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ContactHow Adderall Works
November 16th, 2009 by Mike
"Once inside the cell, amphetamines move into the dopamine vesicles, forcing dopamine out."
Check out this great explanation of how amphetamines affect the brain by biology blogger ThinkingZygote.
Quick Summary
- Normally: Dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline are your brain’s Happy/Energy Juices. You don’t need big doses of them all the time, so your brain keeps them in a storage unit. When you do something you enjoy (e.g., snow skiing, working on something you care about), your brain spits out all your Happy/Energy Juices onto your synapses and (figuratively) lights you up. When you stop doing that enjoyable activity, your brain gradually sucks your Happy/Energy Juices back into the storage to use for something else later.
- Adderall: You pop a pill, the amphetamines break into your storage unit and kick out all of your Happy/Energy Juices. The Juices, having no place to go, hang out at the only other place they call home: your synapses. So they stick to your synapses (lighting you up) and hang on until the amphetamines get tired and move out of the storage unit, when they retreat in mass and you crash.
- In short: Adderall disables your built-in on/off switch for happy juices and flips it “on” permanently (until the pill wears off), making you act as if you are always enjoying everything.
Other interesting facts
It takes a while for serotonin and dopamine levels to return to normal
From the decptively anti-meth site tweaker.org
The above graph is from an anti-meth site, and it’s accuracy is not verified, but I think (based on my equally-unqualified opinion) that it’s probably a good ballpark. Their numbers say that after using amphetimines, it takes 7-10 days for your serotonin and dopamine levels to return to normal (baseline), or much longer for continued use. Of course, that’s based on crystal meth, but they are somewhat related. Also note: that site I just linked you to, despite appearances, is run by people who have quit meth.
Generally, psychiatrists state that it takes 2 weeks to a month for brain chemistry to recover from a chemical addiction. But breaking the chemical dependency is only half the battle.
Coffee has similar effects on the brain, but much more mild.
Coffee (caffeine) has similar effects on the brain as amphetamines, but in such a minor way that it is generally considered safe by doctors and the FDA (and very, very legal), whereas amphetamines go so far beyond caffeine’s effects that they’re tightly controlled and considered overall-dangerous.
Adderall’s effects are chemically similar to Love
Adderall Buzz = dopamine + serotonin + adrenaline
Love = dopamine + serotonin + Â epinephrine (Source:Â Sex on the Brain)
I’ve said before that Adderall is basically a love potion that you can take whenever you don’t like something. Scientifically, this holds true. The chemical mixture is similar. Now ask yourself, would you ever want a love potion used on you? Would you want some great villain, some disgusting person to slip you a potion and make you think you love them…and then abuse you? How violated would you feel? That’s basically what you’re doing to yourself when you take Adderall: you’re violating your right to choose your own Love.
Remember the Disney movie Aladdin? When the Genie (voiced by Robin Williams) pops out of the lamp, he tells the young Aladdin that he only has three rules:
- I can’t kill anybody
- You can’t wish for more wishes
- I can’t make anybody love anybody (because that messes with free will)
There’s a reason why rule #3 existed. Forcing love is a perversion of a beautiful process.
- Teddy bear from http://www.arenaflowers.com/gifts/i_love_you_teddy_bear
- Chalkboard from: http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/461/chalkboard.html
7-10 days after using it once, so how long does it take to get back to normal after using it daily for 7 years??i know theres no magic formula, it just seems like it shouldnt take months..and it has..and mike, you say its taken you a year and a half! i know its worth it, i think, but what are those chemicals doing for that long??
Hi Ashley,
The chemical recovery is only a small part of the battle. The mental part — rebuilding your willpower, confidence, and work ethic from scratch — is much larger and longer battle. It’s kind of like learning how to walk again after being in a wheelchair for seven years (and suddenly getting your neck fixed or whatever). Your bones and nerves are healed, and you are technically ready to walk, but your muscles are skinny and weak.
Good examples, except it seems like taking it should be relative to the activity, how come USAF Pilots and Many Other Armed forces Take It? It seems like the amount that it effects your free will is also relative to the persons cognitive blueprinting and environment as well.
@Jackson
That’s an excellent point: Adderall’s affect on your free will is absolutely influenced by by individual cognitive blueprints and circumstances. For one, I think it messes with impulsive people more than calculating people.
And as for the USAF Pilot example: As evidenced by the events covered this article (pilot hopped up on “go pill” lights up a down thinking it was a training ground), there are consequences to that.
