious problems

What did you have to eat or drink before the heart rate increase? Just curious, I am unable to speak about Adderal XR positively because I don't take it but many here have excellent results from it :).


Crazy (seeking for my custom title)

okay I am taking 20 mg of adderall XR once a day, in the morning. This is my first day taking it, and I felt tired most of the day, but very calm. I did not feel anxious, my thoughts were smooth, I felt happy, not depressed...But around noon( I took it at 7:30) my heart rate went up a little.. I am a hyprocondriact(sp?) and can feel when things change in my body... the weird thing is I kept myself calm, is this normal, and is it normal to want to sleep alot the first week of meds. also I was not hungry till I got home and now I feel blah after eating. The thought of food made me feel blah :eek: during the day... Also I usally love the hot weather, but I went out today and thought I was going to die, made me feel sick...

Then after work I kept zoning out big time... Now I feel sort of sick / zoned out....Kellie, ADHD meds are known to increase your body temp a bit...they also have a knack of turning you off food in the beginning..the thought of food in the first few hours after taking dex, makes me cringe (it's a good thing though!)

They will take a bit of time to adjust to, but they seem to be on the right track..good luck..oh, and heart rate increase, I think is normal for stimulants too:faint:

thank you so much.... I was actually worried about my heart before I even took the meds, so I think I was actaully thinking about it, I think that is when my ocd kicked in and I could not stop thinking about which I think made it worse, but the good thing was I did not panic and so I did not have a panic attack...

THank you so so so much!!!!!!!

What did you have to eat or drink before the heart rate increase? Just curious, I am unable to speak about Adderal XR positively because I don't take it but many here have excellent results from it :).


Crazy (seeking for my custom title)

I had a cottage cheese/fruit cup and made myself eat some pretzils....:o the thought of anohter bite made me sick to my stomach, thought it would defeat the purpose if I lost all that trying to eat more, LOL :eek:;)