EXTREME weight loss on Adderall XR...

[oxcheerinchicxo]

Hey everyone.

I'm 21 years old, and began taking 40 mg daily of Adderall XR in November after having unsuccessful effects with both Strattera and Wellbutrin. It's working extremely effectively for me. I used to be so spacey, disorganized, and flustered and the Adderall really gets me focused and clears my head. I don't experience any "crash" like I've read in some of these threads, I only notice myself getting spacey and a bit tired around 8-9 at night.

I'm extremely concerned because I've lost a significant amount of weight on this medication. I've always been tiny, I'm a 5'0 petite girl whose average weight is 100. When I began taking the medication I weighed 105, within four weeks I was down to 88 pounds. I literally never ate, and if I did it would be less than 500 calories a day. Sometimes I would go an entire 24+ hour period without consuming anything. I had absolutely no desire to eat, and I'm a senior in college, so cooking for myself just won't happen. I even stopped menstruating for a bit.

I gained about 15 pounds over my Christmas break when I was home. Since starting back at school second semester, I have been more attentive to me weight and diet, but I've slowly been losing weight again over the past three weeks. I'm back down to 90 pounds, and some people have expressed their concerns for me, because I literally look like a skeleton.

Now, I've had some amazing experiences since starting the Adderall, and the only side effect I'm experiencing is this weight loss. I've always been small, and my metabolism has always been fast. I haven't had success with any other ADHD medications, so I don't really want to switch to anything else. I'm also quite content with my dosing, in relation to how I feel throughout the day.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anybody have any tips for me on how to gain weight? I consume probably less than 1000 calories a day, and I know that's absolutely nothing. Are there any protein/carbohydrate drinks I could substitute as a meal?

Thanks for any help!

[CDRacingZX6R]

Originally Posted by oxcheerinchicxo

Hey everyone.

I'm 21 years old, and began taking 40 mg daily of Adderall XR in November after having unsuccessful effects with both Strattera and Wellbutrin. It's working extremely effectively for me. I used to be so spacey, disorganized, and flustered and the Adderall really gets me focused and clears my head. I don't experience any "crash" like I've read in some of these threads, I only notice myself getting spacey and a bit tired around 8-9 at night.

I'm extremely concerned because I've lost a significant amount of weight on this medication. I've always been tiny, I'm a 5'0 petite girl whose average weight is 100. When I began taking the medication I weighed 105, within four weeks I was down to 88 pounds. I literally never ate, and if I did it would be less than 500 calories a day. Sometimes I would go an entire 24+ hour period without consuming anything. I had absolutely no desire to eat, and I'm a senior in college, so cooking for myself just won't happen. I even stopped menstruating for a bit.

I gained about 15 pounds over my Christmas break when I was home. Since starting back at school second semester, I have been more attentive to me weight and diet, but I've slowly been losing weight again over the past three weeks. I'm back down to 90 pounds, and some people have expressed their concerns for me, because I literally look like a skeleton.

Now, I've had some amazing experiences since starting the Adderall, and the only side effect I'm experiencing is this weight loss. I've always been small, and my metabolism has always been fast. I haven't had success with any other ADHD medications, so I don't really want to switch to anything else. I'm also quite content with my dosing, in relation to how I feel throughout the day.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anybody have any tips for me on how to gain weight? I consume probably less than 1000 calories a day, and I know that's absolutely nothing. Are there any protein/carbohydrate drinks I could substitute as a meal?

Thanks for any help!

Seems like this has happened to a lot of people. Even with my very short duration on Adderall, I have lost a lot more weight than normal exercise and diet.

Aside from your family and friends voicing concerns, your doctor might feel that your weight loss could be detrimental to your health if it keeps going down.

How do you take the 40mg? Seems a lot of people here eat a big meal for breakfast, then take a dosage. After it starts to wear off, eat again then take a second dosage (assuming your splitting it into 20am/20pm.

For me, once the crash comes I'm starving. So I get enough food for the most part as long as I time things well.

[Only1Jomo]

I take adderall IR and have the same experience. I started taking it on the 12th of March and have lost 10 lbs. Now I definately need to lose the weight but I want to be as healthy about it as possible. I have started being very cautious about making sure I get as close to 1000-1200 caleries per day (doc says thats safe). When I cant cook, I go to places like subway where I can see the calories and make healthier choices, El pollo loco is good too. Until I get used to it, I put it on my "to do" list so I dont space out and forget. It is slowly becoming as important to me as paying my bills, doing homework etc.

