Vyvanse Day 1 – questions

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I’m a 42 year old woman and I’ve just been diagnosed with ADD. The psychiatrist that made the assessment prescribed Vyvanse because he said it is easy on and easy off because of how it builds in your system – no crashing at the end of the day.

Today was my first day taking it. I’m on 30mg Vyvanse and continuing my 50mg of Zoloft.

I’ve had some unpleasant side effects and am wondering if in anyone’s experience they will go away.

When I first started to feel Vyvanse’s effects I felt like I had a “buzz” (similar to having a glass of wine or a beer) and I had a weird sensation around my lips, I don’t want to say my lips felt numb but I’ve experienced the same sensation when drinking a certain hard cider.

My friend called within about 2 hrs of me taking the Vyvanse and I was very chatty and I felt like I was talking louder and a bit faster than normal. I’ve had a headache for pretty much the whole day, could be the Vyvanse, could be the cold I started coming down with last night.

Maybe today wasn’t the best day to start because of getting this cold but it has already been 2 weeks since my diagnosis and 5 years since I first thought “maybe I have undiagnosed ADD and not just depression” so I was ready to start to change my life.

I’ve also been dizzy/woozy on and off all day.

I guess my question is whether these side effects will subside the longer I take Vyvanse? And I guess I was hoping that Vyvanse would be a miracle drug and I’d feel focused and clarity right away but I still found myself jumping from task to task only with more speed LOL! Will I become more focused with continued usage?

Thanks for reading and sharing your experience with Vyvanse

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[Amy]

You may be at too high of a dosage with the side effects you are describing. That rushing around and chattiness sounds like it describes someone who doesn’t have ADHD on speed to be honest. Usually when stimulants “click”, you do get that feeling that the world is slowing down to the right speed.

Or it could be that particular medication may not be the right one for you.

One other thing – you said you have a cold – did you take a decongestant? They don’t mix well with stimulants.

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply Amy. I hope it isn’t that I’ve been given a misdiagnosis. My assessment was very thorough by a leading psychiatrist and Adult ADD researcher. From all the reading I’ve done over the past few years and various assessments, I do think that undiagnosed ADD is what I have been struggling with all of my life.

I wondered if perhaps I was started at too high of a dose.

I never took any other meds yesterday other than the Zoloft.

My cold has gotten so bad that I’ve decided to postpone test-driving these meds until I can be sure what are cold symptoms and what are side effects.

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[Amy]

Good luck; I know how frustrating it is to try to find the right meds. I am going through it right now with changing them and trying to find the right dosage. When it happens for you, it will be a life changer.

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[Carrie]

Vyvanse is well liked because you DON’T really feel it coming on like you do the others. My husband took one of my Vyvanse 60mg and wouldn’t SHUT UP!! Even my poor kids said “Daddy, can you PLEASE stop talking!”. He doesn’t have ADD like I thought he did. I dont say that because the med didnt work for him, but knowing more I can see he doesn’t.

I never feel anything from mine at all. Just my mouth gets really dry, im no longer hungry, and im on task. But I guess I was gradually tapered up through out the 6 months it took to get my meds right. First Ritalin which gave the best focus but made me FAR TOO irritable. So tried Adderall but it gave me that “got a go go go go do do do do” and just a gross overall feeling. Then took Dexedrine which was AMAZING, but once again didn’t like the downs… Then took 30mg Vyvanse, then 50mg, then 60mg. I think 60mg may be too high because I get a little bit edgy when hungry. When on 50mg I felt great. Still my quirky self but focused.

With that being said, give it some time. When I first started taking medication I thought it did nothing at all. I was looking for that “I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I CAN SEE” type deal. I was discouraged. But over time I noticed little things that were different… and the more I took my meds the more I noticed when OFF of them how different I was. My family can tell when I don’t take them right away. At work if I don’t take them people always make comments like “Are you drunk? Did you take something?” and as a joke “Did you forget to take your meds today?” Little do they know…. Yes I did forget to take them! hahahhaa

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[Jules]

Hi There–I am replying to the first post here. I am on day 5 of Vyvanse and my experiences are very similar to SISU above. I am only on 30mg..on my first day, I took it at 7am….I also drink coffee and was not even thinking that I had to cut that back. By about 10am I felt as if I was having a bad reaction. I had the jitters and I felt almost confused and alittle freaked out. The next day, I cut out coffee completely and now 2 days later I only have 1 coffee. I have a wierd feeling with my jaw–I don’t know how to describe it, I also have bits of nausea. Yesterday I had a bad migraine ( I never get these) likely due to coffee withdrawal but now I am not sure. I am disappointed at these side effects and am not sure I want to continue. Note- I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist.

