Okay, so I was both diagnosed with ADD (doc wasn't specific, but I see most similarity with ADHD-IV: daydreaming, procrastination, lack of focus) and gave medication a try for the first time today. I had to see my old pediatrician in order to get an appointment with anyone before college started back up. As you can guess, he brought me a pamphlet on Vyvanse. He asked me whether I wanted 30mg or 50mg, which seemed a little strange to me (choosing my own dosage), but I chose the lesser, being only 110lb.s.

Anyway, my question has to do with how apparent the effects should be. I took one (with magnesium supplement) around 2PM today. I made the mistake of eating a slice of pizza thirty minutes before, while waiting for my prescription to be filled, but as I understand it, food shouldn't have too great of an interaction with extended release med.s other than onset (please correct me if I'm wrong). Within 45 minutes I began to feel a significant, but not uncomfortable, pressure on my temples and that was about the only physical sensation I've had. I've actually felt kind of slowed, but I'm not sure if that's just in relation to the excess energy I expected to have. I haven't experienced any of the dry mouth, anorexia, or any extraordinary urge to do chores.

The mental effects can best be described as feeling an odd presence. I'm not sure that I'd call it an "entity" but it definitely feels as though something is with me right now, and that it's curious. I hope I don't sound too mystic there :rolleyes:.

Is this pretty usual, as far as use outside of an academic setting? I'm not looking to be Superman, but I really expected something more. To try it again tomorrow, should I go ahead and try a higher dosage or is this something subtle I should try to fit my own habits to?

Hey sarsXdave, and welcome to the forums. It's nice to see another Kentuckian around here. ;)

Well, I have taken all of the prescription stimulants prescribed (except Vyvanse & Daytrana) since 1992 when I was first diagnosed. Even though I have never tried Vyvanse, I have taken dextroamphetamine for many years.

Your experience sounds quite normal to me, and please don't feel like you could sound too mystical concerning these things, especially when you have no (I assume) previous experience with these drugs to relate what it is that you are feeling today. Your experience sounds perfectly normal when I think back on some of my initial experiences.

From my experience, some of the stimulants are more stimulating than others, and in the case of Adderall I experienced pronounced sedation. Everyone is different though, and we each tend to respond to these drugs in our own ways more often than not.

It could be that this drug may take some time for you to get a feel for it so to speak, and it could be an issue of dosage. I would suggest that you follow your Dr's advice, and if you find that things aren't really helping you feel better, or that things are not what you had hoped they would be in few days that you might consider contacting your Dr and letting him/her know how you are doing.

It took me several years to find the right drug, and it also took me awhile to find the right dose of every prescription stimulant I ever took. It's very rare for a person to come right out of the gate so to speak with the right drug, and the right dose. It does happen, but rarely.

Please keep us posted on how things unfold on that end.

I made the mistake of eating a slice of pizza thirty minutes before, while waiting for my prescription to be filled, but as I understand it, food shouldn't have too great of an interaction with extended release med.s other than onset (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Vyvanse doesn't remain in your stomach with beads (Adderall XR) or other release mechanisms like Concerta that would be effected by stomach acidity or food. This is one advantage that Vyvanse has over Adderall because you previously had to be really careful with acidic drinks since they could increase absorption and then it was further advised to eat a lot with the meds because the food could delay the time to maximum absorption.

Vyvanse is metabolized in the intestines and then the liver. (On some thread someone may have mentioned that you can delay the absorption with food but this is different than worrying about an interaction with the med, per orange juice and Adderall.

Also, I speak on behalf of a lot of people here when I strongly urge you to eat before you take your Vyvanse. That pizza was a good call, because you don't want to be Vyvanse'd from 'synaptic burnout' (where the amphetamine lacks neurotransmitters to release and re-uptake because they aren't being synthesized from amino acids you aren't providing)

Thanks for your replies. Today I'm taking the same dose, as I have actual things to get done (working on car) and can evaluate it more fairly. I think I was too caught up in examining how it felt to really try to focus on anything else. I also think I looked too much to side effects instead of the desired ones as indication of it's strength. The only experience I have with ADD medicine is being around a friend who took Adderall XR 20mg, which is almost twice my dose, plus some of that levo-amp, which could account for the huge difference.