[RedSkittles]

this happened to me with conserta. To gain weight i drank ensure, but when all you eat is soda crackers and a milk smoothy thing you get a headache, so i used ibprofine and moved on to dexitrine

[DarkCode]

Lower your dose, start exercising (weight lifting - not a lot of cardio). Start eating 1g of protein per pound of muscle per day to prevent muscle loss. And start eating every 2-3 hours. Anything, everything, just something.

You can't go forever with eating nothing. Start taking multi-vitamins, get yourself a gallon of milk a week to go through, and stay away from sugary soft drinks. Start drinking lots of water, and stop eating any foods high in sodium - salty foods say goodbye to. No more fast food. Get yourself powerbars, cliff bars, those massive Gatorade jugs at the store, and plenty of frozen meals.

I'm in college too, so I know the feeling about not cooking for myself. But you *have* to eat, and you need to eat healthy. Get yourself a good friend, or roommate to help with managing your diet appropriately. After a while you learn to keep it up yourself.

I'm personally on a special diet nowadays, high protein, low fat, with plenty of carbohydrates. Then again, I'm at the gym everyday 2 hours, and I'm building mass. But just because I take Adderall and experience the same appetite suppression you experience does *not* mean I am not hungry. Your still hungry no matter what. You need food to keep the drug working effectively, and for women especially, you can't go a long time with anorexic behavior because you can stop your menstraul cycle altogether if you remain malnourished over a long period of time. You need a certain body fat level. Go to GNC and get yourself some weight gainer if you have to, just something.

[oxcheerinchicxo]

I usually take my first 20 somewhere around 7 to 9, depending on when I wake up/my class schedule, and my second dosage around 2 or 3. Breakfast has always been an issue for me, even before I started the medication I never ate breakfast because I never have an urge to eat until around noon or so. Sometimes I just force myself to eat a bowl of Cream of Wheat, but there's hardly any calories in that.

When I'm done my classes it's lunchtime, and if I try to eat I literally gag trying to force it down. Usually I'm so wrapped up in studying, homework, or running around campus for various meetings that I don't even think about eating.

I take my next dose, and then go to crew practice. I don't row, I'm a coxswain, and I've stopped running with my rowers because I don't want to do cardio and risk losing anymore weight.

Then I get back to campus around 7 or so. I usually have about an hour break before I need to attend some sorority event. So I usually take a shower.

I literally run around all day, and eating is a struggle because I don't stop to think about it, nor am I hungry. I went until 8 just yesterday, started to feel light-headed and tired, before I realized I hadn't eaten anything all day, and barely ate anything the day before. It was still a struggle to force something down, and I was full within a couple bites.

I think that if maybe I started drinking Ensure or another type of meal drink at various intervals in the day, it might stimulate my apetite, and hopefully gradually increase my tolerance for food.

[GinoGina]

Being 88 pounds is extremley dangerous. You need to get calories in you. It doesn't matter how, just do it. I would cosnider buying a weigh gaining supplement, similar to what those bodybuilders take when they want to put on muscle. A supplement called Mammoth 2500 would be perfect for you. Has 1500 cals per serving, you mix it with milk and it tastes like chocolate milk. If you don't want to buy a supplement start choosing foods that are calorie dense.

I don't like to eat when I am on Adderall either but I force myself too. Foods like rice, beef, pastas, and nuts are all calorie dense. Add these kinds of foods to your to your diet. Trying snacking on a cup of peanuts during the day. You'd be suprised to know a cup of peanuts has 800 calories. Put one cup of those down a day and you're already doing better.

If you cannot keep your weight stable while on this drug, it is not the right drug for you. You are putting yourself at extreme risk for bone fractures, muscular dystrophy and a number of other ugly problems. Next time you go to the grocery store look on the back of the foods you buy and pick stuff up that has a ton of calories in it. If you can't cook, get some microwavable meals. Those are usually calorie dense.

Good luck

[crumbaugh]

Originally Posted by oxcheerinchicxo

...and if I try to eat I literally gag trying to force it down.

I am experiencing this for the first time this week.

Was worried as I am seeing that I have absolutely no interest in food when I'm on my med, so I followed some advice I read here and got some luna bars thinking those would be easy to eat and they have a lot of fiber and vitamins. And I like them....

.... or I DID like them before. Now when I eat them I can chew and chew thinking "okay body, swallow now" and the times I can manage to swallow is thru a real struggle with the feeling that my stomach is going to reject the food immediately upon entry.

