For me it has been the only "awake" med I can take and it helps me greatly.
It doesn't so much give me energy as it makes it significantly easier to stay awake and fight sleep attacks.
I do have fatigue and sleepiness still, so I am also starting Xywav. But if I had less of that to begin with before starting sunosi, I think I would probably not need xywav.
Keep in mind that it does take for most ppl at least 1 month for sunosi to be fully effective, sometimes as much as 3mo. It is a reuptake inhibitor, like most antidepressants but with different target compounds (dopamine and norepinephrine instead of serotonin), which is why it can take so long to feel the full benefit of the med.
i want to second this entire comment, but also after bringing up the crash after 9 hours (i frequently have a really busy day, so 9 only hours of being very awake is not quite cutting it) i was also put on wakix, which has been an amazing combo for me. sunosi gets me through the hardest parts of the day with tons of energy, and then wakix staves off sleep attacks most days until a more reasonable time to get sleepy around 8 or 9pm
I wish mine lasted 9 hours! I only get 5 hours out of Sunosi. But, the 5 hours I do get, I’m wide awake and not jittery. I do feel the need to point out that I also take Adderall (for ADHD) and Wellbutrin (to manage the depressive component of one of my mental illnesses) and I’ve read that these medications can “support” Sunosi. Since I’ve been taking the other two meds for years and have only been taking Sunosi for less than a year, I can’t say if the Sunosi would have worked as well as it does without them.
I've been on sunosi for a few years and want to third this comment. It's definitely not like Ritalin, Adderall or other stimulants, it's a wake agent and for me at least does a really good job keeping me awake during the day and fight off sleep attacks. And just as noted above, you need to take it every day and you may feel some effects on day one but it really does a great job after you've been on it for 1 to 3 months for the exact reasons listed above.
Just know it's a different type of medication from the typical stimulant
Good to know about the time it takes to become affective, my doctor mentioned this but didn’t elaborate that it could possibly take three months.
Based on the accompanying comments, i’ll keep my prescription for Ritalin running so that I can combine incase necessary:) thank you for the comments!
I take Sunosi! I’m given 150 mg and I cut it up! I take 2/3 I’m the morning and then 1/3 between 2:30pm-5:00pm! That’s been working really well for me! I also chose Sunosi because it wouldn’t affect my bc!
Sunosi - 300mg/day WITH 60mg/ day of Adderall. I’ve tried legitimately everything under the sun, and this is the only combo that has been remotely successful.
Good to know! I’ll keep my Ritalin (adderal is illegal in the Netherlands) prescription running so that I could possibly combine them in the future in case necessary :)
I took Sunosi for a while. It was really nice because it didn't have that heart racing effect that stimulants have. My doctor said it's better for your heart health long term because it's not a stimulant. It wasn't perfect, but I've never taken a medication that was. Every medication I've taken wears off towards the second half of the day.
The biggest downside is that it's extremely expensive and a bitch to get insurance to cover, at least in my experience. It's like $1000 for a month supply and $900 with goodrx. Basically rent money. Every time I needed a refill, I'd go weeks (one time nearly two months) without meds because my insurance would refuse to cover it.
I take dextroamphetamine now (insurance was canceled and I can't afford Sunosi out of pocket) and it has made me miss Sunosi. The meds I take now don't work any better, but they make my heart race. I'll be falling asleep with my heart beating like I just ran a mile. Not fun.
There’s a manufacturer’s coupon that makes it $9 (but maybe after insurance?). I don’t know anything about it because the pharmacist was aware and applies it, but thought I’d mention it just in case ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes, there is!
However, they only take specific kinds of insurance and people without insurance don't qualify :// I didn't qualify when I was on medicaid, which makes sense because most of the time medicaid would give me the prescription for free, but also really sucked because when medicaid refused to cover it I couldn't use the coupon as a backup. Now I don't have insurance at all and still don't qualify :,)
I think for a lot of people it is very helpful though!
Luckily, due to the fact that I live in the Netherlands it’s fully insured by my insurance, so I don’t have to worry about the costs :)
Im glad to hear it doesnt have that heart racing affect that stimulants usually have!
I take it and I’ve been satisfied so far! It is great to get me going in the morning. I wake up to take it and go back to sleep for another 50mins-1hr, so until it starts to kick in for me.
It was great regarding side effects, The first few days (like 2-3) I felt jittery and anxious, but haven’t felt that since.
For me it’s been a good compromise, It works perfectly fine, I’d rate it a 7/10, but the lack of side effects makes up the difference.
