I've started taking Adderall this past monday, 10mg 1x a day in the morning. It kicks in around an hour afterwards and I get clear minded and I'm able to focus, also much calmer and speaking clearer.

However, I also been getting headaches shortly after taking it, I'm not sure if this is just my allergies acting up (no idea what I'm allergic to, but it could be pollen or something). It's been about 4-5 days since I started taking it, I also noticed that I get kinda tired after 4-5 hours after I've taken it. Does this mean I need to increase my dosage or take two 10mg spread out one in the morning and one in the afternoon?

I'm going to call my doctor this upcoming monday if the headaches and tiredness persists. Otherwise it's working great and I'm getting a lot done, sleeping well (and waking up easily), and just all around in a calmer better mood. When it wears off though I do get a bit irritable probably because my ADD symptoms come back and they're more noticeable.

Thanks for any help/suggestions :)

Vasoconstriction of blood vessels may explain headaches while on stimulants. I never get headaches on stimulants only off them. I think somehow your body
adjusts to vasoconstriction and when you withdrawal(end of the day) from stimulants vessel over dilate and that triggers a different type of headache (migraine pain).

Old thread on headaches and adderall.

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48248

I read some post there and on google search that suggest avoiding dehydration helps.

You may need a second dose. My IR lasts about 4 hrs and I take a second one afterwards. I sometime take a third, depending on the timing of the last dose and what the evening will be like. I feel tired when it wears off.

Near the end of a dose of IR (immediate release) adderall you might get the rebound vasodialation migraine effect to. So some suggest XR(extended release) to counter that. Interesting I have read longtime migraine suffers
actually have seen improvement while using adderall.

The whole muscle tension increased anxiety mechanism side effect some people feel from stimulants might explain headaches on stimulants to.

ADDERALL is a very powerful amphetamine. I found Dexedrine to be much gentler. (The headaches went away. So did the falling asleep when the meds wore off.)

Yeah I'm on 10 mg 1x a day Adderall XR right now. I took it around 8:30 AM today, and I have had kind of like a subtle headache on my forehead/eyebrows/temple getting progressively worse like 4-5 hours after taking it. The tiredness as well starts around the same time. I also have been feeling kind of sweaty after the 4-5 hour lasting effect it has on me.

The headaches usually last until I go to bed, when I wake up it's pretty much gone.

I also have been feeling kind of sweaty after the 4-5 hour lasting effect it has on me.



Sweaty can be a symptom of migraine headache. (http://www.connecticutcenterforhealth.com/migraine.html)

Though stimulants like Adderal can increase body temperature to.

Sweaty can be a symptom of migraine headache. (http://www.connecticutcenterforhealth.com/migraine.html)

Though stimulants like Adderal can increase body temperature to.

I think the sweatyness comes when the headache comes so yeah a migraine headache sounds about right. Although I always seem to get kinda sweaty when I'm heavily concentrating/focused on something. I only feel sweaty when like I get irritably hot or something even when it's in an a/c'd room. What should I do about these? It could also be dehydration because I just drank some gatorade and my headache kinda dispersed for a bit. I'm going to be paying more attention to the headaches to see if they go away soon.

Any other suggestions/recommendations are welcome.

I also noticed tiredness and headache after taking the pill. I take 5mg IR in the morning, and 2.5mg after 4 hours. I have been taking them for about a month now. Interesting thing is that the effect varies from day to day. Usually I would start feeling benefits in focus and motivation about half and hour after taking the pill. At first, I noticed that my anxiety increases, but it normalizes after another 0.5-1h, so I start feeling close to optimal about 1-1.5h after taking the pill.

The weird thing is that in the last couple of days I would become very sluggish and brain-fogged after taking my usual 5mg, even much more than I was just after waking up. Its kind of the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. I wonder why I am getting this. I have been taking a little bit more in the couple of days preceding these (10mg a day vs 7.5mg), since I had more work to do, so the effectiveness may be decreasing. I also haven't eaten anything before taking Adderall in the morning, so this may have contributed to the headache and diziness to some degree. But I am still puzzled, and kind of worried, because I am taking GRE soon, and Adderall is becoming so unpredictable. Today I tried to study, but brain-fog and daydreaming lasted for more than 2.5h after Adderall - could hardly concentrate at all.

I think the sweatyness comes when the headache comes so yeah a migraine headache sounds about right.

Since a migraine has a different mechanism than a non-migraine headache it suggest different treatment options. Like keeping the same degree of vasocontriction constantly might help.

You would have to ask your doctor but one idea is to open the capsule and
use a smaller amount at a time. The prescribing info say the capsule can be open for people who can not swallow a pill. And it does not interfere with the time releasing mechanism. Though what time interval to space the dose I'm not sure perhaps 3-4 hours. Is 5 mg Adderall XR available?

Unless the pain is unbearable, I might give it another week or so before making a change ... my body definitely adapts to these meds after about 3 weeks typically.