That said, circumstances also dictate how much Adderall corrupts you. In a tightly-controlled activity like flying a plane, where you’re basically a hyper-intelligent robot who’s at the bidding of your commanders…then popping a pill won’t affect you as much…because at that point you’re just following orders with or without the pill. But the instant you start having to make lots of longer-term, abstract decisions for yourself…that’s when Adderall messes with you.
I am shocked at the sevarity of the addictive properties that this commen and perscribed pill produces!
How is this justified? Are there any pros to taking this monster of a pill?
I am very familiar with Adderoll and I never never knew the devistating ramifications that it causes.
I am shocked at the sevarity of the addictive properties that this commen and perscribed pill produces!
How is this justified? Are there any pros to taking this monster of a pill?
I am very familiar with Adderoll and I never never knew the devistating ramifications that it causes.
Also I was wondering if you could offer an explanation for the panic that comes when it is time to stop…what is the function behind that anxiety? It is not a thought it is a physical compulsion that is very very strong, I figured if I could understand the cause it would be easier for me to deal with the emotional and physical reaction to “the last pill”
Mike… it doesnt work that way for people that are actually accurately diagnosed. Take it from me, I’ve been diagnosed with ADD. I first started taking it 6 months ago. I have a problem with fatigue, so I thought since I never have done any stimulant of this kind before, it would help out alot. No, didnt work that way. I never felt anything out of it except increased concentration when I choose to concentrate (like reading a book). So too bad my fatigue problem isnt fixed, and I fall asleep on a decent dosage of amphetamine. But… it does exactly what my doctor said it was suppose to do, and nothing of what I had wanted it to do. Id like to note that I dont feel ANY comedown what so ever, nor do I feel addictive properties. I can easily stop for a week, and not feel any withdrawels or cravings. Point being, its prescribed for a reason and works for those that accurately need it.
Mike, I love reading these posts. I mean, I definitely have gone through EACH and EVERY one of your descriptions. Most of this stuff is “reveiw” for me, but the “love effect” that Adderall produces hit me harder. I have always said (in my head) that the feelings Adderall produces for me is very similar to the feelings that I felt/feel when in Love.
Actually, my abuse of Adderall began after my now ex girl friend began to see another guy. Therefore, I think that is a very strong reason for any relapses.
I just came across this site and am very grateful to read all the information here.
I’m in my mid forties and have had debilitating depression most of my life — after many years of many, many meds I am on a combo of lexapro, adderall and regular bloodwork to monitor my hormone levels. I’ve been taking adderall for two years (only 10mg/day sometimes an additional 10 after lunch) without the need for an increase — until recently…I’ve noticed that I’m flatter lately — and my impulse is to take more adderall, but I don’t — well, I did and it just made me clean my house more compulsively, not really “feel better”.
I did/do have a chemical imbalance and my dr. said the adderall would help the dopamine part — and it seriously does — I went from taking three naps a day (after 9 hours of sleep) to happily going about my business, being a great mom and wife and generally doing all the opposite things I did when depressed.
Something’s different now, as I read through the information on this site I wonder if it’s time to stop the adderall as perhaps the wanting more is a sign that the therapeutic effect is finished???
what I do know is that it completely transformed my cement-like treatment resistant depression and that was a welcome relief…many rounds of different meds later.
has anyone else had this type of experience? I know that I can relate to the mania feeling of adderall and really, although I’m embarrassed to admit it, liking it. So much nicer than laying in bed all day or sitting on the couch not being able to coax myself into doing something.
i wonder if I have some undiagnosed bi-polar’ish tendencies — I know I have been diagnosed with early ovarian decline, which let me tell you, can seriously make you feel bi-polar.
Anyway, now I’m writing on adderall — I try not to do that.
Thanks for reading.
LB
not addictive? check my link out. may chabge ur mind/. there are a few people who are like oh adderall does not make me high cuz im adhd. Well its not ur attention span its your bodys reaction to speed in your system . None of us react exactly the same. And if ur the cocky ass hole who really thinks ur add and this stuffs not addicting THEN YOUR PART OF A SMALL SMALL MINORITY and instead of picking on those devastated by the drug you should shut the hell up and thank jesus your not one of us who are destroyed by this drug.
just read all about meth and you can understand adderall too
Meh. Being free to take adderall only gives you more freedom over what you love. You can make it so you love things that you otherwise wouldn’t be free to.
Hello, i think its very dangerous to encourage people with chemical imbalances on the brain to try and get off medication and go with their free will instead…
When you have an addiction yes, you need to treat it. But a mental condition is oftentimes chemical imbalance related and should be treated as such.
No patting yourself on the back will make it right. Sorry, but I think you are misleading people.
