Adderall Side Effects - The Dangers

Adderall Side Effects - The Dangers:

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Adderall is currently one of the most frequently prescribed drugs in the United States. Unfortunately, many individuals who have been prescribed the drug are unaware of what it actually does and what side effects it may be causing them to experience. Even more alarming is the fact that a multitude of college students and other adults abuse the drug in an effort to get high, to have more energy, or to lose weight. If you are taking Adderall, with or without a prescription, there are some facts and side effect information that you need to be aware of for your own health and personal safety.
Adderall is a psychostimulant and contains many different ingredients which combine to increase the user’s dopamine and norepinephrine levels. The drug is used to make the user more awake, have more sexual desire, decrease tiredness, and increase focus and productiveness. It has most commonly prescribed to those, including children, who suffer from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), narcolepsy, and chronic tiredness. In rare cases, it may be prescribed to aid obese patients or those patients suffering from otherwise untreatable cases of depression. Depending on the patient’s needs, the drug may be prescribed in a wide variety of different doses and may be administered in instant relief or extend relief formulas. The wide variation of different forms of Adderall and the fact that many users have allergic reactions to some of the ingredients are only a few of the reasons using it without a prescription is so dangerous.
Even for users who have been issued a prescription, Adderall has a high potential for abuse and addiction. In the body, it acts as does the serious drug, methylphenidate, and can cause seizures, heart attacks, high blood pressure, stroke, and death. The risk for this is even higher when the product is being abused by someone who has not been prescribed it. This is because doctors will usually start patients on a small dose to see how their bodies will react. When the doctor is taken out of the equation, people can never be sure what dose they are getting or if it will send their bodies into shock. For these reasons, it is one of the most dangerous drugs to take recreationally.
The drug also has many potentially dangerous contraindications. These include, but are not limited to: Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors, and many other common types of drugs. Taking Adderall while you are on one of these can cause irreversible, permanent damage and may even be deadly in some instances.
Common side effects of Adderall usage or abuse include anorexia, dry mouth, chronic thirst, the development of sleeping disorders or generalized difficulty sleeping, chronic headaches or migraines, pain in the stomach, high blood pressure, sudden and unexplained weight loss, mood swings or other emotional changes, nausea with vomiting, sudden dizziness or fainting, a generalized feeling of weakness or tiredness, a sudden spike in heart rate, a higher risk of infections, unexplained fevers, heartburn, chest pains, and a slowing of growth in children. Those who use the drug for an extended period of time may also experience severe withdrawals, periods of depression, and with extreme abuse, amphetamine psychosis. While some of these side effects are normal, you should let your doctor know about any that you experience.
More adverse side effects that should be immediately reported include suicidal thoughts or suicidal actions, sudden confusion or a feeling of displacement, a tightness in the chest with pain spreading throughout the back and the arms, heart palpitations, the inability to breathe or shortness of breath, feelings of depression or despair, changes in behavior such as becoming more aggressive or more shy, performing actions you do not recall or do not understand, experiencing visual, auditory, or sensory hallucinations, feeling restless or constantly having the need to move about, seizures or “black out” periods, a sudden rash or the development of hives, and uncontrollable bodily movements, commonly of the head, mouth, or appendages. These side effects usually indicate that your body is not reacting well to Adderall and that you should seek medical assistance.
In very rare cases, individuals have reported experiencing extreme tiredness or lethargy, constipation or changes in bowel habits, sudden and uncontrollable shaking of the body, profuse sweating without physical exertion, erectile dysfunction or a lack of sexual desire. While these are not always serious, they should still be shared with your doctor. He or she will be able to determine the cause of these side effects and whether or not your dosage will need to be lowered or changed to a different release formula.
If you abuse Adderall or regularly go over the specified amount as prescribed by your doctor, you should be aware that Aderall overdoses can be deadly. Signs that you may have taken too much Adderall include sudden increased hyperactivity, rapid and shallow breathing that you cannot control, feeling confused about your surroundings or about who you are and what is happening to you, running a fever, aches and pains in the muscles, shaking, becoming aggressive or violent for no apparent reason, and experiencing any type of hallucination. If you experience any of these effects after taking more than the recommended dosage of Adderall or after taking Adderall without a prescription, you should call 911 immediately. Depending on how long the Adderall has been in your system and on how much Adderall you have taken, doctors may have to pump your stomach, provide fluids through an intravenous line, put you on dialysis, monitor the heart, or monitor the lungs to watch for failure.
Obviously, Adderall is not a drug that should be tampered with. If you are prescribed Adderall by a doctor, be sure that he or she is reputable and understands your medical history and any medications you are currently taking. Also be sure that you never take more than the prescribed amount and that you following all dosing or use instructions carefully. If you are not prescribed Adderall, you should not take it. Whatever “positive” side effects you may feel occur, gambling with your life is simply not worth it.