Reply To: My first week on Vyvanse…….an update

[lsdcat]

I’ve been on Vyvanse since 2009 at various doses.  I have had an improved ability to think clearly and more logically. The brain fog episodes almost disappeared. It gives me a space between the thought and the action.  I was able to focus more easily. However, I seemed to lose my ability to hyperfocus.  It has helped some, but not very much with the hyperactivity and boredom.  I reached places where I thought it was not working, so the dose was upped.

I was on an antidepressant to cut the edge off the anxiety.  However, I had problems with ongoing depression with a weekly dive into deep, deep depression.  I stopped taking the antidepressant and the depression eased, and the deep, scary depressive episodes disappeared altogether.

After about a year at 70 mg, the anxiety became unbearable, tolerable only when I was alone without any stimulation, and that in itself is intolerable.  The doctor dropped my dose to 60 mg with immediate relief.  He explained that the body will develop a tolerance to the medication, but upping it to get the same initial results only ups the negatives about the drug, the anxiety, high blood pressure, etc.

It leaves me wondering where I go when I develop a tolerance to the 60 mg dose.  I suppose, I shall take a vacation from it and then when I start back on it, skip it one day a week and see how that goes.  I plan to start skipping a day after the holidays hoping to prolong it’s effective period.

I take it now at 6 am and then go back to sleep until I wake up. I can do that. I’m retired. At first, I’d sleep 2 and 1/2 hours before waking, but now it is a half hour.

I’ve had chronic migraines my whole adult life, but do not find that the Vyvanse has made them worse. In fact, I have fewer now than I used to have before Vyvanse.

I find that when I can eat a healthy breakfast after waking up, I have fewer stomach symptoms and the Vyvanse works better.  I’ve never been hungry in the mornings, and I often forget to eat, so the positive effect is very noticeable when I do eat early and have regular meals throughout the day.

I suppose the biggest thing Vyvanse has done for me is make me aware, and I’m not always grateful for that, even though that awareness is what makes it possible to do those things that I can do to control the ADHD behavior, like eat, sleep, exercise, breathe instead of panicking. I’ve learned that the meds are not a cure and will not alleviate all of the symptoms, but that they are a tool to be used to help me improve the quality of my life.  I am truly grateful for that.

I hope my experience is helpful to you.  I’ve just discovered this site, and am really grateful for everyone’s input.

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