I was reading this thread, and had to join to add my experiences. Sorry, I'm about to tell a long story.
I used to be on Adderall IR, something like 10mg 4 times daily. It was a poor decision then, because I was losing a few lbs a week, and I finally took the step my doctor wouldn't do and dropped the drug cold turkey. This was when I was 19, because I had just started college, and I felt I needed an "edge" during my chemistry and math classes. I wanted to really pay attention and study these classes like a freak, something I initially thought the drug was going to basically make me do. It started this way and worked, then suddenly my attention opened towards so many things, that I was coming home and reading and writing things on the web that had nothing to do with those college classes.
Anyways, I'm here to talk about side-effect experiences then, and now.
When I started adderall then, I was right out of high school, and in decent shape at 5'6" 145lbs. I was still on my feet a lot and getting outdoors. I had no headaches, nor backaches, ever associated with the admittedly high adderall doses I was on. I had no painful side effects from beginning to the end.
Basically, I was waking up, drinking orange juice and a pill, then hitting the laptop. I struggled to eat. I would chew on microwave meals trying to get myself to swallow, but it was usually the orange juice only that made it to my stomach most of the time, while the meals made it to the garbage. I was rapidly depleting my muscles and build.
After I quit the prescription cold-turkey, nothing bad happened. Just like I lost the weight, I gained it all back within 60 days or so and was back to my normal physique again.
That was 5 years ago.
Over the last 5 years, I have primarily worked on a computer, not getting outdoors and exercising like I should be. Most of my life is spent in a chair. It shows. I have gradually developed a beer belly, and am 160lbs when I should still be ~145.
OK, that's that, now today rolls around.
Today my friend called to tell me he just got prescribed Adderall 10mg IR, but that he doesn't like the effect like he thought he would. He asked if I wanted 10 of them. Remembering the fun from 5 years back, I thought, "what's a quick revisit to old times going to hurt?".
So, after picking them up, I went home to get a shower and take one. I took 1 of them (10mg) with, you guessed it, some orange juice. The weather was beautiful, so instead of immediately showering and getting back to town, I went out on the deck with the cat to watch the birds flying around. Pretty soon the Adderall was kicking in.
Immediately, my mind springs to performing-a-task mode, taking some boxes out of my car full of stuff I had removed from storage just recently to bring them to my new home garage.
As I bring in the first box, I take a look at the "workshop" area of the garage, and think of how unorganized it looks today. I start moving things, stacking them, mounting tools on the walls, and throwing crap away that is unneeded. This task turns into a 6 hour garage perfecting event. I took a total of 30mgs over the 6hrs, drinking a glass of orange juice once an hour or so, and even some 2% milk midway through.
This is a dosage common to what I would have experienced 5 years back without any side effects.
Towards the end of my venture, I notice that the back of my head was starting to throb. If I place my hand starting where my neck hairline begins, the pain seemed to cover the area my hand covered.
I noticed that the entire time, I kept feeling like I was a hunchback. So to correct my posture, I was sticking my chest out, and a few times arching well back, and then trying to touch my elbows together in a stretch. Mentally I was unhappy with my feeling of posture.
After the 6 hours of minor garage labor, mainly standing the entire time but doing no heavy lifting, I now notice that my lower back is killing me!
I asked myself what could be causing it, as I didn't work my back in any hard manner. That was 4 hours ago, and my lower back still aches, which is why I got on the net searching "adderall back ache".
This whole time sitting in the chair, I've been holding my chest high, and it seems to be alleviating the spinal pain. It is when I begin to slouch forward that I feel the pain begin to build once again.
Maybe my back has begun to take on a form that it shouldn't, after all of this darned slouching computer work the past 5 years. I was trying to correct my posture, which seems to have caused this ache. But now retaining the straight posture is alleviating it. Weird.
Well, it never happened when I was 19. The only differences between now and then are described in my story. I'll leave it to you all to decipher the mysterious Adderall Back Pain Bandit. %)