My son was taking Adderall from May until September 2006. He was diagnosed in May. It worked really well for a while. I noticed a difference right away, but during the last week of September, one day my son woke me up before the crack of dawn and told me there were spiders in his room. Sleepily I sprayed around his room with raid, then let him sleep in my bed. As we drove off to day care, he said he saw lights on top of our house. I didn\'t think anything of it at the time. Later that day around lunch, his teacher calls me and says that my son is seeing spiders on the walls and coming out of the vents. He had a headache and was vomiting. I could hear him crying in the background. We spent about 7 hours in the ER, with no apparent result. He had a follow-up appt with the Psych MD the next day, and she enlightenend me by telling me that since Adderall is a stimulant and it suppresses the appetite, it could cause hallucinations. Its has been exrtremely hot here and my son loves to play outside. He refuses to eat his lunch or drink anything, so by him playing outside constantly and being dehydrated, it caused the electrolytes in his body to go haywire. She compared the effects to a crackhead that has a methamphetamine withdrawl. I immediately took him off Aderrall and started him on Strattera. I was told Strattera takes at least 3 - 4 weeks to take affect. Right now its very difficult, because it seems like he is not taking any medication at all. He\'s very disruptive at school, and can\'t stay in his seat. At home he can\'t carry out any chores or do his homework. Adderall worked very well, but I do no like the fact that its a Stimulant. I guess I have to be patient and see if the Strattera works.

I know this is really bad, but I abuse my adderall when I get it. I don't know why it always happens.

For adults--like me, i really like it. But would NEVER give it to my kids. My understanding is that it is like prescription heroin. Very addictive...see above... I abused it when I first took it...got up to about 75mg..max dose, by drs advice..now I take 10mg XR...when I have more time, I'll reply to you my side effects, experiences, contraindications etc. nothing major

Zac started with concerta, and it helped him jump from not being able to identify upper and lower case letters to being a B student...He is also dyslexic, and without the ability to concentrate, it was soo hard for him to learn..
when he was in 6th grade, he complained of headaches,and feeling wierd, so i had him take a break, and he took absolutely nothing in 7th grade. It was a nightmare, he got Ds and Fs and turned into a behavioural problem for the first time ever....well, we started him back the beginning of this school year, but switched to adderall xr 20 mgs..
He has been on the honor roll for both report cards and is once again self confidant and proud...Doc says he may need this through his life, so i amd interested to hear adults opinions, and how life is with and without for you...

My son is only 4 years old and he was taking Adderall for only a few months and it did not work for him. My oldest son who is 11 years old use to take it when he was mucgh younger and it made him worse and very more agitated. He also seen spiders crawling on the wall.

Has anyone wondered why ADHD is so popular now in the present day but back when we were kids our parents didn't know of it, they just chalked it up to unruly and energized children and they dealt with it, what makes it different now that we have to medicate our children for this behaviour?

My husband has ADHD he wont admit it but it is clearly obvious to everyone in his life that he is. As is my 10 year old daughter and my mother in law. But he runs his own business and does not take medication for it, so it is proven that people that have this can be very smart and successful without medication. There is hope!!!!!

May son used Adderall for a long time and it didn't do much for him. Focalin works beautifully.

I started limiting the amount of time my son watches TV. I have always followed this rule. TV and video games makes it 100 x worse. Also, keep the bedtime consistant. I have had ADHD MY WHOLE LIFE and I have to still take meds and avoid things that will make it worse. I'm ok and accepted this but my son has the advantage of my experiance. Structure, routine, family meals and activities are important. Basically, give them a multi-tasking project to exercise his broad attention span and energy for about half and hour to an hour.

Adderal is very addictive and should not in my opinion be prescribed to anyone under 18 years of age.

Adderal is very addictive and should not in my opinion be prescribed to anyone under 18 years of age.

I do not want to start an argument at all, but i have seen my son without the help of adderall or concerta try his best all of last school year and he had all c,d and f's for the first time ever. He also became a behavioral problem. So the doc, Zac and I decided to try it again for 8th grade, and his self-esteem is back, he is social again and without extra help(he is l.d. in reading and math) he just brought home 4 A's a B+ and a B. He does not take it on the weekends and yes, sometimes turns into a 130 lb. toddler, but 8th grade is a success, and i feel he is becoming well equipt to handle high school...I think Zac is a perfect example of a human who needs the re-wiring that adderall offers. I have tried diet, herbs, therapy, anything to keep him off these possibly toxic drugs, but after the awful year he had, and the dive his self-esteem took, I will never take him off them again...The doc says he may be an adult who will need it...I still plan on having be drug free every summer vacation, and test the waters so to sppeak with a drug free summerschool course...I try to feel like a bad mom for having my son on adderall, but when i see his report card, receive calls from his teachers telling me what an amazingly polite and fun loving, and helpful leader I am raising, it's hard to beat myself up.

When I was in high school I had a friend who got her doc to prescribe her more then she needed, she sold the rest. She gave me some a few times, and it made me feel...I can't describe it..comfortable in my own skin I guess. I didn't feel like I was high or super energetic. I watched the other kids around me do it and turn into the roadrunner. I'm glad I only took it the couple times, but now that I've been diagnosed I understand why I felt so comfortable taking it. On the other hand I saw how easy it was to abuse. I think that while it may work for some children under 18, parents should understand and control their children's dosage, cathi518 seems like a well informed mother and I think she has a handle on her son's medication. My friend who took it had a mormon mother who refused to even handle the medication, and didn't believe in it at all, but allowed her daughter to take it freely, leaving her open for all sorts of abuse problems. Ignorance is not an option when it comes to your children.

I think adderal works for some and not for others, I think there is a treatment for everyone, ya just need to keep trying and prey you have a good dr. My daughter has history of abuse and has anxiety and panic disorder all things that all I have read tell me she shouldnt take adderal but the dr's told me I didn't have the expertise to make that call, they just kept increasing her dose well now we are hopefully heading for treatment, she is twenty six now and her life is a mess, she called it her focuss medicine, she is a mess if that is focuss I can't imagine, She has so many issues and the adderal just excelerated her compulsive behavior, and she abbuses it to the hilt.

Adderall XR along with Wellbutrin xl helped me so much...till my husband started stealing the adderall and putting stacker 3 inside. Lock it up, guys, don't put it past anyone.