Vyvanse dosage

[Anonymous]

I am a 41 year old PhD Candidate who was diagnosed with ADHD several months ago. I am very concerned because i find that my dosage for vyvanse is far above most people’s. I am very conscious of health issues and just want to be sure that what I am taking is safe. I am currently taking 100mg Vyvanse in the morning and then take a 20mg Adderall in the evening. I am in the process of finishing my dissertation and work roughly 10hours a day in writing/reading. In large part, I am trying to make up for my challenges as a graduate student earlier, a period in which i didn’t read as much as i should have and, as a result, feel very far behind my peers. It is as if i’m trying to catch-up for 3 years!

I am considering asking my doctor to up my evening dosage of Adderall to 30mg. But i am really really concerned that what i am taking is atypical and that perhaps i’m taking a dosage that is far above and beyond what others take. Is something wrong with me? Is it ok to ask my doctor to up my dosage?

I must also add that i’m making progress like i’ve never made before while on the medication. my life has dramatically changed for the better. so, while i’m having a positive impact from the meds, at the same time, i’m a bit scared or worried that i’m taking a dosage that perhaps is dangerous or not typical. Is is possible that older adults, like myself, need a higher dosage than others? I find that Vyvanse only lasts 6-8 hours for me. So if i take it at 8am, then it doesn’t work at 6pm. If i need to work from 6pm till onwards, then i need something more. also, my blood pressure is fine and i have no problems sleeping.

I should also add that I much prefer Vyvanse to Adderall. I find that Vyvanse is far superior for me for focus and concentration than adderall. the problem is that vyvanse is very expensive as compared to the generic adderall. if i had my choice, i would prefer not to take the adderall and just take a dosage of vyvanse in the afternoon, but i can’t afford it.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

From drugs.com:

Initiation Treatment for Vyvanse:

The recommended starting dose is 30 mg once daily in the morning in patients ages 6 and above.  Dosage may be adjusted in increments of 10 mg or 20 mg at approximately weekly intervals up to maximum dose of 70 mg/day; Doses greater than 70 mg/day have not been studied.

Hope this helps.

If you’re not happy with the evening adderall, you may want to try short acting Ritalin. My 13yo son takes 60mg Vyvanse at 6am and 20 mg Ritalin for homework nights at 4pm. Neither of us liked Adderall when we tried it. The cycling off period was a nightmare of irritability and tension.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Greetings all!

So what I decided was to ask my doctor to take me back down to only 70mg Vyvanse in the morning and then up to 30mg adderall (fast acting) in the early evening. I just find that Vyvanse lasts only 6-8 hours, but no longer for me. I do much prefer Vyvanse, but it is very very expensive. I am on their discount program, but it does not cover dosages above 70mg.

Anyway, I think this is a good compromise. Thanks for the advice.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who’s prescribed Vyvanse and Adderall. I thought her doctor was crazy for prescribing two amphetamine drugs. . . May I ask why your doctor prescribed both of these? I would think one or the other would be enough. Although Vyvanse does seem to wear off pretty quickly regardless of the dosage increase since 10 mg increments seem to only increase the duration by about an hour and anything past 70mg seems extremely high. I can’t imagine 100mg of Vyvanse and 20mg Adderall being good for your body at all. I would try either Adderall XR or Adderall IR two to three times per day if you find it wearing off too soon and have a lot to focus on. That’s just my opinion. I take Vyvanse 50 mg/day only because I couldn’t find Adderall anywhere. I was on 30 mg Adderall IR per day (10mg three times). Vyvanse doesn’t work too well for me. Just today I had a horrible anxiety attack that is still lingering due to taking my morning dose and then Midol 2 hours later (which has caffeine in it). I am really hating Vyvanse. There’s just something not right about it.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

WOW! This is eye opening to me! I have not read these blogs or forums till lately. Regarding Medications, I am 52 yrs old, have known I’m ADD since my 25 yr old son was diagnosed at age 8. I never got formally diagnosed or treated till a year ago. I LOVE MY DOC, but she is very careful with meds. I went for 2 months trying all the techniques and learning about my type of ADD first (both types), then finally tried the Vyvanse and I’m only on 20 mgs………which actually helped alot in the beginning, but not alot any more. Finally my Doc upped it to 30 MG after I told her I tried two pills one or two days and it went GREAT! So, I’m only on 30 starting today. That one mom said her 9 year old is on 75 or something? Yikes! I guess I will keep up just 30 and try to be happy with it. I find so much of it is our change in attitudes and kind of working hard on yourself AND the meds, but not just meds, thats for sure. Good luck to all of you reading this.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

I am just starting Vyvance 50mg and was hoping I could get some advice for what to expect. I’m 20 years old, and 160lbs. From 4th to 8th grade I took Stratera, and stopped taking it when i started high school (personal decision becuase I was ashamed). 3 years into college, I’m getting past the point where I can do well in classes without paying close attention to lecture and reading the material regularly. My doctor prescribed Vyvance, and after one day, it seemed as if I was much better at paying attention and taking notes (things just felt “captivating”), but I still could not concentrate when doing actual work. I also experienced pretty heavy paranoia that lasted an hour from a problem with my homework that I would normally just brush off (I’m not sure i’ve even had a panic attack before). Perhaps most importantly, I am about to start my day at 6am and did not get any sleep.

