5 ms·

Im 7 months in to taking vyvanse and my life couldnt be better

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Baeocystin 3y ago
Are you coming across any habituation issues? I've been taking ritalin for a while (and it has made a huge difference in my life) but it does concern me that my dosage has been slowly increasing.
- LoganDark 3y ago
  I take dexedrine (which is basically just what vyvanse turns into once you take it), and I have some tolerance after just 3 months. Which is incredibly unfortunate, because my prescription started at 30mg/day because my body is just resistant to stimulants for some reason. Going any higher causes a hypertensive crisis, but tolerance is evil. Why does homeostasis want me to have ADHD again? Wish someone could find the genetic crap that controls this and fix it.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    Bummer. Thanks for letting me know, though.
    - LoganDark 3y ago
      I've started taking it only once every few days. The 15-hour sleep I get after it wears off is always pretty nice.
      - galangalalgol 3y ago
        My doc told me that the stimulant amd appetite suppressant properties would attenuate quickly, and they did, but that the effect on dopamine and epinephrine reuptake don't show the same down regulation over time. It seems like ahe was righ, a year and a half later I can't tell I'm on the atuff except I can start tasks I find boring. And remember meetings.
        LoganDark 3y ago
        Well, the problem is that once tolerance builds, I become unable to stay up for the entire day. "The entire day" being from around 4 AM to 8 PM. So my sleep schedule starts to get stupid again. My current routine seems to work around this by re-fixing my sleep schedule every 3 days or so. Before tolerance, I could wake up at 4AM without an alarm, stay up until 8PM or so, then sleep until 4AM the next day, and repeat that for a month or two. Good times. Internal clock actually worked and everything was running smoothly. Makes me wish I didn't require such a dangerously high dose.
- brigadier132 3y ago
  I have not increased dosage beyond the 30mg they gave me at the start. Every month I try to take 3 days off. I make sure to always take it at the same time every day and I try to sleep as best I can and eat at the same time every day.
- elcritch 3y ago
  Many ADHDer communities discuss meditation "vacations". Often say on weekends, or perhaps during a vacation, etc.
  - heyoni 3y ago
    Drug holidays! One day a week or every 2 weeks for me. Make sure to get lots of vitamins and food during that time.
    - Baeocystin 3y ago
      Do you feel that they make a difference, in terms of tolerance resets? I've tried going no/low-dose on the weekends in the past, but I found it made me feel kind of resentful that I was saving my 'good' time for work.
      - bratbag 3y ago
        That sounds like you have an unbalanced view of leisure time. Do what no-med you wants to do?
        LoganDark 3y ago
        > Do what no-med you wants to do? One of the big problems with ADHD is usually that you can't complete personal goals and tasks because it's too much effort to switch to it. For example, hobby projects and such. ADHD sort of... disagrees with you over what it finds worth doing versus what you want to do. It can make you feel like you're not in control of your own body, and that can lead to dysphoria and depression, or at the very least intrusive thoughts that you're not doing something that you should be. For example, I've been working on an image upscaler for the past three weeks or so. Would I have been able to do that without my meds? Probably not. I will probably even end up finishing it soon. While I'm writing this comment (and indeed, while I hung out on HN all day today) I've been thinking of the work I'm not doing and then just... being okay with it, because I'm on my meds and I know I'll be able to get to it. I've even been making little steps throughout the day whenever I felt like a moment, but I'm not afraid to take breaks or do what I enjoy at the moment, because I know I have a choice. If I weren't on my meds... it'd be a different story. I'd be at the mercy of whatever my ADHD felt was worth doing, and it'd feel a lot less reassuring. Being medicated during leisure time is important, too.
whalesalad 3y ago
7 months is nothing. You’re in the honeymoon phase. Everyone with a recent adhd diagnosis thinks life is rainbows and butterflies but you’re on a stimulant drug. If you give someone cocaine daily they’ll tell you the same thing. I’ve been on and off heavy stimulant meds since 2012. They only work for a short period of time. Dosage needs to go up. Consequences need to be managed. At some point you’ll hit a ceiling and they will no longer be effective. It’s just a matter of time.
- Llamamoe 3y ago
  A few years of being able to function still beats a few years of your life falling apart. Your argument is built on shaky ground.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  Honeymoon phase on stimulant meds lasts days, weeks at most. Not 7 months, like you say here. I feel that, were GP to write that they've been on Vyvanse for two years, you'd call that "honeymoon phase" too. Even if the meds would stop working entirely after couple of months, that couple of months of improved ability to function is a lot - enough to regain lost self-esteem, and introduce lifestyle changes that will remain even when the drugs are gone or no longer effective.
  - pcthrowaway 3y ago
    Lasted about 2-3 days for me after returning to Adderall from a 10 year break. I had been on it for 10 years prior to that though. I'm a month in and just hoping it can stay effective without constantly needing to raise the dosages
- bitwalker 3y ago
  What are you talking about? I’ve been on the same dosage for over 12 years, and it is just as effective for me today as it was on day 1. Still waiting for those consequences I guess..
joenot443 3y ago
Report back in 5 years.
- brigadier132 3y ago
  Yeah ive done the research. I just take the starting dose once in the morning every day and i take 3 days off a month. Im not binge eating and im not yoyo dieting anymore. All the dopamine seeking habits i had of gambling and playing video games are gone. I get 8 hours of sleep every night, i eat three meals a day. Everyone i know that had to stop ended up abusing it. They took it at night to study or party. They took an extra dose if they needed to work extra hard. Im not going to go up in dose so i have no reason to think my experience now will change in 5 years
- falcolas 3y ago
  Hiya. Probably closer to 7 years on a stable dex regime. Over 9 years on amphetamines in total. Haven’t had to increase since it stabilized. And no, I don’t (intentionally, ADHD is a real bitch to habits) take med vacations. Meds still make the difference between executive dysfunction hell and being capable of earning an income and having relatively stable hobbies.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Are you coming across any habituation issues? I've been taking ritalin for a while (and it has made a huge difference in my life) but it does concern me that my dosage has been slowly increasing.

