Vyvanse: Chime in on your Stimulants People, I wanna hear it

I have posted before that I take Vyvanse, so someone asked me about it specifically. Me, I noticed an effect from it immediately. Like all of its other stimulant drug brethren, Vyvanse is (at least in my non-medical opinion) generally immediate-acting. Well...take that back, once it begins to be processed by your liver, which will depend on how your body processes things, you should probably notice some kind of effect.

Vyvanse is a little different from the other stimulants, in that it was formulated specifically to keep people from abusing it. In other words, you shouldn't get high from snorting it or doing anything else funny with it. I have seen people comment on other sites that they have indeed "gotten high" from snorting Vyvanse. If that's your bag, clearly you have way bigger problems than just ADHD, haha, and personally, I'm thinking that if you ARE getting high from it that way, either your liver is in your nose (which again, is a FAR more serious problem than ADHD!) or you're simply feeling a little funny because you're getting too much oxygen while trying to abuse an otherwise lesser of addictive evils. Vyvanse, is roughly the same thing as Adderall...but its structure allows it to be effective ONLY (allegedly) after going through your liver. Some call it genius, some call it just another way for a pharmaceutical company to make more money off of an aging brand. Me, I don't care, all I know is that for me it seems to be very helpful.

So...again, I'm no medical professional but it seems that if your body processes things like drugs slowly, it might take a little longer to kick in. For me, about one hour, like clockwork, after I take Vyvanse, my mind suddenly feels calmer, it is easier for me to choose to focus on what is in front of me and I stop running around. I sometimes get rather "determined" when I take it, and not in an angry way, but in an "I am working on THIS thing here...and no, I'm NOT going to work on that thing there" kind of way, but part of that for me is also me getting used to what to do with the focus, and being a little defensive when people/things attempt to distract me. I figured out by experimenting a little in the past week and discovered that for me, I think it really is working for somewhere around 10 hours, which is what it's supposed to do. I'm just so stunned to have a drug actually do what it's intended to do in my body that I don't trust that yet but, it seems to be true!

I WOULD LOVE IT IF SOME OTHERS WERE WILLING TO ADD SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH STIMULANTS...just so we could see any commonalities or differences in people's experiences, and so that it might be possible to see a bit of the range of "effects" that people have, because I won't ever claim that my experience is universal (although I believe it to be fairly typical). Not a scientific study by any means, just a sketch of what people experience...so...if anyone happens to read and is willing to chime in, go for it.

If it's not "working" for you, there's a variety of reasons that could be. Not an all-inclusive list, but here's some possibilities:

1. the drug simply doesn't work for you
2. you might simply not know how to recognize the effects yet...keeping a journal during the day that you can then share with your prescriber might help you to figure that out
3. there might be another drug out there that might work better for you
4. you may have some other "co-morbid" issue that is getting in the way. Me, I also seem to have an anxiety disorder...and it seems to be the case that to really deal with my ADHD we had to get that under control a little first. Now that I seem to be having a good experience with anti-anxiety medication and therapy, NOW, when I take the Vyvanse (and by now I mean just in the last few days) I can clearly tell that it's doing something. Again, this may not be the case for everybody, but it is for me, and could happen to others. Lots of ADHDers have other mental health or general health issues that can complicate treatment of their ADHD
5. some people swear that the meds don't work for them, and as a result choose not to take them. No harm, no foul, that's up to them...so if you happen to not find something that you feel "works" then...you might end up being one of those people. Even in that case there may be some natural remedies that might help you, and as someone with a great therapist, I can't recommend that option highly enough...even if you ARE taking meds that work.
   
6. obligatory disclaimer that a medical professional may be able to add other possibilities to this list!

So...that's my love affair with Vyvanse in a nutshell. One hour after I swallow it I feel more able to choose focus over distraction, my mood generally improves slightly, completing tasks feels more natural somehow, and in general I feel more calm.

I'm serious when I say that I hope others might post a tidbit or two about their own stimulant experiences...fingers crossed...don't be shy... ;)