Adderall is a prescription stimulant. It can be used to treat ADHD, narcolepsy, and other conditions. The drug is a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine salts. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), it works by increasing the activity of certain chemicals in the brain that control attention, behavior, and memory.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that slows down brain activity and impairs coordination, judgment, balance and reaction time. According to NIDA, when combined with Adderall, the effects of both substances become more intense than if they were taken alone—which can lead to serious health problems like seizures or death.
Mixing alcohol with Adderall can also cause users to experience hallucinations or delusions because the combination alters sensory perception; and it may result in an increased risk for addiction or abuse due to its ability to increase dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system.
Mixing alcohol and Adderall is a dangerous cocktail.
Alcohol, on the other hand, is a depressant that slows down your brain’s ability to send messages throughout your body. It causes you to feel relaxed, less inhibited, and generally more sociable—which sounds great until you realize the side effects of mixing these two substances include increased aggression and risk-taking behavior.
In fact, mixing alcohol and Adderall can lead to serious consequences. People who mix these two drugs are at an increased risk of experiencing heart problems or seizures; they may also find themselves having trouble breathing because their airways have narrowed due to the combination of alcohol’s depressant effects and Adderall’s stimulant properties (1).
So what happens when you mix alcohol and Adderall? You could end up suffering from serious health problems—or even die!
Alcohol has been shown to increase the effects of Adderall by slowing down its metabolism in your body and preventing it from being broken down properly into inactive chemicals. This means that there will be more active ingredients left in your bloodstream after an extended period of time after drinking alcohol (up until 24 hours later).
Adderall, Caffeine and Alcohol
Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance found in coffee, tea, chocolate and some soft drinks. It’s also added to some energy drinks and pre-workout supplements.
Adderall works by increasing levels of dopamine in your brain by blocking its reabsorption into nerve cells. This can make you feel more alert, energetic and focused — similar to the effects of caffeine. But while Adderall has been shown to improve cognitive performance in patients with ADHD, there isn’t enough evidence yet to prove whether it works for healthy people without ADHD.
A recent study has shown that mixing Adderall with alcohol or caffeine can have serious consequences. The results showed that people who mixed the two substances had higher heart rates than those who took only one of the drugs.
Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors in your brain; this causes an increase in blood pressure as well as an increase in heart rate and respiration rate (breathing). Some people experience increased anxiety or jitteriness when taking caffeine; others feel relaxed or tired afterward.