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Can adderall cause paranoia?
Well for the last couple of months, I've just noticed that I become really paranoid in public, more specifically, times that I may feel threatened or nervous. An example of the worst it gets: I carry a knife everywhere I go, I made it a habit a while ago for cutting boxes at work and because I'd have to walk home after work, but that was over the summer, and I quit because of school. So there's no need for a knife, but I still feel like I need some form of protection. I've even kept it in my front coat pocket so I could grab it easily if needed-- the weird thing is that I get that feeling even when I'm just around friends who act a little suspicious. Or just walking somewhere, or when I'm out somewhere and a group of people are walking by.... At home, if I'm the only person there and it seems like a car is parked outside waiting, or people are standing on the sidewalk infront of the house, ANY suspicious activity, I usually grab a gun and can't concentrate on whatever I'm doing cause I'm too busy listening for a door to open or something....
I wanted to explain that first, so here's all the facts and stuff:
Switched from Ritalin to Adderall about 4 months ago, started on 20mg XR. I stopped noticing the effects of it, and told my psychiatrist, and she gave me a scrip for 10mg IR to take with the XR. Then about a month ago I mentioned that I've been getting distracted easily at school, so now I'm on 30mg XR/10mg IR everyday. For the record, I'm 6'1"/220 lbs, a pretty big guy... I only say that cause I know body weight has alot to do with med dosages.
Other medications: clonazepam [1mg] (not daily, only as needed for anxiety... usually like 3 or 4 days out of the week) -- Ambien [10mg] for sleep obviously
I exercise almost every day, smoke some pot at night occasionally- sometimes recreationally and sometimes just to get to sleep. I take vitamins, fish oil when I remember, sometimes take pepcid or whatever is around the house for heartburn... No medical problems besides sleep and occasional social anxiety, but the anxiety has gone down alot over the last year. Except for the incidences I'm talking about. And I only see my psychiatrist for medication refills/check-ins, it's only a 20 minute appointment and I never have anything big to talk about, but I only started seeing a psychiatrist b/c of the anxiety last year, which like I said, has gone down alot.
But these paranoia attack-type things are alot different than anxiety, I get alot of adrenaline when I feel like this... and I tend to try to get somewhere where I feel safer, which is making very bad changes in my social life. I feel like telling my psychiatrist next time I have an appt. but I don't want it to be mistaken for depression or anything... I took all types of anti-depressants for anxiety, and none helped, all of them made things worse, until she bumped me up to a benzodiazepine... So I reallllllllly don't want to be put on antidepressants of any type, eh... I'm not really sure how to describe but whatever.
I mean can the adderall cause these types of side-effects? And if not, what could be? I guess I also need to know if this is something to get checked out immediately, I have no clue how serious this is....
Thanks-
I wanted to explain that first, so here's all the facts and stuff:
Switched from Ritalin to Adderall about 4 months ago, started on 20mg XR. I stopped noticing the effects of it, and told my psychiatrist, and she gave me a scrip for 10mg IR to take with the XR. Then about a month ago I mentioned that I've been getting distracted easily at school, so now I'm on 30mg XR/10mg IR everyday. For the record, I'm 6'1"/220 lbs, a pretty big guy... I only say that cause I know body weight has alot to do with med dosages.
Other medications: clonazepam [1mg] (not daily, only as needed for anxiety... usually like 3 or 4 days out of the week) -- Ambien [10mg] for sleep obviously
I exercise almost every day, smoke some pot at night occasionally- sometimes recreationally and sometimes just to get to sleep. I take vitamins, fish oil when I remember, sometimes take pepcid or whatever is around the house for heartburn... No medical problems besides sleep and occasional social anxiety, but the anxiety has gone down alot over the last year. Except for the incidences I'm talking about. And I only see my psychiatrist for medication refills/check-ins, it's only a 20 minute appointment and I never have anything big to talk about, but I only started seeing a psychiatrist b/c of the anxiety last year, which like I said, has gone down alot.