I want to stick it out as I believe that the symptoms may go away?? I am also a 42yr old female and really wanted to give this a try; but I HATE the fact that I feel foggy and my head hurts. As mentioned, I wonder if this is normal and I can’t seem to get a straight answer.

Can anyone please offer advice? I really need some encouragement.

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[Amy]

Personally I would call my doctor and have him/her recommend a different medication. Side effects like the one you describe shouldn’t still be going on for a week.

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[Carrie]

Agreed!

http://totallyadd.com/forum/topic.php?id=1340 heres the link to the medication here on this site

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[Anonymous]

Carrie, thanks for your response.

Jules, I hope you find some answers too. I’m still sick so I haven’t tried the Vyvanse again. Maybe we need to start at a lower dose. Headaches and nausea are a common side effect. I’ve been searching for answers as to whether or not the side effects go away. I’ve read about sticking with new ADD meds for 2 weeks, But that would be easier to do if you knew the side effects would likely go away. I know the Vyvanse directions said to limit coffee and chocolate.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I described as being very “chatty”, what I actually think is that I was speaking quicker because I didn’t have to struggle as much to find the right words and follow the conversation without getting distracted.

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[Carrie]

It does take 2 weeks for them to subside. I used to get insomnia with them and now I could sleep at any time of the day. I also used to get headaches. Not anymore. I once had an energy drink while on my meds and thought I was going to die. Not really the best thing until your used to it

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[Anonymous]

Haha, this thread hasn’t been touched in a while, but I just wanted to say that my experience was a lot like Carrie’s.

I was on 10mg ritalin, and my psychiatrist doubled the dose, then I felt a … feeling… I wouldn’t call it “high” necessarily, but a mildy entranced euphoria may be an accurate description. He just swapped me over to 50mg of Vyvanse as needed, mostly because I didn’t like the roller-coaster of awake/sleepy, happy/irritable, and focused/totally distracted going back and forth a few times every day.

–(Little side note) When I took 20mg of ritalin before class, despite the odd feeling, I took far more notes than usual, and they were 100x more comprehendible to me later when I’d review them. (Before my notes were basically full of cat scratch and half finished sentences that, when I wrote them, I thought “Oh yeah, I’ll be able to remember what that was about. No luck)

Today was my first day on Vyvanse. My Psychiatrist said that the first or first few doses will have a stronger early-on rush, but would calm down but still be effective later. I definitely had that “euphoria” again, a tad stronger than when on Ritalin, but not by much. It wore off a couple hours later, then I could tell that I was still able to focus, but without that rush. Ritalin seemed to only help me focus when I had that rush.

As for being chatty, if you’re like me, then I think you are just becoming more responsive and understanding more of what you hear. I’m a very… quiet person? Not quiet as in I just don’t talk. Sometimes I can talk up a storm about things I am very interested in, but in social situations, my mind has nothing to say. When I take the medications, I seem to catch on to the topics and have things to say to people that actually make sense and isn’t just some random blabber that would usually appear.

Since it’s been a while since you started taking it, I’d like to know how it’s going for you. Has the dose seemed to work better for you yet, without the sudden rush a couple hours after the dose?

Also, I’m not sure about Zoloft, but I do know that some medicines, such as Lexapro, can have greatly undesired reactions with amphetamines. I think it’s referred to as serotonin syndrome if you want to research it and ask your psychiatrist about it.

Good Luck!!

Alex

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[safiya]

Hi 🙂

Vyvanse is a medication that gives anthetaphamines at a slow-released. My guess is, you may have been misdiagnosed with ADD. Patients without ADD who are taking this medication will get high. ADD is also very difficult to diagnoses at an older age. I would suggest talking to your doctor about this

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