I've been taking adderall for a little over a year. I usually take it 3-4 days a week at 25-40mg per day.

My blood pressure seems to fluctuate a lot. Within literally 2 hours it can be anywhere from 160/70 to 125/70. It seems like my diastolic is fairly consistent but my systolic is all over the place.

I talked to my doc about it and he said I should stop taking adderall for a few days to see if my blood pressure still gets high like that. So I stopped talking it for a week (just to make sure it was out of my system) and my blood pressure is still acting crazy. I realize there are sometimes no symptoms of high blood pressure, but I feel totally fine.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm about 25 years old, about 10 pounds overweight but probably in the best shape I've been in the last 5 years, I eat fairly healthy, no history of high blood pressure in my family, etc. I don't understand why it's acting up and it scares me.

Did taking adderall for a year permanently screw up my blood pressure?

first thing i'd like to ask is... did you ever monitor your blood pressure PRIOR to taking adderall?
if not, it may have been like that for quite a while, without you noticing.

i am 25 as well, and im on bisoprolol for high blood pressure. i dont smoke, i eat healthy, etc. - and my heart and kidneys (can be a cause of high blood pressure) are perfectly fine. no doctor had an explanation for my high blood pressure - except stress... i had somewhat normal blood pressure when i was at home and relaxed, but my body overreacts same as my mind overreacts. the slightest trigger and my blood pressure (systolic as well, my diastolic was within normal range,too) would go berzerk. it wouldnt drop properly at night either - and when the nurse put on the 24-hours measurement device, i even had a systolic blood pressure of 170 mmHg, as this fondling around on me was enough of an annoyance for me, too...


so, your high blood pressure may in theory not be a cardiac condition NOR triggered by adderall (though it's a common side-effect). it can have quite a few causes, including 'simple' things like stress or, more like, being hypersensitive to stress.

i'd ask your doctor for a 24-hours measurement of your blood pressure, you will get a small device to carry around for 24 hours. this will give a good profile about your blood pressure fluctuations throughout the day... best even do it with and without adderall, each for one day, if possible.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I had my blood pressure checked about once every 4-5 months prior to starting adderall. It was always in the 110/70 - 125/70 range.

I definitely considered the "stress factor" but I'd be lying to myself if I said I'm the type of person who gets nervous at the doctor's or at the idea of checking my blood pressure or whatever.

I will definitely ask my doc about the 24hr assessment thing. I just hate the idea of being put on another medication, you know?

K, I have had high blood pressure starting around 25 myself. At that time I was not overweight and I was unable to determine the cause of this at the time. Since that time I always knew that it was kind of high but didn't monitor it or pay much attention to it...bad thing. Doctors simply wrote it of to the doctors office visit, that I was ill or that the anxiety issues I had were related to the in-office readings. In nay case nobody took it seriously. I finally found a doctor that went back in time and asked all kinds of questions every time we met, every time something popped into his head I would get an email. This was the first time that anyone was more interested in my blood pressure than I was. It was basically a problem that he was determined to figure out and in his interest I got all jacked up, bought a monitor and started to track my pressure religiously, Morning, Afternoon and Night. I found out it was major high all the time which scared the stuffing out of me.

Through the course of discovery my current Dr. and I discovered what the issue was for me and it was all related to allergies and the medicine I was taking to get them under control. You see, at some point in my life I had gone to the doctor because I was seriously ill, bronchitis, coughing, blah, blah, blah. The old doctor did the exam and couldn't find anything so he did the same old thing that all doctors do...here is a scrip for anti-biotics, call me if it gets worse...oh yea and I think this whole thing came about from allergies that you have. You should probably be on an antihistamine for the rest of your life. I started to take the alergy medicine which over the course of time blew my blood pressure out of the water.

My blood pressure is undercontrol today in fact it is low most of the time now and I feel fine. What also helped was that my daughter started to take singing lessons. This is going to sound bizar but she had to learn to breath differently in order to support the voice properly. Singers breath low in the tummy so a really deep breath fills the lower part of the lungs and you can actually see the tummy expand a little before the chest does. So I thought there had to be something to this and as a result whenever I can catch myself I make constant efforts to breath like a singer. I did that once before and during the time that I was taking my blood pressur and it lowered everything by about 10 points. In otherwords, I guess, if you can stay aware of your breathing it may help to NOT breath shallow breaths.

Weight lifters and people that are very active have a lot going for them from the start but most of them have to deep breath at some point in there training and exercise program. I have also heard but I personaly do not do this but Yoga is supposed to be awesome.

Just a few thoughts...

Interesting post, Milamber. Thanks.

Have you had your thyroid checked? IT effects your blood pressure. Also do you have a lot of sodium? You may want to start with reducing your sodium intake and definitely have your thyroid checked.

Have you had your thyroid checked? IT effects your blood pressure. Also do you have a lot of sodium? You may want to start with reducing your sodium intake and definitely have your thyroid checked.

No, I have not had my thyroid checked. I probably intake a bit too much sodium but I'm trying to cut down on that.

Also, I'm trying to lose weight. I recently gained about 15 pounds over the course of like 6 months because adderall no longer suppresses my appetite.