ADHD / ADD Support Group

Come on people there must be someone out ther with something to share about this med!

I'm heading off to a couple of sites right now to check it out...will let you know if I see anything! :o)

We tried Vyvance with my son & I took him off of it with in a week because it made him cry all the time. But different meds work for different people. Good luck!!! Send me a message if you want more info.

Did you learn anything? I have tried to read up on this med across the web -- for comments -- and it seems like its so new that very few folks have anything to say. I would be interested in hearing stories because we are exploring medication. My son has food allergies and carries EpiPens with him. Concerta and other MPH could interact with EpiPens if he needed to have it -- and that concerns me. Bu there is no usch notice on Vyvanse website. Any thing you learn would be appreciated by me.

I too am very interested in the side effect of the drugs and how it makes a child feel.
I have a 13yr. old on Concerta,
Wellbutrin, and Risperdal. He has been on concerta for years it has worked great for the ADHD, but evertime I have complained about agressive behavior they didn't say lets try changing it they would just add something else. He has been on Meds for so long I am wondering if some of the things that he does isn't part of the side effect.
I have a friend whos child is 14 and on Vyance and depakote she swears by it. I am just leary of the side effects with mine and the axiety-agression.
Please keep me posted on how it works for your son.

Getting my child to actually take this is another story as he is very defiant right now. We have a 3 day weekend coming up and if he doesn't start this weekend it will hopefully be the next. I am going to dump some out and give him 20 mg to start and see what happens. I will let you know how everything turns out.

Serious Side Effects and Serious Concerns, but still on Vyvance

I am a 24 year old girl who has tried a number of ADD medicines, including ritalin, adderall, and concerta. Vyvance has been the only ADD medicine I have taken on a regular basis, so I can't accurately desribe the side effects of the others or compare them.

I weigh 118 pounds and was started on 60mg. The first day I took Vyvance I could have sworn I just blew a gram of cocaine (and I would know). The feeling was EXACTLY the same, it was scary. I did notice that it says all over the packaging that people with a former drug addiction should not take the drug, and now I know it's because it feels uncannily similar to the feeling of being on a lot of cocaine. The coming off effects were not as dramatic though.

I was taking the medicine at 9AM and wasn't able to sleep until 3 or 4 so I asked my doctor for a lower dose. BTW when speaking with my doctor, I discovered that Vyvance is made by the same people who make adderall. I am very familiar with pharmaceutical companies and know that when a drug starts to lose its patent, it will play with the doses and molecules to basically create the same drug but file a different patent to protect its rights. Since Vyvance is twice the dose of adderall, I think it is just half as strong which is why you would take twice as much.

SIDE EFFECTS:
Heart: I am scared to death that I am going to over exert myself so I have cut physical activity out of my life while taking Vyvance. I am worried that if I increase my heart rate, I might have a heart attack or something.

Vision: I have noticed blurry vision if I stay awake after 12AM.

Mood: I am incredibly anti-social, intensely focused, moody, irratible, snap at people easily, but even weirder I have had the first suicidal thought of my life on Vyvance. I can honestly say I am a very happy person and never actually considered suicide, the first week I took Vyvance, I noticed myself conjuring these thoughts of my death and memorializing myself and what people would say at my funeral. THIS REALLY FREAKED ME OUT. I am constantly in a bad mood, but I am taking Vyvance so I can get my work done, which it is accomplishing amazingly.

Appetite: After switching to 30mgs which I currently take (and am on right now), I was happy to find the appetite suppressing qualities remained, which any 24 year old girl can appreciate. However, I found myself becoming aneorexic, (which really is defined as less than X calories per day), as I was probably consuming between 500-800. for example, I have not eaten lunch for the past 3 weeks and am finding that I don't enjoy food as much and am eating because i know I need the nutrition. I did notice the only thing i could stomach was carbs, ie. bagels, grilled cheese, nothing else was appetizing at all

Based on the experience I have had, I am very concerned that children are prescribed this medicine. It does allow me to focus on my work, which it great, but the negative personality effects are dramatic and out of character. I went from being a happy cheery person to insanely focused on my work and unable to tear myself away from it, and being grumpy and unpleasant to be around. I notice that i don't want to talk to anyone.

IF YOU NOTICE IRRATIBILITY, ANGER, OUT-OF-CHARACTER BEHAVIOR PLEASE BE WARNED. I felt the same symptoms and if there are more similiarities with your child and my experience, I don't think children are capable of handling it. I think its good for adults though that can differentiate normal behavior and irration thoughts.

I can agree with Girl Girl on much of what she has said.
I am on the second week of Vyvanse, and have been on Concerta, Wellbutrin, Stratera, and Mostly Adderall (both regular and XR) for years.

The differences I see in Vyvanse, is a more smoother feeling, and a gentler "crash"/rebound.
I take it at 0630, and can actually sleep around 11 pm without help.

My greatest concern with kids and stimulants, are getting the correct MED and DOSAGE. As an adult (47) I can tweak and adjust and COMMUNICATE with the Dr. on what I am experiencing, and how to optimize the desired result.

With kids, that is a huge problem.

NO- I have not had any suicidal thoughts, YES, there is a surge of ENERGY/euphoria in the first few hours, but as it levels off, I am able to maintain focus.

Biggest side effect to me, is that I become semi-anti-social. A normally OUTGOING man, feels more content to solve world hunger in my office. The thought process is focused, I just don't feel like socializing.

Yet INTERNALLY, I am VERY HAPPY (Externally, people ask..IS everything all right??) based on facial expressions.

Hope that is of help, m

i am on vyvanse, and the only thing i have is i don't really sleep good at night and i am not hungry, lost about 5 lbs so far other then that i feel great.

I have been taking it for about 2 weeks. I will agree that the meds do make me hyperfocused and I am not the happy go lucky person I normally am. I also notice I would rather be alone and it decreases my energy levels.

I am normally a cumpulsive exerciser and the past 2 weeks I have not had the drive to workout 3 to 5 hrs a day (now I am down to 1.5-3)-which I suppose is good for my health...I am recovering from an eating disorder and I notice that my purging has increased dramatically since starting the meds. Also, I drove 6 hrs today coming home from an interview and I only had to stop once- which is amazing, I normallly have to stop every 1.5 hrs-which makes trips very long. Lastly, I have a hard time going to sleep while taking the meds.

The good thing about the med is that I am able to process my ideas quicker and I can talk in a more logical sequential fashion instead of scattered in a thousand directions.