6 ms·

I've been taking vyvanse(before that adderall) for the past 10 years. I wouldn't have been able to graduate from highschool without it, I can barely function at

I've been taking vyvanse(before that adderall) for the past 10 years. I wouldn't have been able to graduate from highschool without it, I can barely function at my job(devops) without it. I haven't noticed any long term affects, it definitely works though. It's scheduled so it's not easy to get but it definitely works compared to some of the more hit or miss OTC nootropics. I'm willing to answer any questions if anyone is interested.

pyromine 12y ago
Okay, so I'm a college freshmen who graduated high school in three years but did that in a combination of excelling and getting absolute 0's in classes because I'm not able to concentrate. I believe I have adhd, for many reasons, how realistic is it getting diagnosed at 18? Also, is there really not many noticeable long-term side effects, because I took vyvanse once and holy god it was the first time I was able to sit down and work on something straight for more than three hours without getting distracted other than things that I would naturally get in the flow with.
- flowlikeh2o 12y ago
  I'm 30 and in med school, had a similar experience in high school, and my first attempt at college wasn't too different. I couldn't have changed gears without the right diagnosis, support and medication (though medication is truly just one aspect of it). I was diagnosed in my 20s. If you go to a therapist/psych to talk about your issues you have a good chance of working them out and getting the support you need. the first psych to dx me was through the university health department, don't be afraid to use the services that are available for you.
  - JohnBooty 12y ago
    > (though medication is truly just one aspect of it) Yes, this is so true. The major pieces of the puzzle for me ...from most to least important... are: good sleep, proper environment, exercise, nutrition, medication. When I say "nutrition" I don't even mean a strict diet. The most important part there for me is simply avoiding big doses of sugar and carbs. Those leave me drained.
- jacques_chester 12y ago
  > I believe I have adhd, for many reasons, how realistic is it getting diagnosed at 18? I was diagnosed as a 32 year old.
- nraynaud 12y ago
  In France ADHD is not in the book of diseases for adults, so the psychiatrist didn't even want to try a diagnostic (and I guess he didn't have the standard tools to do it).
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  I've been on these drugs for at least 10 years and there are no noticeable long term side affects. The only thing you have to worry about is that they do kill your appetite so if you're taking them on a daily basis you'll have to force yourself to eat sometimes or risk being underweight.
codewithcheese 12y ago
How do you feel at work when you don't take it?
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  Very unfocused, I can't spend more than 5-10 minutes on any single task without getting distracted. It is almost impossible to get "in the zone" without my medication.
Jhsto 12y ago
You sure your high does not come from clearing out your withdrawal effects? To elaborate, smokers seem to be anxious before they get nicotine, but to what I understand the relief itself does not really come from nicotine, but because your brain is not used to not have it on hand.
- falcolas 12y ago
  Speaking for myself, there is no high. There's coming back up to normal. And yes, the positive effects to those with ADHD is 100% driven by the drug itself. I have 36 years of managing ADHD with coping mechanisms to compare the effects of medication against, and gods below I wish I had gotten help sooner.
  - Jhsto 12y ago
    I was not aware that some nootropics could be used to treat conditions like ADHD. I personally use 2g dose of taurine every now and then for mental boost, but it is basically just placebo compared to what you must experience. Great to hear though that you've found a cure - I happen to have restless leg, which has been enough to shake my mental sanity, as I have been unable to focus on anything. Having that inside your head must been quite harder to cope with, so kudos for you.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  There's really no high, there's basically 0 recreational benefit to vyvanse (at least at the dosage I take).
a5seo 12y ago
I just started adderall for add-inattentive. So far I don't notice a pronounced effect. I've tried Modafinil in the past and 10mg of Adderall 2X daily doesn't really compare. From what I understand, the effect should be something like putting on glasses when you have myopia. What was your experience with Adderall and why did you switch? Vyvanse is an all-day dose, right? Did it affect your sleep?
- ktsmith 12y ago
  > From what I understand, the effect should be something like putting on glasses when you have myopia. Yes and no. I'm myopic and have been since I was a small child I was also diagnosed with ADHD a year ago at age 35 and have been medicated for the last year. Without glasses I'm basically blind. I can put them on and see, take them off and I'm back. I have control. Without my medication if I go into a crowded room I am listening to a dozen conversations at once, giving each speaker the same amount of attention even though they are speaking at the same time and not to me. With my medication (40mg Vyvanse) I can go into a crowded room and hold a coherent conversation with someone and ignore the other conversations around me for the most part. I hear them but I can essentially choose to give most of my attention to whom I want. Without the drugs I slip into hyper focus on things like a good book or a video game, completely losing track of time and actually not noticing when someone comes up and talks to me or interrupts me. This was really bad when I was a teenager and I'd read 700-800 pages when I should have been sleeping but I would have no idea how much time had passed. This still happens with the medication but it's easier to break away. With the medication I have more control over what I'm focused on but it's just a drug, if you are focused on the wrong thing it doesn't care. That being said