I know that generally the first few weeks can be tough, but considering how much panic I was in just trying to complete accounting homework, i’m terrified of what will happen to me during a 2hr accounting exam. I also don’t know how i’ll be able to handle exams with a lack of sleep. Has anyone else been through the same situation? Did a dosage change help?

REPORT ABUSE

[Violexie0071]

Ermagawd guys I’m so super scared. I am 23 years old. I just found out that I had ADHD last spring. Some quack doc who didn’t even believe me put me on Strattera and it was the worst month of my life. Terrible side effects and massive break downs during finals week.

After a lot of hesitation and persistent encouragement from my therapist, I made an appointment for a neurologist at the end of the summer and finally saw him today. I just can’t help feeling intimidated by the amount of hardcore drugs he gave me prescriptions for. I am to start with 60 mg of Vyvanse, an anti-depressant for my anxiety, and a generic for xanax for sleep at night. Dude I don’t wanna have a nervous breakdown and fail out of school but I am already so behind and drowning is past due assignments and papers. Did I mention that I am terrified? What will it be like? Did I mention that I’m terrified? Will the Vyvanse make me feel like walking sleepy poop? I don’t wanna become an addict! That and my mom is convinced that I am gonna be a crack ho. I gave her the pill bottles to like… keep or what ever to make her feel like she has some control but I know she is just gonna google the stuff and have a heart attack. Any advice guys?

REPORT ABUSE

[Scattybird]

Hi Violexie0071 and Dave20 – I don’t take Vyvanese so can’t really comment.

However, I can say it has taken me almost a year to work out the best dose for the drug I take (methylphenidate short release).

So you need to be patient and try a dose for a while. If you get side effects that don’t go away it’s the wrong med for you.

Similarly, it should help – if not, it’s either the wrong dose or the wrong med.

In my experience the meds help, but they don’t change things dramatically. You also need to learn coping mechanisms to go with the meds but the meds will help you do that.

Coping with ADHD is about developing strategies as well as taking meds.

There are several good books out there that might be useful. If money is tight, rather than buying all the books out there (I did that when I was learning about ADHD), you could do a lot worse than download the bundle that’s on offer at the moment on this site – the Loving It and Mastering It videos.

I just downloaded them and they pretty much summarise all the key points and offer management tips. I think they are a valuable tool in our armoury. Apart from that, Violexie0071 – if your Mom needs to learn more about ADHD, get her to watch them.

Violexie0071 – don’t be scared – you won’t get hooked on ADHD meds if you take them as prescribed. But they all work differently on different people. Also, make sure that your neurologist has experience with adult ADHD – that’s crucial.

I don’t know your situation, but I used to have problems sleeping. Since I started methylphenidate for my ADHD, I generally sleep well. The ADHD med calms my mind enough that I don’t need additional meds to help me sleep but I do need to try to stick to a routine. If I pull an all nighter to hit a deadline then it messes things up.

Good luck!

REPORT ABUSE

[kc5jck]

Scattybird has good advice.

I would add that a little bit of education on your part about the meds should help with your anxiety about taking them. I can understand that having a big bottle of “legal only when prescribed” which otherwise has a variety of “street” names woud be scary indeed. And that such, to the uneducated, would seem to be a quick route becoming a crack slave.

Take time to learn what to expect, how long the drug takes to have effect, and what the side effects are. The right drug at the right dose will hopefully work wonders for you. You might also take notes on how the drug affects you. This will be helpful for your doctor visits. Getting you mom involved is a brilliant idea.

(PS: Ignore my avatar, its temporary for Halloween. It looks like some sort of drug fiend trying to get you hooked.)

Note to mom: As one parent to another, Adderall, otherwise known as speed, has done wonders for my son who is trying to make his way through college. You might want to read my post at: http://totallyadd.com/forum/topic.php?id=2368

REPORT ABUSE

[Scattybird]

Kc – I LOVE your avatar – it’s brilliant!

REPORT ABUSE

[Violexie0071]

Thanks Scatty and KC. I went to an ADHD group over the summer and have recently started a continuation for the semester. I have been doing a lot of research actually, and have taken quite a few courses in biology and organic chemistry during my college years. I just, idk freak myself out regardless.

