Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

Does Adderall cause Chainsmoking?

Im an adult ADD who has successfully treated with Dexadrine XR spanules for 5 years or so, until this past summer when my employer changed insurance plans to some new insurance plan that does not at all cover Dexadrine Spanules. So unless I want to pay $350+ per prescription for a month, its a non-option.

So, my Dr. prescribed me adderal 10mg XR instead, since its covered at an intermediate level by my insurance plan, only a $30 a month co-pay. (Old plan used to be $10 a month). So, Adderall seems to generally work fine in terms of focus, ability to stay on task, get my work done, etc.

Thing is... Since Ive started taking Adderall, I've started chain smoking like four packs a day. I used to smoke only about one and a half packs a day the past few years. But since I started taking adderall, my smoking has skyrocketed.

Now, I've been a regular daily smoker since I was about 15 years old or so, and although I technically may have first started smoking at age 11, I wasn't smoking every single till I got in high school. By the time I was 16, I was smoking a pack a day.  In college, when I started dating a girl who smoked almost two packs a day, I got to where I smoked almost two packs a day, which stayed pretty consistent for the next ten years or so.

When I was on Dexadrine, I dont think I ever smoked more than two packs a day. My wife, also a former two pack a day smoker I met in college, agrees that my constant chain-smoking of at least three or four packs a day has gotten out of control since I started taking Adderall.

How many other people have had problems chainsmoking when taking adderall?
5 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
Yes!  This is a well known phenomenon—likely do to the synergistic effects on the reward system.
I’ve taken prescription Adderall since I was fifteen, for ADHD (before that I was on Methylphenidate, which, for me, was quite a bit different).  I started smoking when I was about twelve (just a few a day).  Not long after I felt the addiction setting in and can remember quit a few times when, unable to smoke for most of the day—mostly to keep my mom from knowing—I began feeling the withdrawals and was desperate to get to some hidden place where I could have a cigarette or two.
At about fifteen, after starting with Adderall (although it’s personally been a Godsend for me), in high school I began smoking a bit more.  By eighteen I was smoking, I’d say, at least a pack a day.
Now, initially, after beginning the amphetamine, it seems to me I remember actually being more in control of my smoking and even felt like I wanted to quit some day (which, to this day, at age thirty-four, I sort of go back and forth on Lol!) and had little problem going without a cigarette for hours at a time.  I wouldn’t even think too much about it (until cravings became apparent and eventually unbearable, at which point I usually made up some ridiculous excuse to get outside someplace hidden and light up a few.
I know I smoked, at least a pack a day though by eighteen.  
Anyway, fast forward to about age twenty-six or twenty-seven I started smoking more than I ever had in the past—and just really loved it, just constantly chain smoking, usually about four in a row at a time.  Then, at work one day, I had run out of my own cigarettes and she offered me one of hers.  She smoked menthols—which I’d always hated in the past.  I’m not quite sure why but, all of a sudden I decided to stop at this market place to buy a couple of Marlboro Menthols.
That’s when I REALLY started smoking like mad!
I seriously just couldn’t get enough and stopped thinking at all about ever quitting, health effects...etc.  I just totally gave in from then on, felt content with the idea that I’d never quit, nor had any desire to, and—seriously became basically obsessed with smoking—CONSTANTLY—like, there were countless days, when on my days off from work, that I remember spending  the entire day chain smoking outside on my backyard deck while reading.  
To this day I often find myself chaining like a fiend—but, in all honesty, loving it (ugh!), but, on most days, not nearly as much as I had been in those days.

This is from Wikipedia
(Wikipedia:  “Chain Smoking”):

“The use of cocaine or an amphetamine with cigarettes can result in chain smoking...”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_smoking



Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
It would seem that increased nervousness due to Adderall use might well encourage smoking.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I haven't read about the increase in smoking either.  But it would make sense to me due to an increase in anxiety.  You need to talk to the Dr, as a smoker I would myself  would be very worried in the increase of my smoking.  I know you have posted some place else LoveDeep but have you changed Doctor's?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I see this was posted a while back, but just saw this so I thought I would chime in.  I was recently prescribed Ritalin for ADHD.  The medication was very helpful in terms of helping my ADHD symptoms, but it made me want to smoke sooooo much more.  I have read about this on the internet and others have noted similar experiences when taking stimulant medication.  The Ritalin also caused me really bad anxiety in the evenings and was an overall bad experience so I am now suffering without meds and I am leary of trying other meds now.  I also had a very bad experience with my doctor, which I posted about elsewhere on this site.  I would talk to the doctor about this and see if he can switch you to something else.  4 packs a day is a lot and you don't want to have a heart attack or get emphysema.
Helpful - 0
189897 tn?1441126518
COMMUNITY LEADER
   Thats a new one to me.  My first thought is that you are on a very low dose of adderal XR and I wonder if you are making up for that with the cigs?  What dose of Dexadrine were you on?   The other question has your job requirements changed since you started taking the adderal?  In other words, could the chain smoking be a job related thing?
   At any rate, I would talk to your doc and let him know what is going on.  Docs do tend to start you out on the lowest rate and wait for you to tell them what is going on.
   Oh, and if this smoking is dose related.  Please post back and let me know.  That would be good information to share.  Best wishes.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the ADHD Community

Top Children's Development Answerers
189897 tn?1441126518
San Pedro, CA
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Fearing autism, many parents aren't vaccinating their kids. Can doctors reverse this dangerous trend?
Yummy eats that will keep your child healthy and happy
What to expect in your growing baby
Is the PS3 the new Prozac … or causing ADHD in your kid?
Autism expert Dr. Richard Graff weighs in on the vaccine-autism media scandal.
Could your home be a haven for toxins that can cause ADHD?