Hi, I have a son that will be 13 on May 21. He has been on adderall since he was 5 or 6. I have read a few things that says that adderall can change sexual drive. Does this mean it can cause it to be intensified? If that's what it means it will all make sence to the way he has been acting considering he is hiting puberty. If anyone has experienced this please let me know. I'm just about at my wits end. Thank you in advance....

Hi,
I'm sorry I dont have a response to your question. But I am about to try my 12 yr old daughter on adderall. She has been on dexadrine for over a year, and failing grade 7 terribly. I want to try a different medication on her, as I dont think it should be this hard for her to focus. Would you mind sharing your experience with adderall? Has your son always been on adderall, or has he had other medications in the past?
Thank you in advance
Shannon

Hi Shannon,
My son was diagnosed when he was about 5 or 6 and they never tried him on anything else. The thing about adderall that I just found out is ya have to be careful because it can be habit forming when taking for long periods of time. I was not happy reading that. On the good side he is an honor student and I don't think he would be without it but I will be talking to the doctor about tring something else because I feel almost 8 years is quite a while. Good luck.

Stimulants usually affect sex drive negatively - they ah.... Take the snap out of your turtle, so to speak. I'm thinking the surging testosterone of a 13 year old boy is no match for a little pill however! His sex drive might well be even stronger without the Adderal. I'd consult his Dr if you think his sex drive is over the top, but thinking back to when I was 13, I can tell you that what you might think is excessive, is probably pretty normal.
Good luck,
Greg

I am an adult who was recently diagnosed ADD. I started Adderall 2 weeks ago. I'm new to the forum - hopefully my response not inappropriate. The first day there was a noticible change in my prostrate. Any "activity" in that area felt different and was almost painfull at times. My drive was stronger but the physical ability to follow through was slightly diminished. The end was accompanied by a feeling similar to trying to complete the act when you really have to pee.
I actually wondered how young kids in puberty would handle this side effect. Again, I'm sorry if this was inappropriate, but that is what I experienced.

Bob

I've not experienced any noticible reduction or increase in sex drive with the adderall...

But, I'm a girl and most research is done on men,. so perhaps it affects them more? I don't know...everyone is different anyway.

Puberty wreaks havoc with your hormones anyway. I remember being one day like, oh my god I want to go out and jump someone and the next being like, ew boys have cooties.

Oh, wait, I'm still like that. Except now it's, boys aren't worth the trouble not they have cooties ;)

I would check with your doc, but don't expect to find much....very little research has been done on things like puberty and reactions to drugs...doctors have long assumed (erroneously) that we all have the same reaction as group of young white men.....or young white boys if it's a pediatric trial.

Sorry. Soapbox. Off. *pets soapbox*

Good luck.

I'm a 36 yr old female and take Adderall XR 20 mgs. Stimulants affect each person in a different way regardless of age or weight.

I have noticed a great improvement in my libido and sexual relationship with my partner. That is GREAT for me but how it may affect your son's sexual drive, or anyone elses is on a case by case basis.

I suppose you weigh the benefits and the downsides each time you try out a new medication or doseage to see if it is worth it.

If it is of any use to you, I made (on my computer) a checklist of things of interest to me, personally ..categorizing each as improved, greatly improved, same, negative, significantly negative. I made a bunch of these sheets, by week to check them off so I would have a reference when I go back to my doctor for occasional consultations. It has really helped.

It might be of use to make a few checklists for your son and generally monitor the behaviors, side effects, etc ..that you think are most important to you, him and your family.

I hope this is appropriate too, but I experienced an increase, while one of my guy-friends shared with me that he experienced a decrease which was causing tension between him and his girlfriend. Like someone else said, it sounds like it's different for everyone.

I just have to say that I had my sons doctor try something else on him....He's transitioning him to Stratara and he seems to be back to normal now. I love it, now when I look over at him on my couch he dosn't have his hands down his pants....LOL.

In my last post here some months ago, I mistakenly identified my med as adderal, when it was actually Strattera. I posted a correction in another area, but forgot that I had posted here. When my doctor was describing the different meds, we were going back and forth between the two, and I got the two mixed up (How ADD of me)
Anyway, I switched to adderal a few months ago, and the "plumbing" issues with odd feelings in the prostrate went away. The adderal seems to have a more defined effect on my focus, or at least my sense of wanting to be productive at any particular moment. With the stattera, I wasn't so aware of my increased drive to produce, but I was definitely aware of the plumbing thing. In a nutshell, strattera had more noticable physical symptons but more subtle mental ones. It definitely affected the duration and feeling associated with sex (in a good way), especially the end, but had a negative affect on my "physical readiness".
Adderal immediately perks you up (after all, it is basically "speed") - the affect on sex drive is more mental, as there was no noticable difference in my physical feeling or abilty. There is a warning with adderal to inform your doctor of any trouble you may have had with addictions. I never considered myself as having a problem with alchohol, especially after I got married and we had kids, but I like a cold beer now and then. Last summer, we had a barbecue Labor day, and the leftover beer, maybe a case and a half, was in an outside fridge pretty much untouched since Sept. Since I started Adderal about 2 months ago, its pretty much gone. Why the thought of having a beer or two entered my mind at all, just after starting the meds, is the big question.
I would be wrapping things up for the day, and just go out without thinking about it, and pop a cold one. The drive to imbibe was extremely subtle, and I've now been making a concious effort to avoid it, which was harder than I thought it would be.
Very weird side effect, but I wonder if they saw it in the trials. If it perked up what ever pleasure sensors my body used to associate with drinking, it may work the same way, and just as subtle, with other pleasurable drives, like sex.
After reading what I just wrote, it sounds like something out of a psych journal. I have no background in that field, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. :)
Seriously, if you have any history of over enjoying anything, you should be very aware of drifting back to it when you start the adderal.
Once i got that area under control, its been good for me.
Some of the changes I felt when I was on Strattera were similar to the feelings associated with puberty, when the equipment starts to "ramp up" for adulthood. You son may not notice any difference from what he's already experincing as far as that goes. Good luck with it!