Trouble with Vyvanse

Hi all,

I'm currently being treated for bipolar, ADD and sleep problems. I take lithium, lamictal, Vyvanse, silenor and ambien. I used to take adderall but the dr had no choice but to switch me when that huge shortage happened around summer 2011. Unfortunately shortly after that I had to change shrinks, so the dr I am seeing currently has only ever treated me with Vyvanse.

I hate this effing medication. First off, it doesn't work as well & when I have mentioned it to the doctor, she just increased the dose. Twice. Secondly, I'm WAY more paranoid and my thoughts seem to race even more than they used to. (Perhaps they just race more around the general topic of how much I suck, but unpleasant either way.) My sleep feels like it's the most irratic it has ever been. On days when I take the med I can only sleep for a few hours and ambien will only get me to sleep, it no longer improves the quality of sleep. Most nights I can't risk taking Silenor because it only makes me sleep harder, not better and I have a kid to get up with in the morning. Even without putting myself into a drug induced coma, by 6:30 am I'm so exhausted from not sleeping that I find it impossible to get up until hours after taking Vyvanse again. Even then... Well you know how it goes. So, in short, I spend my days obsessing about being loathed by myself and others and deserving it, performing poorly and dreading being fired, and apologizing to everyone especially my supervisors for infractions both real and imagined. I spend my nights frustrated because I can't sleep and when I do it is brief, constantly interrupted, poor quality or some combination of all three.

I'm extra irritated because today I read that, contrary to what my doc has told me, Vyvanse is not exactly the same molecule as adderall and is in fact missing at least half of the components. (This on top of the fact that I didn't take xr which come to think of it I'm not sure i have made clear to her.) The real kicker is that when doing some reading this morning I got the impression that the shortage that started this whole mess may have been nothing more than a sales tactic orchestrated by the manufacturer in order to give people no choice but to abandon use of generic adderall and switch to Vyvanse which is still patented. Vyvanse is a non formulary with my insurance so my cost went from $5 to $25. (I recognize that I have it pretty good, but still.) It seems like this company forced me to switch to a drug that costs more, has worse side effects and doesn't work just so some jerk in a suit could even more ridiculously rich. I knew the drug companies were evil just for just that type of thing but I guess I just think they suck a little more now that I'm thinking they did it to me.

Has anyone else experienced worsening symptoms and side effects with Vyvanse? Does anyone else feel like drug companies are manipulating our illness to make money on products that don't work? (Understand that I'm not advocating or contemplating going off meds.) Does anyone else know anything about this shortage and its connection to Vyvanse sales?

Thanks for listening and responding!

P.S. funny that Vyvanse is the only one iPhone automatically capitalizes.

Thats amphetamines for ya, your probably quite sensitive to them, like many bps seem to. Try halfing your dose or tell pdoc you want to kick it.

Can you ask your pdoc if you can start taking the generic again?

I would flat out tell your pdoc that the medication is not working and making you feel worse.

The BIG problem I see is that your Pdoc is not working WITH you when it comes to what medication you BOTH can agree to. If the old med worked better then by all means request that medication and state exactly why you feel it worked best for you. If your Pdoc insists you stay on the current med maybe its time to change Pdoc.

Remember your Pdoc is providing a service to you.

Good Luck