Taking Vyvanse While Pregnant

[amberjc11]

Hello Members,

A little backstory–I have had severe ADHD (my entire life) but only had been properly diagnosed and put on Vyvanse about 5 years ago. I was put on a dose of 70 MG. It drastically changed my life. It was like getting glasses and being able to see leaves on a tree.  On top of this–I have severe Anxiety issues and have been on Klonopin 2 MG for the same amount of years.

I became pregnant with my first child in September of last year.  I completely stopped ALL meds thinking it would be in the best interest of my growing baby-not knowing anything about the adverse effects (if any at all).  I have to say–it was the worst 9 months of my life.  I was a complete and utter MESS.  I was so lethargic, I didn’t want to move from bed.  I lost my job due to my complete inability to focus or think, I sank into a deep depression and it was just better to “stay asleep” than be awake and have to deal with the turmoil inside of my brain. It was shut off.. I was shut off….. I was not ME anymore. It was hard to exist.

I had my baby in May of 2015 and it turns out I am pregnant again.  I feel like an awful person, not giddy or happy; But completely distraught that I would have to endure the following several months in the agonizing state it left me not being on my proper medication.  I FINALLY got back on my Meds and was able to care for my new baby and two stepchildren and felt alert, positive and happy to feel NORMAL again.

Is there anyone who took their ADD/Anxiety Meds while pregnant? Is there anyone out there that had the same feelings?

Can someone share their experience if they have dealt with this? I do NOT want to harm my child, however, I do NOT want my entire life and psyche to deteriorate around me like before. Any responses on taking their ADD medication while pregnant, any information you might want to share, etc. would be MOST appreciated. TIA!

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[wiredonjava]

First of all, Amber, I am sorry you are going through this dilemma, however, congratulations that you are having a baby 🙂 A doctor would be the best to ask and then another opinion would be good, maybe from a pharmacist. There’s a certain amount of risk always even when they said don’t know for sure or say there is little or no harm. From what I hear, when a mother is on antidepressants, for instance, the fact that she is suicidal is probably riskier to her and unborn child, so I hear the medical field will often say stay on your meds for the pregnancy, which makes sense to me -one risk outweighs the other risk. It’s sad though if your family cannot support you more right now if you asked them for help. It’s hard to communicate a need, I understand, but if they did pick up the slack around you for the time being, so that you could avoid your meds for the duration of your pregnancy, would that seem like an ideal solution for you? It’s your decision. Just please find a good doctor to advise you and best wishes for you and your family!

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[ellings4]

Since this post is from 2015, I’m curious what you ended up doing and what your experience was with your second pregnancy. I was diagnosed only about a year before getting pregnant (for the first time) and I was trying different meds but the side effects were pretty bad and I hadn’t found any that made my life better yet – so I’m just comparing pre-treatment ADHD to pregnant ADHD. So far pregnant ADHD is terrible (way worse than the normal fog). I’m just starting the second trimester and holding out some hope that I can get back to some things that have been effective like exercise. But I’d really love to hear from others. This must be pretty common but I really haven’t been able to find much information at all. There is some information about how changing hormones during a woman’s menstrual cycle affect ADHD symptoms – and it seems that when progesterone is high, symptoms are worse, and when estrogen is high, symptoms are better. But in pregnancy, both are way higher… so who knows. For me, in the first trimester of pregnancy, it has felt like ADHD at the worst time of the month x100. But all these hormones change and I’m hoping that during the second trimester when I’m starting to not feel so nauseous all the time and can do better at eating healthy and exercising (which have helped before) that things might be a bit better (for example – hoping I can pull my job performance back from the brink…). I’d love to hear how this went for you and any other ladies who have been through this – it can’t be as rare as the amount of info on it would make it seem!

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