My first week on Vyvanse…….an update

[nastyjones]

I’m a 62 year old man who is more ADD than ADHD.  My problems are mainly with focus, completion of tasks & inattentiveness.  I also have some depression & anxiety related to living with this.

Anyway, I’ve been on 30 mg. Vyvanse for a week now.  The first ADD meds I’ve ever been on.  The first couple of days it made me high as a kite in the morning with a splitting headache to boot.  But my energy level was great & my mood seemed much better.  Now, it’s been a few more days & it doesn’t make me as high in the morning & the headaches are gone.  I still have the high energy level which I like but It doesn’t seem to affect my “racing mind”.  Can anyone that has been on it for awhile tell me if your mind slows down after you take it for some time?  I would really like to be able to slow things down.

I know I haven’t been on it very long & I know the doctor might change the dosage when I see him in 3 weeks.

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[melsteam14]

I like Dr. Charles Parker’s http://www.Youtube.com channel ( Core Psych Blog) with helpful insights regarding dosing and is the author of New Medication Rules for ADHD. With my symptomology, your issues sounded like mine only when I took Vyvanse early on.  If you want to know why you feel this way, see Dr. Parker’s Youtube channel for more.

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[darktendril]

I’ve been taking it for about seven months, and I am not sure if I ever felt my mind really “slow down”, I am on a fairly low dose though.  At this point, it doesn’t really give me more energy either.  What it does help me do is focus better when I want to focus (though I have to make a conscious effort, or I will focus on the wrong things lol), and it helps me to organize my own thoughts better inside my head.  My thoughts come just as quickly I think, but instead of being a whirling sandstorm inside my head, I can manipulate them into a (mostly) coherent pattern..   I still get restless at times, easily entertained but quickly bored, and am occasionally told I’m talking too quickly..  when I don’t take it though I am still restless but also actually feel stoned in comparison, off in my own  world.  (I purposely don’t take it if I want to zone out, like at a dentist appointment lol)

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[nastyjones]

darktendril,

What dosage are you on?

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[blackdog]

@nastyjones @marcelyne

I just started Vyvanse. Today is day 6 on 20 mg. So far, I have found the same thing. My mind is not any quieter. In fact, there seems to be more chatter than usual. And it seems to help me to focus, but only when I make a conscious effort, like dark tendril said. The other thing I have found is that I am more aware of my surroundings, that I hear and see things a little better than before.

It is still giving me headaches but they’re mild. The nausea is pretty bad this morning though, which I am hoping is not a bad sign. And rather than giving me more energy it seems to make me sleepy. I literally feel it kick in about an hour after I take it and get a brief surge then but later in the afternoon all I do is yawn and fight to keep my eyes open.

nasty, I’m curious to know if you have experienced any improvement in your depression with the Vyvanse? I have felt quite happy and content since I started taking it, which is an unexpected but pleasant bonus. 🙂

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[nastyjones]

Ok, well it’s been about 6 weeks or so & I’ve been bumped up to 40 mg.  Still no improvement with getting my thoughts to slow down.  However, the meds are helping me with improving my mood & my social anxiety but the slowing down thing was the reason I wanted to try an ADHD med in the first place.  My doctor informed me that was can still bump up some more to about 60 mg although that seems a lot to me.

If I decide to try another med, I would like it to be also in the amphetamine class.  Next appointment is in 3 weeks.

You will find the headaches & nausea subside after awhile.

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[blackdog]

@nastyjones

Thanks for your reply. I’m mostly looking for the ability to be more productive and stay on task. Improvement in memory would be nice too. There are times when I would like my thoughts to slow down. But right now the problem is more that they are too slow. I have to get some sleep.

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[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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[jojosephine]

I have been away for a while. I have been on Vyvanse since September. I was panicked, just like you, when I had first started out. I watched the Charles Parker videos on YouTube, religiously. I was scared that it was going to take me months, even years, to find the right medication, the right dosage. I didn’t want to wait any longer to feel “right”. I was so anxious and excited to feel what I should have been feeling all my life. To have a brain that stopped making the horrible life decisions that kept me down and prevented me from my growth. I over-examined every single feeling, side effect. I thought I was over-medicated. I thought I was under-medicated.  I, finally, landed on the right dosage. I am on 60mg/day Vyvanse. I have been prescribed 5mg of immediate release, short acting dexedrine. This allows me control when I need to stay up later (by later, i mean later than 9:30pm). I can take a 5 mg tab at around 5pm. It gets me through the dinner and bedtime routine and allows me to continue on to my evening activity. There are days where I feel the horrible side effects of the coming down. (bad headaches, very moody, etc..). I will take a dexedrine to ease that and make the transition more tolerable. My Vyvanse effects me differently on different days because of various factors (eg. if I didn’t get enough sleep etc).  There are days where I don’t need to take any boosters. The boosters allows me to control the day to day variance and demands. I have been on 60mg since November.  It is my right dosage of Vyvanse but I wouldnt be able to handle it without the assistance of the dexedrine.  I have never had to exceed 2 doses of the dexedrine in a day.  Generally, I take my Vyvanse (60mg) in the morning (around 7:30am) and I then take a 5mg dexedrine around 2 or 3pm.  Yesterday, we had spent the night at friends house for New Year’s and I had forgotten to pack my Vyvanse. We were staying there for brunch and I knew I wasn’t going to take my Vyvanse when I got home (which would have been around 1pm).  It was my very first time since starting Vyvanse that I wouldn’t get a daily dose of it. I was scared because I didn’t think I was going to function. I took a dose of the dexedrine in the AM and one in the PM. I was perfectly fine. I didn’t have to function in my usual daily routine because it was New Year’s Day and a “lazy day”, but it was enough to get me to function through the day. This is my Vyvanse story and this is exactly the kind of experience I would have liked to have heard when I was just starting out. So, I hope this helps.

