Adderall as a Weight Loss Drug?

Wendy, I have the exact same story as your daughter. In high school I had a 4.0 up until about my 16th birthday. I lost all interest in sports (that were once my main focus) and was constantly being called to the office about my failing grades. I barely graduated. When I got to college I went to see a doctor about this because i didnt want to fail out of college as well, he prescribed me adderall and it has made all the difference. I feel like a normal person again and most importantly am passing all my classes again. Adderall was the right choice for me and I hope it is for you and your daughter as well.

to Wendy, I am 16 years old and have been taking adderall for 4 years. Before i took adderall i was very scatterbrained and unfocused. Since taking adderall i have been able to focus on the philosophy section of english and expand my view of things deeper in life. in the beginning i had some slight weight loss and decreased appetite, eventually that went away and it made my confiedence go through the roof. In small doses its a non-addictive and very productive drug.

Why use these things that are bad for u I know of stuff with no side effects to help u lose weight not a pill u have a goal let me help u make it a reality

If you are sick & tired of hearing about all the complaints re: adderall, quit going back for more to hate to hear.
Find Peace somerewhere ! It works for me, not trying to be rude. PEACE OUT !!!

The people who really need Adderall are the people who are unable to be successful students without it. You don't need it, you want it. I want marijuana, but I don't do it, because I don't need it, and it's UNSAFE (and illegal), just like taking prescription medication that hasn't been prescribed to you, y'know? The fact that you have been successful without it is the reason you don't get it. What WOULD be unfair would be taking any possibility of having a normal life away from the people who actually need it. I myself had a 4.0 GPA until the middle of seventh grade, when I completely dropped the ball. From then until nearly the end of eleventh grade, my grades steadily declined, with lower grades on every report card. I am not completely sure, but I would guess my GPA today to be somewhere around a 0.8. This last school year ('08-'09) was my junior year, and it was the year I got diagnosed with ADD--it came in March, if I remember correctly. In May I began the medication, and, literally, ALL OF MY GRADES went up by AT LEAST twenty points. My testing average in Honors Chemistry had been a 47, but I passed every test after that, and I got a 98 (only one question out of 74 wrong [it has a downwards curve near the top]) on my Chemistry Regents in June. (The Regents tests are the NY State standardized tests, used in place of midterms and finals on some required courses.) And saying most of the people today would be diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, or depression is just plain wrong. ADD (which is now actually called "ADHD of the Primarily Inattentive Type"), ADHD, and depression are only relevant diagnoses when the person is unable to function adequately (in terms of emotions or achievements). Without medication, people with ADD would be unable to lead successful lives, whereas people without ADD are able to be successful (even though they may, understandably, not enjoy the work involved.) Without medication, I would not be able to get into a decent school, even with my 99th-percentile PSAT scores. It would be a shame for good, intelligent people to suffer the consequences of an untreated neurological disorder.

THAT'S why people without ADD/ADHD generally don't get the medication, and people who have ADD do.

That's not really fair to say. The drugs aren't giving someone an unfair advantage over you, it's more like giving a person that can't walk a wheelchair. Adderall doesn't make you smarter, it just helps keep your eyes on the page. If you had ADD, you would understand that the inability to focus feels like someone randomly hijacks your brain, it's not laziness or boredom. Apparently you don't need the extra help anyway, you're a college graduate and now in medical school. I understand you feel under pressure, and you have a lot on your plate, but you can't marginalize the experience of others just because you're having a hard time.

I completely agree with you. I have never been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, but it has really helped me in so many ways. What is so wrong with wanting to focus more and have added benefits of weight loss and happiness? The first time I took it, I had no idea I would have a body high and feel euphoric and lose my appetite. I later found out that is what happens for a lot of people. I really do not see what is so bad about taking this drug when your not prescribed to it...who is to say that only the people who have ADD/ADHD deserve it? I am sure that 75% of people could go to a GP and walk out with a prescription for it...