it's not like people without ADHD describe where they lock into cleaning their house when they meant to be working. More willpower and impulse control are things I'd say I have when medicated. I have more control but not complete control. I can't turn it off until it runs its course unlike the glasses that I can take off any time I want. With glasses it's simple, I can see or I can't. With the drug it's not simple at all. Things are better but it's not a silver bullet and the wrong drug or the wrong dosage can have no effect or a negative effect. I took ritalin initially but it just made me angry, sweaty and made my heart race with the bonus of terrible crashes in the early evening and no impact on the actual ADHD issues. With Adderall I needed to be working on what I wanted to before I took it because it kicked in fast and hard, it was effective to an extent but it wasn't great. With Vyvanse I'm taking a similar drug but it's uptake is slower and the comedown is slower I can ease into my work day, I tend to be more able to easily pick and choose which things I focus on and I'm much less impulsive. None of the issues are gone but like the glasses for my myopia the fog is lifted a bit with the effect of the amphetamines. Before I took them I just assumed I wasn't as bright as everyone thought and that I need to work ten times harder to produce the same output. Since I've been medicated I feel normal for the most part and it's allowed me to have a more normal work life balance as I don't constantly feel like I'm behind or that I can't get things done. This is largely because I'm more effective when I am working where as before I was distracted but didn't really realize it or explained it away as multitasking. > Vyvanse is an all-day dose, right? Did it affect your sleep? It is an all day dose, 12-16 hours depending on the literature but I find it lasted about 6 on my first dosage and I get about 8 with 40mg. I can probably go up to 50mg but I'm happy with where I'm at. I don't feel a big difference when I'm on the drug like I did initially but I'm still better able to handle the day and my tasks than I am without it. Normalcy was what I was really looking for. I don't take it on the weekends which has helped a bit with tolerance and taking a 10 day break over the Christmas holiday really showed me how much tolerance was becoming an issue for me. An alternative to a bigger dose if it doesn't last all day is to get an instant release secondary drug for the second half/end of the day. That way you can control when you take it and have a reasonable expectation of when it will wear off. As far as sleep goes if you don't take it too late in the day you are probably fine unless you have sleep problems to begin with, which of course are common for ADHD affected people. I am lucky in that my sleep issues were essentially conquered when I was between the ages of 8-10 since I could never sleep and my mother helped me figure out techniques to do so. Combinations of breathing, clearing my head, picturing myself descending into darkness etc. The only times I have trouble sleeping now are when I'm stressed, stay up too late, or stay up too late and try to sleep when I still have an obsession with a problem or task as I'm then unable to stop thinking about it. Ending my work day earlier helps prevent that. The worst side effects for me are physical. I have to put on deodorant in the middle of the day and god forbid I forget to put on any at all. Dry mouth was absolutely awful until I started to build up a tolerance, now it's not a huge issue. A few other minor things but nothing that I would stop using them over.
falcolas 12y ago
I too take Adderall for ADHD, and it's been crazy how useful it has been. It lets me actually control where my concentration is spent, and the ability finally follow through on plans pretty nice. I can also access my long term memory more readily, and don't run into corners continuously. I don't get any of the "high" effects - no endless reserves of energy, no hyper-focus, no mood swings. I do become fairly dehydrated on it, so I end up drinking more water than usual. All that said, if I didn't have to take it, I probably wouldn't. Stimulants can be pretty hard on the body, and being dependent on a stimulant is not a state I enjoy being in.
KaiserPro 12y ago
As a fellow devop, I say that you shouldn't need drugs to do your job. IF you have to stay that late all every day, its time to rip it all out and start again... to quote from drugs.com: "Lisdexamfetamine is a drug of abuse and may be habit-forming." But that said, you've heard these all before. To new users; Long term use usually requires higher doses, the longer you're on them the worse the withdrawl symptoms. The majority of these drugs work in a similar way to coke, with all the either positive/negative personality changes that come with them.
- driverdan 12y ago
  > As a fellow devop, I say that you shouldn't need drugs to do your job. You need to learn about mental health and, in this case, ADHD. You can't just wish mental health issues away.
  - KaiserPro 12y ago
    No, as someone who has had depression a job either makes you worse or better. If your job makes you worse, you must change.
    - woah 12y ago
      As someone who has sprained my ankle I now have expert authority on your mental condition.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  You have no idea what I go through when not on my job, you obviously don't understand how ADHD works. Also I've been taking these drugs for almost my entire life so I think I'm a better judge of what I need to do my job than you.
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  I've never had to change my dosage of vyvanse for the past 4 years and have 0 withdrawal symptoms (I don't take them on the weekends or holidays, i've stopped for over 3 weeks before with 0 withdrawal symptoms).
forgotpasswd3x 12y ago
Why'd you switch from adderall to vyvanse? I've been thinking about going to see a doc about getting back on something like that for a while now. I've... not been so well since I stopped. (fellow SE Michigander here)
- Igglyboo 12y ago
  Vyvanse was similar but with far less negative side effects. I used to get headaches and felt generally unpleasant on adderall.