LoganDark 3y ago
I take dexedrine (which is basically just what vyvanse turns into once you take it), and I have some tolerance after just 3 months. Which is incredibly unfortunate, because my prescription started at 30mg/day because my body is just resistant to stimulants for some reason. Going any higher causes a hypertensive crisis, but tolerance is evil. Why does homeostasis want me to have ADHD again? Wish someone could find the genetic crap that controls this and fix it.
- Baeocystin 3y ago
  Bummer. Thanks for letting me know, though.
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    I've started taking it only once every few days. The 15-hour sleep I get after it wears off is always pretty nice.
    - galangalalgol 3y ago
      My doc told me that the stimulant amd appetite suppressant properties would attenuate quickly, and they did, but that the effect on dopamine and epinephrine reuptake don't show the same down regulation over time. It seems like ahe was righ, a year and a half later I can't tell I'm on the atuff except I can start tasks I find boring. And remember meetings.
      - LoganDark 3y ago
        Well, the problem is that once tolerance builds, I become unable to stay up for the entire day. "The entire day" being from around 4 AM to 8 PM. So my sleep schedule starts to get stupid again. My current routine seems to work around this by re-fixing my sleep schedule every 3 days or so. Before tolerance, I could wake up at 4AM without an alarm, stay up until 8PM or so, then sleep until 4AM the next day, and repeat that for a month or two. Good times. Internal clock actually worked and everything was running smoothly. Makes me wish I didn't require such a dangerously high dose.
brigadier132 3y ago
I have not increased dosage beyond the 30mg they gave me at the start. Every month I try to take 3 days off. I make sure to always take it at the same time every day and I try to sleep as best I can and eat at the same time every day.
elcritch 3y ago
Many ADHDer communities discuss meditation "vacations". Often say on weekends, or perhaps during a vacation, etc.
- heyoni 3y ago
  Drug holidays! One day a week or every 2 weeks for me. Make sure to get lots of vitamins and food during that time.
  - Baeocystin 3y ago
    Do you feel that they make a difference, in terms of tolerance resets? I've tried going no/low-dose on the weekends in the past, but I found it made me feel kind of resentful that I was saving my 'good' time for work.
    - bratbag 3y ago
      That sounds like you have an unbalanced view of leisure time. Do what no-med you wants to do?
      - LoganDark 3y ago
        > Do what no-med you wants to do? One of the big problems with ADHD is usually that you can't complete personal goals and tasks because it's too much effort to switch to it. For example, hobby projects and such. ADHD sort of... disagrees with you over what it finds worth doing versus what you want to do. It can make you feel like you're not in control of your own body, and that can lead to dysphoria and depression, or at the very least intrusive thoughts that you're not doing something that you should be. For example, I've been working on an image upscaler for the past three weeks or so. Would I have been able to do that without my meds? Probably not. I will probably even end up finishing it soon. While I'm writing this comment (and indeed, while I hung out on HN all day today) I've been thinking of the work I'm not doing and then just... being okay with it, because I'm on my meds and I know I'll be able to get to it. I've even been making little steps throughout the day whenever I felt like a moment, but I'm not afraid to take breaks or do what I enjoy at the moment, because I know I have a choice. If I weren't on my meds... it'd be a different story. I'd be at the mercy of whatever my ADHD felt was worth doing, and it'd feel a lot less reassuring. Being medicated during leisure time is important, too.

