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I'm struggling to adjust my Ritalin dosage. It really helps with cognition/focus (and even mood balance), pdoc recently increased my dose. I take 30mg (LA) morning, and now 10mg (LA) in late afternoon. I'm OK on morning dose until about 2pm after I eat lunch...then energy really tapers off, I start to get more distracted, then I take afternoon dose by 4pm. The afternoon dose makes me immediately sleepy. This effect seems really paradoxical! Is there something I can do to reduce this? Caffeine?? IR form only lasts like 2 hours & I crash, so I want to avoid that. Where I live, its tough to get anything other than Ritalin... I read that some stimulants (such as Ritalin & Adderall) are better for reducing Hyperactivity - which may be why I feel so sleepy/dazed when taking it in afternoons? I've never been hyperactive.... Would Vyvanse be better in this regard (helping with both focus + causing less sleepiness)?

Heyup, I'm taking Vyvanse for my 20+ year treatment-resistant depression and it's working better than anything I've ever tried (the bad news is that the last 3-4 days it's losing its potency and/or taking longer to kick in, but that's another story). I am asking about its variable effectiveness since I also found it to vary even when it was still potent. E.g. Monday my mood would be 6/10 depression (10/10 is best mood) then Tues 4/10 then Weds 7/10. Anyone know why this variability happens? Anyone got any tips? FTR I'm on 150mg Brand Lamictal, Abilify 5mg, 15mg Percocet (for chronic pain), 60mg Vyvanse, 36mg concerta (since the Vyvanse lasts 8 hours max), 20mg Omeprazole (for NERD, GERD's geeky cousin), 100mg trazodone (for sleep), 300 ranitidine (for NERD). I take the meds at the same times every day. Many thanks! Pete

Please note that I am under the care of a psychiatrist already- it just seems that he is unable to assist with the issues I am experiencing with my medications. I also apologize in advance for the length of this- I know that those with ADD/ADHD have a hard time focusing on paragraphs of information sometimes. I feel like I am a slave to Adderall. I was on Adderall XR 15mg twice a day in January along with Adderall IR 15mg also twice a day (60mg total Adderall). I was having difficulty with the Adderall XR- it would seem to work for about an hour and a half and then cause me to crash and have brain fog for a few hours... then it would mildly pick back up again. When I say that it "worked" means that I could feel a profound alertness, energy and ability to concentrate, and it helped me get my work done faster as well as communicate better with others (relieved my social anxiety and depressive symptoms). In February, decided to try Vyvanse. I was put on Vyvanse 50mg once per day and it was quite awful. It too would kick in about an hour after taking it, I would be a chatterbox for about an hour and then it would cause a crash I would never recover from the rest of the day. SEVERE brain fog. End of February I was put back on Adderall XR, this time 30mg twice a day, with no Adderall IR. Currently still on this dose. About 30 minutes after taking it, it again kicks in and lasts only about an hour, when I get brain fog, irritability, emotional numbness, I start isolating and I just want to take a nap. It will again kick in eventually in the afternoon, but its effects are less noticeable in the afternoon, hence the need for the second XR, which I usually take about 12:30-1pm. It kills my appetite. I drink half a gallon of water daily when I take it. I take it in the morning on an empty stomach. HOWEVER, some days the Adderall XR seems to be more potent- it will last longer and during the time I can feel it working, the effects are stronger. I am struggling with the inconsistency as well as the fact that it makes me want to take a nap. And, I have zero sex drive. I take it everyday. On weekends, I take less of it, but find that I am at the point I can barely function if I don't have it in my system. I just want to lay on the couch and I have depressive symptoms. I have read that it is best to take "breaks" from it but I find that when I try to do this, like I said, I am unable to function. On the flip side, I am still struggling to function at the 60mg per day dose I am on. I don't get it. Variables: I do not sleep well. In the past few weeks I have been waking up about every hour or so just to turn over in bed. I tend to be in bed around 9pm and some nights I have trouble even getting to sleep. In the mornings, I usually get out of bed about 30 minutes before I have to be at work because I am so unrested. Then, it seems the Adderall isn't even helping...it this correct? If I am already tired, is Adderall XR not going to be as effective? I stopped taking Benadryl because of the hangover effect the next day. I currently take melatonin. Blood sugar crash due to limited intake of food? Alcohol consumption? I have been drinking nearly every day since I have been on the stuff, usually wine. I have also stopped drinking soda (last week), after a decade's worth of multiple sodas per day (diet and regular). I am wondering if this is somehow affecting everything. I do take a caffeine pill or drink coffee, which I hate, so I have not stopped caffeine entirely. The only other meds I am on are birth control and supplements. I have a job where I sit at a desk and computer all day. Would exercise or L-Tyrosine help me to feel better?