Jo

PS. Oh and what you should expect from the medication is the pleasure (ie. enough dopamine to your neurons) you need to take the tasks that were too boring, too menial, too daunting, too discouraging and gives you the focus, the drive and the confidence it takes to ‘start and follow through’. You still need to define the importance of those things. You still need to prioritize and you still will need to motivate yourself. You will still define those tasks the same way, so you will have to make changes in your life and develop different ways of doing things. You still will need use different tools and strategies. It just makes it easier to do so and you will see things a little more clearer to develop the tools and strategies that work for you and your life. My brain still moves as fast as it always has, I still cannot articulate or communicate properly. I cannot properly verbalize my thoughts smoothly and coherently. They never come out right and I get frustrated and it makes it appear that i don’t have anything valid to say because it is all jumbled and unorganized. It comes out loud and over emotional and I can see people stop listening and they appear uninterested. I am much better at writing because I can go over and reorganized and not ‘leave out’ anything before it is delivered. Like if I had to ‘face-to-face’ tell you my experience, straight up, you wouldn’t want to even listen to my experience.

 

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[kc5jck]

Really glad to hear things are going well for you.  I had been wondering.  So have you gotten past all your fears of addiction, horrible side effects, etc?

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[nastyjones]

The sincerity, thoughtfullness & intelligence of replies to most threads on this forum impresses me to no end.  We are an eclectic bunch for sure but we certainly aren’t lacking any insights into our disorder.  Together we will overcome & find answers.

Strength in numbers, I say.

Thanks, all.

 

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[blackdog]

@jojosephine Thank you very much for posting. Very well thought out and well written. It will certainly be helpful to a lot of people.

I especially like the part about how the medication works, by giving you the pleasure you need to be able to deal with all those things you just couldn’t before. I actually quoted you when I was talking to my doctor and trying to get him to understand.

@nastyjones Thank you for your contributions as well. Strength in numbers indeed. It was the group here that gave me the strength and courage I needed to finally seek out a proper diagnosis and get on medication and start making sense of my life. It makes a huge differenc to be able to read the stories of others, to ask questions and get answers from people who understand, and to know that you are not alone.

Now if I could just bring y’all with me to my next appointment with my doctor and get you to kick his butt for me….. 😉

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[shutterbug55]

I was put on Vyvanse, early on and we could never get the dosage correct. In the blood stream, it metabolizes into Gluco-Amphetimine (Adderall). It kept building up and I got too much.  Adderall was much easier to control, and I have many more options for dosages.

Quieting thoughts, or keeping thoughts from racing around in your head: This is what I call “monkey chatter”. The only thing that I have found that quiets that constant background noise, is something that causes more harm than good, so I won’t talk about it.

Vyvanse did allow me to channel the racing thoughts and sometimes ignore them. Adderall does the same for me as well. I will never be at peace, or have a time where my mind is still. I think that is part of the curse that is ADD.

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[nastyjones]

Ok….. I told my doc. that the Vyvanse wasn’t helping at all with my focus issues but did definitely help with my social anxiety.  So in his wisdom he changed my script to Adderall XR 30 mg.  So I guess I have to put up with those annoying side effects again, the stomach issues, dry mouth, headache, etc.  It will be worth it if I can get to the point where I can complete a task at one sitting, lol.

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[shutterbug55]

@nastyjones

Look up what Vyvanse does in the blood stream and ask your doc about the Adderall. Vyvanse breaks down into dextroamphetamine (Adderall) in the blood stream with the help of enzymes. Look up Lisdexamfetamine.

I am no expert and certainly not a pharmacologist, but the side effects you are talking about, sound like the ones I was experiencing, when I was taking it. I ended up going to a VERY low dose of Adderall. No xr, no time release, no iso- this or that. Just straight Adderall. Of course, as I am finding out all the time, my brain is more unique than others.

The moral of the story, is you shouldn’t have to suffer or made to suffer. If your body is telling you something is wrong with the side effects, listen to it. Tell your doc about your concerns. Get him to address your concerns. Bring a buddy, spouse, or Mom and gang up on the doc, if you have to. After all, you are paying HIM. You are the boss.

Here is my standard disclaimer: Results may vary and past performance and experience of one individual is not a guarantee of similar performance in all individuals (or YOU). 🙂

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