whalesalad 3y ago

7 months is nothing. You’re in the honeymoon phase. Everyone with a recent adhd diagnosis thinks life is rainbows and butterflies but you’re on a stimulant drug. If you give someone cocaine daily they’ll tell you the same thing. I’ve been on and off heavy stimulant meds since 2012. They only work for a short period of time. Dosage needs to go up. Consequences need to be managed. At some point you’ll hit a ceiling and they will no longer be effective. It’s just a matter of time.

Llamamoe 3y ago
A few years of being able to function still beats a few years of your life falling apart. Your argument is built on shaky ground.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
Honeymoon phase on stimulant meds lasts days, weeks at most. Not 7 months, like you say here. I feel that, were GP to write that they've been on Vyvanse for two years, you'd call that "honeymoon phase" too. Even if the meds would stop working entirely after couple of months, that couple of months of improved ability to function is a lot - enough to regain lost self-esteem, and introduce lifestyle changes that will remain even when the drugs are gone or no longer effective.
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  Lasted about 2-3 days for me after returning to Adderall from a 10 year break. I had been on it for 10 years prior to that though. I'm a month in and just hoping it can stay effective without constantly needing to raise the dosages
bitwalker 3y ago
What are you talking about? I’ve been on the same dosage for over 12 years, and it is just as effective for me today as it was on day 1. Still waiting for those consequences I guess..

joenot443 3y ago

Report back in 5 years.

brigadier132 3y ago
Yeah ive done the research. I just take the starting dose once in the morning every day and i take 3 days off a month. Im not binge eating and im not yoyo dieting anymore. All the dopamine seeking habits i had of gambling and playing video games are gone. I get 8 hours of sleep every night, i eat three meals a day. Everyone i know that had to stop ended up abusing it. They took it at night to study or party. They took an extra dose if they needed to work extra hard. Im not going to go up in dose so i have no reason to think my experience now will change in 5 years
falcolas 3y ago
Hiya. Probably closer to 7 years on a stable dex regime. Over 9 years on amphetamines in total. Haven’t had to increase since it stabilized. And no, I don’t (intentionally, ADHD is a real bitch to habits) take med vacations. Meds still make the difference between executive dysfunction hell and being capable of earning an income and having relatively stable hobbies.