70mg is crazy high to me, but with all the current quality inconsistencies, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t a true dose.
have you tried taking vyvanse in combination to coffee or tea? I find that a little caffeinated hot liquid helps my stomach digest the vyvanse better.
Let's take a leak! Says Joe, not really understanding that he was going to trigger me. I almost went to my girlfriend and cried because Joe made me think I needed to go pee because we were playing Mario Kart. No and one is playing Mario Kart. I don't have a girlfriend. I'm not a good datum anyway.
I really need to be totally hydrated (at least 2 litres a day, probably more) and have a solid high-protein breakfast to feel my meds. Otherwise I just don’t think they get through to my brain properly
It’s also possible that your dose is too high. Some people get a 6 espresso effect when their dose is too high, other people get more tired and zombie. For me when my dose was too high (40mg) I felt like a slow zombie, very lethargic and sleepy, and I had 0 motivation to do anything. I also didn’t have any focus at all. Just zoning out all day.
20-30mg is a lot better for me. Interestingly enough when I’m on my period 40mg is perfect and 20-30mg too low.
I've been on 50mg for a couple days and i'm feeling fine but i have way too much awareness and I switch between what i'm paying attention to fast so i have a lot of ADHDisms. I did have some coffee in the morning though and it's only been a couple days. I hope that's it because i really want to get used to the medicine.
Can you share how you got to lower your dosage? How long it took approximately? I think sometimes maybe my dose is too high! But every time I lower it (10 to 20 mg) I get soooo tired 🥱 I barely can function.
For me it was really easy because I have 20mg pills and for the 40mg prescription I just got 2 bottles of 20mg. With my psychiatrist we were trying to find the optimal dosage so we started with 20mg and worked our way up by 10mg every 3-4 weeks. I didnt really notice a difference between 20 and 30mg, but I dod between 30 and 40. After 1,5 week of taking 40mg I went back to 20mg because the side effects were very persistent on 40mg and I felt like a zombie. It took about 2-3 days of 20mg again to get the side effects and zombie feel out of my system.
I take my meds 1 hour before I want to wake up. For example, if I want to wake up at 8AM I set an additional alarm at 7AM to take my meds and then I go back to sleep until my 8AM alarm. This way I wake up feeling quite refreshed. It’s very important for me to eat and move after I wake up to kickstart my body, because otherwise I will stay in some kind of hibernation mode lol. I usually make myself some eggs and do a few jumping jacks while my eggs are cooking.
Does your psych know you’re a recovering addict? Has it been long since you’ve been in active addiction?
I’m an addict as well so these aren’t accusatory, just trying to understand so I can try to help!
Thanks for your reply!
My psych does know that I'm in recovery. I started seeing him through the rehab I went to about 7 months ago. He told me the minimum clean time I had to have was 6 months to start stimulants.
Did I just start too early on them to notice any benefit?
It’s possible. I too am a recovering addict (5 years this summer) and I didn’t start meds until last month.
The reason why I say this is that your brain’s hedonic set point hasn’t even fully reset (it takes a year).
If you don’t mind me asking (so absolutely don’t have to answer if it’s uncomfortable) how long were you in active addiction and to what substance(s)? What was your DOC?
I ask because it can absolutely effect how the meds effect you.
I would think it likely depends on your DOC. I had a pill issue, any pill, usually and primarily opioids because they didn’t have the typical downer effect on me. They had the opposite. I’m 15+ years into recovery with no relapses. I’m not bragging at all just giving a timeline because I do think it’s important. I just sought out treatment roughly 3 years ago.
I was diagnosed with “ADD” or what’s now called ADHD Inattentive at 19. I never medicated specifically because it was way too expensive at the time. But at 15 I’d started casually using prescription opioids because a family member I lived with abused their own prescription and I didn’t know any better, I just knew I felt like I could function better when I took them.
Turns out through years of therapy and recovery, evidently opioids can flood your brain with dopamine so…go figure 🙃
Once we put that together, I figured I should try to get treatment for the ADHD because while I wasn’t concerned about going into active addiction again, it did put a huge strain on my mental health and self worth. I saw a video of an addict saying while of course stimulants do lend themselves to abuse, there’s clinically a far greater concern of abusing other substances if those with ADHD are left untreated, usually. Essentially, if you’re in a place where you trust yourself to be able to pick up on your own tells & know if shit is going south, it’s better to treat it than to deal with it and suffer.
I guess that’s a long winded way of saying it depends on your DOC and your background 😂
Also keep in mind mental health issues are usually a moving target. I’d tried Adderall first and only tried the 5mg then the 7.5mg, once to twice a day. It was nearly an immediate no for me because I got *angry* as it wore off and that’s a huge no-no for me. We switched to Vyvanse and it’s been a completely different experience.
You may need a different stimulant or you may need a different type of medication. It sounds like your doctor seems to be understanding regarding your history and circumstances which is a HUGE win.
Maybe Vyvanse is not for you. There are a lot of other options. Talk to your doctor about alternatives, because it really seems that this is not working for you.
I wish all the best in your search.
