Proof that Adderall caused skin picking

Hello my name is Jeremiah. My wife has been battling depression and this picking problem for about 2 yrs now. As i have read in most of these blogs it sounds the same. Picking until she has craters in her arms, legs, face, everywhere. I cant stop her. She has a job at a high end club downtown and this effects her work habits. She is embarrassed to be out in public and at work. Just now I made her put my work gloves on and told her to lay down. She spends hours in front of the mirror, and it breaks my heart to see this happen. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever met and sometimes when I come home from work it scares me to look at her. I feel helpless as so does she. It has effected our relationship, household, and all around well being. So I want to say thank you for everyone that has shared their stories because it gives me hope that she will stop and so will many of you with this problem. Please if you have any questions or answers to help with this please feel free to e-mail me. Evans11_sun@yahoo.com. Thank you again :)

I typed in this username jokingly, because of the awful experience I have had with ADD drugs, thinking that the website would not permit me to curse. However, it did- so sorry in advance! I suffer from severe OCD and ADD. I take 150 mg of Zoloft daily and recently began trying ADD medicines. I went from Ritalin to Concerta to Vyvance and now am back to zero ADD meds but am instead covered with scars, scabs and welts. One of the biggest manifestations of my OCD has always been tweezing- I would sit in front of the mirror every day for 10-15 minutes and tweeze my eyebrows. Sometimes, when I was really anxious, I would pick the skin on my face. While taking Vyvance, my picking got out of control. I did a one week trial of Vyvance and spent every moment of my free time using a tweezers to my arms, legs, stomach, back, chest, face and pelvis during that time. I was unable to complete my homework because I kept getting distracted by the desire to pick. From 12am-3am every evening of the trial, I would sit in front of the mirror with a tweezer and mutilate my body, completely unaware of the damage I was causing and the time I was wasting. It had painful, disgusting, embarrassing and scarring effects and I am now using a slimy antibacterial gel prescribed to me by my dermatologist to help the wounds heal, have to wrap my arms in gauze, cannot wear any clothing that shows my shoulders, arms, legs, or stomach, and am never allowed to take any Ritalin or Adderall type medication again. The only reason I was able to stop was because my mom happened to walk into my room last night and catch me picking and get me help. Never take Vyvanse. It is a bad drug. And DEFINITELY do not believe anyone who tells you that the Vyvanse does not cause picking.

Hi concernedmom! Although I can't relate to the ADD med leading to picking issue (my picking is not caused by meds, just my own neurosis!) I just wanted to send you an encouraging message. Thank you for standing up for your daughter. You are a mom who cares, and there should be more moms out there like you. My suggestion is to pursue this to the end--whether that's with a lawyer or getting a petition together or contacting your local television stations. Are you aware of the website www.change.org? There you can create a petition for any type of thing you want, and people sign it. Perhaps having a petition that states that your daughter was injured by these drugs and getting lots of signatures, you could get some TV airtime or an audience with law enforcement. Get the word out how you can. If you post the link to your petition on this forum, I will certainly sign it. I am aware that there are consequences to medications and vaccines that the companies are aware of and do not release to the public!

I also have a picking problem And I know for sure it's caused by the medication I am now 40 years old And have been on medication for 20 years I won't wear tank tops I won't wear a bathing suit And I don't wear shorts!!!!! All due The way the scars are on my body When I ask the doctor about it He just wants to put me on another medication????? The bad thing is When I stopped taking the medication My OCD is crazy I have Twins And there diaper can never be clean enough Or their clothes Or their bottles ect......... Please while she's young Do something about it I don't want her to be the way I am Too scared to wear certain clothes She still young So she should be wearing teenage clothing My advice to her Is no matter what you are beautiful And don't let anybody Criticize her and make her feel bad about herself!!!!! I know I will definitely pray for her Because like you said there is no way to stop this problem Once it starts you do not stop I've tried therapy I've tried telling myself I love myself not to do it I have tried everything I'm just so glad she's got a mother to love her enough to show her the right way If you do get a petition started I will definitely sign it too! Keep going keep Having faith and I will be praying for you to Let her know that she is not the only one with this problem A lot if people had this problem and too embarrassed to share it Probably one of her friends has this problem Let her know to keep her head up and not worry about what other people say!!!! God Bless!!!!!

I'm 24 and have only taken Adderall for months, however I've been picking for years now. Maybe since around middle school? So it hasn't caused picking for me. However since I've been taking it, I'm much more aware of the picking and really want to stop.