pyromine 12y ago

Okay, so I'm a college freshmen who graduated high school in three years but did that in a combination of excelling and getting absolute 0's in classes because I'm not able to concentrate. I believe I have adhd, for many reasons, how realistic is it getting diagnosed at 18? Also, is there really not many noticeable long-term side effects, because I took vyvanse once and holy god it was the first time I was able to sit down and work on something straight for more than three hours without getting distracted other than things that I would naturally get in the flow with.

flowlikeh2o 12y ago
I'm 30 and in med school, had a similar experience in high school, and my first attempt at college wasn't too different. I couldn't have changed gears without the right diagnosis, support and medication (though medication is truly just one aspect of it). I was diagnosed in my 20s. If you go to a therapist/psych to talk about your issues you have a good chance of working them out and getting the support you need. the first psych to dx me was through the university health department, don't be afraid to use the services that are available for you.
- JohnBooty 12y ago
  > (though medication is truly just one aspect of it) Yes, this is so true. The major pieces of the puzzle for me ...from most to least important... are: good sleep, proper environment, exercise, nutrition, medication. When I say "nutrition" I don't even mean a strict diet. The most important part there for me is simply avoiding big doses of sugar and carbs. Those leave me drained.
jacques_chester 12y ago
> I believe I have adhd, for many reasons, how realistic is it getting diagnosed at 18? I was diagnosed as a 32 year old.
nraynaud 12y ago
In France ADHD is not in the book of diseases for adults, so the psychiatrist didn't even want to try a diagnostic (and I guess he didn't have the standard tools to do it).
Igglyboo 12y ago
I've been on these drugs for at least 10 years and there are no noticeable long term side affects. The only thing you have to worry about is that they do kill your appetite so if you're taking them on a daily basis you'll have to force yourself to eat sometimes or risk being underweight.

codewithcheese 12y ago

How do you feel at work when you don't take it?

