10 Things You Should Know About Vyvanse
This article was written by a new addition to our team who has significant personal experience with the ADHD medication Vyvanse.
None of the ADHD medications I had tried, Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera and Wellbutrin had helped me much. Vyvanse has.
First, I go over 10 things I’ve learned from taking Vyvanse for about a year that may help you if you are taking or considering taking it.
These are things you can pretty much only know if you have been taking it for a while – that would have made my life a lot easier had I known when I was starting!
And if you want to learn more about ADHD, see here.
The 10 Things You Should Know About Vyvanse
1) Vyvanse is extremely long lasting
Its half life is about 9 and a half hours give or take an hour or two. That means that in most people, the medication has some effect for up to 14 hours! But there is more to the story – see element 8.
2)You can take Vyvanse daily
You can take it every single day of the week, every day of the month, and every month of the year – and it still works!
You hear all the time about people saying they develop tolerance to ADHD medications or they stop working – so I was very scared. I didn’t want to take Vyvanse every day because it helped so much and I couldn’t stand the thought of it not working anymore. But thankfully, it seems you can take it daily and it still works!
Online ADHD/ADD diagnostic test
3) At the right dose, you might start thinking that it isn’t working anymore eventually.
It seems that a lot of people who take ADHD medications, when they find the right dose and are consistently taking it, don’t really feel like it is doing anything.
Which is wonderful! Because, for me at least, it means that my personality and who I am are 100% intact – I take Vyvanse and I feel like it doesn’t do anything (but it does!)
Now when I tell you that the Vyvanse still works for me and that I very often worry it has stopped working, you may feel doubtful. The reason I can say this for sure is that if I try a slightly higher dose, say 50mg instead of 40mg, then I feel way, way, overfocused. If the 40mg had stopped working, this would not be the case.
4) Vyvanse is d-amphetamine
It turns out that Adderall is made out of d and l-amphetamines. The l-amphetamine type may be responsible for the weird feeling some people get on Adderall. It does provide more of a motivational kick, however – but I much rather not have it and feel like myself.
5) Vyvanse is mostly digested in the blood so what you eat likely won’t affect it so much
With some ADHD medications, your diet content really affects how the drug is released. It turns out that with Vyvanse, most of the action takes place in the blood. This means that your diet likely won’t affect it so much, but I still don’t drink orange juice in the morning on it.
6) It takes an hour to kick in, and two hours to fully kick in
I take Vyvanse in the morning with a cup of water and have a snack 20 minutes later. It starts having an effect I can notice at 20 minutes and is ‘fully’ operational (to the point where I trust myself to send emails or work on something) at about 1 hour.
7) Exercising does not seem to change its effects very much. I can get a 20 minute high intensity cardio work out and still feel the Vyvanse working normally. This is very important because I love exercising.
8) It becomes weaker at night
When I first took Vyvanse, I felt the difference from 9am in the morning to 9pm at night. With time, I felt like it stopped working at 7pm and then, increasingly, that it stopped at 5pm. 9am to 5pm is 8 hours. I started getting depressed and was not able to do things past 5pm; figuring out what’s really going on got me back on track.
At 5pm or 8 hours in, the levels of Vyvanse are about 60% of their peak (for me, at least, and in my estimation).
At 7pm, or 10 hours in, the levels are about 40% of their peak.
At 10pm, or 13 hours in, they are at about 20% of their peak.
How do I know all this? First, this is my personal experience. Second, I am basing it off my experiments with Dexedrine instant release. See the next item.
9) I think there are about 3.3mg of Vyvanse to 1mg of Dexedrine instant release. I can’t find a number from a reputable site for conversion, but this ratio seems to work and I’ve heard it in several places.
This is important because I’ve found that I need to start taking small doses of Dexedrine at night to keep my levels of d-amphetamine where they need to be (yes, I know how horrible that sounds. ADHD is not always fun.)