Brie and Al,
Everyone has concentration problems. Were human, it's inevitable. But those of us with ADD and ADHD, we need the adderall to simply just function properly. We have chemical imbalances in our nervous system, you don't. Our nerve cells misfire and can't receive the proper signals to tell our brains how to react. We need it to function on a daily basis, so that we can actually get our work done instead of jumping around, climbing over furniture, and acting like little kids. I can't fuction without it, I begin to show habits and actions of someone who's drunk and high on pot at the same time.

"I really do not see what is so bad about taking this drug when your not prescribed to it...who is to say that only the people who have ADD/ADHD deserve it?"-Al
When you can't control your bursts of spasmic episodes that happen over a dozen times a day, something's wrong, and others see that and label you as "crazy" or psyche-ward escapee. When you can't control your actions and find yourself, at the age of 5, holding your cat's head under water to see if it can die just because nothing else is grabbing your attention. When you love that furry animal to death because it's the only friend you have because everyone in school thinks you're a freak and doesn't want to be around you. That's when there's a problem. So don't sit there and say I don't deserve the meds anymore than you do, that I don't need it anymore than you. Believe me, I do.
"I just graduated from a top liberal arts school and now I have a full-time job and class every night and on weekends and am constantly exhausted."- Brie
Good for you, I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to graduate friggin high school right now. Get off of your high throne and realize something. You have a job, you have a great education, and you have plans for med school. Some of us would kill for your situation. So stop feeling like you don't have it good, because you do. Me and my family are barely able to afford community college let alone a big campus school, let alone med school.
"Instead of shooting espresso shots all night and trying to stay awake to keep reading but not being able to retain any information I would rather pop a pill and study all night and lose weight and still have plenty of energy."-Brie
One problem, you're skipping sleep. That's why you can't retain the information. Studies have shown that past 8 o'clock, pm, people are less able to complete homework and projects and tasks at an adequate level. Study while you eat your lunch. Maybe you're exhausted because your schedule is way too busy and hectic for the after college stage of life.
"Who is to say that just because I do not have ADHD I couldn't possible have trouble focusing and wouldn't need adderall."-Brie
Of course it's possible for you to have trouble focusing. But that probably has more to do with psychological reasons that chemical imbalances in your brain and nervous system. Adderall works by rapidly firing chemicals at an above normal speed. Key word, NORMAL. For us, our normal is your inadequate. So stop complaining that you need it to focus. A strong will power will do that, and determination.

See it's comments like this that really make me sick. And coming from a potential health-care professional, its quite alarming. I can see where you are coming from but you should know that when people have true ADD/ADHD they cannot succeed without the help of medication. What is truly unfair is the people like you that have "used adderall a few times" to extend your success. If a person with ADD (on medication) takes the same test as a person without ADD (but took an adderall)..the non ADD student will do much better on the test. That the unfair advantage. Overprescribing is very common with this drug and ADD/ADHD is often misdiagnosed HOWEVER, that is due to doctors who have their head up there you know what and/or just don't care. And on the concern for weight loss/depression..adderall is not a miracle worker. It wont work overnight and it wont remove the current fat from your body. You still need to exercise. Yes it reduces your appetite and may speed your metabolism, but not eating is not the correct way to lose weight. You'll lose weight by not eating, but your body will be flabby and disgusting without proper exercise. I could go on and on about the correct usage of this medication how the abuse of it is not worth the future damage but I wont. Brie, I hope as a future health care professional you seriously change your attitude.

ADHD is a medical condition. There is an alteration in the way a person's brain chemistry is working. It's not that we don't "feel" like doing work. It's like having noise in your head that keeps you from focusing, or a brain that keeps jumping form tangent to tangetn. Some people don't need medication for it and some people do. That's a whole biochemical enzyme behavioral ball game. You should be glad you don't have to deal with it.

