Stopped Working?

[xzen54321]

Hey all, I am new to this forum, I like it so far, it has been helpful and there are many nice people.

Anyhow, my story:
I have had inattentive ADD my whole life, mother took me to some psychiatrists who had me on various meds through childhood, but I was never in therapy.

Skip ahead a decade and here I am, 22 years old and I somehow made it into a stable situation where I now have a chance look at the future, work on getting a hold on my problems and improving myself in general.

I have been working with a therapist for several months now and the results are marked. Hoping to improve on that he referred me to a psychiatrist, who put me on Lexapro(10mg) and Strattera(up to 80mg now).There was a HUGE drop in my anxiety levels which had regularly caused headaches, stomach cramps, and stopped me from wanting do do things.

But that was all, all that I can notice, I can be very bad, or even outright wrong sometimes about how I think a med is affecting me, relying on my friend and his father to help me judge.

So, I went back to the psychiatrist, and asked to try stimulant meds, and he prescribed Vyvance(30mg), since I did not react very well to Concerta a year ago when a doctor prescribed it to me when I was in JobCorps, she basically was letting me figure out the doses and giving me the meds. Somehow, they once gave me a months worth of regular Ritalin. That shocked me that they would even give that to anyone there given that a lot of the kids there had substance abuse histories.

Back to the point, the Vyvance worked GREAT, like night and day, I could focus, and was doing everything I needed to do around the house (my ToDo list) started and finished several projects, and was enjoying the clarity and ability to focus, two weeks in and we upped it to 50mg, and that was working just as well, I don't know how long it was lasting me through the day, but I think it was lasting me till around 4-5pm when taking it at 6:30am.

That lasted about 2 weeks till I started having on and off days where I would be just dandy, then the next day I was checking if I had taken it that morning!

So for the last 5 days, it feels as if it has totally stopped working, only a odd feeling in the morning from 8 till 10, like a caffeine rush coming on but never really doing anything, leaving me feeling like I am on some kind of threshold between being awake and alert or thinking so cloudy it feels if I haven’t slept in 48 hours, a bit dizzy to.

I started my third semester in community college on Monday and am taking several classes that are going to be challenging to me, and I was hoping that me being on meds under a competent doctor while working with a great therapist was going to go a lot smoother. I was feeling pretty good, but already all my little self-sabotaging thoughts are taking their toll.

Tomorrow is my last day at school for the week, and I meet with my therapist on Friday, so once I think about it, I am not to worried, but my psychiatrist is booked way out, the appointment I managed to get is the 18th of next month. I don't know yet if he will call in a change of dose, I know he will call in refills though.


I looked through the last three pages of the Vyvance sub-forum looking to see if there was a thread on this kind of situation, but I did not find one, so I hoping someone will have some insight of what to do. I thought about taking one of the 30mg caps with the 50mg to see if a dose increase would help, but I am holding back on that until I get more info, I don’t want to mess myself up more. I have read that this can happen with Adderall, and increasing the dose works in that case, I am hoping that it will be that simple for me, but worry about this happing again.
So, please, any input or thoughts would be amazingly helpful, and I am sorry for making this a short essay, now I have to work on the one that’s due at noon tomorrow.



TL;DR: My Vyvance stopped working, I think I need a dose increase, please advise!

[xzen54321]

Ok, after digging through many threads I think I have just built up a tolerance real quick.

I am going to get a magnesium supplement, and maybe some l-tyrosine.
Hopefully they will help.

I'm just glad I got that essay done though.

[stillfightin]

Originally Posted by xzen54321

Ok, after digging through many threads I think I have just built up a tolerance real quick.

I am going to get a magnesium supplement, and maybe some l-tyrosine.
Hopefully they will help.

I'm just glad I got that essay done though.

Yeah, unfortunately it seems to be normal to build up a tolerance, but the best thing to do is to run it by your doctor.

[xzen54321]

Originally Posted by stillfightin

Yeah, unfortunately it seems to be normal to build up a tolerance, but the best thing to do is to run it by your doctor.

I gave him a call the other day, hopefully he will get back to me soon.

Would skipping a few days a week/month help lower tolerance at all?
And I have read to avoid taking l-tyrosine at the same time, but I can't figure out if they mean never together at all, or just not taking them at the same time in the day?

[stillfightin]

Originally Posted by xzen54321

I gave him a call the other day, hopefully he will get back to me soon.