What that means is as follows: I now take 2.5mg of Dexedrine IR at 6-7pm, 2.5mg at 8pm, and ~4mg more somewhere around 9-10pm. (This is all based on my taking Vyvanse at 9am but I usually take it earlier these days. When I started, I was so depressed that I was sleeping a lot.)
The reason this is important to you is that you may have a similar experience to mine in that you might need to work on things that take focus or need ADHD symptom relief even at night. Vyvanse works really, really long, but at the low dose it is at night, I simply can’t function in what is now ‘normal’ to me.
10) Being on Vyvanse for a year has given me stability
I have had more than 40 hobbies in my life and I’m just a college student. I would go from learning calligraphy, to conducting medical research, to crashing parties, to bike riding, to swimming, to hip hop dance, to studying infectious diseases to… you get the drift.
The ads for Vyvanse say something like “consistently Vyvanse.” I hate ads and you do too, probably. But, for the first time in my life, someone called me ‘consistent.’
If being consistent means sticking with a job and performing well, getting promoted and professional recognition, studying for classes, developing meaningful friendships and relationships over time, being able to remember things that happen to me – being happy, sure I’ll take it.
Even if the ADHD part of me does not, does not in any way shape of form like being called ‘consistent.’ =)
Adult ADHD:
ADHD can be different in adults than children. If you are concerned that you might have ADHD and are over 18, see an ADHD Test Made For Adults.
And knowing the 4 Secrets to Success with ADHD may make your life a lot easier.
Related Articles:
ADHD and ADD Online Diagnostic Test
ADHD/ADD Natural Remedy Report
Overcoming ADHD: A Guide for Parents
Worried mom…i am too…i did not assume anything…however ,many times they say your child is add without thorough testing…they can have other problems along with add…..1st School testing was not accurate for my son , they just wanted us to med him..then i paid for testing and another testingvfrom the school..tests were far different which designated learning disabilites..the spec.ed 9assistance was what was needed….some parents dont want their child labled but the sooner u find out the better…wasted over 1 yr trying to get meds right…son in third grade with dangerous side effects ..follow your instincts…i told him just keep learning grades dont matter, son is now 18..talented, artistic, athletic, loves science ,loves learning,track,working,in college, .. still not a good student..but a great person ..
Okay, mate, you sound like a Shire cheerleader to me.
First things first: I was diagnosed with ADD and prescribed on Vyvanse. I loved it and it worked wonders. At least at first.
For me it was subtle. I started out with 20mg and things were fine a dandy: I got homework done, I finished projects early, I even paid attention in Statistics. My notebooks were literally full cover to cover. I didn’t miss a thing! It was great! I soon got bumped up to 50mg because the 20mg was no longer effective. Things continued all rosy and rainbows until the second semester. You see, I’m an actor, I’m outgoing, I prioritize people over grades. Vyvanse put an end to that. I still took acting classes and my notes were full, but my personality had become so dead inside that every time I tried out for a play or musical, I’d get EXTREMELY anxious and stressed and ultimately fail. Which is weird because in High School I was in every single production they put on. I loved the stage. I loved pretending to be different people. I loved theater. And yet, on Vyvanse, I became a shrinking violet! I spent HOURS in the library researching stuff at school and HOURS online researching stuff at home. I didn’t eat much, I lost A LOT of weight, and I slowly drifted away from my friends. I became a loner. An intelligent, A-Grade making loner, but still a loner. And so I stopped taking it. My mother tried to stop me, saying stuff like “But you’re doing so well in school”, but I flat out refused to take it anymore. I felt like a robot, cold, unfeeling and dead inside.