How likely is it that I'll be prescribed vyvanse if i have used drugs (not stims) previously I'll probably be put on something for either ADHD or just adhd symptoms, probably will get a dx but pdoc might just treat symptoms, i hope I get the dx though, not in a 'I want to have adhd' way, cause i dont think anyone wants that, just because it would explain a lot and be a relief to have a diagnosis, anyway what stimulants would it be likely for me to try with my history? my parents would be giving it to me by the week btw, and if needed they could just give me each days dose in the morning, I'm willing to do what would make the pdoc comfortable, I really think they would help me, clonidine didnt, but I'd be willing to try strattera first but I'd prefer a drug I dont have to wait a month to see if its working anyway, (as usual) sorry if that makes no sense EDIT: Also going to add that I've now got my anxiety under control thanks to my current Seroquel dose, so these symptoms are my next priority because school is hell at the moment

What medications have you found that have worked for binge eating disorder or bulimia? Topamax kinda helps, but I hate the side effects (depression, hair loss, slowed thinking, tiredness, etc....) and was wondering if anybody else had success with any other medications. Or if you've found ways to deal with the cognitive side effects of topamax? Thank you.

Short story - MDD d/x'd 3 years ago with EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified - i.e. I restrict, but I'm not thin, I used to purge, but not too much). I also self-harm and have situational anxiety and chronic insomnia. Current meds: 50 mg Pristiq, 450 mg Wellbutrin XR, 2 mg Klonopin (1 at 5:30p, 1 at 8:30p, occasionally 1 as needed), and 10mg Ambien. I've been on the klonopin/ambien combo for a long time and it works pretty well for my sleep. I've been through most of the SSRIs with limited success or horrible side effects, only to find out via a recent GeneSight test that I don't have the whatever/enzymes to process SSRIs (and SNRIs) correctly. Only Pristiq and Fetzima are in the "green column" for me. Meds I've tried - Celexa (worked for a while and then nada), Lexapro (similar), Zoloft (horrible reactions), Paxil (little effect), Brintellix (not enough and bad side effects), Wellbutrin solo (worked for awhile, but then became not enough), Abilify (gained 20 lbs in one month with little effect), Risperadol (no impact), and I'm sure other combos I can't think of. We went up to 100mg of Pristiq but I felt like I was in a fugue and would lose all sense of time, so we backed it down. I'd like to go up to 600 on my Wellbutrin as it works well for me but my pdoc won't even though I've been purge-free for 13 months. My eating disorder is ok - my weight is stabilized and I'm not restricting or binging. I'm in therapy regularly and see my nutritionist every other week. But I am exhausted all of the time. It is difficult for me to get out of bed, it's impossible for me to do anything. I have no memory, and it is a struggle for me to think, let alone work (I'm a professor). With the Vyvanse, I'm sometimes able to get out of bed. I can feel my brain "knit" together and kick on, and even have started writing again. I still can't bring myself to get things done or to exercise or even get outside unless I must. The problem with the Vyvanse is that it wears off pretty quickly for me. If I take a dose at 6:30a, by 11:30p I'm scattered, can't think straight, and feel lost. I take a second dose at noon but it barely holds me to 4. Then my brain is gone. I am still exhausted, and then I can't really think at all in the late afternoon/evening. I'm completely distracted. I have a call with my pdoc this week and I'm considering asking her to switch the vyvanse to adderall because it has an XR, and the up and down with vyvanse is shitty. I'm really reluctant to switch from the Pristiq since the worst of my depressive symptoms (hopelessness, sadness, flatness, isolation) are better. I like that the vyvanse cuts the cravings so I don't turn to sugar to try to help with the lack of energy because that worsens my ED. I can't take anything that will cause weight gain, or anything that increases appetite. I'm on a meal plan, I'm not losing weight, but I can't take aggravating my ED on top of the shit I'm dealing with. Does Adderall XL last longer for depression-related ADD symptoms? Does it cause jitters or increased hunger? Anyone use it as an add-on to antidepressants?

i just took my first dose of 70mgs and i had such bad nausea that i had to take a gravol to get through it. now i feel dopey and slow. i haven't suffered from noticeable nausea so far during dose titration before moving up to 70mgs. this is terrible. if you had nausea on vyvanse, how long did this side effect last for you?