But these paranoia attack-type things are alot different than anxiety, I get alot of adrenaline when I feel like this... and I tend to try to get somewhere where I feel safer, which is making very bad changes in my social life. I feel like telling my psychiatrist next time I have an appt. but I don't want it to be mistaken for depression or anything... I took all types of anti-depressants for anxiety, and none helped, all of them made things worse, until she bumped me up to a benzodiazepine... So I reallllllllly don't want to be put on antidepressants of any type, eh... I'm not really sure how to describe but whatever.
I mean can the adderall cause these types of side-effects? And if not, what could be? I guess I also need to know if this is something to get checked out immediately, I have no clue how serious this is....
Thanks-
same thing happend to me i havent quite figured it out yet but i stoped takeing all medication and the parinoia soon subsided the only down side is that i dont do very well in school now and cant focus but i refuse to take adhd meds now because im scared it will happen again. If you find a solution where you can still focus in the end let me know!
Yes Adderall can cause the symptoms or paranoia. Amphetamine psychosis as mentioned above. I know this thread is old.. but the WORST thing you could do is have a gun in your hand or a weapon. Do not do it ! My best friend was shot and killed and after that I felt that having a knife around in case someone tried to harm me with a weapon would be a good idea. It almost caught me a felony charge and it wasn't even on me, it was in my glove compartment. Thats just one example.
One thing that helps is taking deep breathes.
Another is realizing that everything you are thinking is all inside your head. If you need to, call someone, get yourself focused on something outside your own thoughts.
Smoking tobacco will increase paranoia and so can other drugs.
Best thing you can do in my opinion is call the doctor first thing, emergency line if you have to. If you know adderall is the problem tell the doctor, they will most likely tell you to not take it or reduce the dosage until they see you to adjust the dosage to what you need or to give you further instructions on how to take the medication so the side effects are reduced.
Taking adderall on an empty stomach increases side effects of this type.
Having caffiene like coffee is a huge mistake. This can definetly cause paranoia issues.
I hope this helps anyone having these problems. I am a psychology major at a university, but I am not a doctor. Talk to your doctor when you have problems like this.
One thing that helps is taking deep breathes.
Another is realizing that everything you are thinking is all inside your head. If you need to, call someone, get yourself focused on something outside your own thoughts.
Smoking tobacco will increase paranoia and so can other drugs.
Best thing you can do in my opinion is call the doctor first thing, emergency line if you have to. If you know adderall is the problem tell the doctor, they will most likely tell you to not take it or reduce the dosage until they see you to adjust the dosage to what you need or to give you further instructions on how to take the medication so the side effects are reduced.
Taking adderall on an empty stomach increases side effects of this type.
Having caffiene like coffee is a huge mistake. This can definetly cause paranoia issues.
I hope this helps anyone having these problems. I am a psychology major at a university, but I am not a doctor. Talk to your doctor when you have problems like this.
I been taking adhd meds most of my life.. although my life did change when i started taking aderall.. i got hooked to it.. abused it.. it wasnt even a years periode that i went insane from the abuse. because of it i have developed.. Extreame paranoia, breife phycotic episodes, sever social anxiety or social phobia. I show signs of skitzophrenia, halucinations and mild delusions.. i lost almost all my friends.. and my mind feels forever wrecked.. I used to have alot of friends.. i used to not be so paranoide and skitzy.. i think about killing myself because of what has happend and it seems to get no better.. i think this medication should not be used.. because i tend to find many other people who develope these problems from using it.. I hope things get better.... i hope things get better.
Well I have a pretty high tolerance to it now, 30mg XR isn't noticeable for me any more, neither is 10-20mg IR... That's most days, some days it does work like it should, but probably 5/7 days of the week, I don't notice taking after taking it - kinda like I didn't take it at all.
And raising the dose any higher would be extremely dangerous, 30mg is already very high. So I'm not sure about it. The naturopathic MD I'm seeing is doing a good job at finding the underlying cause of the ADD (I also have sleep problems, anxiety, fatigue, etc.).
About the paranoia - I really don't have much of it anymore... I really don't know why but it could be a number of things. I had a very deep conversation with a good buddy about paranoia and that seemed to give me a better mindset on the whole thing, along with just thinking about it (and the points he brought up) and rationalizing. "Rationalizing" happens for anyone with paranoia, I'd assume, but for me it seemed like no matter how many times I could convince myself against these thoughts, when the "trigger" would occur, it would completely overpower any other thoughts. I think that paranoia is literally a de-rationalization, in that you don't use logic or intuition to consider the outcomes or probabilities of a situation. The things that helped me somewhat get over it were: realizing that there was no danger in a certain area (and thinking about WHAT the dangers are), that nobody was "out to get me", and considering the ratio of: how many times I've thought that something was going to happen vs. how many times it actually has.