Vyvanse is a hell of a drug. If you can handle it and don’t mind losing all traces of personality and humor within you, good for you have a cookie. It’s as if Vyvanse totally and completely suppresses any “Right Brain” functions. I couldn’t daydream, I couldn’t act, I couldn’t talk right, I wasn’t funny anymore, and worst of all I couldn’t imagine anything! I literally had trouble daydreaming!! On the flip side, however, “Left Brain” functions are heightened and become extremely dominate. The “Left Brain” becomes the “Whole Brain”, to put it simply. You do have more concentration, but you almost focus TOO much. You pay more attention to detail, but you can become a bit OCD, as in you will become obsessed with one thing and won’t stop until it is fully complete. You do have better control over emotions, but you are limited to having only three emotions (Sadness, Anger, and Indifference). You do take fantastic notes, but you no longer doodle nor do you daydream. You do process information better, but you can no longer use your imagination. It’s like the perfect drug for a mother with a bad child or a Principal with rowdy students because it literally turns them into obedient little angels. Vyvanse is NOT to be taken everyday. Take it when you absolutely MUST be “in the zone” and no other time. Period. It WILL change you if you take it everyday. It is NOT to be used to control children either. Sure they obey you and complete each task and are no longer rowdy, but you have effectively killed who they were and their individuality. You have turned them into what YOU want them to be by force. You have turned a creative child into a cold robot. That is unethical and verges on child abuse.
Suffice to say, I’m off the full-time drug, as in I no longer take it everyday. I do still take it to help with tests and note taking now and then, but it is not an everyday thing. Usually I take it about once a week, if that. Since my switch, I’ve noticed immediate improvement. I was soon back to jolly old me, doodling during class, daydreaming about possible inventions, cracking jokes with the professors and hitting on all the pretty girls in class. I even got a lead role in Sweeney Todd! (Judge Turpin! Yeah, I’m usually the bad guy, but I love it!).
So let me close with this: Vyvanse is a powerful tool and can be extremely beneficial to someone with ADD/ADHD, but as the saying goes, “With great power come great responsibility”. Use this drug WISELY. Do NOT abuse it. If it changes your personality and you don’t like that, STOP IMMEDIETELY and talk to your doctor. If your doctor insists you take it, FIND A NEW DOCTOR. Only YOU know what’s best for you, NOT your doctor and NOT your parents. Vyvanse IS a wonder drug, but it WIL destroy who you are if you aren’t careful with it.
Cheers!
-Rob
Like Robert, I’m a naturally outgoing and very effusive person. I also dabbled in theater and am known to be pretty funny, off-the-wall, spontaneous, clever, whatever you want to call it. I graduated and picked up professional work writing and fundraising for non profits, because I like to eat. Working in non profits and writing jobs in general require close attention to detail, juggling multiple deadlines, and most importantly knowing when to speak up and when to smile and nod.
If you’re reading this, and you have ADHD, you know what part of that was nearly impossible for me. By the grace of my personality I was able to carry on for a few years of repeated closed-door meetings having to hear about how my work was inconsistent and poor quality.
I believe very strongly that ADHD is not a dysfunction, but a kind of vestigial personality trait leftover from a different time when we lived in close concert with the world around us. I believe very strongly that people with ADHD were the heroes, hunters, and leaders of their time. The world changed into a place where people by the millions crouch over computer screens focused on singular tasks, and we just got left behind. Today, we medicate ourselves to keep up with a broken culture completely disconnected from biology or evolution.
That being said, I realized that to be successful and consistent, I had to make a decision between which version of me I wanted to be.
I started taking Vyvanse at the 30mg level daily. I’ve been unmedicated since I was first diagnosed as a child and actively rebelled against Ritalin for how it limited my personality. I tried Straterra in my 20′s and was horrified that it affected my sexual ability. It’s been about ten years since I took a prescription pill of any kind.
In my first two weeks on Vyvanse, I went from carefree and happy to literally being filled with rage and intolerance at everything. I was picking fights with people on the road, complaining about my boss at work, and generally ranting like a maniac about everything. I told my wife over and over that if I had to choose between being happy and being productive, I would choose to be happy. BUT IT ALL PASSED.
That’s my takeaway, and how my experience differed from Robert. The side effects of Vyvanse that changed me as a person went away after about two or three months. It’s a long time to feel like someone else, but you have to ask yourself if you are who you think you are. To me, I’m a witty, always-on guy with a million things to say who is always hilarious and at the top of his game. To other people, I think I’m just a pain in the ass, and for all of what I thought were my best qualities, I learned to embrace new qualities. The old me didn’t go away, he just learned to be more thoughtful, respectful, and careful.
