Vyvanse

[nandz]

Anyone have any luck with Vyvanse? My son's psychiatrist wants to try him on Vyvanse because Adderall is just not working for him. He's only on 10 mg daily of Adderall, but everytime we try to raise the dose, he gets very emotional and can get aggressive and mean. I told the psychiatrist that I know he needs more, but I am not raising adderall and that we need to try something else. He mentioned Adderall XR or Vyvanse. Is Adderall XR made like the short acting adderall? Anybody have success with Vyvanse? My son is 5 yrs old, almost 6.

 

[smallworld]

Vyvanse and Adderall XR are basically the same medication as Adderall, just packaged and released differently (as in over a longer period of time).

The stimulants that are different are in the methylphenidate family -- Ritalin, Focalin, Concerta, Metadate, etc.

 

[crazymama30]

My difficult child could not take adderrall, he was a monster on it. Anxious, emotionally labile, it was horrible for him and us. We went to focalin, and it was better, then to daytrana which was good but fell off, and now he is on vyvanse and does fine.

With that said, we tried the adderall before difficult child was on a mood stabilizer, and he is a completely different kiddo now that he is on lamictal and abilify plus the vyvanse.

I had a psychiatrist tell me that vyvanse is absorbed by the red blood cells differently than adderall though it is quite similar. It does not give a "kick" when it starts to work, and adderall ( according to psychiatrist) does.

I agree with SW, go with the ritalin family, but if you don't want to do that go to vyvanse, not adderall xr. That is absolutely the same.

 

[Canadiangirl]

I am really new to this site but I find it really helpful to see that we are not alone in this. My daughter (14) has ADHD and is very impulsive and was prone to huge outbursts that lasted hours if she did not get her own way and was also doing very badly in school (when she actually went). She was only diagnosed about 1 year ago with ADHD and it was a very hard 4 years up to then. Vyvanse has worked really well for my daughter. She was on Adderall and the side effect were not good - stomache aches and headaches and she still was not going to school and was getting into alot of trouble. We started Vyvanse last May and it took late June to get the right dose but now niether her nor I would go back to anything else. No headaches, no stomach aches, behavior is really good (with 2 little slips of bad over the last 3 months). She is getting great marks and I can actually see my actual child instead of a screaming, raging, angry person. I would say Vyvanse has really helped us.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Our experience was similar to crazymomma - although my son was successful on adderall for a number of years, he also had increased aggitation as a side effect - but the overall benefits outweighed that side effect. Then, in 7th grade (about 18 months ago), he began to struggle with additional focus issues in the classroom and 5 more mg's were added (xr). We began to see some increased aggitation and frustration in the afternoon so we went back to discuss this with the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said that difficult child was probably hitting the afternoon punch of the adderall. He suggested vyvanse and said that most of the teenage boys that he rx'd did well on the vyvanse and said it made them "feel more like themselves".

While adderall and vyvanse are similar, the vyvanse is different in a couple ways. As compared to the adderall XR, it does last a few hours longer and suppresses the appetite more. Additionally, it has a smoother release system than the adderall and does not do the morning and afternoon "punch" of medication like the adderall. We went with the vyvanse and it has been a great fit for the last 18 months. The vyvanse does not seem to have the increased aggitation side effect like the adderall had - he seems "smoother" on the vyvanse. difficult child takes 30 mg every school day - never on the weekends, school breaks or summer.

I hope it works as well for your son, but remember, all kids are different. My son has been on four adhd medications over the last 8.5 years. As things within them change, they grow, go through puberty, etc., their reaction to medications change as well.

Sharon

 

[graceupongrace]

Vyvanse has worked very well for my difficult child -- much better than Concerta. It lasts significantly longer, and difficult child says he feels better on it than on Concerta. We haven't seen any side effects.