Fred Penzel, Ph.D. says on p. 189 in his book, "The Hair Pulling Problem" regarding Ritalin, Adderall and Dexedrine that "I have also seen some adults suddenly begin biting fingernails and picking their skin as a result of the stimulation these medications seem to cause." I hope your daughter is doing ok. - Annette

Hi. I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to say thank you for having this post up. I recently started taking Addlerall and noticed myself starting to have a lot of OCD like behaviors. In my case, nail biting and making making my glasses straight and balanced on my face. I thought these were due to starting an intensive school program, but now i think it is the Adderall. The Adderall also makes my blood pressure jump as it wears off. A month ago my nurse practitioner psychiatrist switched me to Ritalin. I got very depressed and switched back to Adderall, but now I am nail biting again. I think I'm going to just have to be done with ADHD medications. Most of the non-stimulant ADHD medications are atypical antipsychotics, which I'm not willing to take. (A few SSRIs and blood pressure medication are also thrown into the non-stimulant cataloger.) I hope everything is OK with your daughter. I work with suicidal teenager and some of the scar creams work relativity well. (Some of it is a total rip off, though.) I used to get panic attacks when I was younger. What helped me was being hooked up to a biofeedback machine, basically a lie detector. I could see my heart rate, blood pressure and many other things on a screen in front of me. I would then try and wiggle the numbers around. After a while I would think about all my triggers to trigger a panic attack. I would look at the screen and try to bring the numbers back down. It took a few months, but I got rid of my panic attacks. Sorry for the long post, thank you again for posting and I hope everything is good now.

My post is very delayed but if you are still interested please read, I found this thread because I was researching if skin picking is a side effect of Adderall. This is my second time on Adderall as I have adult ADD...it's been 5 months and I cannot get myself to constantly control my skin picking or the acne like bumps that have formed on my body. The last time I was prescribed Adderrall was in my teenage years, over ten years ago. Ten years ago, I remember this being a side effect too. I have some OCD like qualities but I can assure you, I am not OCD. I spent my teenage years hiding my arms and legs and now I see this happening again. I have always had acne but when not on amphetamines, I have never picked abusively. What I have noticed is the amphetamines cause my skin to break out in untreatable acne and the skin around the pours/ hair follicle tend to be loose therefore breaking into the skin is also easy. What is in the pour is a white acne in the hair follicle that can only be pulled out with a tweezer. If not taken out, it will inflame like a boil on my skin. It's a lose lose situation as whether I pick at it or not, a bump/lesion will remain there. I am not a scientist nor a doctor but with my primary research, I honestly believe, all amphetamines do contribute to stubborn breakouts and a side effect is OCD which contributes to the uncontrollable need to pick. I will also add, In the past, I was a meth abuser and the side effects were the same. Meth is also an amphetamine and skin picking is a huge side effect of crystal meth. I hope my contribution helps your argument. And judging from what I've just written, I hope none of you think I'm a mess...lol...I live a very happy and successful life. Concerning anyone who is personally dealing with this issue, I advise you to wear a long sleeve shirts to bed, even if you have picked at your skin and it looks a mess, only wear tank tops in public...the public embarrassment and guilt should help you to put mind over matter and stop picking in private...every time I relapse, I know this helps me. Good Luck!

This is a late post but I just read yours. My mother had me put on adderoll when I was 13 years old. Now I am 26 and I have been a picker for 13 years. I despise my mother for making me take it and scolding my picking. Hours and hours in the bathroom. I was very athletic, outgoing, and so so pretty. Now, I'm covered in scars. Ashamed, embarrassed. I hate to look at pictures of my past, as now, I feel like a monster. Sores all over, never ending. I can't stop. I don't think when I do it. Hours feels like minutes. I want to stop so bad. It's not as bad when I don't take the amphetamines but because of adderoll, it is now an addiction..... On or off. I wish my mom had been concerned as you and all I can say is get her off of it..... NOW. She does NOT need that to help with her add or ADHD. It's a very dangerous drug and she can find ways to deal with her add/ADHD without a stimulant. The FIRST step.... Get her OFF the drug. She is now more likely to experiment with drugs or try to replace that stimulant.... Please just be there for her and try to be understanding. Every doctor who has ever prescribed an amphetamine should be ashamed. The government are legal drug dealers and it is WRONG for any kid to go through what your daughter, myself, or anyone, to have to endure the side effects of this legal drug. I wish I could help you personally. This breaks my heart. Please be there for her. She needs you even if she acts like she wants to push you away..... She's not. It's really a call for help.

