10 Adderall Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms You Can’t Miss
For people who have problems concentrating, controlling their impulses or staying awake, Adderall provides an effective treatment solution. As one of a few prescription narcotic stimulant medications, Adderall also carries a high potential for abuse and addiction. Like other prescription narcotics, Adderall should only be accessible through a doctor’s prescription but unfortunately, other means of access have opened up the potential for widespread abuse.
According to the University of Southern California, Adderall consists of two active ingredients, levoamphetamine and dextroamphetamine, both powerful amphetamine agents. Adderall acts within the body’s central nervous system by increasing brain neurotransmitter chemical levels.
When taken as prescribed, the risk for addiction remains relatively low. When used for recreational purposes, users must contend with frequent withdrawal symptoms that result from ongoing abuse.
Withdrawal symptoms develop as the brain and body become increasingly dependent on the effects of the drug. Rather than level out, withdrawal symptoms grow progressively worse in intensity for as long as a person continues to abuse Adderall.
Adderall withdrawal may involve symptoms of anxiety, drug cravings, irritability, confusion and more.
Here are 10 Adderall addiction withdrawal symptoms that are fairly easy to spot in someone who abuses the drug.
1. Increase in Appetite
Since the central nervous system regulates appetite and digestive processes, Adderall abuse decreases a person’s desire for food. During detox or when attempting to reduce dosage amounts, users will experience an increase in appetite.
2. Muscle Aches and Pains
Adderall’s effects on the central nervous system inevitably disrupt nerve signal transmissions throughout the body. Consequently, Adderall withdrawal often includes random muscle aches and pains.
3. Tremors/Shaking
The chemical imbalances caused by Adderall withdrawal affect the brain’s movement and coordination centers. In effect, users lose a degree of control over their motor functions in the process.
4. Feelings of Depression
Adderall releases large amounts of brain neurotransmitter chemicals, one of which is serotonin, a mood regulator. Over time, serotonin levels become depleted causing users to feel depressed.
5. Severe Anxiety
Adderall’s effects on dopamine, epinephrine and serotonin chemicals disrupt a person’s sense of feeling safe and calm. Withdrawal episodes inevitably bring on bouts of fear and anxiety.
6. Sleep Problems
Stimulant drugs are designed to speed up the body’s central nervous system functions. With ongoing use, Adderall’s effects eventually disrupt normal sleep centers within the brain while increasing electrical activity throughout the brain as a whole.
7. Persistent Drug Cravings
The brain develops a physical dependency on Adderall effects. This dependency leaves the brain unable to function normally without the effects of the drug. Drug cravings result when needed dosage amounts of the drug are lacking.
8. Irritability
Whether detoxing or in need of a “fix,” irritability is a common Adderall addiction withdrawal symptom. The longer a person uses the more frequent and intense irritability symptoms will become.
9. Confusion
Any drug capable of disrupting brain chemical functions will inevitably impair a person’s ability to think and reason. Confusion results from Adderall’s effects on neurotransmitter chemicals that influence cognitive functions within the brain.
10. Low Energy Levels
People who’ve abused Adderall for a long time eventually reach a point where the drug actually “burns out” brain cell functions. Feelings of fatigue and low energy levels become an inevitable Adderall addiction withdrawal symptom with long-term use.
