Reply To: Vyvanse and Anxiety

[procrastina]

Hmm, from what I understand, Vyvanse is an all day kind of stimulant, which is why only one pill a day is needed. Personally I liked Vyvanse because it seemed to really work for me and it didn’t give me a crash at the end of the day the way Adderall and Ritalin did. When I was first diagnosed in 2015, I was started on Ritalin, which was 2 pills a day but I usually forgot to take my 2nd pill until it was too late (wasn’t supposed to take it past 4:00 pm otherwise it would keep me up all night). That was the pill that gave me night and day clarity when I first took it but after about 2 weeks, my boyfriend noticed that it didn’t really seem to be helping me anymore. I spoke to my doctor and was switched to Adderall and just like the Ritalin, that worked for a while but it seemed to not sustain my attention throughout the day and also seemed to give me a crash at the end of the day. Then they had me try Adderall XR (extended release) to see if that helped since it was one pill that was a timed-release and was supposed to be better for getting you through a full day. That worked for a while but like the others, seemed to wear off and not help as much after a while. I also was finding that my hair was coming out in the shower a lot more than it normally did. I was ending up with a palm full of hair and I knew that wasn’t normal. After discussing the hair thinning and how the Adderall XR wasn’t really working well, I was put on Vyvanse and used it for months until I stopped that too because my hair continued to thin. Hair loss isn’t listed as a side effect for Adderall or Vyvanse because it only affects something like less than 1% of people who take it. I wasn’t surprised to fall into that category because I have always been very sensitive to medications and I have a ton of allergies, but it really sucked and I was angry to have to choose between having hair and being able to function well without such a struggle. Eventually I accepted the fact that my hair falling out meant my body was telling me to stop putting chemicals in it, but it was very discouraging. My whole medicine journey unfolded over the course of one year and this past year I have gone without medication and it has been tough to say the least. I’m thinking of trying Vyvanse again and crossing my fingers that the hair loss was cause by the Adderall and that I’ll be fine this time.

Finding the right medicine is a process and a struggle, but just pay attention to whether or not it is working for you and also what your body is telling you when you are on it. Like I said, aside from the hair loss, for me Vyvanse was wonderful. It sustained my attention throughout the day, didn’t make it difficult for me to get up in the morning, didn’t make it difficult for me to fall asleep and it didn’t give me a crash at the end of the day, which was important. Obviously different people are going to react differently to medicine so maybe Vyvanse does make you crash and there’s a different drug that will work better for you. Give it some time, try to keep a journal of how you feel each day, whether a personal journal or feel free to share on here and we can work through this together! 🙂 That should help you look back in a few weeks and assess whether or not the Vyvanse is working for you or if you think you should try something else. The anxiety and the weight are so much harder to deal with when your brain is all over the place, but if the medicine helps calm your brain a bit, you may be able to work on those other things. I don’t know if you’ve heard of “tapping”, but it is a method of self-soothing for things like anxiety and ADHD, among other things. If you type “tapping for anxiety” into YouTube, you’ll see videos of people utilizing this method and it may be helpful to learn it and use it in the moment during those hours when your anxiety is extremely heightened. Here’s a link to some info about if from the guy who founded it: https://www.emofree.com/eft-tutorial/tapping-basics/how-to-do-eft.html

If you decide to check it out and have any questions, let me know. This is absolutely a struggle, but you’re definitely not alone in this.<3

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