Vyvanse Experience?

Question

I wanted to post this just to see the responses from other people taking this medicine in the community. If anyone is kind enough to read the entire post I will be very appreciative.

I always had terrible grades in high school, but me and everyone else knew I was smart. There was potential in me. I figured maybe it was just high school getting me down, and I just needed a fresh start in college to get things going. I felt like I had just been lazy.

I have always been known as the type of person to have huge aspirations, but never follow through with plans, ever. Because I breezed through high school with a 2.3 GPA, I couldn't even get in to some of the community colleges in the area. After taking a semester at Ivy Tech, I soon started noticing the same tenancies from high school following me to college. Around Christmas of 2010, we figured it was time to give a ADD medication a serious thought.

I first tried 10 and 20 mg doses of Aderal XR, but I either didn't notice a difference or I turned into a tempter tantrum throwing monster. I would get furious about things that weren't even happening. One night I was looking for a computer cable that didn't exist and I yelled at my dad and stomped my feet on the floor like a child. That wasn't me.

So I told my doctor this news and he asked me to give Vyvanse a try. I was then put on a 50 mg dose that was to be taken daily. I figured I would take it when I felt I needed it, as to not OD or become dependent. I took the first pill and felt it within about 10 minutes. This time increment seems to become longer and longer as I continue to take it. It is a hard feeling to explain, but I can really tell when it kicks in. I feel like I could take on anything. ANYTHING!

I have been taking it all spring, summer, and right now actually. I either use it right before school or before working early in the morning. It really helps me focus and feel alert for a very long time. almost too long though. Sometimes I will take it before work at 6:30 a.m. and then still feel to wired to sleep around midnight.

I have had a tendency to develop twitches or ticks. Really just random spasm such as cracking my neck or rolling my shoulder, when really it isn't helping relieve the ache or "fake" pain that I am feeling in that area, just making it worse really. This happens either after taking the medicine at work or the day after while I am not on it.

I have recently started to notice an urge to grind my teeth, but somehow my body naturally reacts by biting my bottom softly, almost as another tick. I have also been noticing extremely bad cotton mouth. To the point that I almost feel like I am trying to swallow saliva that is extremely sticky and it will make me choke unless I chew gum or take a quick drink of water. That comes and goes though really.

If there is a real question I need answered in all of this is if anyone feels that my dosage is too high. Or maybe I should only take another low dose for work and this one for school.

The scariest side effects I have noticed is loss of sexual drive and sleep paralysis. I am 20 as of 4 days ago, I don't feel I should be unmotivated to meet girls. I almost feel like I have forgotten previous sexual experiences...
The sleep paralysis is very scary to me as well. It isn't full paralysis, but most just when I can calm myself down enough to sleep there is a millisecond where I feel an almost out of body experience. My legs and hands go from tingly to completely paralyzed for a few seconds and I am conscious of this until the point where I feel the out of body feeling and immediately freak out and wake up. This happens about 15 times sometimes. It is usually after I have taken a pill a day for about 4-5 days. Where the ticks become worse.

As I have heard other people mention, I naturally talk a ton in conversation without vyvanse. (as you can see now :P) But on my medication I find that whatever task is in front of me I feel the need to do it to no end. So if i am engaged in conversation... it never stops. Even if I tell myself to.

Other mild side effects I have noticed are irritability after the initial rush of medicine has worn off. Very slight shaking hands about 5 hours into the medication. Sometimes feel cold or sweat excessively at night or at work. I am an excellent driving, maybe I just jinxed myself, but I have always been very careful and alert while drive. No tunnel vision or crossing lanes. But I really don't trust my driving while on this medicine. I almost feel like my outer peripheral vision is blurred or I just can't focus on it. Or I will find myself so deep in thought, analyzing every last detail of an idea, that I am kinda off the road. No OFF but just like I was in a dream and kinda drifting to one side. The ticks seem to have gotten worse. I am lazy if I don't take it the next day. I feel like I am going to pass out if I skip 2 days.

There are many positives that easily equal or top the negatives.

Since taking this drug, I have noticed an increased interest in school. If I feel I have a good idea I hang on to it and try to take the necessary steps to complete this idea, until the effects ware off. I am extremely organized now. I tend to save money that I would normally spend without the medicine on dumb things like candy, fast food, soda, movies, video games, and fancy restaurants with friends. I can now create plans for saving my money and it may have made me lose weight, but I am 130 on a healthy diet. It is just my body. I will notice weight gains of 5-10 pounds after not taking it for maybe a week. I will just get cravings for junk food. But not on Vyvanse. I am also making attempts to do home, because actually, I want to now. If I don't take it on a day that I have time off to work on it, I just kinda think "homework... eh... maybe later" and do something nonproductive. So this can sometimes ruin the progress that my Vyvanse self has set into motion. I am also usually intimidated to talk to new people, ask questions, and just be myself. But when the effects kick in I feel like everyone is my friend and I feel an extreme amount of compassion for people that have hurt my feelings or I maybe just don't get along with very well anymore. I tend to get so many great ideas that I can't really remember them unless I write them down or start on them somehow before the rush of the medicine starts calming down. Because at that point I start to forget simple things or at least have an annoying feeling that I had this big huge this I was going to do... but can't seem to pinpoint what it was. I have so far not felt a physical dependence to this drug. There is a psychological need. I feel it will be very helpful to school and success in general. But more the opposite of an addiction. I kinda hate feeling irritable, annoying, forgetful, fidgety/ticks, suppressed sexual drive, drained of energy, and that I need medication like this in the first place.