Today is my first day on Vyvanse in a while and I am feeling quite irritable. I've taken Vyvanse in the past before but have not been on it long enough to know if the side effects end up going away at some point. Does anyone have any experience with this to know if this disappears?

Ok where to start... hate this... ok I'm 21 and I'll tell a brief of my story. I had a great infancy lets say before 9 years blahblahbla but at some point I started to get more and more introverted and "fragile". Later got bullied in school. My adolescence was conflicting. at 18 i started to use LSD, it was fantastic and so I realized that I needed help for my depression. ok. Soon I started to do cocaine and soon alot of coke and u know- rehab bolocks. in the meantime got various "suicidal" attempts (but never intended to kill myself, just self-harm or so). OK thats a just little of my life and would be impossible to write it all cuz i dont remember alot. THE POINT IS. Im diagnosed with Major Depression, Borderline Disorder, Generalized Anxiety, Bipolar and ADHD (is it even possible to have all of these disorders together, if not more?). Thats what I know cuz my psych hides the rest. I can say that I tried almost all antidepressants/antipsychs/stimul/anxiolytics and never got good results. also many illegal drugs. So far, recently i've switched my ritalin 60mg to vyvanse 100mg. I must tell you, it changed my life 180 degrees. Now I can feel normal, positive, calm, motivated etc. and not anymore irritable, depressed, craving drugs/alcohol, self-harmfull etc. Why vyvanse solved all the problems that the others didnt? is that possible cause I dont see so many people using it as a anti-depressant other than just for ADHD? What i mean, vyvanse makes me awesome because makes me fell normal. I know its an amphetamine and is addictive blah blah. I really dont care as much as i dont get tolerance (which i'm not). I don't feel euphoria, feel nromal happyness. It also feels natural. Sure taking a higher dosage would be euphoric, but i dont plain to do so, its like im healed from drug abuse now. Anyway I like to share my experience, maybe some others with resistant-depression who dont respond to traditional ad's should try this shit.

Hello all, I'm adhd boy, I was diagnosed a few days ago! I'm so happy to have a word to describe the ill feelings I've felt about being different or handicapped in some way. I really want to open the floor to anyone who has tips for me and others in the forum about HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEDICATION. Without upping my dosage prescribed I'd like to get the most out of my 30mg of vyvanse. This may be in articles, however, I respond much better to people who have lived the adhd life and tried coping skills rather than results of an experiment. What tasks are less stressful you with treatment? What activities help your focus and mood to the point when your medication seems to ignite more benefits? MY experienes will be added to this when I find them. I'll supply excellent detail as to how, what time of day, and wait exactly I am doing to increase my focus, drive, and just "holding onto that damn train of thought!"

