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 Takes the "Me" out of Me

I don't know what it is, but I'm a different person on Vyvanse. I have stopped taking it everyday, for now. I'm just going to use it from now on in a per-need basis. For instance, when I really need to do a lot of reading, write a paper, cover letter, or resume, Vyvanse would really help. Otherwise, it doesn't seem worth taking it lately just to do routine stuff. A lot of what I am trying to do right now is more creative than anything, and the medicine takes that away. For the more busy days where I need to be able to focus for long periods, I'll take it.

Normally I'm a bubbly, friendly outgoing guy. With Vyvanse, I'm not anything like myself. My girlfriend doesn't like when I'm taking it. My friends even say that I'm super quiet and un-interesting LOL! This might be time to start Adderall or Adderall XR. I think people who take that seem more outgoing and friendly when the med is in their system.

One of the lamest parts of all of this is how I'm barely any more organized on Vyvanse. When I took Zyban / Wellbutrin, my organization was scary good. Everything was clean, organized, tidy at all times, at home and at work. I would consider taking that again for the ADHD / ADD alone, and to help quit smoking, if it didn't have so many damn side effects!

Going to talk to the psychiatrist and see what he thinks about all of this.

Free Vyvanse / Appetite / Reading

I forgot to mention a while back that my initial prescription for Vyvanse was free. The psychiatrist who prescribed it, gave me a card that gives your first 30-day prescription for free. However, while filling this prescription I found out that my insurance doesn't cover the drug. I must have mis-read Anthem Blue Cross' prescription drug formulary, because I don't think they cover any name brand drugs. Knowing this, I decided to go with it anyway, as I'm planning on having a new job soon and hopefully better insurance which would cover brand name drugs. If not, my plan will at least cover generic Adderall, and maybe generic Adderall XR. That still won't help with the supposedely required once/month visit to keep the prescription. The first psych visit was $30, the next one is $70, and after that they are supposedly $170!

The "withdrawal" period last night was better than it has been before. I could tell when the drug was wearing off, but it didn't tire me out so much. It's probably because I have also been sleeping better.

A note on appetite: The first couple of days, my appetite didn't decrease at all. For the last 4 days or so, it's been down quite a bit. What I've been doing is just making sure that I eat a solid meal when I would normally be eat before starting Vyvanse. It's too soon to tell about weight loss.

Reading: I have been doing a good job with reading. It's not a miracle drug, that will make you read 10x faster or not become distracted by anything, but it definitely helps. It's great to be able to sit down and read for more than a half-hour at a time now!

Vyvanse Makes Me Tired!

This Vyvanse is really draining. It seems like the effect of the drug is leveling off. What's been happening the last few days is that I wake up, take Vyvanse before/after breakfast, it wakes me up pretty well. Physically it's similar to having a cup of coffee. Then it just kind of calms me for about 6hours and helps me focus.

The one effect that I was partially worried about and partially hoping for is energy. Initially I was worried the pill would make me feel jittery, nervous, speedy or something, because it's a kind of amphetamine, and people, sadly relate it to methamphetamine. On the other hand, I was hoping for a little more of a pick me up, like coffee gives me. That effect is pretty absent. Overall, the medicine has definitely been short of a miracle (not that I expected one). If anything, it's making me less social and more distant to my friends right now. I would think it would make me more engaging with people, or more cheerful.

Another effect is that, since starting Vyvanse, I have hardly smiled. This is particularly strong while the drug is in my system. The girlfriend keeps saying how I'm not myself lately, and barely smiling or laughing about anything. It just makes me feel kind of out of touch with people around me.

My good friend who's taking Vyvanse doesn't seem to get like this. He's been taking it for about a year, after starting out on Adderall and Adderall XR. He's generally a bit louder and more boisterous of a person, but not my much more.

I'm thinking about trying out Adderall and seeing how that works out. It seems some people prefer Vyvanse, and some Adderall. I've read a lot about Vyvanse vs Adderall lately, and it seems like it will just have to be done through trial and error.

So tired from this drug. Took it this morning at 9 off of 8hrs sleep, and was feeling drained by 3PM. Going to get an extra hour tonight, take a long bike ride in the morning before taking it, and see if that helps.

Any opinions on exercising with Vyvanse and Adderall in your system? Any opinions on Vyvanse vs Adderall?