Igglyboo 12y ago
Very unfocused, I can't spend more than 5-10 minutes on any single task without getting distracted. It is almost impossible to get "in the zone" without my medication.

Jhsto 12y ago

You sure your high does not come from clearing out your withdrawal effects? To elaborate, smokers seem to be anxious before they get nicotine, but to what I understand the relief itself does not really come from nicotine, but because your brain is not used to not have it on hand.

falcolas 12y ago
Speaking for myself, there is no high. There's coming back up to normal. And yes, the positive effects to those with ADHD is 100% driven by the drug itself. I have 36 years of managing ADHD with coping mechanisms to compare the effects of medication against, and gods below I wish I had gotten help sooner.
- Jhsto 12y ago
  I was not aware that some nootropics could be used to treat conditions like ADHD. I personally use 2g dose of taurine every now and then for mental boost, but it is basically just placebo compared to what you must experience. Great to hear though that you've found a cure - I happen to have restless leg, which has been enough to shake my mental sanity, as I have been unable to focus on anything. Having that inside your head must been quite harder to cope with, so kudos for you.
Igglyboo 12y ago
There's really no high, there's basically 0 recreational benefit to vyvanse (at least at the dosage I take).

a5seo 12y ago

I just started adderall for add-inattentive. So far I don't notice a pronounced effect. I've tried Modafinil in the past and 10mg of Adderall 2X daily doesn't really compare. From what I understand, the effect should be something like putting on glasses when you have myopia. What was your experience with Adderall and why did you switch? Vyvanse is an all-day dose, right? Did it affect your sleep?

ktsmith 12y ago
> From what I understand, the effect should be something like putting on glasses when you have myopia. Yes and no. I'm myopic and have been since I was a small child I was also diagnosed with ADHD a year ago at age 35 and have been medicated for the last year. Without glasses I'm basically blind. I can put them on and see, take them off and I'm back. I have control. Without my medication if I go into a crowded room I am listening to a dozen conversations at once, giving each speaker the same amount of attention even though they are speaking at the same time and not to me. With my medication (40mg Vyvanse) I can go into a crowded room and hold a coherent conversation with someone and ignore the other conversations around me for the most part. I hear them but I can essentially choose to give most of my attention to whom I want. Without the drugs I slip into hyper focus on things like a good book or a video game, completely losing track of time and actually not noticing when someone comes up and talks to me or interrupts me. This was really bad when I was a teenager and I'd read 700-800 pages when I should have been sleeping but I would have no idea how much time had passed. This still happens with the medication but it's easier to break away. With the medication I have more control over what I'm focused on but it's just a drug, if you are focused on the wrong thing it doesn't care. That being said it's not like people without ADHD describe where they lock into cleaning their house when they meant to be working. More willpower and impulse control are things I'd say I have when medicated. I have more control but not complete control. I can't turn it off until it runs its course unlike the glasses that I can take off any time I want. With glasses it's simple, I can see or I can't. With the drug it's not simple at all. Things are better but it's not a silver bullet and the wrong drug or the wrong dosage can have no effect or a negative effect. I took ritalin initially but it just made me angry, sweaty and made my heart race with the bonus of terrible crashes in the early evening and no impact on the actual ADHD issues. With Adderall I needed to be working on what I wanted to before I took it because it kicked in fast and hard, it was effective to an extent but it wasn't great. With Vyvanse I'm taking a similar drug but it's uptake is slower and the comedown is slower I can ease into my work day, I tend to be more able to easily pick and choose which things I focus on and I'm much less impulsive. None of the issues are gone but like the glasses for my myopia the fog is lifted a bit with the effect of the amphetamines. Before I took them I just assumed I wasn't as bright as everyone thought and that I need to work ten times harder to produce the same output. Since I've been medicated I feel normal for the most part and it's allowed me to have a more normal work life balance as I don't constantly feel like I'm behind or that I can't get things done. This is largely because I'm more effective when I am working where as before I was distracted but didn't really realize it or explained it away as multitasking. > Vyvanse is an all-day dose, right? Did it affect your sleep? It is an all day dose, 12-16 hours depending on the literature but I find it lasted about 6 on my first dosage and I get about 8 with 40mg. I can probably go up to 50mg but I'm happy with where I'm at. I don't feel a big difference when I'm on the drug like I did initially but I'm still better able to handle the day and my tasks than I am without it. Normalcy was what I was really looking for. I don't take it on the weekends which has helped a bit with tolerance and taking a 10 day break over the Christmas holiday really showed me how much tolerance was becoming an issue for me. An alternative to a bigger dose if it doesn't last all day is to get an instant release secondary drug for the second half/end of the day. That way you can control when you take it and have a reasonable expectation of when it will wear off. As far as sleep goes if you don't take it too late in the day you are probably fine unless you have sleep problems to begin with, which of course are common for ADHD affected people. I am lucky in that my sleep issues were essentially conquered when I was between the ages of 8-10 since I could never sleep and my mother helped me figure out techniques to do so. Combinations of breathing, clearing my head, picturing myself descending into darkness etc. The only times I have trouble sleeping now are when I'm stressed, stay up too late, or stay up too late and try to sleep when I still have an obsession with a problem or task as I'm then unable to stop thinking about it. Ending my work day earlier helps prevent that. The worst side effects for me are physical. I have to put on deodorant in the middle of the day and god forbid I forget to put on any at all. Dry mouth was absolutely awful until I started to build up a tolerance, now it's not a huge issue. A few other minor things but nothing that I would stop using them over.

