Health - Blue Hands & Blue Lips

[Vita]

Today SWIM had 60mg of Adderall (3 pills, 20mg instant release each). 6AM he took two, and then around 11AM he took the third one. After an hour or so after taking the third one, his hands got very cold, and became blue, and so did his lips. SWIM knows this is because of Cyanosis...where there is not enough oxygen in the blood and there is more than 5g/dl deoxygenated hemoglobin in the blood vessels.

This really scared the shit out of SWIM, as he knows blue parts on a body are not good. SWIM is wondering, can anyone explain a little more as to what can happen? SWIM would greatly appreciate any information right now.

SWIM has never taken more than 40mg in the course of a day and this time he took it a little too far. This was also the first time using Adderall in two weeks, and SWIM does not use Adderall very often.

If SWIM were to take 10mg tomorrow at around 1PM, does this present any danger? Drug induced Cyanosis has never happened to SWIM before. Did this happen to any SWIY's before if SWIY took a larger dose than usual?

[Gradient]

Vita,

A particularly relevant physiological dynamic is vasoconstriction. Our own Richard_smoker wrote a nicely consice review of the dynamic here:

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80280

Lower doses of amphetamines, such as 10 mg, would not be expected to induce dangerous levels of vasoconstriction. Such doses should present absolutely no anticipated danger to an individual who's taken amphetamines before without issue, and certainly not an issue for an individual with a tolerance. However, as Richard_smoker highlights, vasoconstriction can become highly dangerous when severe. That said, it would be extremely surprising to hear of any problematic vasoconstriction from lower oral doses.

It would likely be prudent to administer lower doses than 60 mg in the future, as the described chimp sounds somewhat sensitive to this peripheral effect. It was quite astute of the chimp to pick up on the expressed personal boundary. Way to listen to the body !

Reputation Comments on this post:

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[Vita]

SWIM wants to thank SWIY very much! SWIM did not take any Adderall today and decided to wait until Friday. SWIM completely forgot about how he takes his Adderall.

Usually he pops one pill and breaks the other one into halves so he snorts 10mg from the second pill, so he takes in 30mg at one time. Then later on, 4-5 hours after first dose, he would swallow the half that's left. SWIM made the stupid decision to pop both pills yesterday and then take a third, so not only did he increase the dose he got at one single time, but even went further and took more than he usually does.

SWIM isn't repeating this! SWIM will definitely just stick to how he takes them as described above.

Hehe, yes, SWIM is a little scared when taking drugs, and what effects they may have on the body.

[pinksox]

Two things.

1. Vasoconstriction, as already mentioned. And,

2. Tachycardia--stimulants are well known to increase heart rate. The problem here is that the heart needs a certain amount of time to fully fill before contracting again and pushing out the next cycle of blood.

When the heart beats too rapidly, the heart doesn't fill properly(decreased pre-load). Ejection fractions fall--sometimes dramatically. Especially when one combines vasoconstriction(increased afterload)with reduced output--this makes the heart have to work especially hard. Blood does not have time to allow hemoglobin to pick up fresh oxygen while in the lungs nor do organs and tissues have enough time to exchange their carbon dioxide and other waste products with what little fresh oxygen may be present in the circulating blood.

Both these factors will result in peripheral cyanosis.

[Rise against]

swim has never had it that severely but sometimes his vains get very blue. Does swiy have trouble breathing? because sometimes swim feels like he has asthma and cant take a deep breath after taking adderall.

[allyourbase]

this isnt as uncommon as it would seem. if swiy has narrow bloodways then a large amount of amphetamine (particularly 60 mg of racemic mixtures, OUCH find dexedrine!) would easily close down flow to a near halt, turning both lips and fingertips blue. SWIM's only answers can be a) take LESS or B) take BETTER. one 10mg IR dexedrine tab is roughly as strong as two IR 20 mg adderalls with not even a fourth of the crash.

[Dreamland]

SWIM highly recommends taking a supplement called Arginine.. it helps dialate the blood vessels and oxygen to the organs. therefore, could reduce the vasoconstriction from stimulants... Altho SWIY would need a high doses (like taking up to 8 grams of Arginine daily) for maximal effects. the stuff really does help lower the BP too! SWIM NEVER takes adderall without Arginine.. it simply would make sense!