As far as information sources, I have been combing the internet and websites like this since last spring, as well as consulting books like Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell and I recently bought the sequel. I have been attempting the “Notebook Method” since the summer and it has helped but it’s definitely not cutting it. I don’t write in it every day and I often don’t finish my To Do lists. Then I get depressed or ashamed and my personal failure and then don’t touch the book for at least another week. I also experience difficulty prioritizing the items on my list in order of importance. At the group they told me to use an A B C type of distinction system but everything always feels like A importance to me! I use the calendar on my phone as planner but I am still bad at remembering to put every single appointment in my phone and then when I do remember, my phone is in another room and I tell myself: I’ll do it later. (We all know how that goes.)

I am just really good at freaking myself out and it doesn’t help that my mom is a ball of nerves and my father doesn’t believe that ADHD exists. He told me I don’t need drugs – that I’m just not disciplined enough. I can’t help but feel anything I achieve from here on out he won’t really give me credit for now – which bothers me because I have always been a Daddy’s Girl. It’s just a nerve wrecking process to look up all of the side effects and health risks and just hope that I don’t wind up with most of that.

REPORT ABUSE

[kc5jck]

Violexie0071- there are two youtube videos that I like of Russell Barkley. They are about an hour and twenty minutes apiece. I found the videos to be interesting and informative. He treats ADHD like the serious disorder it is.

There is a wealth of experience among the members and a wealth of information spread across the forums. Unfortunately it’s all scattered about. Most forums go off topic as quickly as our minds get off task, so information can be difficult to locate.

You may have heard the story about putting rocks in a jar where if the biggest goes in first then the smaller ones can fit in around. Then they say it’s like you start the biggest task first and then you can work in the smaller tasks around it. I think with ADHD, the bigger seems too daunting so we procrastinate by way of the smaller ones until “push comes to shove” and we bust our tail to get the big one done at the last moment. It’s just the way we do things.

The point being, don’t get bent out of shape because of to do lists or forgotten planners. I have found that if I always try to be productive with my time, that things get done. Perhaps not always according to priority or in a timely manner, but done nevertheless.

In another forum, Tiddler suggested that other people were our biggest problem. I believe there is something to her statement. If you pace your performance and expectations to be in sync with those of others, then you will end up with anxieties etc. Pace yourself to what extent you can, to what is right for you. Don’t try to micromanage your improvements, look to improve over time, not day by day. Otherwise you’ll get depressed and drive yourself crazy. (Like the dude in my Haloween avatar. 😆 )

REPORT ABUSE

[Scattybird]

Violexie0071 – I know what you mean about the TO DO list and prioritising. All my to dos are As as well!

My to do list is long and overwhelming. One tip I picked up from the book ‘ADD-Friendly ways to organise your life’ by Kolberg and Nadeau was to use a ‘stubby’.

What you do is pick one or two items from your to do list. I prioritise based on deadlines. What’s shouting at me loudest? I try to select a larger item and a small item. Those two ‘to dos’ are then transferred to a small notebook – or to a post-it note – write them in BIG letters. I use thick marker pen. So for that day my focus is on just two tasks from the otherwise overwhelming main list.

Be realistic with how many things are on your stubby. It is not meant to be a duplicate of your main list. Stick to one or two things and see how good you feel when they’re done.

Break tasks down into do-able chunks. Work out what your deadlines are and use those as a means of prioritising.

Re your Dad. It’s probably best not to get into a deep discussion with him about ADHD from what you’ve said?

Have you seen Russell Barkley’s book ‘Taking charge of adult ADHD’? It might be a good one to leave lying around for him to read. He might do that out of curiosity when you’re out of the house. Or watch some of his (Barkley’s) YouTube videos with the sound up so he can hear.

If it’s any consolation, it’s normal to go through a range of emotions from fright to worry to anger to acceptance and finally to really realising that this is who you are, these are the techniques you need to adopt and maybe meds will help and if so great. It’s who you are, so embrace that, work with your skills and be positive.

REPORT ABUSE

[Scattybird]

Haha KC – you beat me to it! You weren’t there when I started. It’s that demon avatar – you’re typing faster.

You’re right about using your time wisely and things getting done. I must remember that!

I read the other day ‘progress not perfection’. Seems like a good strategy.

REPORT ABUSE

[Violexie0071]

Thanks guys. My dad is more passive than my mom but he also didn’t believe migraines were real until morning after morning of me waking up crying and vomiting in high school.

My mom is more the authority in the household. She is weary but at least she is behind me somewhat. I still doubt she really believes in ADD either.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts