:confused: I have been noticing latly that when i start something I have a hard time stopping. I have heard this called hyper focusing but it feels like something more. I am on adderall 20 ml I have started making dream catchers as a hobby and one of the things I use are beads. the other night i was rearanging the beads in the container and all of a sudden i kept changing them from on little compartment to another. I must have changed each one about 8 times( i have over 20 colors.) I felt powerless to stop. I did this untill well after midnight. I have never done anything like this before. kind of scared me. is this a side effect of the med?

Hi Lunaslobo! :)

I noticed that I tended to get bogged down with stupid stuff when I was taking Adderall XR!

What I noticed was that when I would write something, I felt compelled to go back over what I wrote to make it look even, or I would underline words.

It was almost like out of control doodling! However, I have never been a doodler in my entire life, so I know it was the Adderall XR.

Also, I would get bogged down typing and re-typing stuff (Like posts or e-mails) just to make it sound better! It was like I was preoccupied with perfection! Again, something that I never use to do before taking Adderall XR.

When I was doing that stuff it felt good to keep doing it, so I didn't want to stop! However, eventually I would finally be satisfied and could move on!

I use to do other stuff too, but unfortunately I can't think of them right now. I'll post later if I remember some of them!

Anyway, now I take Strattera and I don't do any of that stuff anymore. Thank goodness! LOL :D

However, the Strattera isn't 100% perfect and I will probably have to take a small amount of some kind of stimulant, but I'm hoping that I won't get bogged down like I use to at the smaller dose levels of whatever stimulant I end up taking!

Peace! :)

thank you for your reply, I have an appointment when i need to refill my prescription and I will talk to my dr about what has been going on. I just dont want to give up the other good things that have been going on because i am doing some wierd things,(as if i never did wierd things before:eyebrow: ) someone said that possibly i coulde go on a combo of what I am taking and something else to kind of curb what is going on. But again I dont want to take too much and be a zombie either. Again thanks for your reply Ill let you know what the doc says.:)

thank you for your reply, I have an appointment when i need to refill my prescription and I will talk to my dr about what has been going on. I just dont want to give up the other good things that have been going on because i am doing some weird things,(as if i never did weird things before:eyebrow: ) someone said that possibly i could go on a combo of what I am taking and something else to kind of curb what is going on. But again I dont want to take too much and be a zombie either. Again thanks for your reply Ill let you know what the doc says.:)Yeah, let me know what he or she says about that weird little side effect! I think what you and I experienced was more than just normal ADD hyper-focusing. I'm actually glad you mentioned it, because I haven't seen anyone else bring it up on our forums yet. For me it was sort of like a drug induced OCD type thing.

Peace! :)

You described something a lot like ocd. It is possible to have mild ocd tendencies without having full blown ocd. Some people who have ocd not only have rituals, but can have troubles with vocal and motor tics, and/or obsessive thoughts. So things like getting stuck on a word and repeatring it when talking, or not being able to get some crazy disturbing thought out of your head, and having some repetetive rituals are all symtoms of OCD.

Some people have the tendency to be ocd and anxiety can make it suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere.

For some people, stimulants can exacerbate anxiety disorders. OCD is an anxiety disorder, and it would not be totally surprising to see OCD surface in some people who are on stimulants.


OCD is very common, it is thought to be more common than depression.

OCD is not usually constant. It seems to come and go (at least for me it does).

OCD can change over time. Motor tics come and go, checking rituals are given up for obsessive collecting, etc...

You should take it seriously and talk to your doctor about it.

ME :D

:confused: I have been noticing latly that when i start something I have a hard time stopping. I have heard this called hyper focusing but it feels like something more. I am on adderall 20 ml I have started making dream catchers as a hobby and one of the things I use are beads. the other night i was rearanging the beads in the container and all of a sudden i kept changing them from on little compartment to another. I must have changed each one about 8 times( i have over 20 colors.) I felt powerless to stop. I did this untill well after midnight. I have never done anything like this before. kind of scared me. is this a side effect of the med?

Hey Lunas! :)

Yeehaw! LOL :D

I recently stumbled upon this, and figured that you would definately want to see it as well! :)

The Bold part below is what I want you to read!

Amphetamine — blocks monoamine (Dopamine, Norepinepherine, and Serotonin) vesicular transport increasing the synaptic concentration of monoamines and their post-synaptic effect. In addition amphetamines cause a direct release of dopamine stores and cytoplasmic dopamine into the synaptic cleft (73). It increases the signal-to-noise ratio in the cortex. Dextroamphetamine may more often cause appetite loss and compulsive behaviors (9). Adderall is a long acting combination of 4 different Amphetamine salts giving an effect lasting 4 to 10 hours. Amphetamines are usually dosed at 0.5 to 1.0 mg/kg.Man I knew what you and I were experiencing wasn't your everyday typical OCD thing!

I'm now absolutely certain that it was the Adderall that caused the OCD symptoms that I experienced!

Below is the link to where I found the above statement! (It was on page 26)

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/psych-training/seminars/adult%20adhd.pdf#search=%22%20%22Incidence%20of%20 ADHD%22%2C%20%22Adoption%22%22

BTW, that whole article is very informative!

Peace! :)

I had the same reaction. It's kind of a bummer. Because the ADHD meds make my OCD worse, and the OCD meds (to a lesser degree) accentuate my scatteredness. My psychiatrist just sympathetically says it's a difficult combination of disorders to have.