I wouldn't say my paranoia has completely gone away, but it's definitely lessened. I should probably mention that the conversation with my friend was while we were both on psilocybin mushrooms, and that weekend was full of drug-induced revelations and insight. Although I don't think these were necessarily false, even though it was drug-induced. It was after this weekend that the paranoia started to diminish.
No, lol, I'm not recommending that you go out and buy shrooms to get rid of paranoia - I'm just saying this is what did it for me. Most likely because my friend knows when I'm feeling paranoid (it's very obvious), so he was able to relate with how I felt. Also, it appears that some of the thoughts are because of traumatic events in the past, for example, I don't feel safe in certain places/around certain people because me and a friend were jumped (not hurt, but it wasn't a beneficial experience to say the least).
I think it can realistically be handled just by counseling (not with a doctor/counselor necessarily, maybe with a wife, family member, friend, or yourself). As long as there are some key points/thoughts pertaining only to the "triggers" of paranoia attacks/panic attacks/anxiety attacks. However identifying the triggers may be tough for somebody to do because they often can trigger such emotions just when thinking about them. But once you find them (maybe even write down a list), go over them one by one and really think about it.... It should be a pretty instant clarification that there is NO threat/danger and that these thoughts are merely delusions.
For the wives suffering on here, I'm only 17 but I understand what you're going through. If your husband is comfortable enough, I think you should take some time to sit down, relax, and discuss his deep thoughts - after all, you're his wife, the one person in the world that he CAN trust to be safe. Again, these triggers are very deep in the psyche, and he may not even be able to realize them in a normal state of mind... Some are only brought up in the mind when they get "set off" but don't attempt to do that.
I have no doubt that amphetamines can easily cause paranoia, AND PLEASE, do not smoke weed if you're on any type of amphetamine (Adderall, Dexedrine, Desoxyn, generics of those, etc.) ---- I've noticed that marijuana is the WORST contribution to paranoid feelings. It only amplifies it to a psychotic level.
Hopefully after my doctor figures out the problem (tests are pointing to hyperthyroidism - a known cause of ADD not ADHD - which I have), I won't need the Adderall anymore. And with my tolerance level rapidly increasing, I'm considering going back onto Ritalin/methylphenidate. Adderall... I'll honestly admit, does give you a high. Pretty similar to cocaine as a matter of fact, my friend used to be a cokehead and told me that high doses of adderall feels almost as good as coke. It's tough to describe, but euphoric/optimistic would be two words that sum it up quite well. And I think we all know where euphoric drugs lead to...
And raising the dose any higher would be extremely dangerous, 30mg is already very high. So I'm not sure about it. The naturopathic MD I'm seeing is doing a good job at finding the underlying cause of the ADD (I also have sleep problems, anxiety, fatigue, etc.).
About the paranoia - I really don't have much of it anymore... I really don't know why but it could be a number of things. I had a very deep conversation with a good buddy about paranoia and that seemed to give me a better mindset on the whole thing, along with just thinking about it (and the points he brought up) and rationalizing. "Rationalizing" happens for anyone with paranoia, I'd assume, but for me it seemed like no matter how many times I could convince myself against these thoughts, when the "trigger" would occur, it would completely overpower any other thoughts. I think that paranoia is literally a de-rationalization, in that you don't use logic or intuition to consider the outcomes or probabilities of a situation. The things that helped me somewhat get over it were: realizing that there was no danger in a certain area (and thinking about WHAT the dangers are), that nobody was "out to get me", and considering the ratio of: how many times I've thought that something was going to happen vs. how many times it actually has.
I wouldn't say my paranoia has completely gone away, but it's definitely lessened. I should probably mention that the conversation with my friend was while we were both on psilocybin mushrooms, and that weekend was full of drug-induced revelations and insight. Although I don't think these were necessarily false, even though it was drug-induced. It was after this weekend that the paranoia started to diminish.
