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Originally Posted by n'sfishbowl  syntheticsue-
I have had the same problem with the picking but with hairs instead. I actually have always gotten a little obsessive with picking out certain hairs but could stop and have gone long periods of time without doing it. Now since I have started the adderall though. Its gotten out of hand.
Im 22, just started the adderall a couple weeks ago. I started upping the dosage though and this week i have spent hours a day picking at hairs, (this is gross I'm sorry) and when I cant get to the hair I just keep picking and rip up my skin so I have a bunch of sores. Not all over my body but in a few places that are easy to hide. Its so hard to stop though, and while im doing it its almost impossible to actually think clearly about the fact that this is not something I should be doing. Once I do get distracted by something and stop though I'm so repulsed and afraid.
I think Im going to just really lower the dosage. Maybe I raised it too quickly? If it continues though I'm gonna try something else.
I talked to someone else about this and her daughter had the same problem, she said other stimulants didnt cause this to happen to her so, maybe that is the answer. |
Beware, because this response is novel sized, but it's packed with all the juicy goodness that only a veteran of this drug can provide. I'm a 32 year old who has been taking this drug for approximately 8 years. I STILL struggle with exactly the same behavior you describe (in fact i'm dealing with it as I write this), and the years of experience I've had make me confident to say that NO, it's not a dosage adjustment that causes you to have these spells. IMHO, it just goes with the territory of taking powerful stimulant drugs. I've taken normal dexedrine spansules,
methylphenidate (ritalin),
concerta, and sadly,
methamphetamine. I've been on the same (30mg AM, 30mg noon, 20mg PM) dosage of D-Amphetamine mixed salts (Adderall) for nearly 4 years now. I was at a higher dosage for about 4 years before being stepped down. I hate to tell you this, but the urge to pick at hairs and sores is still something that I have to struggle with daily. The best defense I've come across for these self-destructive fits is to do ANYTHING IN YOUR POWER to not let a spell start. You know what they say about 'idle hands', and I've found that true while taking this medication. As soon as I'm home and nobody is around, I gotta keep BOTH my hands busy, or I will start to do exactly what you described. So I play a LOT of World Of Warcraft, console games, gutar, etc... I also make sure that I'm wearing a tight fitting long sleeve shirt and jeans while at home. This is a deterrent to the times when I will absent-mindedly run a hand down my leg or arm, and feel something that 'needs picked'. Like I said previously, It's all about doing EVERYTHING you can to prevent a picking session from getting started in the first place. At the point when the medication has worn off to a degree where I cant keep attention on complicated tasks such as gaming, I'm really in danger of starting to pick sores and pluck hairs, because it's not really something that requires a lot of attention, but the meds haven't worn completely off, so I've still got enough energy to tear at myself for hour after hour, so I take 150-300mg of
trazodone (Vistareal is the name brand I believe). It's a well tolerated mild anti-depressant with some very potent sedative properties. It isn't a sleeping aid, so dependence isn't an issue, and it won't interfere with things such as seratonin (sp?) reuptake... in other words it wont inspire you to get armed to the teeth and shoot up your place of work. It doesn't really knock me out that well, I've spent a lot of nights in a half asleep, half awake state. It does what I need it to do though, and that is shut me down enough that I don't feel like making any new scar tissue. And to anyone that thinks that having a few drinks once you get home will have the same net result: Adderall and alchohol DO NOT MIX, at least not repeated alcohol use (i.e. 2-4 alcoholic beverages on a daily or every other day basis). Continued use of alcohol while taking Adderall can cause psychosis, and I can verify that with personal experience. Honestly, after 8 years of this blessing/curse that is adderall, my skin from the neck down is NOWHERE close to resembling anything that might somehow be considered attractive. It didn't happen overnight. It's just cumulative scarring from years of instances when I wasn't mindful and let my guard down, although most of the damage was done during the initial years of taking the medication, as I hadn't had the time to fully understand how I responded to the drug. Best advice: Be proactive and come up with methods that will prevent picking in the first place, because this behavior doesn't seem to have an emergency stop. Once you start digging at your skin, it can be next-to-impossible to pull yourself away from the impulse, even though the rational part of your mind is screaming at you to cease the insane behavior immediately. You might also consider switching to
Strattera also. It's a noreppinepherine re-uptake inhibitor, and doesn't work on the other neurotransmitters that stimulants do such as dopamine. The picking behavior seems to be inexorably linked to powerful stimulants exclusively, so if you switch to Strattera, the impulse will in all likelihood, simply vanish. It just depends on how bad your case of ADHD is, I've tried Straterra, and it didn't help... not even a little, which is not to say that Strattera is innefective, I just have an abnormally severe case of ADHD, and can only get my life manageable when given a ridiculously high dose of adderall. Unfortunately, my ADHD is so severe that I don't really have the luxury of choosing between degrees of manageability in my life and taking stimulants. My only option is to continue taking Adderall for the forseeable future and take the good with the bad. And that's what it will come down to in your decision making process ultimately. Deciding if it's best to stay on stimulants and run the risk of being scarred for life (take the current rate that you are wrecking yourself and project it 10 years into the future) or sacrificing some or all your ability to function as a normal disorder-free member of society.