Adderall XR Bald Spots, Psychiatrist, Celexa, Experiences, Facial Tics
Posted over a year ago
My beautiful 11 year old daughter was on Adderall XR 20 mg per day for 4 years. After about 2 years she started to develop some minor facial tics. After 3 years the facial tics were worse along with severe head shaking and she also started to develop ... more »
My beautiful 11 year old daughter was on Adderall XR 20 mg per day for 4 years. After about 2 years she started to develop some minor facial tics. After 3 years the facial tics were worse along with severe head shaking and she also started to develop trichotillomania (obsessive compulsive hair pulling). The hair pulling continued until she was almost bald. Her grades began to drop and she withdrew herself from her friends and family. Finally, we took her off the medication in October 2007 at age 12 and she immediately stopped the tics and hair pulling. We have found 3 other families whose daughters have developed these same symptoms after being on this medication for at least 2 years. We have filed a report with the FDA as our own doctor had no idea that this medication was causing the hair pulling. Now 5 months later her hair is growing and the tics are approximately 97% gone. We have taken her to a homeopathic doctor and she is doing absolutely great now. Marks have gone up and she is smiling and socializing. I am so happy we have our daughter back. The side effects of this drug was definitely not work it.
Hazy36 - Hi I HAVE 2 DAUGHTERS THAT ARE ON ADDERALLXR AND THEY DON'T SLEEP AND MY OLDEST DAUGHTER GETS REALY MADE AND SHE CAN'T KEEP FRIENDS. AND MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER STAYS TO HER SELF. REALY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO .WHEN I TAKE THEM OFF THEY ACT REALY STUPID AND CRAZY IS BEACUSE OF THE WITHDRAWS? PLEASE WRITE BACK SOON P.S.EMILY 16 ELAINE 14
Adderallmom - My son takes Adderall XR 15mg and has Trichotillomania. He has been on the medication since he was 5. He began pulling his eyelashes out 2 years ago. I never thought that it may be a side effect of the medication. I will watch him closely this summer to see if his condition improves when he is off the Adderall.
Navmomof3 - My 11yr old son has been on Adderrall XR for the past 3 yrs (we briefly tried Vyvanse 8 months ago). He started pulling out his hair (Trichotillomania) Sept 07 and his Psychiatrist put him on celexa. Besides the bald spots and low sef esteem, his grades have dropped dramatically. I never thought to question the Adderall. Thank you all for posting your experiences.
Cbec - I have a 9 year old daughter who has been on Adderall for close to 1 year. We uped her dosageto 10 mg in September and she has been pulling her hair since. I just decided to take her off the Adderall to see if it makes a difference. It has been encouraging to read these posts. I am hoping it is the Adderall
Rtrty7 - Hi my son is 9 years old and he has been on Adderall xr 20mg for about a year and a half last fall he started to pull out his eyelashes now he started to pull out the hair on his legs he picks at his ears untill there are sores.He also suffers from insomia, estremely skinny!!! and very irritable,I had no idea that adderall could be causing this untill I read your story and a few other families I'm freaking out and don't know what to do, of course the doctor said it should'nt be the med but I disagree but I don't know what elseto do for him and school. You did say in your story that you started to take her to a Homeopathic doctor, I live in ct do you know how I can find one?
Mg64799 - I am 21 years old and I have been diagnosed with ADD, and a learning disability since I was in the first grade. Adderall was not really around when I was that young. I was put on Ritalin for about a year and my parents didn’t like the way it made me act, and I lost a lot of weight for a young child, so they took me off of it. My teachers use to tell my parents that I would never be able to go to college and that high school would be very difficult for me if I didn’t get the help that I needed. I thank God every day that I have the parents I have who worked with me every day after school and made sure every homework assignment was done and made flash cards to help me study. I have an older sister that is truly gifted in school, she is now in Med school so this was all new to my parents having to help me every step of the way. I graduated high school from an all academic high school with honors. I was a football cheerleader, ran cross country, and played varsity volleyball and still managed to keep my grades up. I am living proof that it can be done without medication with the right help. I am now currently at the University of Alabama majoring in business and will be graduating next May. I have to say it was decision to start taking Adderall my freshman year of college when I was having trouble keeping up. I was doing well with it, but I had to watch out how much I worked out while I was on it because of my heart rate. I also had to cut out my coffee, red bull, and sodas, because that would increase my heart rate as well. I also had trouble trying to sleep at night. I know that I had to set my alarm in the morning at 7 am to take it because some days I had an 11 o’clock class and if I took it then I would be wide awake at 4 in the morning. I did find when I was doing homework, or reading chapters for a class, I was pulling my hair out. I would find a hand full of hair by my desk chair but I didn’t really do anything about until I noticed when I put my hair up I had a bald spot behind my ear. I knew that I had to stop it immediately or I would lose all my hair. It was almost an addiction that I wanted to pull it out. I googled it one day and found that other people had the same problem while they were taking Adderall. So people told me to put a hat on when I caught myself “pulling”, when I driving long distance, watching a movie, or reading and doing homework. That seemed to help. Other ways to stop were chewing gum, putting gloves or mittens on, or band aides on the tips of your fingers. That all seemed to work for me because I only caught myself pulling my hair out when I was alone. When I was in class or out having fun with friends it was not a problem. Adderall makes you feel like have to be doing something AT ALL time and I felt like my hands needed to be doing something when I was just watching TV. My roommate is also on Adderall and she finds herself biting her nails, or picking at her face when she is just sitting around. She also found that putting mittens on helped her stop it. I hope these methods help someone because they did help me stop. I know it is probably harder to have self control to stop when you are younger, so good luck with everything!
Manage27 - I want you all to know I am a 28 year old male who was on adderall for two years. I was taking 60mg a day. The first few months it seemed to do great, but then I started paying more attention to myself that I would never think about before. I started pulling my hair out, becoming antisocial, and had a significant change in my personality, which caused me to lose my job from the anxiety of not wanting to be around people. These so called physicians, psychologist/psychiatrist do not know as much as we would like to think. My older sister has been on adderall XR for five years and has done great on it. But, to make this short adderall can be the wrong medication your child needs. I am currently on Vyvanse and taking 70mg twice a day and have been on this medication for 6 months now. I have improved a great deal, but to all parents that are in need of an answer send me an email at manage27@usa.com and I will be glad to help assist you in finding the right solution. Trust me my family was so scared and I am a grown man. I have no license nor do I tend to get one to practice pharmacology. But what I do have is firsthand experience with ADHD and how adderall effected me. I have also done so much research about the CNS and how it works that it took me a year to finally figure out if adderall was causing me to loose my mind, friends, and social life. Dexedrine is another option as your physician may state it is stronger, but for some patients it is the right medication. To all parents who are in complete shock and have no idea of what to do please get them off the adderall and change there medication.
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