Adderall Psychosis

[AbraMontague]

Here goes my story:
About two weeks ago, I had to see a urologist about a UTI that wouldn't go away. He gave me another antibiotic and said to stop taking the Adderall for the 5 days or so before school started back. My UTI problems started about a month after starting Adderall so he thought it may have contributed to it, and so on. He didn't find anything remarkable in my urine except that the ph was very high (very basic/alkaline) and that was probably why it felt like I was pissing drano (it burned). So to get the ph back to the normal range, he also said to take 500mg of Vitamin C (like 1600% RDA) twice a day while I was off the Adderall.
So I did what he told me. I was a little groggy the first day off of Adderall (30mg twice a day nonstop for 2 months) but then back to normal. I started taking the Adderall again last Tuesday. He said being off and back on the Adderall again shouldn't cause any problems so I took 30mg. It was kinda of strong, more than is needed to pay attention for a few hours. Anyways, the next day I started taking it twice a day again (60mg a day total) and maintained that till the weekend. Then I just took it once Saturday, Sunday, and today.
The reason why I cut back to once a day was because when I would go to sleep at night, or try to, the noise my fan makes (I use it to help drown out noises) started bothering me (Saturday). It sounded like someone was watching tv in the next room but when I got out of bed I could just hear the fan. Eventually, I went to sleep but little things like that were starting to concern me. I woke up the next day and felt perfectly normal so I took a single Adderall Sunday and got similar wierd effects last night. I wake up this morning, took it again like a dumbass (hey, I've got tough classes and I need it).
So today the effects are the worse yet. I am not concentrating very well in class today. The light in the room seems really bright and is making it tough for me to read a sentence, etc. In the next class, it gets worse. Everything seems a little brighter than normal and it seems like all of my visual senses are exaggerated (like the effect pot has on your vision, not really hallucinations just different than normal). Its difficult to follow their speech as well, like I am too focused to put it all together. This is making it really hard to concentrate in class but that's not all. In the last class I had today, it felt like something was rubbing against the hairs on my arms, legs, face. It would come and go and is still present now. It is pretty distinct from the tingling sensation some people get from Adderall (when trying to get a buzz, not study), not what you would call pleasant. I went to scratch my arm a couple of times but then stopped because it went away and I realized my skin wasn't itching. It's almost like someone is rubbing a feather duster lightly against my skin. Also, my muscles are occasionally twitching.
So the wierd tingle/itching sensation, twitching and the slighly distorted vision is still bothering me. Its been 5 hours since I took any Adderall and will not be taking anymore until I talk to my psych. next week (or sooner if things don't rapidly improve). The good news is that I am not hearing any voices in my head and that I can still talk normally to others and understand what they are saying to me.
Can anyone tell me if this sounds like the beginning of psychosis? Will it go away soon if I don't take anymore Adderall? Should I go to the doctor today, call my psych., or just ride it out? Should I have started back on smaller doses in the first place and worked back up to 60mg a day more gradually? And for the smart people, could the ph of my urine be increasing the effects of the Adderall if it is still very basic/alkaline (the insert says that drugs which basify the stomach/intestinal tract can increase the effects)?

 

[jerzeezfinest]

Alright...this isnt psychosis. Psychosis sets in on about the 4th day (begins on the third for me, but isnt bad until the fourth) of a speed binge. The psychosis is due to the lack of sleep, not the amphetamines you've been taking, directly. If you stay up for 4 days straight naturally, you will begin to lose your mind, hallucinate, become anxious...all of the symptoms associated with "speed psychosis". I think that you probably just need to cut your dose (maybe even in half again) until your tollerance builds to what it had been prior to your break. 5 days doesnt really sound like it'd change your tollerance drastically, but it seems that it has. If you have classes that you need the adderall for, I wouldnt STOP taking it, I'd just take less. Deffinately talk to your doctor though, he'll give you better advice, I'm sure. Ohh, and about the pH thing--I dont really know anything about this, but from thinking about it logically, I dont think that it would make a difference--It isnt like your urine is what would aid in the digestion of your medication, I dont think it has anything to do with it--your bladder is at the END of your digestive cycle, and probably does not interfear with how the medication affects you.

