The Long-Term Effects of Adderall Abuse: Risks & Recovery Options

Imagine you’re working in the tech industry for one of the “magnificent 7” companies like Meta, Google, or Microsoft. It’s your dream to be working for an innovative company, and competition for your job is fierce, leaving you with the option of working day and night to satisfy your managers, or the company finding someone else who is willing to put in the time.

But you’re having trouble staying awake during 12 to 16 hour working days, and your brain always feels worn out and frazzled.

That’s when a friend gives you a little red pill.

They tell you that taking “Addy” completely changed their productivity. They can stay up all night and tripled their work rate with just a single dose once or twice a day.

You’re sold.

You pop back your first dose, and within 30 minutes you feel its effects blanketing your mind. Suddenly, you’re razor-sharp and focused on the task at hand. You fall into a deep flow state and before you know it, six hours have passed and you’ve done more work than you normally would in three days.

This stuff works.

You wander over to your friend’s desk and ask him how you can get some more. That’s how your addiction starts. You feel the amazing performance-enhancing effects of this drug on your mind, and you need more. It’s not that you’re addicted, you just can’t bear the thought of going back to your old productivity schedule. You need to do more.

Two years later and you’ve been using Addy every day, and you’re up to north of 300mg for your daily dose. Then comes the day when your supplier runs out and you can’t get anymore. You stash at home is dry, and you’re facing a few days without the drug. While it freaks you out initially, you’re confident you can get through it.

Yeah right.

The next day at work, you feel like someone’s choking your brain. You feel confused and you can’t concentrate. You end up just staring blankly at your screen and before you know it its lunchtime and you haven’t done an hour’s worth of work yet.

The Origin of Adderall Use in Tech and Colleges

The situation above happens to thousands of Americans every day. From tech bros in Silicon Valley to students in Ivy League schools, Adderall abuse is rife in any community where mental performance is valued and rewarded.

You might assume that Adderall is a safe drug. After all, doctors prescribe it by the truckload every day and if a pharma company produces, it, then why not use the drug to improve your performance at work or in your studies?

Adderall is a prescription stimulant used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy—a medical condition causing patients to fall asleep sporadically during the day, even though they had a good night’s sleep.

The Adderall formula contains two drugs—amphetamine and dextroamphetamine—which are central nervous system stimulants. When Adderall reaches peak concentrations in the blood it unleashes a wave of intense focus, improving alertness and impulse control.

The reality is Addy is a highly effective drug and it has a real medical use in ADHD and narcolepsy patients. It regulates the circadian rhythm, which is the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, making it an effective stimulant to enhance your concentration and get yourself organized.

But, as with all prescription meds with off-label use, Adderall has seen widespread misuse and abuse of the drug since the early 2000s. It was around this time that students started using the drug to help them cram for exams and improve their results at school.

The tech industry was the next to get wind of its performance-enhancing effects, and Silicon Valley jumped on the drug, with up to 70% of the Silicon Valley workforce having used or currently using Adderall to improve their workplace performance.

The drug also has a potent appetite-suppressing effect, leading some people to use it as part of their dieting strategy. However, the primary users of the drug take it for its cognitive-enhancing benefits more than its weight loss effect.

The Impact of Adderall Abuse on the Body and Brain

Adderall’s mechanism of action works on the brain, and its production of the neurotransmitter’s dopamine and the norepinephrine in the brain.

Dopamine is our driving force in life. It governs the pain/pleasure response and releases when we achieve a goal—that could be something as small as eating a meal when you’re hungry, or something s advanced as completing a technical project at work.

Adderall leverages dopamine production to keep the brain in a state of excitement and full awareness. Norepinephrine plays a key role in the stress response and its one of the two hormones—along with cortisol—released by the brain and adrenal glands to initiate the “fight-or-flight” response.

When we’re in an FoF state, our thinking becomes sharper and awareness spikes, which is what makes it so effective at treating ADHD and narcolepsy.

A dose of Adderall offers the user a surge in energy and heightened concentration, with a slight feeling of euphoria that balances mood and creates a feeling of well-being.

While the drug is incredibly effective at resolving issues relating to hyperactivity and narcolepsy, misusing or abusing it comes with a slew of health complications which steadily deteriorate brain function. Abusing Addy can lead to unwanted side effects like elevated heart rate and hypertension, along with severe sleep disturbance.

So, what defines “abuse” and how does it differ from taking the drug as prescribed? The differences between use and abuse are in the dosage and the necessity for the drug in the user’s life. While a doctor supervises their patient, many people using Adderall off-script purchase it from black market sources and use it without any medical supervision, leading to the potential for abuse and the onset of the signs of Addy abuse in their physiology and psychology.