Would skipping a few days a week/month help lower tolerance at all?
And I have read to avoid taking l-tyrosine at the same time, but I can't figure out if they mean never together at all, or just not taking them at the same time in the day?

To be honest, I wouldn't recommend fooling around with the dosage schedule... Best to wait until you hear from the doc

Regarding tyrosine, it's a precursor to l-dopa... best to ask your doc that too

[Cyanyide]

I'm having the same problem you're describing... and from what I've read the tolerance thing seems most likely. It really sucks though because every day that you're having an off day can really be detrimental to school work. I'm a freshman in college and I can see the change from test grades when I first started taking vyvanse to now. It's insane.

I'm going to see my psychiatrist next Tuesday so hopefully he can clear things up, I was a little iffy to call him last week because I was only on vyvanse for two weeks... but apparently a lot of psychiatrists tend to increase the mg after a few weeks. Who knew? So I decided to give it a month's time to adjust and I just recorded changes or how I was feeling every few days (I knew I'd forget when I go in to talk to him).

[taterbug]

I am new to these medications too and I am wondering about this tolerance thing. Does it continue to build? I wonder how people can stay on these medications for years and have them be effective? It seems like many people find success with this medication but I cannot understand how if we are already building such a tolerance in a short time.

[Cyanyide]

Originally Posted by taterbug

I am new to these medications too and I am wondering about this tolerance thing. Does it continue to build? I wonder how people can stay on these medications for years and have them be effective? It seems like many people find success with this medication but I cannot understand how if we are already building such a tolerance in a short time.

That's what's really been bothering me too... I already built up a tolerance to the 50mg and the max amount you can take is 70mg... so I'm going to be at the peak as soon as I get upped once! =(

[taterbug]

Yes, it is very worrysome that the help I have found from these meds may soon be gone. I FINALLY feel clear and most of the clouds are gone. I am not sure though because I have heard others say the meds helped them for many, many years.

[Ruby85]

Same thing happened to me on Vyvanse. The first 2-3 weeks were great, then it started wearing off earlier in the day and the crash periods were becoming longer and more intense. I tried adjusting my dose, up and down, even tried taking a few weeks off, but it didn't help. Pretty soon, Vyvanse was all side effects and no benefit. I just felt hungover all the time.

I had to switch to Dex IR, which worked much better. Extended release can be inconsistent for some people. I find the instant release is much more reliable.

[tlhengel]

Originally Posted by Ruby85

Extended release can be inconsistent for some people. I find the instant release is much more reliable.

I find this statement ineresting. I am having problems with my Vy also (see my post here http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64061 for a little bit more info)

Every day is different for me. Some days I get absolutely no relief from my ADD, while others I might get 2-3 hours worth of semi-decent focus and a little motivation, but never more than just a couple hours. There are also days that I get bouts of anxiety/agitation or depressed feelings, where other days I feel fine. Some days my meds kick in within the hour where others it seems to take almost 3-4 hours. I always have trouble sleeping, no matter how the med works that day. It's very frustrating to be so up and down. I never know what to expect. I keep my routine the same every day so I know its nothing I'm doing differently (I have the luxury of being home every day if I want so it's not that hard for me)

I'm hoping my doc will put me on an IR if it's true that some get inconsistent coverage like that. That's the first I've heard someone mention that.

[xzen54321]

Well, my doc upped the vyvance to 70mg, I will start that tomorrow.

Over last weekend I decided to skip two days, and I could differently tell that I did not have it. When I started again on Monday, I could tell the difference in my attention, focus and motivation. Even though the effects are not as strong as when I started, they where still there and helping.

I also upped my Strattera to 100mg, for some reason he felt to tell me I am maxed out on the two, witch is wrong according to a lot of info here, there seem to be a lot of people here that benefit from higher doses, hopefully it will not come to having to convince him, if i need to.

Based on info from here, I am also going to start taking Magnesium, Fish Oil, B-vitamins, and L-Tyrosine.

I hope this works, I really don't want to mess with my meds right now, school is starting to get challenging and my partner was assaulted at gunpoint last week. Luckily he is doing OK and is back in school, and I am determined to do this semester.

[wifeandmom]

Here's some information on figuring out if your Vyvanse dose is too low:

http://ezinearticles.com/?ADD-ADHD-M...ing&id=1673390

And some more related articles on dosing:

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dr_Charles_Parker