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Adderall and Migraine

I have been using low dose Adderall for a bit over a year to help relieve the hypersomnia (daytime drowsiness) symptoms *every* day, that I associate generally with having a frequent episodic migraine problem, and with the lingering side effects of trying Botox and Ajovy as preventives (which both failed). I have found that the frequency of migraine episodes has decreased significantly for me with the Adderall use, and I am better able to regulate my sleep patterns by timing Adderall dosing appropriately during the day. I came to the conclusion about 2 years ago that I was not having *sleep* problems, but what I am now describing as wakefulness maintenance problems, thus my use of the term 'hypersomnia'. I used to use Sonata as a sleep aid, but discontinued it a couple of years ago because I felt that it was the wrong treatment, and I tended to sleep too much with or without the Sonata. I asked my doc to look into this association between Adderall use and reduced migraine frequency and he came up with one very limited study:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15546268/
Is anyone else aware of any other studies relating to stimulant, specifically Adderall use (or its close chemical relatives) reducing migraines? Caffeine is to be *excluded* because its addictive and withdrawal effects are well known migraine triggers.

  1. Hello , while I don't have any personal experience with this, I hope some of our community members who have taken Adderall can share with you if they've noticed a difference in their migraine symptoms. I did try to do some digging but was unable to find anything more than what your doctor already shared, aside from perhaps a few person anecdotes (not scientific studies).

    From our community I did find mention from several of our community members about the accidental finding of Adderall helping with migraine symptoms, I'll link a couple of them here for you:
    https://migraine.com/stories/triggers-migraines-and-solutions-for-resolution

    https://migraine.com/forums/adhd-medications-and-migraines

    https://migraine.com/stories/stuck-and-in-a-panic


    We appreciate you sharing your experience, and hopefully you can get some feedback here as well. Wishing you a gentle day. -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)

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