Honestly, I feel like the biggest dope as I sit there with the chewed food all propped up there on the back of my tongue actively willing my body to swallow. I picture myself doing it and the picture is really funny... so glad I'm alone in the morning.

I had a moment a couple of day ago where I chewed and chewed and chewed thinking "I'll swallow any minute now" then when I got close, I actually started gagging and had to spit the entire mess into the trashcan.

I have always been anywhere from somewhat Statuesque (now) to downright fat (20's) and with a really good appetite, so this sort of behavior my body is exhibiting is totally foreign to me and I've got to find something I can eat that will give me good bang for the buck.

nutrition bars seem to be out. As are triscuits and turkey.

Some suggest that this hyper-non hunger state does go away with time. I'd like to continue to feel not completely overwhelmed by desire for food, but I also want to be able to eat the amounts and type of food that I need to eat to stay healthy without all this internal drama.

[TheSavageSquid]

Originally Posted by oxcheerinchicxo

I usually take my first 20 somewhere around 7 to 9, depending on when I wake up/my class schedule, and my second dosage around 2 or 3.

I feel your pain, I'm 15 and take 40mg in the morning, all at once. I'm not a very big kid either but the Adderall isn't helping. Last year in Physics we were doing a project seeing how much work we did going up and down the stairs in a certain amount of time, which requires our mass. And I was the lightest student in the class, behind the girl with the eating disorder.... I weighed about 95lbs.

I've been on ADHD meds since I was 9, it started off with Ritilan, that turned me into a walking zombie. 4th grade was Concerta, I lost an extreme amount of weight, didn't work that great and I slept a lot. Then 5th grade was Adderall 30mg, I gained more weight than I did on concerta, but I was still underweight. 7th grade I went to 40mg, no difference there except it worked better, Freshmen year, half way through, adderall stopped working (didnt know you shouldnt take it with orange juice) went to 75 vyvance. Early Sophomore Year (This year) Vyvance sucked, realized that you shouldnt take any ADHD med with orange juice, went back to adderall, and Im still here. I hate ADHD more than you can believe.

[luvlife]

i'm having the same problem with adderall. just started 2 weeks ago,10mgx2, plus 20mg prozac. have to make myself eat. sometimes just the thought of putting food in my mouth makes me want to gag. yesterday, i was wondering why i could not focus and feeling run down and figured out that i hadn't eaten all day. my daughter brought me a quarter pounder and fries from mcdonalds and after i ate it i felt so much better. i wonder how extreme it's going to be when my dosage is increased next month.

[Ruby85]

Switch metabolisms with me. I've never heard of a petite girl having a fast metabolism! I'm only an inch taller than you, and I have the metabolism of a post-menopausal sloth. I will happily donate that to you, because I care about you so much. If I eat more than 1200 calories a day, I gain weight.

[lightxosleeperx]

Ive been on adderall xr since September and I can tell you that I have lost 45 lbs but got to my goal weight and my doctors goal weight of 130-135 for my height.

To keep this weight and not lose anymore he told me to carry around little snack bags of my favorite treats and if something sounds good then go for it, because it's not like you are going to pig out because you never really get all that hungry.

It's helped me maintain my weight though. :-)

[stealthology]

My advice is to consider taking the IR and completely stop XR. Sure, the XR is "smoother", but I love taking IR so I can eat before and after the dose. I'm not "locked in" for 7-8 hours without getting hungry at all. Just something to consider. (And for me personally, another reason I don't appreciate XR that much is whenever I do force myself to eat halfway during my XR dose, the second half of the beads are so much less effective. I would SO much rather not have food interfere with my adderall, AND to eat on regular time intervals.

[Kaitlyn]

I think the adderall speeds up the metabolism, so it really doesnt matter what you eat. You will still lose weight.

[KillZone]

Originally Posted by Kaitlyn

I think the adderall speeds up the metabolism, so it really doesn't matter what you eat. You will still lose weight.

Nope.

Eating will be the same. Stimulants usually curb you're appetite. I for one am eating yogurt, protein bars, lots of cheese and lots of carbs. Take IR, because you will be able to eat later. I for one like IR more to, because it's much more intense, meaning more focus, talkativeness, lots of confidence and Euphoria. Also you should do some weight lifting.

One last advice is switch to IR and don't take it everyday, take breaks on days you know you can get through without it. This helps, because when you stop taking Adderall you eat more than normal.

BTW people are kind of brain washed with this subject so if you're ignorant please self educate you're self, but if you're in a state were you can get Medical Marijuana I would recommend it. You will be eating and gaining back you're healthy weight. Say good bye to anorexia.