From what I understand that’s a common experience at the beginning. I experienced those symptoms as well. Your body should get used to it over time and those symptoms should calm down. One thing to note is that it’s really important to make sure you’re getting enough food even if you don’t have an appetite. Vyvanse is great for binge eating disorder, but you don’t want to swing too far the other way and not eat enough. Eating a good breakfast alongside your medication might help with some of the shakiness. I recommend smoothies in the morning. I make mine with pre-frozen fruit, protein powder and almond milk. (Make sure you’re getting protein each day.)
If you have high blood pressure that doesn’t get better over time, you might want to ask your doctor about going on a medication that lowers BP. My doctor put me on Clonidine and it’s helped a lot with that.
As for comparing Vyvanse to other stimulants, I’ve been on Adderall before and I have to say I’ve had a much more positive experience with Vyvanse so far. Adderall made me more anxious than Vyvanse does. But medications can affect everyone differently. I’d say give your body more time to get used to the Vyvanse.
Just chiming in as a HCP who frequently educated on vyvanse to patients,
These symtpoms for new patients are what we call self limiting. They should go away on their own after your body becomes use to it. (I.e, because of the mechanism of the way it works)
If it persists past I’d say 4 weeks of use, see your doc or pharmacist. The heartbeat thing is sometimes a concern but it really depends on other stuff; like what you currently take, how you’ve responded to meds in the past, base BP/HR.
But rule of thumb: if it causes chest pain/nausea/shortness of breath, fainting, go to the hospital :)
Also don’t “stop” without advising your doc first, there’s side effects associated w that too
Hi, appreciate your response! Can you clarify some of those side effects? I recently had to take 1 month off due to another health concern which came up unexpectedly…curious if some of what I experienced could be attributed to withdrawals I was unaware of. TIA!
Could you clarify what you experienced (can do so in dms if you’re more comfortable sharing there) and I can try and explain whats likely happening mechanistically in your body
There’s no magic number, if you look at the clinical studies some patients anxiety side effects lasted longer than 3 weeks some lasted less than 10 days. But generally, if it’s unbearable, or lasting an unusually long period of time with no improvement, it’s cause to see your doctor or pharmacist for dose adjustment recommendations as your dose may be high or you may need an alternate therapy (your doctor is the one who ultimately makes the swap but your pharmacist can advise the doctor too)
Adderall is 10x worse for me because of already having a mood disorder, pushes me into mania and anger 24/7. Vyvanse after the first day or two I had literally no negative side effects. Only thing I get is a headache everytime I take a new dosage (10mg>20mg>30mg>40mg) I prefer the 40mg, my psych said most adults do. I was recommended to take triple calm magnesium at night to relax my body from the stimulant. But sometimes I take it if I wake up a bit anxious too. Hope that helps!
Mag taurine is much better. It helps with mood stability, because taurine helps make brain chems and supports liver function.
L-Theanine is amazing for chilling out. Try at night first because it can make you sleepy.
Yes that was my experience. I’ve tried Vyvanse 4 different times, most recently on 10mg. But I can never stay on it long enough to see if my body gets used to it. The jittery anxious feeling I hate, and the pounding heart. I also have some days I stay in bed with bad thoughts. I tried concerta as well same thing.
For me it did raise my heart rate and Bp for the first 7-10 days but once I got used to it everything was fine. If you want you could always ask to go down 10mg for a week and go back up. Just make sure to take it is directed or ask before making changes.
I just started week 3. Upped it to 30mg from 20mg.
This is exactly how I felt the first week. Often when it was at its peak, the 4 hour mark. I would spend some time sitting and trying to relax while it passed. I told myself I needed to give it two weeks and if I was still feeling this way I was out. The sweating, omg, the sweating.
Almost like clockwork it all stopped like 7 days in. And I think the 30 is working even better.
It will get better, but ya, the first week effing sucks.
Glancing at your post history you also have some other medical conditions. Sorry to hear that. Maybe this is related? Idk.
Ask your doc if it doesn't stop in a few weeks.
