Signs and Symptoms of Adderall Addiction
As controlled narcotic substances, prescription stimulant drugs carry a high potential for abuse and addiction. According to Dartmouth College, an estimated 250,000 to 350,000 people struggled with prescription stimulant addictions in 2009, many of which resulted from Adderall abuse.
With amphetamine as a main ingredient in Adderall, people who develop Adderall addiction experience considerable upset within their day-to-day lives. Adderall’s effects on the mind and body change over time as chemical processes throughout the body reach an increasingly imbalanced state.
With continued use, Adderall addiction leaves users unable to control or limit drug intake amounts, which further jeopardizes a person’s overall physical and psychological health. In effect, signs and symptoms of Adderall addiction appear gradually at first, but soon become glaringly apparent as vital bodily processes start to break down from the effects of the drug.
Adderall’s Damaging Effects
Adderall effects target the body’s brain and central nervous system functions. Like all stimulant drugs, Adderall speeds up the chemical processes that regulate the major systems throughout the body.
As Adderall’s chemical make-up closely resembles that of the body’s own neurotransmitter chemicals, it doesn’t take long before brain and central nervous system functions start to rely on the drug’s effects to function normally. Once dependency sets in, the damaging effects of the drug start to snowball as brain and body structures continue to deteriorate from ongoing use, according to the University of California Irvine School of Medicine.
By the time Adderall addiction takes hold, the drug has all but commandeered brain and central nervous system functions.
Symptoms of Adderall Addiction
Symptoms of Adderall Addiction start to surface once the body becomes physically dependent on the drug’s effects. Considering the brain relies on a delicate balance of chemicals to function normally, Adderall not only disrupts this chemical balance but rather throws the brain’s equilibrium further and further off balance with ongoing use.
Consequently, the brain and central nervous system lose their ability to properly regulate bodily functions, which accounts for the symptoms a person experiences. Symptoms usually take the form of –
If you feel ill when you do not have Adderall and feel compelled to get it you may be addicted.
- Mood swings
- Fatigue
- Aggressive and/or angry behaviors
- Constipation
- Insomnia
- Out of the ordinary risk-taking
- Paranoia
- Delusions of grandeur or self-importance
As brain functions continue to deteriorate, a person will require increasingly larger dosage amounts to keep producing the same desired effects. In turn, symptom occurrences will continue to increase in frequency and intensity.
Signs of Adderall Addiction
Signs of Adderall Addiction take shape within a person’s everyday life, affecting his or her thoughts, priorities and behaviors. Over time, the brain’s physical dependency turns into a psychological dependency that completely reshapes a person’s motivations and actions.
Signs of psychological dependency may include –
- Preoccupation with getting and using Adderall
- Neglecting work responsibilities
- Neglecting family obligations
- Relationship conflicts
- Problems with the law
- Loss of interest in recreational pursuits
Like any other form of addiction, an addiction to Adderall drives a person to settle into a destructive lifestyle as his or her obsession with the drug creates a total disregard for any negative consequences that may result.
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Adderall Street Names
- Slang names are usually used to refer to Adderall when a person using the medication is doing so illegally, or is selling their own prescription.
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Dangers of Adderall Abuse
- Adderall is known as a 'study drug' which people abuse for perceived academic improvement and other performance enhancement. Adderall abuse is dangerous to the health and well-being of all who use is wrongly.
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Effects of Adderall Abuse
- Adderall is a medication prescribed to treat ADHD, but it is abused by students and young adults thinking they can achieve enhanced performance in work or at school with the medication. Adderall abuse is very dangerous.
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Finding Help for Adderall Addiction
- If you or someone you know is struggling with an Adderall addiction it is good to know that help is available. Treatment programs exist that provide counseling and other treatments to help you heal from the effects of Adderall while building a life without the drug.
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