Update on First Day of Adderall

I had pretty bad heartburn last night for about 2hrs, which went away a little before bed. My diet yesterday was pretty normal...

Breakfast: Pasta with green pepper, red pepper, tomato sauce, chicken, mushroom, parmesan.

Lunch: Three cheese tortellini with basil, olive oil and reggiano.

Dinner: Grilled ham and swiss on whole wheat (slightly burned!).

I looked it up and heartburn seems to be a common side effect of Adderall. However, nobody has said how to get rid of it. There are tons of warnings about antacids, tums, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and the opposite, citric acid, orange juice etc. I normally get heartburn about once/month and just take a teaspoon of baking soda in warm water, which gets rid of it immediately. Good thing I read the warnings on the prescription. I'm not really sure what happens if you take antacid with Adderall.

-ADD

Adderall Seems to be Better Than Vyvanse..............

I filled a prescription for Adderall, non XR form today, as I wanted to try something other than Vyvanse for ADD. I went to Target, it took about 20 minutes to fill the Rx. They charged me $15 for the generic, listed only as Amphetamine, produced by Teva Pharmaceuticals (I think they are a trusted maker of generic Rx), rather than Shire who makes the name brand Adderall, as well as Vyvanse. Is this the same as what's in the non XR brand name from Shire?

The adderall hasn't made me tired at all. I took it at about 3PM on a full stomach, upon returning home. (BTW, I did not take Vyvanse today!) I was hesitant to take it, because I had a pretty big and strong espresso at about 10AM, and a Dr. Pepper while waiting for the prescription to fill. I started to feel the effects by within about 30 minutes, and it reached a peak at about 1 hour. The only negative was probably feeling a little grumpy about 7hrs after taking it. So here was my initial impression of the two big drugs for ADD and ADHD.

Day 1: Adderall vs. Vyvanse:

Alertness: Adderall

Less Fidgity: Vyvanse

More Friendly: Adderall

Fatigue: Adderall

Reading: N/A

Mood Swing: Adderall

Focus on Detailed Task: Adderall

Less Easilly Frustrated: Adderall

Price with or without Prescription: Adderall

I'll have to see how it goes from here. Overall, there was much more of what I wanted, and less of what I don't want from Adderall. I have a sailing race tomorrow, so will probably skip a day. No point taking drugs to sail, especially such a new drug, and risk being stuck in the middle of the ocean if there's side effects. People also tend to buy rounds of beers after the races. From my experience of alcohol with Vyvanse, not really something I want to do again.

-ADD

Vyvanse Makes Me Tired Tired Everywhere

I'm back to the blog! I was working on a movie, movie party and everything in between for the last couple of weeks. Not to mention my birthday (August 18th), and the BBQ, beach day, Hollywood night and tasty sushi dinner which made the celebration almost a week long :-)

My girlfriend left the country for 3 weeks yesterday. She doesn't like when I take the drug, so I will be taking it more often while she's away, trying to get used to it, and decide between Vyvanse and Adderall XR

So what is with Vyvanse? Seriously? This drug is supposed to keep us awake, alert and focused. Rather the effects I'm getting are more like un-awake, not-alert and unfocused. The pattern has become more apparent and sometimes more exaggerated over time.

Wake up, take the drug, it kicks in after 30-60 min, get kind of energetic, ambitious, go to do stuff and feel the peak effects at about 3hrs. After that, it's a downhill battle against the drug. It does not typically make me more focused or more organized. Worst of all, the headaches have returned! All day long, from a couple of hours after taking the Vyvanse until I take Ibuprofin, it gives me a headache. The headache varies between mild pressure through the entire front of my head to sharp, intense pulses on the side, near my temples. Sometimes my entire head starts to hurt and that's usually when I take two Ibuprofin. Fortunately, the ibuprofin is really effective at getting rid of the headaches from this medicine. They are not as bad as migraines, but definitely not fun or enjoyable - it's a headache, damnit!

One other fun effect is getting strange muscle cramps (anybody else getting these) in my upper back and neck. Vyvanse gives me serious aches in my upper back, they range from throbbing (like my head) to sharp pains that persist for hours.

Lately the drug has really messed up my appetite. Try my method for dealing with this: Eat something small, not too much. Wait about a half hour, and you should feel your tummy recognizing that it wants some food. For some reason Vyvanse makes me completely "forget" that I'm hungry. My food hasn't been tasting as good lately either. Even when I make the same food that I've always loved, in the exact same way, the food tastes different and uninteresting. Parmesan cheese tastes kind of bitter. Mushrooms taste funky. Basil tastes pungent, rather than delightful. And this folks, is a big deal for me, because I love food, and love eating food!

One more persistent effect. I had lunch with my friend Erik today, we went to the same boarding school and university, and he moved across the country for work, just as I did several years ago. We always talk and have great conversations. Today, I just had no interest in what he was saying. I kept feeling annoyed that we were even talking! On top of that, it seemed like I couldn't say anything positive, and couldn't stop but feeling pretty angry about whatever we talked about.

Tomorrow I'll tell you the effects of taking 1 1/2 Vyvanse.

-ADD