I will say that during the time I spent at the computer I was able to just read what I had set out to. Normally, I can't do anything without also listening to music and any time that music has lyrics I get distracted. I'm also normally a pretty compulsive eater, and hoped to keep my appetite as I'm a little underweight. I could eat just as much, but I'd fix a couple meals instead of a continuous snacking.

I'll update after I get some experience at school.

Also, iliketurtles, do you think that means it'd be cool for me to take vitamin C or alpha-lipoic acid with Vyvanse? I'm already taking magnesium to prevent the problems that go along with its deficiency alongside amphetamine use, but wasn't sure if there was any oxidative stress I might want to combat. The study I saw recommending vitamin C and ALA was for reducing free radicals in rodent brains with MDMA, and I know that's radically ( :p ) different than a lot of other amphetamines.

http://www.corepsychblog.com/2007/11/vyvanse-for-add.html is an excellent resource for advice on how to take Vyvanse, though as far as why to take Vyvanse is concerned, the guy is a paid rep for the drug. Nonetheless, he has a lot of dietary tips, and one of them is that you can take Vyvanse with orange juice. If you can take Vyvanse with orange juice, you can probably take it with Vitamin C as well. <o></o>
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However, my understanding of the problem with Vitamin C + Adderall XR was that the increased acidity dissolved the delayed-release beads. As Vyvanse doesn’t sit in your stomach, the Vitamin C (and/or alpha-lipoic acid) shouldn’t pose a problem.<o></o>
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Just remember with your appetite that you do not want to deprive yourself of protein. When I take amphetamines, especially Vyvanse, I drink protein shakes (like cheap Boost or palatable Muscle Milk) to prevent myself from feeling burnt-out in the evening.<o></o>
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I also can’t do anything without listening to music w/out lyrics, and even when I listen to music with lyrics I’m often distracted by the music.<o></o>

(If you're impatient, there's a tiny little summary at the bottom of this post)

I've just taken the last of my 30 caps and feel like I can now give an accurate report. First off, hey, thanks to everyone on the board for the ridiculous amount of information that one can't just find from a link on Wikipedia's ADHD-I page. There have been so many times where I'll read some experience that is exactly like some of my own or when such tips as magnesium supplementation or high-protein breakfast come up. That's allowed me to spend less time worrying about what I can't control and helping what I can. Thanks especially to ILT for the follow-up and link, as I've since used Dr. Parker's article about an aqueous solution being okay (before I was afraid of how fast hydrolysis would occur, even without an enzyme) for playing around with the dose.

Okay, now my actual report will probably be VERY lengthy and will echo much of what others have said. But, if you're curious about trying Vyvanse, I feel like the details I include may be helpful. The general way we're affected will be similar, but (at least in people who've built up as many quirks as me) I think it's good to mention just how they manifest in relation to my personality so you can tell if what I call "good" is really good for you.

School/Employment:
Main thing I've noticed is Vyvanse is not motivation-in-a-pill and I think that's awesome. I assume the motivation of Adderall is due to having more pent-up physical energy, so you feel anxious if you don't do anything. Here, the only motivation is knowing I can sit down and read a full textbook chapter (like 60 pages of that tiny type) and that I feel great when I'm finished with my work. I was previously the worst procrastinator, waiting until a couple nights before an exam to learn like 3-4 chapters of Organic Chemistry! That's why I was actually scared of amphetamines in the first place. I knew there were tons of patients that'd proved physical safety, but was afraid that I'd end up needing medicine just to get any chore done. Without that trick-*** levo-amp, I can just use willpower and new strategies to fix what was partially a personality problem and save the medicine for what is more completely a chemical problem. So far, I have messed up one quiz from not looking up a bunch of countries in an atlas, but otherwise I am pretty much caught up in most of my classes, not quite there but doing much better.