Though I came up surrounded by close family members who struggled with various mental illnesses, I wouldn't say I had an especially traumatic or even a really remarkable childhood, apart from the sporadic, sometimes episodic fireworks Crazy can bring. On the whole I had a pretty typical middle class upbringing, for which I am grateful. My older sister served as my introduction to the mysteries and miseries of mental illness. She suffered from Bipolar Disorder, and it was clear my parents despaired at her condition. There was much acting out, at least one suicide attempt that I am aware of, multiple stays at inpatient facilities, and an ever-changing cocktail of medications throughout her teens. She tapered off meds when she planned to start a family, and has done amazingly well without them. My younger sister struggles with panic disorder and more physical ailments than anyone her young age ought to be saddled with. My mother was a survivor of child abuse, and subsequent to the passing of her father when I was about 12, she suffered a series of psychotic breaks that led to the first of several inpatient hospitalizations, and a lifetime of profound treatment resistant MDD that continues to this day. Not only did she not perpetuate the cycle of abuse she suffered but I never even knew what she'd been through until I was much older. My father never (to my knowledge) sought treatment for any mental illness, and tended towards stoicism and emotional opaqueness. I suspect however that he suffered (or even suffers still) from depression -- at the very least. HIs siblings suffered from myriad mental maladies. His upbringing was somewhat of a mystery to me, as what remained of his immediate family were separated by geography. I believe he too was a survivor of child abuse, based on what I've gleaned from anecdotes. My older brother was a bit of a black sheep, and when youthful indiscretions of the self-medicating type became too much for my well-meaning folks to handle he was given an ultimatum and joined the armed services. He was stationed in South Korea, and I gather his self-medicating ways came along for the ride. Upon returning stateside he had a hard time reintegrating, finding stable work, and had to rely on the support of his family more than I think he would have liked. He was a very emotional person, and felt things very deeply. I imagine if I would have asked him for one word to describe himself he might have chosen "failure". That's certainly not how I would have described him, but he was the type of person for whom every setback might have seemed like the universe pointing a spindly celestial finger at the tip of his nose and proclaiming FUCK. YOU. By the time my brother killed himself with the sputtering exhaust of the sparkly brown hatchback my mother had given him, I was living my own kind of Crazy. Today, I find myself at a strange cross roads. I am happily married. Successful, especially considering I never finished college. I have more than my fair share of material possessions. I have family and friends whom I love, and who love me. As much as I curse those who use the phrase, I'm Blessed. And yet, I can't recall a time I felt more lost. You see, growing up as an insatiably curious child in a household surrounded by Crazy, and where both parents worked in the medical field. So I didn't just *live* with Crazy, I, in a sense, *studied* it. Psychology. Anatomy. Psychiatry. Biology. Pharmacology. And most especially *Psychopharmacology*. I was never under the illusion that reading medical texts would make me a doctor any more than reading cookbooks would make me a chef. But I found, and still find the subject phenomenally interesting. In the late 80's and early 90's before webforums, TV drug adverts, wikipedia, etc., it seemed physicians expected laypeople to know almost nothing about medicine, so much so, that if you knew even a little, and went in with talking points memorized, you were going to leave with whatever it was you came for (within reason). Maybe it's always been that way. But I certainly felt clever, and in retrospect maybe a part of the burgeoning vanguard that changed how pharmaceuticals are consumed. Modern medicine is so unabashedly, brazenly consumer driven, I doubt any clinician bats an eye when patients come in and know exactly what their diagnosis is, the name brand and dosage of the drug they want, and oh by the way I've already printed off my own coupon that makes my copay 3 dollars until the drug goes off patent in 2030. But back to my personal tale of medico-consumerism. 22 years ago, at about 14 years of age, I self-diagnosed myself with depression. PART II To Follow Later

Hey guys, So a few quick questions: 1) When coming down from your dose of Vyvanse taken for the day, how long do you guys find the crash to last you? 2) How long do withdrawal symptoms last when you stop taking it? (I usually only take it about 1-3 times a week for the past few months now for school). Will I even any experience any sort of withdrawal seeing as I don't take it every day? What kind of symptoms/feelings should I expect if I do withdrawal? My current dosage is 60mg, occasionally 90mg when tolerance builds up. Going to stop taking it for a few months as of today. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this over! Best regards, Chapman182

Hey guys, So a few quick questions: 1) When coming down from your dose of Vyvanse taken for the day, how long do you guys find the crash to last you? 2) How long do withdrawal symptoms last when you stop taking it? (I usually only take it about 1-3 times a week for the past few months now for school). Will I even any experience any sort of withdrawal seeing as I don't take it every day? What kind of symptoms/feelings should I expect if I do withdrawal? My current dosage is 60mg, occasionally 90mg when tolerance builds up. Going to stop taking it for a few months as of today. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this over! Best regards, Chapman182

I just about 3 days ago started taking 70 mg Vyvanse after being on IR Adderall for quite some time, ending at 30mg IR twice a day (8am and noon) Since switching off of Adderall Ive noticed my moods have been drastically different. I feel fine in the morning all day up until about 3pm Ive noticed. Im not sure if this is situational stuff or not, but things throughout my day that upset me or stress me out trigger a much bolder response (ie: being frustrated with someone/I react in strong anger) where as on the Adderall I found it easier to think before reacting. Anybody else have experience moving to Vyvanse from Adderall with mixed results?

