ADHD

9669 readers

254 users here now

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments.
No porn, gore, spam, or advertisements allowed.
Do not request for donations.
Do not link to other social media or paywalled content.
Do not gatekeep or diagnose.
Mark NSFW content accordingly.
No racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, or ageism.
Respectful venting, including dealing with oppressive neurotypical culture, is okay.
Discussing other neurological problems like autism, anxiety, ptsd, and brain injury are allowed.
Discussions regarding medication are allowed as long as you are describing your own situation and not telling others what to do (only qualified medical practitioners can prescribe medication).

Encouraged:

Funny memes.
Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
Questions on confusing situations.
Seeking and sharing support.
Engagement in our values.

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

MrPoopyButthole

[email protected]

Experience with Vyvanse, does it get stronger over time for anyone else? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/adhd

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi all,

I've been on 30mg Vyvanse for approx. 3 years now. I'd say it's been a resounding improvement, though there have been some minor downsides.

Unfortunately I have some trauma in my past, and when I'm particularly in the peak of the drug it can kick in my fight or flight a bit under certain circumstances, becoming hyper vigilant and all that good stuff. It is a stimulant, it's only fair. Oddly enough though this seems to only happen after long periods of taking the drug. I've tried 20mg for a period, and it wasn't really effective, so going down a dose isn't a practical option.

I am wondering if maybe I should be taking small drug holidays when the paranoia etc starts to kick in. I feel like it steadily gets stronger the more days I take Vyvanse in a row. I've done some searching that says it shouldn't get stronger, which is why I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same experience, and if anything worked for you?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's not that crazy: It also increases dopamine and noradrenaline in other parts of the brain, too, so in higher doses, it would be a "great" recreational drug, similar to speed. The brain quickly adjusts to the relatively small dose, so it doesn't feel like a recreational drug any more (unless a lot more is taken), and only the prefrontal cortex still "benefits" from the increased levels of dopamine and noradrenaline, as intended.

So, the initial high is not the intended effect, just a pleasant side effect, and always fades. Otherwise, we could all happily live on recreational drugs all day.

The numbing effect on the emotions, on the other hand, could be the INTENDED effect, just way too strong. Need to take much less, for some people even as low as 5 mg.

So you might have gotten the intended effect and the side effect mixed up: You don't want the initial 2 week high, you do want the numbing, but much less of it.

That is my VERY limited layman understanding, certainly at least partially wrong. Maybe it's also hilariously wrong, who knows.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

I feel that, when I was first on the stuff I did mistake the high for the functionality. When I did spend time on a lower dose, roughly 3-4 months, I kind of reverted back to being unable to get up and do things, my activation energy was completely shot. I think I was only surviving before medication because I was drinking a ridiculous amount of coffee.

As it is currently, it's not really a high at all, just the standard stimulant response etc.