But you have to get past your fear of being transformed for it to work. I had a powerful motivator. I didn’t want to lose my job and risk my new marriage falling apart. It didn’t mean it made me less of a person, it just gave me the opportunity to choose who I wanted to be.
That’s my other big takeaway. Take it slow. Choose. If Vyvanse or any drug changes your personality, give it time. Allow it to level out. Tell your friends you’re trying something new and that you might be different for a while. If they don’t understand, they’re not your friends.
Most of us who actively treat ADHD are young, 20′s or 30′s. We have a long time to decide what the right course of action is. Don’t make half-measures. Try it for at least six months, consistently. Keep track of the results. I noticed one day that although I didn’t feel very different, or angry anymore, that I was ahead of my work schedule by 2 weeks. A strange benefit to the Dexedrine compound in Vyvanse was that I was also eating less, spending less money on lunch, and losing a little weight.
After I overcame my anger and acclimated to the drug, I found that I would jump out of my chair at work and then stop to wonder what I was about to do, or if it was worth doing. Three months prior, I wouldn’t have thought twice about running down the hall to share a funny story I just remembered. The people I talk to would laugh and be engaged by my antics for sure, but in the scope of getting through a work day, was it really something that had to be told? I realized that I had never even questioned my impulsiveness before.
Eventually I learned to embrace the new me and found ways to keep the old me going. The difference was that I had a choice. No more all-night self-hating sessions because I showed up to class or a meeting with no work done having simply forgotten the assignment. No lost cell phones or things in strange places. No more ruining relationships with off-the-cuff comments.
All these drugs are recreational, no matter what anyone says. They’re all just designer drugs that let us pick our personality. Use it wisely, be realistic and patient with your results. It won’t make you love your job or your classes, that’s up to you. It will give you more focus and you’ll get lost less in your own life.
If you don’t like it, stop taking it. You’ll be back to your old self in days, maybe even hours. Compare the two and figure out what’s right for you at this point in your own life. It won’t permanently change you, it won’t destroy you. It just gives you options.
Rob,
You clearly were doing well on it at a low dose, and your “not working” observation is a common response to people who take these meds and want it to make everyday tasks to feel effortless EVERY DAY. That’s not how life works. But you went up on the dose anyhow, and instead of figuring out you were better off on the lower dose, you blame the drug after you effectively abused it (taking more than you ought to know you should– you clearly are describing hyperfocusing symptoms).
Let me guess: you didn’t happen to mention to your doc that you were in a mindless trance of work each day when it began happening. Yeah, that’s called abuse, and don’t blame Shire or your doc for it.
Okay, mate, you sound like a Shire cheerleader to me. (2X)
As to the previous stories, I completely agree with this article but you have to realize it is for the 40mg case. I also take 40mg’s and have previously gone through taking the 50mg and had the same terrible loss of appetite and personality destruction.
But i can actively say that while taking the 40mg I still have my personality and in fact may even be more sociable, more engaged in specific conversations per say so i would definitely recommend if you’re on 50mg to switch to 40mg IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE and i am much happier now.
The only other thing i caution is to not specifically take it every day as the PERSONAL experience article states you will notice it wearing off earlier and earlier. If you avoid taking it everyday you will notice the times of its effectiveness will be relatively consistent.
Several of the points you have made throughout this article are factually incorrect. No drug is “digested” in the blood. Vyvanse becomes active when it reaches the brain and crosses the bbb. The reason why what you eat affects the relative strength or amount of time before the effects take hold is because certain components of foods affect drug absorption in different ways (fats, proteins, carbs, sugar, and more all can have positive or negative absorption effects depending on the drug to be absorbed.
Also, contrary to what you say, vyvanse does build up in your system over time, requiring higher and higher dosages to acheive the same effects. That is why there is such a large spectrum of different size vyvanse. It is an amphetamine, and it is habit forming, bottom line.
Please do not try to cover up the potential dangers of this serious drug.