No, lol, I'm not recommending that you go out and buy shrooms to get rid of paranoia - I'm just saying this is what did it for me. Most likely because my friend knows when I'm feeling paranoid (it's very obvious), so he was able to relate with how I felt. Also, it appears that some of the thoughts are because of traumatic events in the past, for example, I don't feel safe in certain places/around certain people because me and a friend were jumped (not hurt, but it wasn't a beneficial experience to say the least).
I think it can realistically be handled just by counseling (not with a doctor/counselor necessarily, maybe with a wife, family member, friend, or yourself). As long as there are some key points/thoughts pertaining only to the "triggers" of paranoia attacks/panic attacks/anxiety attacks. However identifying the triggers may be tough for somebody to do because they often can trigger such emotions just when thinking about them. But once you find them (maybe even write down a list), go over them one by one and really think about it.... It should be a pretty instant clarification that there is NO threat/danger and that these thoughts are merely delusions.
For the wives suffering on here, I'm only 17 but I understand what you're going through. If your husband is comfortable enough, I think you should take some time to sit down, relax, and discuss his deep thoughts - after all, you're his wife, the one person in the world that he CAN trust to be safe. Again, these triggers are very deep in the psyche, and he may not even be able to realize them in a normal state of mind... Some are only brought up in the mind when they get "set off" but don't attempt to do that.
I have no doubt that amphetamines can easily cause paranoia, AND PLEASE, do not smoke weed if you're on any type of amphetamine (Adderall, Dexedrine, Desoxyn, generics of those, etc.) ---- I've noticed that marijuana is the WORST contribution to paranoid feelings. It only amplifies it to a psychotic level.
Hopefully after my doctor figures out the problem (tests are pointing to hyperthyroidism - a known cause of ADD not ADHD - which I have), I won't need the Adderall anymore. And with my tolerance level rapidly increasing, I'm considering going back onto Ritalin/methylphenidate. Adderall... I'll honestly admit, does give you a high. Pretty similar to cocaine as a matter of fact, my friend used to be a cokehead and told me that high doses of adderall feels almost as good as coke. It's tough to describe, but euphoric/optimistic would be two words that sum it up quite well. And I think we all know where euphoric drugs lead to...
I completely agree. My husband is finally coming off the stuff for good. It made him paranoid, depressed, not able to think clearly. He wanted to drink like a fish on it, he smoked like a chimney. He virtuallly abandoned our marriage. I threatened to leave him for good and he is now coming off of it (also his friends commented that he acted like a jerk on the stuff) . I know this will be hard because I used to take it too. But I became a shell of my former self on it. It's hard because you are depressed for the first few months coming off of it, not to mention the lethargy. But now that I'm in the clear I will never,ever take the stuff again. Maybe it helps you concentrate but the side effects start multiplying and I truly think this is a drug all should avoid.
From alex092...back to the adderall and husbands. I think adderall is extremely dangerous. Some people seem to take it and just do fine, but there are some like our husbands who don't seem to react well to it. My husband is dying to get back on adderall and will try everything to prevent that. The benefits gained, which I think are minimal and imaginative at most, are not worth an admission to a psychiatry hosptial or a hibernation in your home for months. The advantages that my husband thought he gained from adderall have only set to delay him even further. Adderall needs better regulations and more people should be aware of the extreme paranoia induced by the medication. I am sorry about your husand's behavior, I feel for you. My husband is basically sedated on depakote and seroquel which is horrible. We are about to get a second opionion. I would encourage you and your husband to get a second opinion. Has you husband tried SSRIs---depression can cause and inability to focus and fatigue which can be easily and more safely treated with an SSRI. Also, not all SSRIs are downers...many infact can give you more energy.
It is important to stay calm and be yourself when they are acting eratic. Be supportive and be on their team with the aim of helping and protecting them from themselves. Also, I try and remind my husband of the amazing things he did and accomplished without adderall. Adderall sucks....
It is important to stay calm and be yourself when they are acting eratic. Be supportive and be on their team with the aim of helping and protecting them from themselves. Also, I try and remind my husband of the amazing things he did and accomplished without adderall. Adderall sucks....
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