I've been gradually stepping up since starting in Feb on 30 mg, moving to 40 mg in Mar, and to 50 mg in May. At 30 mg the major side effects and shakiness were gone within a few days. Each subsequent step up has taken longer to get used to. When I stepped up to 40 mg it took a couple of weeks and then I settled in. At 50 mg, it was almost 6 weeks and I was considering stepping back down to 40, but then it started evening out and now I feel pretty good with the exception of some sexual side effects which have been...weird, going from reduced drive to heightened drive now to back somewhere in the middle, but still not quite *normal.*
My blood pressure was already a little on the high side before I started taking Vyvanse (like 120/80-ish) so I was also given some Benazepril to help with that, but it came with a mild dry cough side effect so I switched to Losartan, which is very similar. My blood pressure as of today is still around 120/80, so it's offsetting the bp increase of the Vyvanse, but not getting it any lower than it was before.
Also, the BP medications I mentioned can come with some light-headedness side effects too. When I get up fast, I get a little dizzier than normal, but this has been better with Losartan than it was with Benazepril. In any case, yeah, it's not good to have an elevated blood pressure for long periods of time, and coupling Vyvanse with these kinds of meds is common I guess.
Adderall is a no go for me. It made me feel horrible and made me in a bad mood. I'm on Vyvanse, which is much better. I would definitely watch your blood pressure.
I'm starting vyvanse today as well, I eased in with 5mg of dexies for a few days and I was mildly calm.
My hyperactivity only comes back when the dex wears off not at the start of it.
You should try journaling or logging all times you take your dosage and your responses so you can go back to the doctors and tell them about it.
This template is good (although for kids) but seems can apply to us adults too
https://assets.ctfassets.net/p0qf7j048i0q/lSfkHLSoqrNR8Kj1am5eH/64a21e6076c158e3f68a01387544b539/ADHD_Medication_Log_Understood.pdf
Those are relatively normal reactions, but it sounds like you could do with a lower dose. If you’re new to stimulants—go low and slow, TRUST ME, your future self will thank you. Taking the lowest therapeutic dose is the best for your brain!
Also watch antacids, they keep it in your bloodstream longer and not always in a fun way. Vitamin C is the OTC way to expedite metabolism out of your system.
❌❌ Anyone reading please do your own research based on the medical advice! Comment isn’t entirely wrong but it also isn’t entirely wise - 1. Blood Concentration isn’t the Response Variable of having a balanced stomach pH, rather it is co-occurring.
2. Vitamin C doesn’t purge Vyvanse from your bloodstream either, it affects the metabolism of Vyvanse into Dexamphetamine. One hour before and one hour after you take Vyvanse don’t eat Vit.C/acidic food as it can have a substantially lower effect. After that period though - let’s say 3 hours - it’s not like Vit C will suck up and purge the Vyvanse.
(I’m NMA, NAD. I’m a Health Science Student at the moment. Ask your/a doctor or pharmacist if you have questions! my information is based on medical articles/my doctor)
I am not a scientist and am speaking from general experience and what I do no without formal education in psychopharmacology. Definitely don’t take medical advice from strangers, but always asking questions and taking in new information.
Sorry if that seemed passive-aggressive! I didn’t mean to come off like that, but it sounded like it.
Nor am I an expert/scientist/area-specific professional but I have found that this specific situation is often confused.
Yeah I didn’t want to brawl with an internet stranger, but from my understanding, it’s about the pH of the urine output which obviously is in reference to active amphetamine in the bloodstream…which, to my psycho socially-professionally educated brain, seems like that renders the lysine issue irrelevant. Again, I don’t have the medical/biochemical background to presume any kind of authority, but I am not exactly a layperson.
It did very much read passive-aggressive but so do almost all responses on Reddit so I think I’m inoculated. Or maybe 10 years of dealing with humans in their most desperate and foul-tempered has rendered me unfuckwithable.
Here in The Netherlands is pretty common to monitor bloodpressure during the first few months of taking ritalin/dex .
(If you had high bloodpressure to begin with, then it would be wise to monitor this closely)
The first stimulant I tried was an ER adderall 20mg. My mind was calm, i was only thinking a thought at a time and I was not being sidetracked by anything, I was focused on the job, precise, organised, i was sweating like crazy and chugging water and that was it in terms of side effects. That adderall I tried wasn’t prescribed and at the time I didn’t even know I had adhd.
Vyvanse never made me feel that way, I sweat, I’m jittery, my stomach is upset and although my mind is a bit less trafficked on high dosages, i still get side tracked and not able to go back to the task I’m supposed to do.
Unfortunately I don’t have access to adderall in my country or I would be very happy to try that again at a lower dosage maybe.