falcolas 12y ago

I too take Adderall for ADHD, and it's been crazy how useful it has been. It lets me actually control where my concentration is spent, and the ability finally follow through on plans pretty nice. I can also access my long term memory more readily, and don't run into corners continuously. I don't get any of the "high" effects - no endless reserves of energy, no hyper-focus, no mood swings. I do become fairly dehydrated on it, so I end up drinking more water than usual. All that said, if I didn't have to take it, I probably wouldn't. Stimulants can be pretty hard on the body, and being dependent on a stimulant is not a state I enjoy being in.

KaiserPro 12y ago

As a fellow devop, I say that you shouldn't need drugs to do your job. IF you have to stay that late all every day, its time to rip it all out and start again... to quote from drugs.com: "Lisdexamfetamine is a drug of abuse and may be habit-forming." But that said, you've heard these all before. To new users; Long term use usually requires higher doses, the longer you're on them the worse the withdrawl symptoms. The majority of these drugs work in a similar way to coke, with all the either positive/negative personality changes that come with them.

driverdan 12y ago
> As a fellow devop, I say that you shouldn't need drugs to do your job. You need to learn about mental health and, in this case, ADHD. You can't just wish mental health issues away.
- KaiserPro 12y ago
  No, as someone who has had depression a job either makes you worse or better. If your job makes you worse, you must change.
  - woah 12y ago
    As someone who has sprained my ankle I now have expert authority on your mental condition.
Igglyboo 12y ago
You have no idea what I go through when not on my job, you obviously don't understand how ADHD works. Also I've been taking these drugs for almost my entire life so I think I'm a better judge of what I need to do my job than you.
Igglyboo 12y ago
I've never had to change my dosage of vyvanse for the past 4 years and have 0 withdrawal symptoms (I don't take them on the weekends or holidays, i've stopped for over 3 weeks before with 0 withdrawal symptoms).

forgotpasswd3x 12y ago

Why'd you switch from adderall to vyvanse? I've been thinking about going to see a doc about getting back on something like that for a while now. I've... not been so well since I stopped. (fellow SE Michigander here)

Igglyboo 12y ago
Vyvanse was similar but with far less negative side effects. I used to get headaches and felt generally unpleasant on adderall.