Hi ShaneequaH,
Thanks for your comment. I agree that it is dangerous to have a site like this, where people with real debilitating chemical imbalances might find it and be mislead into thinking that they must quit a drug that helps them. I did not build this site for those people. I built it for the ones who want to quit Adderall for their own reasons, even if they technically qualify for it. I know that such people exist because I am one of them, and because I have spoken directly to many, many others like me.
I assure you that in regards to this website, I doubt myself just as much as I pat myself on the back. I can take the site down and clear my conscience of any truly imbalanced people who might misread it and feel wrongly convicted. But if I do that, I’ll abandon the person out there who’s about to take on the lonely war of quitting Adderall because they deeply believe it is the right thing for them to do (the person this site is built to help). I cannot make one group happy without potentially hurting the other.
Ultimately I remain convinced that this site has done more good than harm, so I keep it online. I think that most people are self-aware enough to figure out whether this site applies to them or not. And I hope that my giant disclaimer will suffice to help filter out the people that this site isn’t meant for, but I may need to make it even more prominent than it already is (bold, red link on the home page).
Keep the website up, please. This is my first time here and you guys have truely saved me. I don’t have add, but take Adderall whenever I get the chance to. I was going to call and make a doctor’s appointment to be “tested” for add on Monday. Because I found this website (that I have read for the past 2 hours) I’m not going to make the call.
I have my many reasons as to why I started taking it, as does everyone on else on here. I knew it was wrong and dangerous, but I have free will to make my own choices. Just like people who actually DO have add can make their own as to whether or not they want to stay on their medicine. If someone finds this website misleading, then they didn’t do enough of the reading. This is the ONLY website I have found that has a soul to it. All the others are so general and empty. No one really explains the head pounding, heart racing, so tired you can’t move, ears ringing, brain screaming, stomach so hungry it’s going to eat itself, mess that Adderall addiction feels like except on this website. So many people understand what I’m feeling like when I have no one to talk to. I take comfort in that. It has been an honor and a blessing to read everyone’s posts here and it gives me hope. I love the person I am. I am a funny, sweet, caring and pretty outstanding girl when Adderall isn’t part of my life. I want to always be her. I will report back, hopefully soon, with my progress. Thanks again to all of you & God Bless you all.
@Mae – I’m so glad you like the site! It’s comments like yours that keep it fueled and moving ahead. That’s a pretty good description of Adderall you wrote there. I may just re-use that…
People’s reasons for taking Adderall, in my experience, are much more pure than that of typical drug users. It’s self destruction in service of perceived growth, versus just escape. Because Adderall appeals to people who want to be at their best but are insecure, it’s kind of like the good girl drug. I guess what I’m saying is: You had your own reasons for taking Adderall, and I doubt they were very bad. Your challenge in quitting will be to find a different way to fill the needs that led you to Adderall. You can totally do it!
Good luck, and do report back!
A quick note on the love VS adderall comparison. epinephrine and adrenaline are two different names for the same thing, making the comparison bunk.
That aside. Good article! Factually informative.
@Benjamin – Seriously? So does that mean Adderall and love are identical instead of just similar? I hope I still have my source file for that chalk board graphic lying around somewhere…
makes you love everything?
what?
I don’t understand what type of adderall all of you are taking. Were you popping more than you were prescribed daily? Adderall can be addictive, but if you use it correctly (you know, not like a cracked out junkie) it can be very effective.
When I’m on adderall, things are just as fun / un-fun as usual. And I’m pretty sure that a known side-effect of too much adderall is that nothing is fun anymore (described as everything feeling “boring” or “grey”, otherwise known as the flatline effect).
WE HAVE HAD SUCH A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE WHILE ON THE SAME DRUG IT’S BLOWING. MY. MIND.
PS
Adderall crashing is, like … it’s like a baby crash. I mean IMO. You take a nap, you feel groggy, you over-eat to compensate, and then everything is back to normal.
it’s like a mini-crash, versus say the crash one gets from meth (seen that first hand: heads up. stay away from your meth-head friend when they crash. shit can turn nasty REALLY FAST).
or versus the crash one gets from ecstasy, which is like having a really bad case of the flu for three to four days.
I’d like to hear more from people like mary. I mean that respectfully, she seems to be able to compare it to other drugs that people thinking about trying adderall have maybe taken. How is it compared to marijuana?