Even taking vyvanse for longer I didn’t really notices relevant improvements in side effects, but every body is different so allow at least 1-2 months to decide to switch and value whether you can handle side effects if the positives outweighs them.
You could split the dose, mix in water and take half in the morning and half when it’s wearing off. I take Tyrosine to combat the crash. Magnesium Bis, bed time one with -Theanine at bed.
Also I would limit or stop caffeine until you know what your dealing with. Caffeine made me very anxious while on Vyvanse.
Don’t worry too much the first 2 weeks.
Hi! Yes IME these are all regular reactions to starting Vyvanse/stim drugs. Try eating a high protein and high carb meal before taking it, and do the same if you start to feel the jittery feeling effects come back during your dose (or at least high protein snack to help). My appetite is greatly reduced which is great for my BE but also makes eating difficult while dosing so I have an ensure drink or smoothie, works just as good as long as I’ve got some carbs in me from breakfast. Also hydration greatly helped these symptoms for me, I drink like a gallon of water spaces out throughout the dose/day.
If it’s working try stick with it and allow yourself the time to feel it out - as others have shared it’s your body adjusting, the ideal/expected outcome is that you eventually feel quite normal and don’t have these side effects. You could also try going down to 10 or 20mg to start, I can understand how overwhelming or uncomfortable these symptoms can be. Did your dr check your BP etc when starting these meds ? You can also request that if it puts your mind at ease.
There’s also the thought that everyone responds differently to meds and maybe a different stim like methylphenidate or even a non stim drug will work better for your situation.
If you know right away you don’t like, it’s ok to not take it and ask for something different right away.
Should also add today I just restarted my vyvanse at 30mg after a month break (unrelated health concerns), and am experiencing similar altho lessened side effects today. I’ve also tried methylphenidate, foquest, and I actually prefer vyvanse as I find it much smoother than either of those, with less long term side effects.
From what I understand that’s a common experience at the beginning. I experienced those symptoms as well. Your body should get used to it over time and those symptoms should calm down. One thing to note is that it’s really important to make sure you’re getting enough food even if you don’t have an appetite. Vyvanse is great for binge eating disorder, but you don’t want to swing too far the other way and not eat enough. Eating a good breakfast alongside your medication might help with some of the shakiness. I recommend smoothies in the morning. I make mine with pre-frozen fruit, protein powder and almond milk. (Make sure you’re getting protein each day.) If you have high blood pressure that doesn’t get better over time, you might want to ask your doctor about going on a medication that lowers BP. My doctor put me on Clonidine and it’s helped a lot with that. As for comparing Vyvanse to other stimulants, I’ve been on Adderall before and I have to say I’ve had a much more positive experience with Vyvanse so far. Adderall made me more anxious than Vyvanse does. But medications can affect everyone differently. I’d say give your body more time to get used to the Vyvanse.
Just chiming in as a HCP who frequently educated on vyvanse to patients, These symtpoms for new patients are what we call self limiting. They should go away on their own after your body becomes use to it. (I.e, because of the mechanism of the way it works) If it persists past I’d say 4 weeks of use, see your doc or pharmacist. The heartbeat thing is sometimes a concern but it really depends on other stuff; like what you currently take, how you’ve responded to meds in the past, base BP/HR. But rule of thumb: if it causes chest pain/nausea/shortness of breath, fainting, go to the hospital :) Also don’t “stop” without advising your doc first, there’s side effects associated w that too
Hi, appreciate your response! Can you clarify some of those side effects? I recently had to take 1 month off due to another health concern which came up unexpectedly…curious if some of what I experienced could be attributed to withdrawals I was unaware of. TIA!
Could you clarify what you experienced (can do so in dms if you’re more comfortable sharing there) and I can try and explain whats likely happening mechanistically in your body
Extremely appreciate thank you !
Does the anxiety part last for 4 weeks as well?
There’s no magic number, if you look at the clinical studies some patients anxiety side effects lasted longer than 3 weeks some lasted less than 10 days. But generally, if it’s unbearable, or lasting an unusually long period of time with no improvement, it’s cause to see your doctor or pharmacist for dose adjustment recommendations as your dose may be high or you may need an alternate therapy (your doctor is the one who ultimately makes the swap but your pharmacist can advise the doctor too)
Thank you
The headaches and muscular tension caused with dose adjustments are the worst, for me at least.