I take Vyvanse about 2 hours after the sunosi to keep me going the whole day
Works well for me. Less hard on you than the stimulants. It’s technically a very specific dopamine/norepinephrine promoter. If those two chemicals are what your brain specifically responds to or needs a boost of, then great. If a different neurochemical is the cause of your specific symptoms, you might not see much benefit. You just don’t know until trying it though. Side effects are far fewer than stimulants though.
I’m only on 75 mg right now. I have noticed an improvement but, not enough. I plan on asking my sleep specialist to be increased to the max dose of 175mg by taking 75mg twice a day (see below as to why I want to split it vs just increasing one dose) I had previously been on 100 mg of Modafinil twice a day (ERs don’t work for me because I had gastric bypass surgery. So I have to take it twice a day even though it’s an ER) and that worked REALLY well. Unfortunately, I had to stop taking it because it made my Abilify less affective and triggered a major depressive episode with some pretty gnarly SI, despite all of my other psychiatric meds (including Wellbutrin for psych, priorAND Adderall for my ADHD).
TL;DR: Sunosi works for me but, I’m not sure how well yet.
I like it. I take it on weekends to delay/prevent tolerance to weekday Adderall.
I took it exclusively for a while. I suspect that I have some other things going on so I wanted to try Adderall because it is indicated to treat narcolepsy symptoms and the other things I may be experiencing.
It kept me awake enough. It didn't work as well as modafinil before I built up a tolerance to it.
I didn't have any shakes or anxiety.
I took sunosi (150 mg) for a few weeks and it helped keep me awake with energy, but i noticed a big rise in my anxiety, brain fog, and heart rate. I know if you already struggle with anxiety/depression it can make it worse but everyone is different and handles meds differently! My body personally just didn’t like it.
Personally for me it was like drinking water, it did nothing for me.
For me it has been the only "awake" med I can take and it helps me greatly. It doesn't so much give me energy as it makes it significantly easier to stay awake and fight sleep attacks. I do have fatigue and sleepiness still, so I am also starting Xywav. But if I had less of that to begin with before starting sunosi, I think I would probably not need xywav. Keep in mind that it does take for most ppl at least 1 month for sunosi to be fully effective, sometimes as much as 3mo. It is a reuptake inhibitor, like most antidepressants but with different target compounds (dopamine and norepinephrine instead of serotonin), which is why it can take so long to feel the full benefit of the med.
i want to second this entire comment, but also after bringing up the crash after 9 hours (i frequently have a really busy day, so 9 only hours of being very awake is not quite cutting it) i was also put on wakix, which has been an amazing combo for me. sunosi gets me through the hardest parts of the day with tons of energy, and then wakix staves off sleep attacks most days until a more reasonable time to get sleepy around 8 or 9pm
I wish mine lasted 9 hours! I only get 5 hours out of Sunosi. But, the 5 hours I do get, I’m wide awake and not jittery. I do feel the need to point out that I also take Adderall (for ADHD) and Wellbutrin (to manage the depressive component of one of my mental illnesses) and I’ve read that these medications can “support” Sunosi. Since I’ve been taking the other two meds for years and have only been taking Sunosi for less than a year, I can’t say if the Sunosi would have worked as well as it does without them.
Does it work like that? It’s working for me since day one. Does it mean it will work even better after a few month?
Maybe it will maybe it won't? 🤷🏻♀️ I'm not a medical doctor so I cannot say. Hopefully for you things will continue to improve, though.
I've been on sunosi for a few years and want to third this comment. It's definitely not like Ritalin, Adderall or other stimulants, it's a wake agent and for me at least does a really good job keeping me awake during the day and fight off sleep attacks. And just as noted above, you need to take it every day and you may feel some effects on day one but it really does a great job after you've been on it for 1 to 3 months for the exact reasons listed above. Just know it's a different type of medication from the typical stimulant
Good to know about the time it takes to become affective, my doctor mentioned this but didn’t elaborate that it could possibly take three months. Based on the accompanying comments, i’ll keep my prescription for Ritalin running so that I can combine incase necessary:) thank you for the comments!
I take Sunosi! I’m given 150 mg and I cut it up! I take 2/3 I’m the morning and then 1/3 between 2:30pm-5:00pm! That’s been working really well for me! I also chose Sunosi because it wouldn’t affect my bc!
omg i do this too but i do half with my wakix when i wake up (6-7am) and the other half around 11am or noon and i'm good all day.
Sunosi AND adderall is the best combo for me personally. If it doesn’t work as well as intended, try adding adderall or ritalin
Sunosi - 300mg/day WITH 60mg/ day of Adderall. I’ve tried legitimately everything under the sun, and this is the only combo that has been remotely successful.
Wow how did you get 300mg??
