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What is Adderall?
Adderall is a stimulant that enhances dopamine levels and influences changes in your central nervous system (CNS), much like methamphetamine. Dopamine helps with your pleasure response and to learn new things.
Studies have shown that younger adults aged 18 to 251 are more likely to obtain and misuse Adderall because they will get it from family and friends.
What’s considered Adderall misuse?
Adderall is misused when it is taken without a prescription or when a prescription is not followed. Combining misuse with alcoholic beverages will only worsen the overall addiction issue.
As someone continues to rely on Adderall, the person will take it to remain productive and focused on going about their daily activities.
However, Adderall is known to cause jittery symptoms. To lessen how jittery an Adderall user feels, they often combine the drug with alcohol so that it relaxes them through the experience.
The Effects of Adderall and Alcohol Addiction
You may have an alcohol and Adderall addiction if you are:
- Not able to focus or function properly without the high Adderall dose.
- Seeking Adderall more than handling other responsibilities or doing fun activities.
- Enduring withdrawal symptoms if you go too long without an Adderall dose.
- Hard time completing a task without reaching for an Adderall dose.
- More time spent obtaining your next Adderall dosage rather than doing another task.
How Do Alcohol and Adderall Addiction Happen?
Adderall falls under Schedule II drugs, which are the most potent drugs that are allowed to be physician-prescribed.
Alternatively, alcohol is a suppressant, the opposite of Adderall’s stimulating effects.
Alcohol and Adderall addiction happen due to social circumstances, not only amongst college students but also in adults of all ages at bars, clubs, and other nightlife social excursions.
However, Adderall addiction is more prevalent among individuals on college campuses than among those who are not enrolled in collegiate students.
The prescription drug Adderall is originally prescribed to mitigate the symptoms of ADHD and help patients to be more focused.
The patients usually do not become hooked on the drug. People that ask for a few pills from a friend or family member are usually the people that become addicted.
College students are within the age bracket of those that misuse Adderall. They get it from others on campus that have the prescriptions as supply.
Even if they do not have friends that they know with Adderall on them, the word can get around about who has extra pills to give out for a fee.
Students rely on the stimulating effects of Adderall to get them through a cram study session so that they can perform better in their college classes.
Others may take it so they can stay awake the entire night to enjoy their social endeavors before returning to college classes the next day.
What Are the Dangers of Mixing Alcohol and Adderall?
There are many dangers to mixing alcohol and Adderall. The Food and Drug Administration 2(FDA) states that alcohol should not be mixed with various drugs because it will reduce the medication’s necessary effects.
The deadly drug and alcohol combination may also result in an overdose if someone takes too much of it in one sitting, not knowing the proper dosage.
The suppressing effects of alcohol will make it difficult for the person to finally wake up after falling asleep.
How Adderall interacts with your dopamine levels and the norepinephrine influences how your brain will respond to different occurrences in your life.
Most Adderall users believe that because it is a prescription drug, they have no problem taking it with alcohol. However, mixing the two can be as dangerous as mixing heroin or meth with alcohol.
Dangerous side effects of mixing Adderall and alcohol can occur to your body.
If you ingest too much of either substance, you could have a seizure, which can be scary for the people around you who may not know how to handle the situation properly.
Hence, while the FDA warns people to mix drugs and alcohol for various dangerous reasons, people do not heed the warning.
Unfortunately, this leads to multiple addictions to substances throughout the country and overdoses each year.
How Alcohol and Adderall Addiction is Treated
Alcohol and Adderall addiction are treated through various therapeutic and detoxifying procedures.
The first step is to stop drinking alcohol and taking Adderall. Of course, withdrawal systems will set in and cause your body to want the substances again.
However, do not try to withdraw from Adderall and alcohol independently.
Medically-assisted withdrawal is more effective as you can receive guidance from a therapist who prescribes medications to help you get through the withdrawal symptoms.
Types of Therapy
Group therapy will help you connect with other people addicted to substances to build a peer community.
Listening to their stories can help you to feel that you are not alone as you detox and withdraw from the substances.
One-on-one therapy with a licensed therapist will help you to find alternative ways to cope with sadness, anxiety, and other troubling emotions rather than resorting to Adderall and alcohol usage.
The therapist will ask you about your life goals and how you plan to reach them and help you to recognize your support system so that you always have them and other people in your inner circle to fall back on for alcohol and Adderall withdrawal support.
Available Rehabilitation Programs
When you enroll in a rehabilitation program, you have one of three options:
- Partial hospitalization program
- Outpatient program.
- Residential program.
The partial hospitalization program entails at least three days out of the week where you come to the facility part-time for treatment and the other four days at home.
Depending on your care schedule, you may only spend five to nine hours in treatment per day.
The outpatient program is a full-time intensive care schedule. Depending on your treatment schedule, you visit the facility five to seven days a week for seven to 12 hours.
Then, at the end of your treatment hours, you return home to live your normal life and go to sleep before returning to the facility for your next day of treatment.
Those most addicted to Adderall and alcohol will have the most monitoring and intensive care to heal them of their dependency in the residential program.
This means that the patient lives on-site for the duration of their treatment.
There will be round-the-clock therapy sessions, nurse check-ins, and different group activities with other patients, which will build a community and place of belonging for the patient while they receive treatment.
How to Get Help for an Alcohol and Adderall Addiction
Cornerstone is an alcohol rehab specializing in treating polydrug use, including alcohol and Adderall addiction.
We are a drug and alcohol treatment center in Scottsdale, Arizona that focuses on healing the mind, body, and spirit from addiction.
Give us a call or have a live chat with us on our website. It’s never too late to turn your life around and start new.