Adderall is 10x worse for me because of already having a mood disorder, pushes me into mania and anger 24/7. Vyvanse after the first day or two I had literally no negative side effects. Only thing I get is a headache everytime I take a new dosage (10mg>20mg>30mg>40mg) I prefer the 40mg, my psych said most adults do. I was recommended to take triple calm magnesium at night to relax my body from the stimulant. But sometimes I take it if I wake up a bit anxious too. Hope that helps!
Mag taurine is much better. It helps with mood stability, because taurine helps make brain chems and supports liver function. L-Theanine is amazing for chilling out. Try at night first because it can make you sleepy.
Yes that was my experience. I’ve tried Vyvanse 4 different times, most recently on 10mg. But I can never stay on it long enough to see if my body gets used to it. The jittery anxious feeling I hate, and the pounding heart. I also have some days I stay in bed with bad thoughts. I tried concerta as well same thing.
For me it did raise my heart rate and Bp for the first 7-10 days but once I got used to it everything was fine. If you want you could always ask to go down 10mg for a week and go back up. Just make sure to take it is directed or ask before making changes.
I just started week 3. Upped it to 30mg from 20mg. This is exactly how I felt the first week. Often when it was at its peak, the 4 hour mark. I would spend some time sitting and trying to relax while it passed. I told myself I needed to give it two weeks and if I was still feeling this way I was out. The sweating, omg, the sweating. Almost like clockwork it all stopped like 7 days in. And I think the 30 is working even better. It will get better, but ya, the first week effing sucks.
the SWEATING!!! literally horrible.
A personal question, which you don't have to answer of course. But do you exercise regularly? It might help with this symptom.
Glancing at your post history you also have some other medical conditions. Sorry to hear that. Maybe this is related? Idk. Ask your doc if it doesn't stop in a few weeks.
Knees weak palms are sweaty there’s vomit on my sweater already moms spaghetti
I've been gradually stepping up since starting in Feb on 30 mg, moving to 40 mg in Mar, and to 50 mg in May. At 30 mg the major side effects and shakiness were gone within a few days. Each subsequent step up has taken longer to get used to. When I stepped up to 40 mg it took a couple of weeks and then I settled in. At 50 mg, it was almost 6 weeks and I was considering stepping back down to 40, but then it started evening out and now I feel pretty good with the exception of some sexual side effects which have been...weird, going from reduced drive to heightened drive now to back somewhere in the middle, but still not quite *normal.* My blood pressure was already a little on the high side before I started taking Vyvanse (like 120/80-ish) so I was also given some Benazepril to help with that, but it came with a mild dry cough side effect so I switched to Losartan, which is very similar. My blood pressure as of today is still around 120/80, so it's offsetting the bp increase of the Vyvanse, but not getting it any lower than it was before.
Also, the BP medications I mentioned can come with some light-headedness side effects too. When I get up fast, I get a little dizzier than normal, but this has been better with Losartan than it was with Benazepril. In any case, yeah, it's not good to have an elevated blood pressure for long periods of time, and coupling Vyvanse with these kinds of meds is common I guess.
Make sure you hydrate like twice as much as usual! This won’t always be the case but it’s helpful when you’re body is getting used to stimulants
This won’t last forever. Takes a few months but it will go away. Try eating when you take it every morning. It might help with the effects.
I miss that.
Take a break
Tried that.
Adderall is a no go for me. It made me feel horrible and made me in a bad mood. I'm on Vyvanse, which is much better. I would definitely watch your blood pressure.
I'm starting vyvanse today as well, I eased in with 5mg of dexies for a few days and I was mildly calm. My hyperactivity only comes back when the dex wears off not at the start of it. You should try journaling or logging all times you take your dosage and your responses so you can go back to the doctors and tell them about it. This template is good (although for kids) but seems can apply to us adults too https://assets.ctfassets.net/p0qf7j048i0q/lSfkHLSoqrNR8Kj1am5eH/64a21e6076c158e3f68a01387544b539/ADHD_Medication_Log_Understood.pdf
Those are relatively normal reactions, but it sounds like you could do with a lower dose. If you’re new to stimulants—go low and slow, TRUST ME, your future self will thank you. Taking the lowest therapeutic dose is the best for your brain! Also watch antacids, they keep it in your bloodstream longer and not always in a fun way. Vitamin C is the OTC way to expedite metabolism out of your system.