This is also why I see very little improvement from being medicated in my part-time job and extracurricular activity. My timeslot as a DJ at the student-run radio station is from 3-6AM, which indirectly allows me to benefit by taking the Vyvanse near the end so I can stay awake for my 9AM lecture. Here I'm also asked to remember to do many things at once, which I can do better when "straight." As a recycling associate with the school I have no benefit and a few minor negatives, such as dry mouth, when I'm collecting from a dorm with no water fountains. If you have an office job, it'd probably be great. I feel like I would be wasting medicine if taken just for work, but the negatives aren't bad enough that spillover from earlier classes or studying would be any problem.

In lectures, it's an even greater difference. Whether I'm interested or not, I can follow along very well, listening to the instructor as though we're just friends who like to talk about molecular stability. I care about what they're going to say next because I can remember and relate what they just said. I can't tell if I actually like school for the first time in 8 years or it's a subtle euphoria, but I'm thinking that after 26 days it's the former.

With school, I only wish it lasted longer. I get around 8 hours, but that's not enough to last morning classes through the end of homework. Today my psych. prescribed me some Adderall IR in addition, but next month I may see if he'll okay taking half a 50 and keeping the other half dissolved in water to be sipped after a couple hours.

Health/Personal Life
I definitely feel like I have much more control over my life when I'm medicated. I can still eat just fine, but as a choice. I have noticed my pants don't stay up as well (I was already at the tightest notch on my belt) and my stomach looks flatter, but that likely has more to do with a very recent transition from being lacto-ovo-veg. to vegan.

I've found ways around the annoyances that come with dry mouth. In class, I'll have a little water and chew gum to keep my mouth moist. In dorms, if I'm dryer than a normal, healthy amount of water will cover, I'll use the crushed ice machine so I can just let a little chunk melt on my tongue and I'm sating the dryness without peeing excessively anymore

Like a lot of people, I find the desire for some recreational habits has gone down immensely. I would waste time looking up porn so I could you-know-what and I wasn't even scratching an itch, I just wanted something to do that felt good. Unless Vyvanse drastically lowers my sex drive, I think I've found that I didn't need to do that at all. I used to have a small amount (like $2-3 worth) of cannabis nearly everyday, excepting a few breaks of up to a month at a time. But, now, I don't go and spend a bunch of effort trying to fit some covert use into every day. Neither was physically harmful (since I used a vaporizer and small amounts), but the impulsivity of both led me to waste more time being paranoid of being caught doing either than enjoying them and I think led to worsening some emotional problems. Now I only enjoy them about once a week, if I truly feel like they're the best fit for my mood and environment. It keeps them interesting enough that I don't worry about turning to harder stuff in the future, like inflatable torsos or alcohol (outside of an occasional few beers with friends).

On that subject, Vyvanse does still give me a mood lift for the first 3-5 hours, but around the last 2 I feel pretty down. It's so smooth in every other respect that I think that's largely because of some current situations I'm in. One of many reasons my attention problems became more apparent recently was because of being distracted by a ****ing salad of different major concerns coming to a head simultaneously. Vyvanse gives me an artificial confidence boost that allows me to get into a productive groove more easily and be less likely to have a discouraging thought come out of nowhere. In fact, that's often the first sign it's started to wear off. But, I'm hoping my estimated success in school can snowball and I'll get enough of that real confidence to accept my other problems.

Summary
"Smooth" is probably the most common adjective I see alongside Vyvanse and for very good reason. I've had a double-shot of espresso that had worse side effects. To sum it up most quickly and effectively, just know that I asked for it again. If there was a generic, I'd suggest it to anyone as a first try, given all that I've heard and read about alternatives.