 

[AbraMontague]

I feel a little better now but each day (this past week or so, getting progressively worse) that I take it, I end up feeling disoriented, dizzy, and unable to concentrate. The tingling just started today and was the most disturbing thing I noticed. It still feels like something fuzzy is brushing up against my skin.
I'm not sure if I should stop taking it completely or try 15mg instead of 30mg. The reason I'm concerned is that I have never gotten any of these effects from taking it (up to 60mg a dose) in the past.
"The psychosis is due to the lack of sleep, not the amphetamines you've been taking, directly."
I call bullshit.
"Griffith, Cavanaugh, and Oates (1969) induced schizophreniform psychosis by administering large doses of d-amphetamine, more potent than l-amphetamine, to 4 healthy males who had used large doses of APs previously....Then, an aqueous solution of d-amphetamine sulfate of 10 mg was administered each hour...Clear-cut psychosis appeared within 120 hr of drug administration; --for 2 of the 4 participants, symptoms were clear within 24 hr of drug administration.--"
Go ahead, tell me another one.
"The half-life of amphetamines in humans ranges from 10 to 30 hours depending on the drug, --urine pH--, and dosage."

 

[PhreeX]

Why not just stop taking it all together? It's obvious that you're having some adverse reactions to the medication - I don't think it's psychosis per se, but it's obviously directly attributed to the Adderall .. so, lets play the game of quitsies for awhile, see if life ain't better without the dope (it probably wont be but there isnt much alternative) .. if you dun wanna go that route (and no sane man would) then how about you cut your monster dose down? Yeah, I know, some people take a bajillion grams a day - it's obvious this is too much drugs for you... cut it IN HALF at least, and maybe even more...

 

[jerzeezfinest]

"The psychosis is due to the lack of sleep, not the amphetamines you've been taking, directly."
I call bullshit.
"Griffith, Cavanaugh, and Oates (1969) induced schizophreniform psychosis by administering large doses of d-amphetamine, more potent than l-amphetamine, to 4 healthy males who had used large doses of APs previously....Then, an aqueous solution of d-amphetamine sulfate of 10 mg was administered each hour...Clear-cut psychosis appeared within 120 hr of drug administration; --for 2 of the 4 participants, symptoms were clear within 24 hr of drug administration.--"
Go ahead, tell me another one.
"The half-life of amphetamines in humans ranges from 10 to 30 hours depending on the drug, --urine pH--, and dosage."
i'm glad you answered your own questions, but this board is for normal people to give you suggestions that may lead you to the answers--i simply did that... you didnt have to take my advice, i told you that talking to your doctor was the best route tho.

 

[AbraMontague]

Well I cut the dose in half Tuesday and just took 15mg once. I took that twice Wednesday and Thursday, and I feel much better now. I don't feel like I'm in a daze anymore and that wierd itchy sensation went away. I'm guessing I have just grown sensitive to Adderall for some reason and don't need 60mg a day to concentrate anymore. I would have expected the opposite thing to happen.

 

[PhreeX]

Originally posted by AbraMontague:
Well I cut the dose in half Tuesday and just took 15mg once. I took that twice Wednesday and Thursday, and I feel much better now. I don't feel like I'm in a daze anymore and that wierd itchy sensation went away. I'm guessing I have just grown sensitive to Adderall for some reason and don't need 60mg a day to concentrate anymore. I would have expected the opposite thing to happen.
This is EXACTLY what happends... it's the same reason heroin users overdose afterthey have been sober for awhile - they go back to their "normal" dose and die... when you stop taking the drug your tollerance goes down, so you become more sensitive to the drug - 60mg might have been a "normal" dose for you, but your tollerance has dropped, so 60mg is WAY to much.. it's fairly simple, but as long as you found a good dose at this point in time, well, you're ready to rock and roll!