I had several side effects when beginning my 40mg Adderall XR dosage, but now most have either gone away or lessened. I feel content, calm, and for the first time, am able to get things done. I had taken 20mg previous to several years ago, but being on the 40mg now seems to be appropriate. I've been taking this particular dosage for approximately 3 weeks now. I take it early in the morning. I've eliminated caffeine from my diet and stopped taking my daily regiment of B-complex vitamins. For the past 10 years, I've dealt with headaches every single day, so I almost always take ibuprofen or acetaminophen, but recently (even before taking Adderall), I've developed much more severe headaches, and have had to occasionally take Excedrin. I also get seasonal allergies and take Zyrtec as needed. I am a smoker, and now very rarely eat, maybe once a day. I'm 19, 5'4", and approximately 140Lbs.
About a week after I began taking Adderall, it was very difficult for me to breath. Not in my chest, but in my throat. I worked myself into panic attacks; I was told this was caused by being too conciously aware of my breathing and being sleep deprived (I probably only sleep 3 hours a night, if at all, also a habit I had previous to taking Adderall). Two days ago, I began to feel a "catch" of sorts in my chest, the kind one would often get when they are gaseous, except it didn't "pop" or go away, it stayed. My elbow also began to hurt very badly and spread to my forearm and knuckles on my left side. My palm is tingling along with a few of my fingers. It is very difficult for me to place my arm in certain positions or to grip anything. It is cold as well. I also have poor circulation in feet. I also feel like I have been getting hallucinations of sorts. Not apparitions or anything like that, just lighting distortions, along with extreme nighttime paranoia. It has also been very difficult for me to drive, watch TV, or even stare at the computer for extended periods of time because I have EXTREME pain right above my eyebrows and for lack of a better term, my eye sockets.
This morning actually I noticed a bite. I had noticed redness there, but of course being unobservant, didn't realize their were bite marks there as well. I went to my doctor this morning and explained the symptoms I had in my hand, arm, and chest. She was mostly concerned with Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lupus, and because of having a history of Rheumatoid Arthritis in my family, wanted to rule this out as well. She gave me a steroid shot (for my joints, I'm assuming), and is wanting me to take doxycycline for AT LEAST ten days. She is aware of my Adderall XR, but she did not think that this was an issue. My blood pressure is normal, my pulse is slightly higher than what I generally have had in the past. Also, this morning, I decided not to take my Adderall to see if it was the actual cause of my hand/arm/chest issue...it isn't. As a matter of fact, the pain along my forearm has greatly increased and my arm and hand has swollen much larger than my right arm. I'm awaiting test results.