I wasn't quite sure which sub reddit it would be appropriate to post this to, so I'm gonna take a leap of faith here.

I've been on Adderall for nearly a year and a half now, 20mg XR and 15mg IR once a day each. These side effects started becoming more frequent in recent months and they are causing some concern in my day to day life specifically at work.

First off, the anxiety at work has become more rampant. It would first start off as chest related anxiety, or that's the best description I could think of, in which I would become overly aware of my breathing, or over focus in on it. This would quickly escalate to being overly aware of my environment which in turn would somehow equate to thoughts running through my head of people judging me or thinking bad of me, such as not knowing what I'm doing etc, which breaks down my confidence and performance at work. It then causes me to be filled with self-doubt and effects my personality altogether by not being as social as I want to be because I feel like I would say something stupid and make a fool of myself. After that, it escalates takes a more physical form and becomes noticeable when I am talking on the phone with people at work- weird ticks like stumbling over words when I'm speaking, an inability to find the right choice of words when in my head I can think of the correct or best things to say but for whatever reason it just wouldn't come out correctly. During this time I'd also double check words after reading anything- as if I didn't comprehend what I just read or remember it thereafter. Seems like when I am in this state of Anxiety/Social Anxiety my short-term memory goes to shit. After every conversation, I would also stress myself out by thinking of what I could have said instead of what I actually said. This more or less has been with me throughout my whole life and growing up in my teens but never magnified in the way that Adderall has made it become in recent months. I've always thought it could be a personality trait or a cognitive defect that works against me- maybe even some form of OCD possibly, I'm not too sure. Even in times of stress at work, I would notice brain fog later in the day, which could be something the comedown from the Adderall might cause.

The last part I want to bring up, which I'm going to stress is the most important to address to my psychiatrist when I see her on the 15th of February, is that in the last few months falling asleep and staying asleep has become a major issue. I typically go to bed around 9:30 pm, falling asleep maybe about an hour later. During my time trying to fall asleep my mind would race a million miles per hour through various different memories in my past or create rather obscure new ones which I try to focus on anyway but I end up focusing too much on my breathing for whatever reason, and this might be purely psychological I have no idea but at least during the first time frame I fall asleep I'm able to feel like I'm dreaming and asleep- which is followed by waking up for the first time around 1-2am. After trying to get back to sleep after the initial wake up, the passage of time feels rather odd. It doesn't feel like I'm sleeping, it feels like I'm still conscious and aware of my breathing and any dreams I have during this second half I usually don't remember because it's such a light sleep. During the second half of the night I would frequently wake up and maybe doze off several times throughout the night with no recollection of actually sleeping, it's extremely bizarre! I then typically wake up at 6:30-7:30am during the week depending on the day. This happens to me on days I take my Adderall and also my off days I don't take any. I've tried the usual melatonin, Benadryl and other OTC stuff that works briefly if at all, but isn't a real solution. I also don't consume caffeine anytime after 12pm, and I typically take my 20mg XR at 8am, and my 15mg IR at around 1pm. At any rate, I wanted to add that I eat proper meals throughout the day, I exercise vigorously 5 days a week in the a.m. before going into work.

Now, I'm not saying that all this could be related, but it might be who knows. I'm not looking for a solution, just someone who can elaborate further even share if they have ever experienced any of these- abnormalities. It would give me some relief that I am not the only one with these issues. I'm hoping my psychiatrist will sympathize with me here as it's really affecting my day-day work/home/social life. I've heard of people with the social anxiety element to my story being prescribed Klonopin with great success alongside their Adderall prescription so that might be something that I could consider as I've heard it helps with sleep issues as well. I've read cases that are similar to what I'm experiencing but never to the extent such as mine. Everything from an imbalance of GABA, to brain damage being the cause haha, scary stuff doesn't seem there is any middle ground.

It's just strange to me that this even happens as it was never an issue when I first started on my medication.

But anyway I hope to hear anyone with any sort of input as it would be very much appreciated!