Add And Adderall Xr - Does It Make Ptsd Worse?

[all_akimbo]

Hi everyone!

A very close friend of mine suggested to me that my symptoms could be exacerbated by my Adderall XR. I don't know if he is right or not, but he has been right about so many other things and so I thought I would ask you guys if any of you have experience with this issue.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 14 years old - all my teachers agreed, but my parents would not allow the doctors to treat me with medication. I actually believe that the medical neglect is part of my C-PTSD (among other things, I've had to have all of my teeth crowned because of my TMJ and severe decay - didn't get that fixed until I was 27 - that's about 15 years of walking around with severe pain in my jaw and head - fun!).

I decided to treat my ADD with medication about a year and a half ago and I believe it has helped me a ton. It was about a year into that treatment that I was diagnosed with C-PTSD related to severe childhood neglect, possible child sexual abuse and an unstable environment (Mother has NPD) + multiple sexual assaults including rape + frequent loss of loved ones unexpectedly.

That's a lot to share here, but I thought you might need a bit of background. Anyhow, I am considering talking to my doctor about the ADD treatment with Adderall and how it might be harming or hurting my progress with my C-PTSD treatment, which includes Prozac, Xanax (as needed for panic), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Epona Equine Facilitated Learning and natural horsemanship training. By the way, the horses have been the most effective for me. If anyone wants information about this please let me know, it is amazing.

Thoughts?

-aa

 

[Nicolette]

Epona Equine Facilitated Learning and natural horsemanship training.

Please be mindful that there is a difference between discussing an alternate therapy and promoting/advertising it. I gather you are excited about what has been beneficial to you but please limit your posts to avoid promotion thank you.

 

[all_akimbo]

I don't believe letting people know this is something I've tried and has helped me and that I'm willing to share information about it is advertising or promoting.

Yes I am excited about it. I'm not just here to help myself. I'm here to share my journey and to make friends who understand me. That is a two way street from my perspective. There's nothing for me to 'promote' I don't have an agenda other than to get well.

Thanks.

 

[Mella]

I take a stimulant for depression that comes along with complex ptsd. It helps. I don't think it makes anything worse for me. Without it I would just sleep all day or not get out of bed or function at all. Just do what works for you!

 

[Oldgoat]

Hello I am new to the forum but I just found this site after fighting myself and others and decided I have to get myself out of the hole PTSD has robbed me of a good deal of my life. I was injured in the line of duty as a police officer back when I thought I had it all. Long story short I have taken so many drugs I just stopped taking them without researching them myself. I am looking to speak with my mental health Doc at the VA. I would like to hear the good and bad of Adderall.

I have been lucky with not getting hooked on anything other than my Bed when I get really bad I isolate myself and sleep avoid others and I even hate myself. If anyone feels this has helped or not worked for them please post your experience on anything RX or natural even if it is exercise I would like to hear. I still to this day color sometimes started doing it when my now 16 year old daughter was little. Kind of strange but it helps me focus on something other than loosing my self control at times. Anyway hope to hear from you all

 

[franciemarnie]

I was never diagnosed with ADD, but I was given Provigil at one point and when I was off that - Ritalin. Both were stimulants I was delighted to take in the morning because they gave me energy and made me more talkative and social.

To me they were feel-good drugs, which is nice when you've been down so long but both were addictive and I wanted higher and higher doses as time went on and it ended up not being good at all and I couldn't sleep - and sleep was always a problem - and I got off them and would never take them again.

But that's just me. If you have ADD, maybe it makes a difference in your functioning. If you aren't an addict type like me, maybe you wouldn't crave higher doses.

On a different note, I love horses!

 

[Justmehere]

I have done neuropsych testing and it confirmed an ADD/ADHD diagnosis. My counselor (and me) think there is a huge overlap between PTSD symptoms and my ADD/ADHD symptoms. Whenever the other ptsd symptoms get worse, so does the ADD.

I have taken Adderall and adderall XR. Both helped some symptoms and made others much worse. I was less jumpy, more focused, less impulsive... on Adderall, I had much more obsessive kinds of thinking and much less flexibility, and I had a harder time experiencing joy and happiness - it kind of just brought everything down. On Adderall XR, I had some sleep problems as it would wear off much later at night and I would have rebound energy.

I work with kids with ADD and ADHD, but not PTSD, and they have a lot of the same problems too. So it can make PTSD symptoms worse in some people and it can cause side effects that look like PTSD symptoms (sleep problems, more "stuck" patterns of thinking).

I decided to try going off of it, and I miss taking it because it helped me focus and I was so much less jumpy and mush less impulsive when triggered - but, on the plus side, when I do get triggered, it is easier to be distracted from what is triggering me. My trauma t and doctor both are ok with me taking it or not, but my trauma t, who does cognitive and somatic therapies, said we could do deeper work somatically if I was off it.

It comes with a lot of trade offs, like many medications. I have been able to stop and start it several times with no withdrawl symptoms but it can really trigger addictive problems in some people, which is something that my doctor watched for carefully with me because of a lot of addiction patterns in my family history. It is a pain to get refilled, as in the US, they have to physically hand you a script every month and cannot ever call in refills.

 

[Disposable]

I recently started adderall secondary to a motorcycle accident I had. In the accident I purposely ran into a wall to avoid killing a family of four and an older gentleman at a gas station. In the process, I died twice, and spent 19 weeks in a hospital and recovering.

