First day on Vyvanse, what should I expect?

congrats for the prescription! i’m just gonna talk about my experience with the vyvanse and see if it’ll help. it affects everyone differently, but i’d found that taking info from other’s experiences helped me figure out what did and didn’t work.

also, let me point out the my doctor had me ween off my 450mg dose (large dose) bupropion, because vyvanse combined with bupropion can lead to serotonin syndrome and “brain zaps”. my doctor started me at 10mg vyvanse for this reason, and over a month span, i stopped my wellbutrin. i recommend you talk to your doctor about that as well.

this is gonna be long cuz i’m writing it for myself too. i’ve never written my experience with vyvanse.

so tl;dr: it should help you with all of ur problems. don’t abuse your medication, and put in the work necessary to allow your medication to help. vyvanse will help so much, but it won’t fix anything. you’re the one that’s gotta work.

so here’s my full experience so far:

i started with 10– one a day for a week, two a day for the next week, and three for the week after until i ran out. i’m on my third month now on 20mg (second month on this dose). i also binge ate for different reasons but never gained much weight fortunately. the vyvanse helps immensely with both ADHD and bing eating. after this prescription ran out (and a very intense mushroom trip), i no longer take bupropion, and while still dealing with anxiety, have not faced a depressive episode in months.

you will probably have to figure out some things to work past — nausea, having to time when you eat to avoid said nausea, seeing how coffee affects you (also if it’s nauseating). come to think of it, i think most of the problems i’ve dealt with are nausea related. i find that eating a granola bar alongside taking the pill helps completely.

throughout the next months you’ll be making lifestyle changes to accommodate for how the vyvanse helps your attention. i now journal, read, and write to-do lists to organize my daily life. i lost maybe 10 pounds because there were days i would forget to eat because of how minimal my appetite was. now i snack on some peanuts, beef jerky, etc. (high protein snacks) throughout the day. my psych said that’d be a good way to adjust and it has been so far.

i notice now the 20mg doesn’t do as much since i got this last prescription a couple days ago. i had like 7 days between having run out and filling my prescription, and i thought it would have affected my tolerance different, but yeah the 20mg is noticeably different— weaker isn’t the right word, because it still keeps me way more focused. i think i would like to move up to the 30.

i’m way more comfortable around people now. back four months ago without my vyvanse, i struggled with keeping my mind clear, and therefore struggled with articulating thoughts. i’m getting much further (reading helps—i just couldn’t read without my medication) and still have progress to make, but i think the longer i treat the ADHD for, the more organized everything in my life will be.

i will forever be conscious of the abuse aspect of the vyvanse. i don’t take it if i don’t need it. day to myself, no errands, plans or tasks? then i don’t take it. i usually don’t take it on weekends either. i do that because i want to give my tolerance a break every now and then. i also however, will take 2 of my pills if i know i have a really busy day ahead that also involves socializing. that’s partly why i waited to get my refill. a good buddy of mine had to really fight adderall addiction. he still struggles and he’s been sober for half a year. it’s easy to build a tolerance and keep moving up doses. i’m under the impression that the abuse factor is way higher with adderall than vyvanse.

also! i saw discussion on reddit today about the highs and lows of adderall, and a lot of people on vyvanse said they don’t really experience that. i know that i don’t either. what works for me is this: wake up at 7, leave for work at 7:30 and take my pill and eat a nature valley bar, get to work at 8:00 and i’m starting to wake up and focus to get ready for my day. then, i’ll leave the warehouse (i’m a delivery driver) by 8:45, then get coffee by 9:30 (depending on how my stomach feels). i notice when i drink the coffee, it pronounces the effects, and then i ride that wave of focus and good tidings for pretty much the whole day. i’ll get home around 3-5, kick my feet up, smoke a doobie, and still feel the focus.

i also notice that on the days i don’t take it, i still feel focused. much better than when i was never prescribed anything. the effects will last. i notice that with adderall, it’s very short term, which opens doors to abuse — similar to xanax. amphetamines are nice and real helpful, but you gotta be aware of the dangers you can run yourself into.

you’ll notice the euphoria, the edge, the additional amicability that the drug initially gives. it’ll fade away after a month. that’s gonna kinda suck, but that’s when you also will realize how much it’s helping!! don’t rush to up your dosage. i was told i’m on a particularly low dose earlier on this sub, but i’m kinda fine with that. i wanna take my time moving up.

i think you’ll find out that it affects everyone differently. you’ll find out what methods of taking vyvanse work for you—whether it’s via water, alongside food, before/after food, before your coffee but after your food, after your food but 3 hours before your coffee— you’ll find it all out. i’ve noticed so far that it is a lot of trial and error, pretty much

/r/adderall Thread