Adderall is meant for oral administration, but people using it off-script will often crush pills or open capsules to snort the drug, giving them an immediate onset of its effects and a more intense high. Unfortunately, this strategy also leads to excessive stimulation of the brain chemistry and a greater risk for the user developing dependence on the drug.

One of the hallmarks of addiction to Adderall is the user continually upping their dose over time to experience the same effects of the drug that they had as a first-time user. Increasing the dose to the 200mg to 300mg range per day unleashes a wave of adverse effects on the body and mind and it’s at this stage that the adverse effects of the drug start to present in users.

The artificial dopamine boost provided by Adderall makes it harder to experience pleasure or work up motivation when the user decides to back off their dose or quit the medication entirely. As time passes and the user falls deeper into their dependency on the drug they expose themselves to the severe physiological and psychological consequences of Adderall abuse.

Brain chemistry takes a knock with long-term Adderall abuse and affects the brains’ ability to produce neurotransmitters and regulate the production of these biocompounds. Chronic users experience issues like mood disorders, cognitive decline, and even psychosis. If the user has a history of cardiovascular problems, they’re at risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke.

There’s a fine line between using Adderall the way it was intended in a medically controlled setting, and people abusing the drug for off-label reasons. Recognizing the signs of Adderall abuse helps users realize the extent of their dependency on the drug and get off of it before the long-term health consequences of abuse show up.

The Long-Term Psychological and Physiological Consequences of Adderall Abuse

The more time the user spends on the drug, the more they’re at risk of developing a dependency on it.

The further the user progresses into their addiction, the harder it is for the brain to produce dopamine naturally, ending up with the user becoming reliant on the drug to produce the neurotransmitter.

When the user eventually comes off the drug they’ll experience a counter-swing in their physiology and psychology as the body and brain adjust to a life without Adderall. The user might find they don’t experience any emotions. They never feel happy, they struggle to hold their attention on anything, and they find their productivity dropping at work as they struggle to focus on tasks.

When the user enters this headspace they usually hop back on the drug because the thought of health issues isn’t as detrimental to the users life as losing their job or failing out of school. When they quit Adderall completely cold turkey the user experiences symptoms of withdrawal. They feel exhausted all the time, some users start to feel depressed, and they get no joy in life, so they get back on the drug.

Chronic Adderall abuse significantly increases the risk of the user developing anxiety disorders which initiate panic attacks, paranoia, and in some cases, psychosis. But why does this happen?

Like we talked about earlier, Adderall activates the sympathetic nervous system, the part of the CNS that controls the fight-or-flight response. As FoF takes hold in the user it leaves the user feeling on edge, sort of like they’ve had way too much caffeine. They’re subject to panic attacks and excessive worrying, along with changes in mood leading to emotional instability.

The cognitive impairment caused by long-term Adderall abuse leads to problems with the user’s memory, and problem-solving skills and decision-making processes become dulled. Chronic Adderall users struggle with forgetfulness and an inability to follow through on their tasks at work. That’s incredibly ironic since most users start their Adderall journey to solve these issues in the first place.

Over time the brain becomes solely reliant on Adderall for dopamine production, losing its ability to produce the neurotransmitter itself. If the user decides to get off the drug they encounter the mental health implications of their abuse, leading to the inability to feel any type of emotion—happiness or sadness—leaving them in an ongoing state where they feel emotionally cold and locked out of the ability to feel any form of mental stimulation.

Long-term addiction and dependency wrecks the users health and can lead to them developing heart issues like hypertension (persistent high blood pressure), and irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia that increases the risk of heart attack.

The drugs appetite-suppressing effects make the user less inclined to eat a healthy diet and get in the daily calories their body needs to survive. The user experiences rapid weight loss and may develop eating disorders and malnutrition.

Since Adderall is a potent stimulant, most users find they develop a sleep disorder, especially with chronic abuse of the drug. They can’t get to sleep at night, and they might start abusing sleeping medication to help them get the rest they need.

If you’ve ever had a cup of coffee and found yourself overstimulated to the point of grinding your teeth, you can expect the effect to be much more severe when abusing Adderall, leading to the onset of bruxism and TMJ problems.

Get Professional Help and Escape Adderall Addiction Today

If you’re reading this because you’re an Adderall user worried about your health, know that there is hope for you, and you can lead a normal life if you get off the medication. An inpatient recovery program gives you an opportunity to get off Adderall and get sober, restoring your natural neurotransmitter balance.

Just because Adderall is a prescription medication doesn’t mean that it’s safe—just look at the opioid crisis and how OxyContin fueled that public health crisis. Understanding the risks associated with abusing this drug is the first step to getting yourself into recovery.

An inpatient program allows you to live at a treatment facility while you recover. You’ll have access to medically-assisted withdrawal from the drug under a doctors supervision and get the counseling you need to adjust your behavior to a life free from dependency on the drug.

But it’s up to you to reach out for help. Seize the moment and call our team right now.