Hi! I haven't been around in a while. I started Adderall at 10mg per day back in September. It's done wonders for my ability to stay on task. I've never been so productive in my life! Not to mention optimistic about my future.... now that I can make reasonable progress on everything.

I check in with my doc by phone once a month to get a new prescription and just touch base. She always asks if I have any palpitations. The answer was always no. I haven't had palpitations in 10 years when I had a very stressful job.

So work has gotten very intense, but not in a bad way. I do start to feel a bit overwhelmed at times and sure enough I had palpitations. I let it go that first time because it was minor. I had a stronger episode a week later that left me a bit freaked out. Even though the med should have been long gone from my system, my heart rate was high and I wanted to crawl out of my skin. This lasted into the next day and I did not take any med at all that day.

I determined it was an anxiety attack. The feeling grew worse when I would think of work or anything else potentially stressful. I had to practically meditate and think of nothing in order to calm down.

So... was it the meds, or am I having work-related anxiety like I did 10 years ago or a combination of both?

I stopped meds for a week and started up again yesterday. The day went fine. I felt like I had palpitation in the middle of the night but it might have been a dream... since I'm worried about it. I don't know if it really happened or not.

I took med again today. So far I feel normal, like I did for the last five months. If I can keep from stressing about the job, I do ok.

Anyone else deal with something like this?

10mg thats really low. i have anxiety and i take 120-240mg of the ir a day and it seems to help my anxiety. try asking the doc for klonopin of xanax an im sure he/she will write a script

10mg is good to start out with if it's XR. I started with 10mg and slowly ramped up. There is no reason to start higher and build a tolerance quickly. 240mg of IR is a ridiculous amount of Adderall... I don't understand how your doctor would prescribe that.

Sounds like work related anxiety. I would talk to your doc, he may be able to prescribe a benzo to take as needed. They work wonders, just don't take them all the time or you will have to wean yourself off of them. For anxiety I use to take 0.5mg of clonazepam 2x a day, my anxiety was TOTALLY gone on that stuff. Now I just take it as needed, and actually haven't needed it since starting Adderall.

Good Luck.

PS. 10mg of Adderall is a really really low dose, I can't imagine the Adderall being at the root of your anxiety.

lexapro kill my panic attacks/anxiety w/o risks of benzos

Anxiety comes with the meds, I usually have it bad when I leave my class and go home. Walking through the parking lot with all the other students walking around in the huge mess of cars, driving on the freeway in traffic. I always get afraid that people are looking at me, road rage, etc. For example, yesterday i was driving and after I changed lanes to pass someone, they changed lanes to another one and I thought they were going to pull up beside me and shoot me. I know i'm probably just having bad anxiety but it felt real. When I see someone behind me I feel like they're tail gating me and I freak out like no other. It can be pretty scary but I rarely have it when i'm at home, I should probably ask for something to take when needed just to calm me down. Xanax or something would help me when I feel like somethings watching me or like my skins crawling. But I really dislike the idea of taking more drugs, I wish I didn't have to take Adderall but it really does fix alot of the problems I have from my ADD. It really helped me not seek the substances i was using before hand (Alcohol and Ganja).

A little exercise every day (or almost every day) can really help with this. If the problem persists, you could talk to your doctor about possibly switching to Vyvanse, which causes less physical stimulation (and related anxiety) for many people. I'd be careful with the benzo suggestions. If you use them, please stick to occasional use only. Daily use can quickly result in physical dependance that can be extremely difficult to overcome.

I take Klonopin also along with Adderall. If I feel a panic attack coming on, about 1 mg of Klonopin will stop it in its tracks.

Stimulants are not supposed to be prescribed to people with severe anxiety, because they can exacerbate the anxiety. But lots of doctors prescribe stimulants with benzos, as long as they don't think the anxiety is extreme.

If you start having panic attacks frequently then I would discontinue the stimulant. But this could have happened even without the stimulant, no way to know.

I also take Klonopin for my anxiety. I was apprehensive about taking a stimulant at first because my anxiety can get pretty bad. My first experience with a stimulant was Vyvanse and it did increase my anxiety. When it was working I was fine but after it stopped working my anxiety would shoot up. It really got bad when we increased the dosage. I was shaking, constantly paranoid, couldn't even complete my schoolwork because my focus was shot and my anxiety was just too much. So when I went back to the doctor I was fully prepared to switch to Strattera and I described my symptoms to my psychiatrist. His response was have you ever been on adderall? I told him no and I was thinking I hope he knows what he is doing. So now I am on 20 mg of adderall twice a day and I barely have any anxiety at all. Adderall actually seems to help with my anxiety. I no longer worry so much about school and stuff. I feel confident in my ability to do just about anything. Well anyway thats my experience. I hope it works out for you.

ADHD & Anxiety
(http://www.healthcentral.com/adhd/related-conditions-196320-5.html)

Some recent studies have shown that one fourth of children with ADHD exhibit some symptoms of an anxiety disorder, while between just five percent and 15 percent of children in the general population are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. These results would imply a high incident rate of anxiety disorders in children with ADHD.

Adult ADHD Is Common Among Patients in Anxiety-Disorders Clinic (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/571537)

March 17, 2008 (Savannah, Georgia) — A study of consecutive patients seen in an anxiety-disorders clinic found that 33% met criteria for adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is much higher than the 4.4% prevalence of adult ADHD in the US population.






The data indicate that anxiety may co-occur with ADD /ADHD. The patterns indicated in the initial post would seem to point to anxiety being a co-occurring condition as opposed to one caused by the medications. For one thing the dosage is relatively low and the other being the attacks to not seem to coincide with medication usage and effects.

I am on xanax to take as needed for anxiety even though I do not feel the emotion "anxious" I have physical symptoms of anxiety. I do not find I need to take the xanax often enough for physical dependence to be a problem.

Any and all medications naturally will be a decision between one's doctor and themselves based upon their unique situation and chemistry.

Hope this helps :)