A co-worker of mine comes to work on her period sometimes, and says she feels like crap. Yet she has the same drive as I don't on medication. It makes me feel bad that I cannot naturally possess this quality that makes the people around me successful. I see the potential in myself, I see my end goals and dreams, but the steps between are hazy and scary. I hate to question whether I will just give up and not learn from my past mistakes.

I'd truly love if someone could shed some insight or guiding light for my life on this drug or a healthier solution without it. I would also like to congratulate and thank you from the bottom of my heart for actually reading through this entire post.

I will also be hoping to hear from other similar experiences and maybe how you dealt with them.

Please bump if you liked this, so more people can see my story. Thanks
Hayden

Answer

My mum took me to doc with symptoms (odd behaviour & would not sleep - my family's notes say that back in 1973 the Doc said
"that's because he's got so many thoughts going around in his brain"
- my Auntie Anne remembers that conversation with my mother, I was only approx 12 months old.

Now 48 years later & around 45 years of depression ( since age 4) I finally get a diagnosis privately in England of ADHD + Autism+ HyperMania.

Back at start of 2008, the first NHS Psychiatrist I saw (aged 35) said nothing was going on for me unusually, just a minor depressed mood & minor elevated mood.
I got a second opinion in late 2008 & that NHS Psychiatrist diagnosis was of "ADD or ADHD" ( is that even a diagnosis! ).
I had Concerta ( Cocaine related stimulant ) from 2008-2021.

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It stopped working after around 9 months and despite 2 medical letters from clinician in 2008 & 2009, the NHS never ever did the 6 monthly to yearly reviews that they had been instructed to do by the Psychiatrist.
I have been a smoker ( a massive 40% of ADHD older people are ) & on anti-depressants for most of my adult life (over 25 years ).

I too got angry - rage - I didn't know that could be connected to my Concerta use - interesting point. I managed to control it & it went away with Anger Management awareness therapy.

I used to also, like you, "Crack my neck" & also my fingers, from about 2008 -2013 on Concerta - and the pain in my neck got worse after cracking, but I felt I HAD to do it...
- eventually a back & neck alternative health bloke explained that all to me
- it's synaptual/ Synovial fluid sacs "cracking" ~ actually you are just moving the fluid~
and you just make them worse by doing so. So he told me to just STOP, deal with the pain for a couple of weeks or so and then it will go away for life - he was right!

Then I stopped the anti-depressants & Concerta in early June 2021 & started on Elvanse 1 x 30mg. I went up within a week to 2x30mg as I had these massive crashes about 2pm in afternoon as it wore off. But is was brilliant - life changing - I am re-born. It's just like being age 3 & 4 again & discovering the world again, but with a bit of a difference in my personality & these new wonderful supplements called amphetamines ( Speed ).

Avoid extra Vitamin C and also any Prozac (fluoxetine) or citalopram or venlafaxine with either dextroamphetamine or Elvanse - see drugs .com for medical notes.

But with some nasty side effects - awful cluster migraine headaches - sorted those with a blood pressure med - Amlodipine 5mg ~ only needed for 1 or 2 months max, as high blood pressure normally drops - see med pubs. ( avoid Grapefruit juice on it though - see med warning.)
but people should take it as Psychiatrist or medical publication research says - ie first thing in morning when your taking your Elvanse ( and not when my Pharmacist told me - last thing b4 bed). Avoid alcohol ! - that also stopped the cluster migraines coming back.

Also DOMS - muscle stiffness in thighs, then really totally painful very deep tendon & muscle tightness in my glutes - my bum. They got better once I addressed the " crash" issue you mention.

I told my GP about side effects ~ no good info from them~ but then I googled it & talked to Psychiatrist ~ he said I was spot on in my self diagnosis & he very kindly explained that there are medical guidance notes that if you are on Elvase that often people also need to be on a seperate set of 2 or 3 doses of dexamphetamine. So we tritrated me down to 30mg Elvanse first thing in morning with 5mg of Dexie. Dexie helped me function a bit to get out of bed & work out how to make breakfast & how to try start planning my day. Then Elvanse kicked in about 9am & helped me function like a really happy get up & not loose focus person. Until about a 3-6pm crash. So then another 5mg Dexie. then a final 5mg dexamphetaminebefore bed.
But it all depends on what I am doing . If I am doing interviews or office filing or project management in the office or report writing, then I need all of the above.
But on days when I am swimming, or chainsawing or rock climbing , then I just change meds to only 5 or 10mg to get me out of bed, then 5 - 10mg max ( if any ) in later afternoon or evening.
And if I am just having a rest day, then no meds. But two or 3 rest days & that old chaos comes back, so I am not going there.
And not a day's depression since the end of the first week. It's been life changing, but a ultra challenge to change diet ( see other people's posts - mast cells & flavonoids, avoiding histamine foods, citrus fruits making dexamphetamine & Elvanse weaker ).