As much as i can see your point of things... let me give you another point of view and do me favor, dont get on your high horse just yet. If you are applying to medical school I would suggest that you do some research on adult ADHD, before you speak to something that you have not researched completley, or its effect on other people etc... I am a 39 year old, single mother of a 9 year gorgeous little girl, we both have ADHD...however my symptoms and severity of my ADHD as an adult has Dr's baffeled, they have no idea how I have managed without taking any kind of medication. My daughter is on Metadate and doing great!!! I grew up with ADHD, and struggled in school everyday and I busted my butt every day, but it was very defeating at times since my ADHD continually got worse,up until about 2 months ago I strugggled every day and to some extent still do, but not nearly as much. I am taking Adderall to help me be the best I can be, help me with my deppresion, AND help me to become a better parent with an ADHD child ... So let me recap for you, for some people it doesn't matter how much you study or any of that stuff, for some people they NEED the help that the medication can provide so that a person can be the best they can be. That you would want to take that away with your ignorant words is rude and cruel. For ALL those of you who ABUSE Adderall, I hope u understand that what you are doind is not the right way. There are other ways to do what you want without abusing an intense drug like Adderall and it gives Adderall a bad name, but for someone like me who needs it, I respectivly ask that you find another way to loose weight or whatever you are doing, unless it is a last resort and tyou are at least doing it the right way and being monitored by a Dr.
PS. I have always been over weight as well so the weight loss is just bonus, I studied my heart out,I have a severe learning diability, which by the way goes hand in hand with ADHD, I am glad it is working for you. I wish you good luck

ok brie first of all i want to put it out there that ever since i was four i have been diagnosed with adhd "adult defecit hyperactive disorder" i am now nineteen. when i was twelve i was diagnosed with depression and then bipolar disorder and later paranoid skitsophrenia and recently ive been showing signs of aspergers. second of all YOU DO NOT NEED NOR DO YOU DESERVE THIS DRUG. And also i would like for you to tell me the true meaning of depression dont go look it up on the internet explain to me the feeling of being awake at one o clock in the morning not having slept for two weeks because you are upset crying and sick with yourself over your grandmother that died when you were two and your grandfather when you were five and not being able to contemplate or really grasp what death is and feeling like its your fault that they are dead and that youre the one that killed them simply because you were born completely "different" from every single one of their other grandchildren. and also since youve done so much research on how adderal makes you lose weight, why dont you look up what side effects a drug can have on you if you take it when you do not have the problems it was made for. it wasnt made for weight loss, and it wasnt made for some person named brie to lose weight on. if youre in that much of a need to lose weight then push back from the table and exercise. and another thing obviously youre not worried about the side effects you will get for taking it when you dont have the problems it was made for because, excuse me, you have your head up your ass thinking about that "amazingly great body you will have, and how much it will get you through med school" well youre really going to be thinking about that when youre laying in a casket with all of youre family and friends crying their eyes out while a preacher is preaching a sermon about you all because you took medication you dont need and dont deserve that was made for adhd and add when you dont have either one.

Lindsey....Everyone does not experience the same "high" in response to adderall. I am 57 years old..diagnosed at age 30 with ADHD (mixed...inattentive)... I have taken the same dose for the past ten years when other ADD medications did not seem to work for me. I do not feel high but rather centered, not scattered, and in fact, calm and peaceful. I suppose it is the way "normal" feels.. If you feel "high" it is because you do not have ADD...for me, my dose has remained the same for all these years and once, when the pharmacy accidentally gave me 30mg. instead of the 20 mg. I am used to, it only made me calmer...too calm...I feel absolutely no "affects"...other than a general sense of well being..not the energized "high" feeling that some people (probably those who do not need it) describe...

Actually Lindsey, I am an adult with ADD and have just gone on Adderall XR, however I'm not experiencing a "high" on it. You what I'm experiencing? Normal life. The ability to get through the day without the constant struggle it's been for the past 40+ years. With Adderall I get what the rest of you got every single day of your lives. Those of us that actually have ADD/ADHD and taking medication are not getting a boost from it, or a high, we are getting a level playing field.