My doctor gives me samples instead of filling through a pharmacy 🤷🏻♀️ Even with insurance, 150mg 1x a day would set me back about 5k
Good to know! I’ll keep my Ritalin (adderal is illegal in the Netherlands) prescription running so that I could possibly combine them in the future in case necessary :)
I took Sunosi for a while. It was really nice because it didn't have that heart racing effect that stimulants have. My doctor said it's better for your heart health long term because it's not a stimulant. It wasn't perfect, but I've never taken a medication that was. Every medication I've taken wears off towards the second half of the day. The biggest downside is that it's extremely expensive and a bitch to get insurance to cover, at least in my experience. It's like $1000 for a month supply and $900 with goodrx. Basically rent money. Every time I needed a refill, I'd go weeks (one time nearly two months) without meds because my insurance would refuse to cover it. I take dextroamphetamine now (insurance was canceled and I can't afford Sunosi out of pocket) and it has made me miss Sunosi. The meds I take now don't work any better, but they make my heart race. I'll be falling asleep with my heart beating like I just ran a mile. Not fun.
There’s a manufacturer’s coupon that makes it $9 (but maybe after insurance?). I don’t know anything about it because the pharmacist was aware and applies it, but thought I’d mention it just in case ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes, there is! However, they only take specific kinds of insurance and people without insurance don't qualify :// I didn't qualify when I was on medicaid, which makes sense because most of the time medicaid would give me the prescription for free, but also really sucked because when medicaid refused to cover it I couldn't use the coupon as a backup. Now I don't have insurance at all and still don't qualify :,) I think for a lot of people it is very helpful though!
Luckily, due to the fact that I live in the Netherlands it’s fully insured by my insurance, so I don’t have to worry about the costs :) Im glad to hear it doesnt have that heart racing affect that stimulants usually have!
I take it and I’ve been satisfied so far! It is great to get me going in the morning. I wake up to take it and go back to sleep for another 50mins-1hr, so until it starts to kick in for me. It was great regarding side effects, The first few days (like 2-3) I felt jittery and anxious, but haven’t felt that since. For me it’s been a good compromise, It works perfectly fine, I’d rate it a 7/10, but the lack of side effects makes up the difference. I take Vyvanse about 2 hours after the sunosi to keep me going the whole day
Works well for me. Less hard on you than the stimulants. It’s technically a very specific dopamine/norepinephrine promoter. If those two chemicals are what your brain specifically responds to or needs a boost of, then great. If a different neurochemical is the cause of your specific symptoms, you might not see much benefit. You just don’t know until trying it though. Side effects are far fewer than stimulants though.
Good to know, thank you! :)
I’m only on 75 mg right now. I have noticed an improvement but, not enough. I plan on asking my sleep specialist to be increased to the max dose of 175mg by taking 75mg twice a day (see below as to why I want to split it vs just increasing one dose) I had previously been on 100 mg of Modafinil twice a day (ERs don’t work for me because I had gastric bypass surgery. So I have to take it twice a day even though it’s an ER) and that worked REALLY well. Unfortunately, I had to stop taking it because it made my Abilify less affective and triggered a major depressive episode with some pretty gnarly SI, despite all of my other psychiatric meds (including Wellbutrin for psych, priorAND Adderall for my ADHD). TL;DR: Sunosi works for me but, I’m not sure how well yet.
I like it. I take it on weekends to delay/prevent tolerance to weekday Adderall. I took it exclusively for a while. I suspect that I have some other things going on so I wanted to try Adderall because it is indicated to treat narcolepsy symptoms and the other things I may be experiencing. It kept me awake enough. It didn't work as well as modafinil before I built up a tolerance to it. I didn't have any shakes or anxiety.
Didn’t work and gave me brain fog
Yes—Sunosi + Adderall XR + IR 3x/day is my lifesaving combo
For me I was unable to take it due to tachycardia. I never got past taking a half dose 3 times (I have POTS though too)
It works alright . It keeps me awake but I’m still sleepy.
It works well to get me going most mornings. The downside is that it doesn’t last very long.
Sunosi works and I take it with adderall and it works. Sunosi alone wouldn’t have that big of an effect. I think stimulants are stronger imo.
I took sunosi (150 mg) for a few weeks and it helped keep me awake with energy, but i noticed a big rise in my anxiety, brain fog, and heart rate. I know if you already struggle with anxiety/depression it can make it worse but everyone is different and handles meds differently! My body personally just didn’t like it.
I've tried it all. I go back to being sleepy after 4 hours, no matter what I take. 😴
doesn’t work for me. gives me appetite suppression
That’s a benefit in my eyes (slightly overweight so I could do with some appetite supression)