You say " guiding light for my life on this drug or a healthier solution without it."
Look into mast cells & flavonoids, avoiding histamine.

The suicide thoughts & plans have gone. The perception (6th sense ) has got even stronger
- I remember that from so early on aged 4 ). But the hyper focus has got too strong & it's hard to switch off. Also really positive is some of social skills are re-appearing - hopefully permanently this time?
But I still have a need for a autism & ADHD support worker, personal assistant & secretary all in one - great thing is now I can focus enough to interview & employ them, hopefully for 15-25 hours a week.
I am trying to learn how to do house work like cleaning. I wish to learn how to shop, do nutrician & plan & time meals. I am good in ONE room with house work, but my 4 bed house is a real challenge for me that I am working on getting organised.

Everyone says how tidy my farm is ( for a farm... ) but I want it much tidier.

Same as you; I have so far not felt any physical dependence to this drug. There is a psychological need - but I been telling my GP doctor that since 1997 & again &again & again : I always said all I need is a chemical to "switch" my depression off - and the totally amazing thing is now I have found it - that these awfully painful internal 1000 thoughts a second are now just these peaceful 1000 ideas a second that are happily floating around in my head.

oh & the 24 years of IBS cramps & diarrhoea have just stopped last month too - ADHD & Autism & Hyper Mania, plus some Histamine issues are all connected with both brain & gut chemicals in my opinion.

Answer

Hey Hayden, I see I am very late to responding to this question, maybe someone else will read this, but I understand what you're explaining and a lot of what you were feeling is common 'side effects' (or just, 'effects') of stimulants, especially Adderall , Vyvanse, and related medications, which are actually both amphetamines in their chemical structure, considered to be parent drugs to methamphetamine. these work differently compared to other stimulants or more natural stimulants, things like the sweats/chills, train of thought going in a direction then disconnecting from whatever you're actually doing then forgetting about it later, getting wrapped up in a specific object, task, then not finishing what you intended to when you started. I would ask your doctor about it and tell them how youve been feeling. I wish you the best!

Answer

Hey Hayden,
I know this is a pretty old post that I'm commenting on. But recently I've been on vyvanse as well. For the past four days, I've been having as my mom likes to call them "nightmares" when really it's sleep paralysis I believe. I'm getting really scared and worried to go to sleep at this point honestly and I don't know what else to do. This sounds silly to some people when I tell them but I have a constant fear of the girl in the movie the Grudge, and she's CONSTANTLY in my sleep paralysis "dreams" every single TIME. I'm deathly afraid and I have no idea how to make them stop. The sleep paralysis is no other terrors, demons or figures. It's the same thing over and over of her crawling on me and making the weird noise she does in the movie. I wake up so terrified I'm sweating and gasping for breath. Although.

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Being on the medication helps me focus at work and school but I'm not sure if being off of it completely will help? I'm much more anxious and nervous it seems all the time lately from this. Any advice? Let me know what you think.

Answer

Thanks for reading and replying everyone. I have been off vyvanse for about 3 months now. I have to say, its a mixture of good and bad. I expected the loss of energy, but I also gained weight and seem to have more trouble remembering simple procedures. Just my memory in general seems terrible. Depression and mood swings happen now and then but nothing too bad. I don't feel cloudy like when I take it, but I do feel as though now I can't remember important information after it was just said to me. I am telling myself to remember to listen, meanwhile I am not listening. But I am going to go without it, because I felt it was too much of a crutch that made my life fly by faster than I'd like.

Answer

Hayden, when I take vyvanse I feel it "kick~in" to, I can take just one && automatically feel it, sometimes my heart beats really fast && I breathe really hard. I also get the cold chills &' or hot flashes , They make me feel very weird & also keep me awake, in my opinion I would ask your doctor about this && tell him your reactions to the medication. They could be able to tell you if you needed a lower dosage or needed them at all better than we could.

Answer

Hi Hayden,

I am not a doctor but it sounds like maybe you are not on the correct medicine or even dosage. I was under the impression that you need to take Vyvanse every day. It took me a good 3 weeks to get through the side effects and get used to it. Please don't give up and I agree with the other person that suggested you have a doc or psychiatrist read that post. I have ADD and anxiety/depression disorder and it took me a long time to accept the fact that i have these things. I sometimes look around at other people and ask myself why can't I be "normal" like them but I realized that everybody has something and that has really helped me to acceptance. I also am involved in an anxiety support group and looking into a ADHD support group. Along with all of that I see a counselor on a weekly basis which really helps me. I hope you can get some relief out of my response. Best wishes to you.

Answer

hell o hayden ... i did care enough to read your story ... in my opinion i would copy this letter an let a proffesinal read it... i no you have it in you to do great things... BUT something is holding you back... plz let a phychricist read this... good luck an let me no what happens

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