Adderall Appeal and Angst

New York, NYAdderall has its appeal. For instance, xojane.com on her website says that Adderall is the best and worst thing ever. “I’d sprinkle Adderall in my coffee every morning if there were no consequences,” she blogs. Fortunately for xojane, she knows better. Many Adderall users do not.

She continues, “If Trader Joes made dark chocolate-covered Adderall, I would probably be the first person in line.” But scroll down the page.

Tom can relate. He was committed to a psychiatric ward last year after being picked up by police who assumed he was “under the influence of illegal intoxicants” and hallucinating. “The only drug I had been taking was Adderall,” Tom says. After three days Tom was told that he needed to stay an additional two weeks for observation. I know I will think about that incident every night for the rest of my life. I have experienced dreadful nightmares; I believe this Adderall turned me into a monster.”

And this from Gary: “After four years on Adderall I am basically disabled because I can no longer function without some kind of stimulant. Added to that issue I have major dental problems because the Adderall made me grind my teeth - and I still do this even though I finally weaned myself off this amphetamine last summer. I also developed a terrible problem of involuntary rocking back and forth when seated. I sit and rock most of the day away because without Adderall I don’t function. I have no ambition or drive - it took a helluva lot out of me just to write this complaint. My life has been forever changed because of Shire Pharmaceutical Company and their Adderall.”

In its latest quarterly report, Express Scripts Drug (a company that reports the latest research developments, trend updates and comprehensive data on the use of prescription drugs) determined that Adderall use is on the rise for adults with attention deficit disorder. According to CNN (March 12, 2014), the number of young American adults taking drugs for ADHD nearly doubled from 2008 to 2012.

Perhaps bloggers like xojane should mention the downside of Adderall before the “fun stuff”; likely many Adderall users’ attention span prevents them from scrolling down the page…