I take Adderall for my ADD. Used to take Vyvanse. I thought Vyvanse made it harder to eat than Adderall does so I discontinued it and went back to Adderall but they both make it so hard to eat. I know the most common side effect is appetite loss but I am still hungry. Being hungry but having no appetite is the worse feeling. I know I need to eat and i make myself do it but it is unenjoyable and I don't feel better afterwards. Sometimes I even feel worse. Is there any advice anyone has? Like what kinds of foods are easiest to eat on stimulants and easiest on the stomach? Thanksss

Ok, I called my pdoc's office to refill my vyvanse. They have a policy that I have to call it in 5 days early, so I did. Well, I had both bottles in my room. The old one with a few pills left and the new one. I go to a day program and I have to leave early in the morning, so, I am still kind of dazed from my seroquel the previous night. So, in the morning, I don't think about things, I just do them. I am starting to wonder if I brought my whole bottle, the new one, to my day program and I guess I could have dropped it there. Or worse, what if someone stole it?????!! I have looked literally EVERYWHERE in my room for the bottle of vyvanse. I have searched my car and the cars that my parents drive. I have even checked the kitchen, living room, bathroom, etc. I have not found it. I have checked every possible place numerous times over and over again. I don't know what to do. I am freaked out. I am also really angry. How could I be such an idiot??? How the hell does one lose their meds? Even worse, now everyone at my day program is a suspect. Either my counselor took it as payback for me cussing at her and being rude to her, or some dumbass(to put it even remotely nicely), took my vyvanse and either used it, abused it, or made a few hundred dollars off of it. I have to go to my program tomorrow. All I can think about it waiting to beat the crap out of people there. Anyways, have any of you lost your stimulant meds? If so, what have you done to solve the problem? Should I call my doctor tomorrow? I am a bit scared to do so. She will think that I am an addict or something. I am so upset right now. It has brought me so much distress.

Am I on the right meds? I have bipolar/ADD, I have been to three psychiatrist and they don't actually give me a specific diagnosis. I tried antipsychotic medications didn't work. I tried Lamictal, it made me very flat, antisocial, monotone and caused bad acne. Seroquel and Saphris were both horror meds and basically f***ed me up. The only thing that worked was Adderall, so we eventually removed all the other medications (my doctors unaware and unsympathetic of all the withdrawal symptoms that occurred to which they didn't understand) After a while on the Adderall XR and dose changes from 20mg - 25mg - 30mg. It was making me feel very jittery and the come down wasn't pleasant at all. Then we went to IR Adderall, started with 10mg 2x a day then do 7.5mg 3 x a day. The IR worked much better and stabilized my mood But it wasn't lasting very long...a couple of hours at tops, so in between doses I would get irritable, have racing thoughts and be unmotivated. We then also added Ativan, as at this time I had lost my job, pretty much my friends and was alone, unmotivated being worried about useless things and scared to get a job. I was self-sabotaging myself. The Ativan which is 0.5mg, helps me and my doctor said it's fine to take 1 every day. Which I feel bad about, there have been times when I've taken it in the morning and in the evening I have anxiety again and my doctor said it's fine to take another one some days if I need it. I just don't want to be dependent on it as I have previously had withdrawal symptoms from both Gabapentin and Lamictal and Ambien which were horrific. So we decided to go to Vyvanse - which I'm only on 30mg right now, I explained to my pdoc that I checked and 30mg seemed only equivalent to 10mg Adderall (which I was taking 22.5mg a day) but she still wanted me to give it a shot. It was fine for a few days, my depression wasn't as bad, my thoughts weren't racing and I was doing stuff. But then the past week or so I've been oversleeping. Taking naps during the day, been unmotivated, tired and hopeless. I don't know what to do, my doctor said she was going to give me a higher dose of Vyvanse, so hopefully that will be better and I'm still taking the Ativan when I need it. Any advice would be appreciated...

I current take Zoloft for depression and anxiety, lamictal for mood stabilizer- anger-, and topiramate for seizures and migraines. The way I am now I can't complete work what so ever or drive, to the point I've crashed into a ditch. I have friends that sell theirs and was considering getting a low dose to see if it'd make distance. Researching interactions has been very vague, does anyone know?