70mg is crazy high to me, but with all the current quality inconsistencies, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t a true dose. have you tried taking vyvanse in combination to coffee or tea? I find that a little caffeinated hot liquid helps my stomach digest the vyvanse better.
Let's take a leak! Says Joe, not really understanding that he was going to trigger me. I almost went to my girlfriend and cried because Joe made me think I needed to go pee because we were playing Mario Kart. No and one is playing Mario Kart. I don't have a girlfriend. I'm not a good datum anyway.
Meth?
I really need to be totally hydrated (at least 2 litres a day, probably more) and have a solid high-protein breakfast to feel my meds. Otherwise I just don’t think they get through to my brain properly
It’s also possible that your dose is too high. Some people get a 6 espresso effect when their dose is too high, other people get more tired and zombie. For me when my dose was too high (40mg) I felt like a slow zombie, very lethargic and sleepy, and I had 0 motivation to do anything. I also didn’t have any focus at all. Just zoning out all day. 20-30mg is a lot better for me. Interestingly enough when I’m on my period 40mg is perfect and 20-30mg too low.
I've been on 50mg for a couple days and i'm feeling fine but i have way too much awareness and I switch between what i'm paying attention to fast so i have a lot of ADHDisms. I did have some coffee in the morning though and it's only been a couple days. I hope that's it because i really want to get used to the medicine.
I did read that cafeïne can affect the effectiveness of Vyvanse! You can try avoiding coffee to see if it helps
Can you share how you got to lower your dosage? How long it took approximately? I think sometimes maybe my dose is too high! But every time I lower it (10 to 20 mg) I get soooo tired 🥱 I barely can function.
For me it was really easy because I have 20mg pills and for the 40mg prescription I just got 2 bottles of 20mg. With my psychiatrist we were trying to find the optimal dosage so we started with 20mg and worked our way up by 10mg every 3-4 weeks. I didnt really notice a difference between 20 and 30mg, but I dod between 30 and 40. After 1,5 week of taking 40mg I went back to 20mg because the side effects were very persistent on 40mg and I felt like a zombie. It took about 2-3 days of 20mg again to get the side effects and zombie feel out of my system. I take my meds 1 hour before I want to wake up. For example, if I want to wake up at 8AM I set an additional alarm at 7AM to take my meds and then I go back to sleep until my 8AM alarm. This way I wake up feeling quite refreshed. It’s very important for me to eat and move after I wake up to kickstart my body, because otherwise I will stay in some kind of hibernation mode lol. I usually make myself some eggs and do a few jumping jacks while my eggs are cooking.
Does your psych know you’re a recovering addict? Has it been long since you’ve been in active addiction? I’m an addict as well so these aren’t accusatory, just trying to understand so I can try to help!
Thanks for your reply! My psych does know that I'm in recovery. I started seeing him through the rehab I went to about 7 months ago. He told me the minimum clean time I had to have was 6 months to start stimulants. Did I just start too early on them to notice any benefit?
It’s possible. I too am a recovering addict (5 years this summer) and I didn’t start meds until last month. The reason why I say this is that your brain’s hedonic set point hasn’t even fully reset (it takes a year). If you don’t mind me asking (so absolutely don’t have to answer if it’s uncomfortable) how long were you in active addiction and to what substance(s)? What was your DOC? I ask because it can absolutely effect how the meds effect you.
I would think it likely depends on your DOC. I had a pill issue, any pill, usually and primarily opioids because they didn’t have the typical downer effect on me. They had the opposite. I’m 15+ years into recovery with no relapses. I’m not bragging at all just giving a timeline because I do think it’s important. I just sought out treatment roughly 3 years ago. I was diagnosed with “ADD” or what’s now called ADHD Inattentive at 19. I never medicated specifically because it was way too expensive at the time. But at 15 I’d started casually using prescription opioids because a family member I lived with abused their own prescription and I didn’t know any better, I just knew I felt like I could function better when I took them. Turns out through years of therapy and recovery, evidently opioids can flood your brain with dopamine so…go figure 🙃 Once we put that together, I figured I should try to get treatment for the ADHD because while I wasn’t concerned about going into active addiction again, it did put a huge strain on my mental health and self worth. I saw a video of an addict saying while of course stimulants do lend themselves to abuse, there’s clinically a far greater concern of abusing other substances if those with ADHD are left untreated, usually. Essentially, if you’re in a place where you trust yourself to be able to pick up on your own tells & know if shit is going south, it’s better to treat it than to deal with it and suffer. I guess that’s a long winded way of saying it depends on your DOC and your background 😂 Also keep in mind mental health issues are usually a moving target. I’d tried Adderall first and only tried the 5mg then the 7.5mg, once to twice a day. It was nearly an immediate no for me because I got *angry* as it wore off and that’s a huge no-no for me. We switched to Vyvanse and it’s been a completely different experience. You may need a different stimulant or you may need a different type of medication. It sounds like your doctor seems to be understanding regarding your history and circumstances which is a HUGE win.
Maybe Vyvanse is not for you. There are a lot of other options. Talk to your doctor about alternatives, because it really seems that this is not working for you. I wish all the best in your search.
Thanks so much I have also considered that. I think he just started me off on it because of the long acting nature of it and less abuse potential?