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Adderall gave me Tourette's

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spasmodichercules
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21 Sep 2023, 3:51 pm

I was wondering if anyone else had the unique experience of acquiring Tourette's when being put on Adderall or a similar medication (and having to therefore stop the medication).

I had Adderall for two weeks back in 2015 and started to notice myself making strange facial movements, jerking my leg a lot, having an uncontrollable urge to perform these verbal and movement tics. The professionals thought I was faking seizures to get attention, but I didn't realize until later that I'd developed Tourette's from the Adderall!

So I can have the unique experience of knowing what Tourette's is like, for a brief time. It made functioning impossible. My kudos goes to those who can't just "stop" their Tourette's and have to manage it full-time. It would be a tough job.



blitzkrieg
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21 Sep 2023, 4:19 pm

spasmodichercules wrote:
I was wondering if anyone else had the unique experience of acquiring Tourette's when being put on Adderall or a similar medication (and having to therefore stop the medication).

I had Adderall for two weeks back in 2015 and started to notice myself making strange facial movements, jerking my leg a lot, having an uncontrollable urge to perform these verbal and movement tics. The professionals thought I was faking seizures to get attention, but I didn't realize until later that I'd developed Tourette's from the Adderall!

So I can have the unique experience of knowing what Tourette's is like, for a brief time. It made functioning impossible. My kudos goes to those who can't just "stop" their Tourette's and have to manage it full-time. It would be a tough job.


I have Tourette's Syndrome and have had it since being a kid.

It it the worst!

Also, adhd medications like Adderall are known to cause tics as a side effect. I took Ritalin for adhd long ago and that made my tics much worse.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35418800/



spasmodichercules
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21 Sep 2023, 4:43 pm

Thanks for the link. Yeah, my current psychiatrist did mention tics in the potential "horrors" of stimulants.

My heart goes out to you. Having only had it for a brief time, I can't picture the challenge of having it for decades.

The person who put me on the Adderall to begin with was an idiot. I'm bipolar and shouldn't be within a mile of stimulant drugs. (And yet here is me drinking Crystal Light caffeine packets every day.)



blitzkrieg
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21 Sep 2023, 4:52 pm

spasmodichercules wrote:
Thanks for the link. Yeah, my current psychiatrist did mention tics in the potential "horrors" of stimulants.

My heart goes out to you. Having only had it for a brief time, I can't picture the challenge of having it for decades.

The person who put me on the Adderall to begin with was an idiot. I'm bipolar and shouldn't be within a mile of stimulant drugs. (And yet here is me drinking Crystal Light caffeine packets every day.)


To be fair, caffeine is a fairly mild stimulant compared to adhd drugs or street stimulants and the like.

Yeah, it's probably the most troublesome health issue that I have, there really isn't any rest from being compelled to tic over and over and it goes on forever, like a nightmare. Literally forever.

The only thing I have found to work somewhat, is dopamine antagonists or dopamine modulators (commonly known as anti-psychs) which work for Tourette's Syndrome for some reason, even though Tourette's Syndrome has nothing to do with/is not related to psychosis.



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20 Nov 2023, 3:03 pm

If im put on a stimulant for my ADHD, im already diagnosed with Tourettes, its a curisoity if anything in tourettes changes in myself


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