I have been on Adderall for 6 years now. I can't say adderall made me start picking but I can say it definitely made it worse. Think about it though adderall causes you to "speed" for lack of better word sorry therefore you probably sweat more, therefore you probably are going to have more acne. It also causes you to concentrate more, making you notice the little tiny bumps or zits you would of looked over if you weren't on adderall. And since you're speeding you always have to be doing something so if you arent doing anything else you are looking at every single bump, pimple, hair follicle, finger nail, skin around your finger nails, etc, && you pick and pick and pick. Every drug has side effects && adderall comes with so many I wish I never got prescribed. I pick even when I don't take adderall though, but when I do it makes it that much worse. The worse part about adderall though is it's a schedule 2 drug which means it's in the same class as pills like oxytocin meaning level 5 for mental && physical dependency. I can't function as a normal person without adderall so my best advice is to do your research before you put yourself or your children on it because even though I suffer from skin picking && ADD I now suffer from a lot more because of it.

omg yes!! I am also a picker and am very addicted to it. But when I was diagnosed with add and put on ADDERAL my picking became an obsession! I was so concentrated now that I would sit and pick from 11pm until 4am and nver notice the time flhing by.

When Adderall (or other stimulant) use is present, given your description of your daughter's symptoms, it should be the NUMERO UNO suspect for most of what you describe. That the leper-like picking lesions stem largely from her Adderall use is, well... I will try to say this (1) Responsibly, (2) Skeptically/Scientifically, and yet (3) with a force connoting, given your description, my perceived probability that your daughter's picking is caused chiefly by the Adderall: any person with the appropriate info/experience (i.e., any medical doctor, any speed freak, etc.), when severe skin picking manifests in conjunction with stimulant use (i.e., Adderall, meth, cocaine), whose reflexive first hypothesis is not "Picking caused by stimulant (ab)use" is a friggin idiot a-hole.

I realize this post is older butt I'm so glad I found this sight my doc put me on addrell and like everyone else here I would spend hrs upon hrs picking it made my skin horrible my pores had this white fluffy stuff coming out my husband seen it I could rub my arms face and it would fluff it out it was everywhere...I have horrible scars and its because I would sit and pick pick pick and never realized the hrs I was spending scarring myself ....even now my skin where I tore at it has for lack of better words scaly hard almost feels plastic like and painful kinda like slivers of glass in my skin I thought I was the only person suffering this delima ...

I realize this post is older butt I'm so glad I found this sight my doc put me on addrell and like everyone else here I would spend hrs upon hrs picking it made my skin horrible my pores had this white fluffy stuff coming out my husband seen it I could rub my arms face and it would fluff it out it was everywhere...I have horrible scars and its because I would sit and pick pick pick and never realized the hrs I was spending scarring myself ....even now my skin where I tore at it has for lack of better words scaly hard almost feels plastic like and painful kinda like slivers of glass in my skin I thought I was the only person suffering this delima ...

I realize this post is older butt I'm so glad I found this sight my doc put me on addrell and like everyone else here I would spend hrs upon hrs picking it made my skin horrible my pores had this white fluffy stuff coming out my husband seen it I could rub my arms face and it would fluff it out it was everywhere...I have horrible scars and its because I would sit and pick pick pick and never realized the hrs I was spending scarring myself ....even now my skin where I tore at it has for lack of better words scaly hard almost feels plastic like and painful kinda like slivers of glass in my skin I thought I was the only person suffering this delima ...

I'm sorry to all of you who do have this problem, but concernedmom I have a few problems with what you are saying.

1. The fact that you put your child on a medication like adderall at such a young age is terrible. There is no reason why anyone needs to be medicated with such a potent drug at that age, especially when there is no reliable way to tell the difference between a kid with ADHD and every other kid, because at that age they are all basically ADHD.
2. Putting a child, who's brain is largely undeveloped, on adderall, is clearly going to screw up their brain and cause lots of mental problems. Adderall is an amphetamine. You know what else is an amphetamine with very similar effects? Cocaine.
3. On top of that, you have no idea what issues she would have developed anyway, because you medicated her so young.
4. I don't know what kind of doctor prescribed adderall, but you should of really done some research begore you started drugging up your kid.

I feel bad for your daughter, but I have no sympathy for you. This just goes to show that drugs should not always be the first answer to any problem. I have ADHD and I chose to not be medicated and instead I learned to cope with my issues, because it wasn't worth all the side effects and health impacts.

Sounds more of a case that adderral wasn't the right medication for her. That's always a risk factor with any medicines. What one pill helps one person, won't for another. I'm a little curious to why you didn't insist on them changing the medication.