Personality change caused from Adderall?

[bamcgee]

I am a junior in college and was diagnosed with ADD last November and as a result my doctor prescribed me two adderall prescriptions. One of them is a 20mg XR and the other is just a regular 5mg. The first 2 months i was taking adderall everything was great, i was doing better in school and I actually started to enjoy studying and learning new material for a change. But for the last month or so, i've noticed a change in my behavior. I feel almost disconnected from reality if that makes since. It's kind of like this semester hasn't really set in yet, even though im over a month into the semester. I've also felt like i've had trouble communicating with people, even people I know really well. I'm having trouble coming up with words to say and i feel like im always either saying the wrong word or taking a while to think of the right word, or i just don't say anything at all. About two weeks ago i started having problems either falling asleep or staying asleep. So i called my doctor and he prescribed me 50mg of trazadone to take at night. The trazadone helps, but i dont want to become dependent on a sleep medication. I know adderall can cause insomnia, but i didn't really notice a difference in my sleeping on days that i took it or didnt take it. Can adderall cause any of these symptoms?

I've had a history of depression, and the first 4 months of 2009 were without a doubt the the most difficult times of my life. I started taking lexipro and budeprion(sp?) for my depression, but i didnt really notice any changes until i started meeting with a psychiatrist. I stopped taking my depression medication in May of 2009, and also stopped meeting with my psychiatrist. After going through depression, I kind of re-prioritized my life and I can honestly say that the last 9 months have been the happiest times of my life. I'm not sure if these symptoms could be related to my depression or not.

Thanks in advance

[bwmurphy]

Is the adderall. I've dealt with these same symptoms. I've been off the drug for 6 months now and the withdrawal side effects are gradually getting better/less present. It's an uphill battle, yet we must keep hope. A happy mind makes a happy human. I wish you all the best! You can do it!

[Sandman2]

     Kind of makes me wonder if you really had ADHD or ADD.  The effects seem different.  But everybody is different.  Hope things are going ok for you now !

[ArchimedEZ]

Yes Adderall has caused me a lot of problems...mainly with relationships due to the personality change I have when I'm on it.  I thought it was the best thing in the world when I started using it but now I usually just do **** I regret.  From my experience (four years taking it and swearing it off a million times only to come back to it), Adderall is a bad thing.  Sometimes I'm productive on it but sometimes I just look for trouble or get obsessed with really dumb **** or I clean.  I don't think it should be legally prescribed to people...ESPECIALLY not to kids.  

[onelove24]

After reading everything written on here I'd figure I'd share my two cents. I'm a 26lot year old woman who has been on adderall for almost 6 years (given a month or so every year I wouldn't be on it just bc it was summer). I take 30mg of XR once a day. Of course it had nothing it's minor side affects, but nothing extreme. I'm not a person who gets addicted to drugs, but I started noticing a change in my behavior, my hands shaky, depressed at times, and here's what scared me, I starting taking 2 pills then up to 3 bc my body started to build a tolerance for the medication and the obvious addiction. I was never the type who would curse at my parents when in a disagreement. I don't call them names, I just curse and lash out. I started noticing that the smallest things annoy me. Here's what topped it off and scared the crap out of me, I not only have the issue of forgetting a simple word in a conversation I now have a minor stuttering problem. It's not all the time but it's an issue that bothers me and embarrassing at the same time. Any ideas on why/how I ended up with a slight stuttering problem? I'm very active in sports, gym, musical instruments, etc. My memory isn't like before, it's not that bad I'm noticing a decrease. I'm done with taking adderall, today is my last day. I can't sit here and blame anyone or thing, I just don't like what it's starting to do to me. I don't want to go through life depending on medication, granite I'm depressed at times but I refuse to take depression pills. I control myself, my mind, me. I used to meditate a lot (been doing so since I was 14) and will now make it a constant routine. It breaks my heart when I curse at my parents and can see the hurt in their eyes. I'm just adding frivolous stress to their life as well as my own. Sorry for the rant. I guess my main question is the stuttering. I've noticed after reading all the posts that I obviously don't have a severe ADD problem, if that was case I would've been diagnosed a long time ago. It was a great drug at the time but it slowly started to have adverse affects on me and got me hooked out of the blue. For those who haven't had any major side affects, I'm happy for you. But it's not for me, not anymore. Just keep an I eye on your child's behavior as time goes on, I would suggest natural supplements for young kids, not adderall.

[atonicat]

Don't you know that you can just think yourself better! /sarcasm.

Seriously though, I know this is an old thread but I had to comment on what you said because I'm sick of people chiming in on people's post asking legitimate questions about medication and telling them to stop taking all pills and start praying to god to take way your sickness or eat a vegan diet or do whatever it is they think will "cure" you.

You can't just throw positive thoughts at mental illness and make it go away. Medication is essential to some people. If you don't believe in medication that's fine, but don't tell me that I'm wrong for taking it because vitamins are the cure or whatever.

[Sandman2]

   As they say in facebook, "like"!!!