I was addicted to adderrall, I got extremely impulsive, tolerance grew quick. Was on the BLUE DEVIL for 4-5 months until my wife asked me one day why I was so depressed and crying out of the blue. She helped me out of the addition with a weaning schedule. But even after 2 weeks of being completely off blue devil, I was even more depressed. Went on a trip to Venezuela and literally cried almost every day. Finally after 2 months , I became myself again.
adderall works by the way it is not just the chemical signals or messengers in the brain. this is only a partial truth. apertial truth may be valid put also misleading.also it may be an accepted method in the laws.but if you look at the warnings and how tiny and long the descriptions are, then how it states it is a federal controled substance and also can be addicting. you can realise how like all the other mood drugs as i call them, that adderall works with the very same dopamine, enepherine, serotonin, and sugh through out your body. if you want to be a ittle more precise and validate this, it is the same messengers in the sympatic or sympathic or sympathomimetic effects and thus had no local anesthetic signal which a person can beaware of or identify. usually it is referred to as a dulling effect.hence a general overall sense of dulled feelings and emotions. the sense of right and wrong, caring, fear, anxiety, caring, intimacey,slf defense impulses we call our immune sytem which is the very same sensed actions of moving out of danger or avoiding situations as well as the same instinctual throwing out your hands when you trip.you are aware to a point you are tripping and you immediately throw out your arms and hands. this is the same sensed and also semisensed and obvious way you yourself can from your experiences validate what you just read. also it is the defense, or immune, or adaptation, or automatic, or bdy defense, or subconscious mind, excetra excetra. don’t want to make it to complicatated or abstract. the brain is the same impulses by the refined action you call your known senses or your brain aqctivity you call your mind which is the typical and i belive perceptions of doctors.also the majority of normal perception
Mike-
Yes Epinephrine IS Adrenaline…identical molecular structure and all. That is why many anxious dental patients PANIC after a shot of ‘Novocaine’ in the dental chair. Actual Novocaine hasn’t been used in decades – what is used is Lidocaine/Epinephrine injections (the Epinephrine speeds the absorption of Lidocaine, making it take effect quickly). So if anyone’s ever had 2-3 shots ‘Novocaine’ during a dental visit and felt their heart pounding…it is because they were given 2-3 Adrenaline/Epinephrine shots – as a result the Fight or Flight mechanisms kick in.
Thanks, For Mike! That was interesting and helpful.
Mike,
My Dr. prescribed me Adderall to help with my anxiety, stress and depression. He put me on 20mg XR. I was extremely hesitant to take it and only did because I was pressured to by my parents. I took it for about a week and a half. The entire time I took it I didn’t feel like myself. I felt wrong and off and it made me extremely sick. I quit taking it about 4 days ago. Now I am experiencing side effects in which i do not even know how to explain. My body has clearly taken a hard hit. I constantly feel fatigued, like I’m running my days on no sleep, and i’m always dizzy. I never retain anything I do throughout the day and constantly have that blackout/dizzy feeling you get when you sit up too quickly. While on this drug I rarely slept and if I did it was only for a few hours. Now I try to sleep to make this symptoms go away. I just feel off. I feel the chemicals in my brain are just off balance. My thought process isn’t the same as it was before i took this drug and i just want to go back to feeling “normal” and like myself before I took this drug. Not like I’m going to collapse from exhaustion or feeling hazey. I have never done any form of drug in my entire life this was the heaviest drug that i have ever tempered with. Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? Will i go back to how I was before?
I have no idea what to do. I have been on adderall for 23 years. I was diagnosed when I was 6. I was a hyperactive kid, that had trouble sitting in class and not being disruptive. Thats typical though right? Anyways, adderall did help me though, i was instantly content when i took the drug, and could focus and remain calm for hours doing practically anything. After I few years I think I became addicted to it and took it everyday to get through the day. I overdosed on adderall for about a week, and stopped sleeping. I also became paranoid and delusional. My parents had me hospitalized to get psychiatric help. They took me off of adderall cold turkey. But as soon as I got out of the hospital I found a new psychiatrist and got back on it once again. I have been hospitalized numerous times in the past four years due to taking adderall regularly or abusing it and then becomming paranoid and delusional. I graduated from college 4 years ago, but have been not working, due to a lack of interest and thoughts of going back to school for a graduate degree in education. I was hospitalized back in september, and the psychiatrist put me in a court ordered program where i have a psychiatrist appointed to me. She has refused to put me on adderall or anything else for ADHD or depression. I have to live with this for the next four months before the court order ends. I have been off adderall for 3 months now, and I feel good, but I want to get back on adderall even though it causes me to sometimes be paranoid and delusional. I think i became delusional and paranoid partly because I am not working or going to school right now and have not much to do all day to keep me focused and busy. Could this be the case? But since i have been off the drug, I think sometimes about what it means to be truely ADHD. I can pay attention since i have been off the drug, I can listen to conversations, and focus on things when I need to or want to. I am not the hyper active kid, fidgeting in my chair that I used to be when I was a kid. Sometimes i wonder if i have outgrown ADHD, but my addiction to the medication I have not out grown. I took a class of anatomy and i found it boring, and would take breaks during lab to walk around the building, but that is normal if you find something incredibly boring. I miss adderalls ability soon after taking the pill, to trick me into thinking whatever i am doing is important, and interesting. But that is living a lie. I don’t think thats ADHD, thats just being addicted to the way it made me feel during times when I felt like doing something else. Now being off the drug, I have realized that I have to reassess what I truely find interesting and want to do for a living! Because on adderall, I could do study just about anything, and persue just about anything for a career, and adderall would enable me to feel content, happy, and interested in it! Has anyone else out there realized that they truely don’t know what they really enjoy because adderall has made them enjoy anything they did as long as they had that pill? I now have a bachelors degree from a great school, and graduated top of my class, but I am not sure if I even wanted to have that major, or if this is what I would really enjoy doing for the rest of my life. What a mind F. I feel like i have to start all over. Oh and by the way, the lack of adderalls flood of dopamine everyday has made me feel like life is really boring and dull on an everday level. I’ve been on cloud 9 everyday, interested and engaged due to adderalls help for years. Could I not be ADHD, and just addicted to the feelings adderall give me>? I think so.