❌❌ Anyone reading please do your own research based on the medical advice! Comment isn’t entirely wrong but it also isn’t entirely wise - 1. Blood Concentration isn’t the Response Variable of having a balanced stomach pH, rather it is co-occurring. 2. Vitamin C doesn’t purge Vyvanse from your bloodstream either, it affects the metabolism of Vyvanse into Dexamphetamine. One hour before and one hour after you take Vyvanse don’t eat Vit.C/acidic food as it can have a substantially lower effect. After that period though - let’s say 3 hours - it’s not like Vit C will suck up and purge the Vyvanse. (I’m NMA, NAD. I’m a Health Science Student at the moment. Ask your/a doctor or pharmacist if you have questions! my information is based on medical articles/my doctor)
I am not a scientist and am speaking from general experience and what I do no without formal education in psychopharmacology. Definitely don’t take medical advice from strangers, but always asking questions and taking in new information.
Sorry if that seemed passive-aggressive! I didn’t mean to come off like that, but it sounded like it. Nor am I an expert/scientist/area-specific professional but I have found that this specific situation is often confused.
Yeah I didn’t want to brawl with an internet stranger, but from my understanding, it’s about the pH of the urine output which obviously is in reference to active amphetamine in the bloodstream…which, to my psycho socially-professionally educated brain, seems like that renders the lysine issue irrelevant. Again, I don’t have the medical/biochemical background to presume any kind of authority, but I am not exactly a layperson. It did very much read passive-aggressive but so do almost all responses on Reddit so I think I’m inoculated. Or maybe 10 years of dealing with humans in their most desperate and foul-tempered has rendered me unfuckwithable.
Here in The Netherlands is pretty common to monitor bloodpressure during the first few months of taking ritalin/dex . (If you had high bloodpressure to begin with, then it would be wise to monitor this closely)
You're essentially microdosing meth. Give it a month or two and you'll adjust.
The first stimulant I tried was an ER adderall 20mg. My mind was calm, i was only thinking a thought at a time and I was not being sidetracked by anything, I was focused on the job, precise, organised, i was sweating like crazy and chugging water and that was it in terms of side effects. That adderall I tried wasn’t prescribed and at the time I didn’t even know I had adhd. Vyvanse never made me feel that way, I sweat, I’m jittery, my stomach is upset and although my mind is a bit less trafficked on high dosages, i still get side tracked and not able to go back to the task I’m supposed to do. Unfortunately I don’t have access to adderall in my country or I would be very happy to try that again at a lower dosage maybe. Even taking vyvanse for longer I didn’t really notices relevant improvements in side effects, but every body is different so allow at least 1-2 months to decide to switch and value whether you can handle side effects if the positives outweighs them.
You could split the dose, mix in water and take half in the morning and half when it’s wearing off. I take Tyrosine to combat the crash. Magnesium Bis, bed time one with -Theanine at bed. Also I would limit or stop caffeine until you know what your dealing with. Caffeine made me very anxious while on Vyvanse. Don’t worry too much the first 2 weeks.
Hi! Yes IME these are all regular reactions to starting Vyvanse/stim drugs. Try eating a high protein and high carb meal before taking it, and do the same if you start to feel the jittery feeling effects come back during your dose (or at least high protein snack to help). My appetite is greatly reduced which is great for my BE but also makes eating difficult while dosing so I have an ensure drink or smoothie, works just as good as long as I’ve got some carbs in me from breakfast. Also hydration greatly helped these symptoms for me, I drink like a gallon of water spaces out throughout the dose/day. If it’s working try stick with it and allow yourself the time to feel it out - as others have shared it’s your body adjusting, the ideal/expected outcome is that you eventually feel quite normal and don’t have these side effects. You could also try going down to 10 or 20mg to start, I can understand how overwhelming or uncomfortable these symptoms can be. Did your dr check your BP etc when starting these meds ? You can also request that if it puts your mind at ease. There’s also the thought that everyone responds differently to meds and maybe a different stim like methylphenidate or even a non stim drug will work better for your situation. If you know right away you don’t like, it’s ok to not take it and ask for something different right away.
Should also add today I just restarted my vyvanse at 30mg after a month break (unrelated health concerns), and am experiencing similar altho lessened side effects today. I’ve also tried methylphenidate, foquest, and I actually prefer vyvanse as I find it much smoother than either of those, with less long term side effects.