The last two years I've been on every med. Since starting adderall, I've noticed the following. My nightmares are much more vivid. There are days when I drive to work, and I really don't know or remember how I've gotten there. The addreall seems to make me more antisocial, and disconnected. I'm not sure there is a cure. The mind is a powerful thing. The mid-day awake dreams are the worst. The triggers can be a backfire from a car to a racing engine.

The only good thing about adderall that I have noticed is the ability to stay focused. Even though there are times when it seems to exacerbate the triggers.

 

[Britt.f7]

I take adderall. I do think that too much of it can increase anxiety. So I guess I would look at the dosages of the different meds you take. Everyone reacts differently to meds. They help me stay awake during the day, but don't seem to make me too jittery. I don't take them in the evening.

 

[Jayman9876]

I know this is a bit late of a response but for another perspective on the issue. I have/had C-PTSD from the war for about 8-9 years. Really just worked myself to death to take care of it. Recently though my marriage started failing because I was keeping myself way to busy and working ungodly hours. Kind of separating myself from my family so I would not snap per say. In school I was starting to fall behind in my classes. When I was young, j was diagnosed with ADD. was taken off the medication at the age of 12 or so.
So one day I went to the doctor and asked if I could try adderall and the doctor prescribed me a low dose 10mg. Tried it and it worked from a concentration perspective. But while I was taking it, I felt this kind of winding or rush of fluid in my head like something opened up and broke free. Weird I know. After about a month or so, I started feeling my emotions returning back and my marriage started getting better. As a matter of fact a lot better! When I come down from it I still have what was returned to me but focus is obviously a bit cloudy enough to where I still need adderall but I'm better now and that's all that counts.

However, I know people like me who have taken adderall in the same way I have and all it does is make them focus or excaberate psychological issues they have. For me it works. I prayed for the day that I would have my emotions back and that feeling of euphoria when I make a difference in someone's life. God answered my prayer. Call it whatever you want. It might work it might not but praying helped me find the way. No I am not hearing voices in my head, I just followed the signs. God bless you all and I hope this helped you.

 

[Fearless]

I know this thread is old but I am currently very interested in this topic. My honey, who has Complex PTSD, has never really tried medication for it (medication normally scares us both), but decided to try Adderall for his ADD. Low and behold, it made a humongous difference in some of his PTSD symptoms!! He's only been on it about 4 days now so I am wary that this could change, but so far we havent noticed any side effects or worsening of symptoms. I see that this is not the case for everyone.

But for him, it has made the constant anxious, depressed, self-attacking thoughts stop. He is noticeably less irritable, less overwhelmed, and less likely to be triggered. He says he is finally able to focus to get things done and doesnt feel the need to watch TV to get his mind to stop whirling with thoughts. I'm a psych student, so this made me wonder if there are others who have found similar results, and if so, maybe Adderall might be an undiscovered treatment for PTSD. Maybe researchers should look into it, as Ive seen some other personal anecdotes on the web about Adderall helping with anxiety and depression symptoms.

Again, I say this with caution because hes only been on it less than a week, so I dont know what lies ahead. But so far it is making a world of difference. He's been so oppressed by his symptoms that we couldnt effectively pursue long term treatments. Like we would try to get neurofeedback, therapists, EMDR, meditation, etc but every time, he couldn't keep up with it regularly enough to give the treatment enough time to work -- something would happen (trigger episode or effects of symptoms) that would prevent him from practicing/attending sessions too often. We dont want Adderall to be a long term solution, because it is addictive and addiction runs the in the family, but we are thinking that he may stay on it for just enough time to get like 2 of the other therapies practiced regularly enough that eventually those therapies can be effective as the long term solution while he weens off the Adderall.

Seeing the difference in his own mind between being on Adderall and as the drug slowly leaves his system and he goes back to "normal" has also helped him understand whats going on in his mind more. He's identified a particular thought pattern that frequently comes up and triggers him throughout the day in many contexts. We dont know how to stop or dis-empower that thought pattern yet, but I feel like realizing that it exists is a good first step.

I'm not saying that others should definitely try Adderall, because its been said in this thread that others have experienced worsening of symptoms while on Adderall, but I do think that our story is worth knowing. I will likely make another post somewhere on the site if our experience with Adderall changes. But all in all, the more we all collaborate, the better we can understand how to navigate the world of PTSD.

 

[Friday]

Adderal slows us (ADHD'ers) down, amongst other things, but for most people... For whom even coffee worsens their anxiety & hypervig? : cringe : I really, really wouldn't want to see them on amphetamines.

What I do wonder about, however, is Atomoxetine (strattera). It's not a stimulant (although it is a precursor), it's already used off-label for anorexia / shows none of the stimulant effects in non-ADHD brains that it does show in ADHD brains. It's also very similar to a lot of the slooooooooow acting meds already in use for PTSD (month or more to build up in the system, month or more to taper off, with wicked withdrawal... Like Effexor SNRI serotonin & norpi reuptake inhibitor), except Atomoxetine is a selective NRI (leaves serotonin alone) & is fast acting. It's in and out of your system in under 24 hours. So not only would there be instant results, but no kick if a person decided to go off of it.

Here's the specs on it:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19445548