Yeah, I think it’s an addiction to that feeling that adderall gave you. An artifical rush of dopamine flooded your brain over and over for years.
The reason they call adderall so psychologically addictive is because of the mental attachment the addict forms toward that feeling adderall gives you.
After you quit, recovery gets easier and easier as the mental attachment begins to weaken…
Adderall at normal prescribed doses don’t actually act on 5-HTergic transmission.
I don’t really know what to say or were to start. this is the first time I have ever posted on a site like this and the first time I have taken a step toward talking about my adderall. I figured that posting something would help get me started so forgive me if it seems like I’m just rambling. I was prescribed adderall when I was in elementary school after was diagnosed with ADD. I’m in my 20′s now, going to college, and still prescribed adderall. I’m beginning to see signs of addiction and growing abuse. I know I didn’t give you much to work with Mike but any form of response would be great encouragement to post something more helpful for me and everyone else. Thanks Mike
@Scars – Thanks for your comment! It’s easier keep to structured dose in middle and high school because your schedule stays consistent. When you get to college, you’re schedule may change every semester. All of a sudden instead of needing Adderall at the same time every day, you start to need it at all different hours. And then you start taking it whenever you “feel” like you need it, and then the abuse starts.
If that sounds like your situation, then the first step is to taper back to sanity. Try to keep yourself on a consistent dose as much as possible, and don’t let yourself pop when you feel like it. From there, reduce the amount when you can.
Once you’re back to a sane dosage schedule, then make the decision about whether you want to quit all the way. If you do want to quit all the way, start with a half dose for a month and see how you feel. Monitor the positive and negative changes that start popping up in your life on half the dose. If the positive outweighs the negative keep going down!
@ for mike
In regards to how taking it made you feel…please consider eating a well balanced diet while on it. I started at 20 milligrams and felt like it was too much because i wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat so I was dizzy and wasn’t thinking the same way and i was quite disappointed.
However since I have been paying attention to the clock and eating at normal times my head has been clear and the pill makes my focus clear and I am relived of my negative symptoms and have beaten the side effects it cause such as decreased appetite.
I agree with everything on this except taking 7 to ten weeks to recover. a have been on it for a couple months. and believe me i took it plenty of times just to get high before and not the right way. and today is my second day off it after months and i feel fine. you just have to have will power and realize that it disconnects you from normal life. its messed up how it takes away simple enjoyments like eating.
Hi, I am 42 and was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder at age 40, (right after a bad separation and divorce) but I believed I was more ADD. The Doctor prescribed me with Seroquel which made me sleep too much with no energy, so he prescribed me Adderall at 15 mg which did not help much so he raised it to 30mg. I did not like the way it made me feel. I already have anxiety and it made my anxiety worse. I couldn’t keep a steady hand. I stopped taking it after a few months. No withdrawals. After switching back and forth to a lot of different meds, because of anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc. Two years later, I found a new psychiatrist and he said I was misdiagnosed. I am not bipolar, I have severe anxiety, so I was put on different medication. I felt tired all the time and could not focus. I asked to be put on adderall again. I am on 20mg twice a day. It sure does help me wake up in the morning and helps me focus, but it gives me ‘nervous’ energy and more anxiety. I’m seriously thinking about stopping it, but I’m afraid that it will be very hard to wake up and take care of my children and focus, etc. My Dr. said I could wean off to 10mg and stop, but 15 mg wasn’t even enough to give me energy. What should I do?