ADD / ADHD Community

You can look it up on this website and learn more about it. If you go to the adhd center there should be a list of medications to the left of the screen where you should see vyvanse. Once you click on it it will bring up information about it. You can also research other medications.

I can tell you that they are all made differently and what works well for one child is a disaster for another so while the Ritalin LA made him violent that doesn't mean they all will. Give each med at least a week before you determine if it will be helpful or not. For my son metadate made him violent but daytrana has been a godsend. He is focused and calm for school and into the evening and i don't really notice when it wears off. He is sleeping well and is eating better now that we have added zoloft into the mix.

Thanks for the response. I have done a bit of research and it seems to be an okay medication. The biggest complaint seems to be lack of sleep, which could turn into a huge problem with my son since I have a hard enough time getting him to sleep, as it is. The doctor mentioned putting him on a sleeping pill, but I refused because I have a hard time getting him to sleep... but have a worse time in the morning getting him to wake up for school. I feel a sleeping pill would just make him even more drowsy in the mornings. I will try it for a couple of weeks and if not satisfied, will go back to the doctor. My main concern was the doctor seemed to really want to push this drug, my husband is also ADHD but goes to a different doctor for treatment and this doctor asked my husband if he wanted a prescription, also... not even his patient! I was a little concerned after that. I'll give the medication a try, but may switch psychiatrists.

yes i say give this med a try because my son he is 5yrs old and he was just diagnose for adhd. he been on this med for 2weeks now. and so far no side effects with it. he can sleep at night and have a good appitite. i use to get calls every day from his school and now its once a week. so give it a try.

I dont blame you for being worried about starting your son on a new medication!! but as someone who personally takes vyvanse...i love it!!! the other medications dont seem to keep me regulated throughout the day...like it seemed at some times the medication was in full effect, while during other parts of the day, it was not. but with vyvanse, i feel regulated 24hrs a day. and i havent had very any side effects. the first week or so i had less of an appetite, but that was all, and that quickly subsided. i would give it a shot. Im an adult with adhd...so i cant speak for children. but its worth a shot!

Hello, I know this reply is a little late, but I was just searching for answers about Vyvanse after learning today that my daughter has an abnormal EKG and is in need of an echocardiogram for further assessment. She has been on various medications for ADD since she was 6 years old, she is now 15. (Welbutrin, Strattera, Adderol, Dexadrine, Concerta and most recently Vyvanse). All of the medications worked well for up to a year, but then she seemed to become "immune" to them and instead started showing ill effects like extreme anxiety and anger, headaches, inability to sleep despite being exhausted, going from no appetite and weight loss issues to having extreme hunger and weight gain. Oh, and we also think the meds may have caused her to have Precocious Puberty (started growing breasts at age 8, started her period when she was 10), she was also diagnosed last year with painful and large ovarian cysts, and the meds may have possibly retarded her height, as she has not grown in 2 years and is just 4'11". Her doctors just kept increasing the dosages or switching medications.

She has been taking 30 mg Vyvanse for over a year, we feel it has caused her many adverse side effects including worsened insomnia, light sensitivity, headaches, and a LOT of anger/anxiety issues. She started feeling hopeless and uncontrollably angry and aggressive and even cut herself with the explaination of "I don't know WHY I did that and it scared me so badly!" None of the effects were evident for the first few months but became increasingly worse....and I mean to the point of being UNBEARABLE. We go to family and individual counseling over it. She feels terrible and irritable all the time. She complains to her therapist that she "just can't stop being angry." She started having heart palpitations last week and was also complaining of intermittent dizziness with "head rushes," and weird numb and tingly spells of her hands and feet so I told her to take a break from her med while I looked up possible side effects....I feel like such a bad mother for not having checked this med out thoroughly and just "going with the flow" by blindly trusting her neurologist. Please reconsider this medication and go under the direction and careful supervision of a specialist. Like I said I started doing more research and keep coming up with many other testimonials about anger, anxiety, suicidal ideations among many other things.

These drugs are addictive and face it we just don't know enough about the longterm effects because they stop working and everytime you turn around your doctor is pushing yet ANOTHER "Wonder Pill" to help our kids. We may be finding out the hard way that longterm use of all of these meds may have caused irreperable damage to my daughter!! Hope this helps anyone who may be asking if there are any longterm effects of ADD/ADHD medications. As for my family, we are THROUGH.....we are sticking to family counseling and dealing with the school to provide reasonable accomodations to help my daughter achieve her best without medications. I have also just ordered what looks like a great program on CD geared toward helping ADD/ADHD kids through school and home life issues called Celebrate Calm by Kirk Martin. We are going to deal with this the natural way....with good old fashioned behavioral interventions. Wish us luck!!!!

We tried to not medicate our son for many years but when his impulsiveness sent a child to the Emergency department with a concussion, we felt that for his safety and the safety of others that he needed medication.

There have been many studies done on the stimulants over the last 70 years. Kids that are placed on stimulants to control their ADHD symptoms are at LESS risk for substance abuse, less risk of being arrested, and in general do much better than kids whose ADHD goes untreated. The disease causes a lack of dopamine in the brain. Scientist are working on medicines that are not stimulants that will increase dopamine and their are some. ( www.primarilyinattentiveadd.com/2009/12/guanfacine-treatment-that-is-not.html ) but the stimulants are the best option for certain patients.

My son is on Vivanse and has done very well without any side effects.

Tess

Tess, Started my young teen on Vyvase yesterday and so far so good. Tried almost everything else. No drugs for awhile. But she was walking on the chairs and tables in Kindergarten and falling out of her seat alot. Straterra lasted about 6 months and quit. Bad side effects with most others. Dexidrene worked for the longest. Know someone that the Daytrona patch did well for her young teen but then only worked for about 9 weeks. So glad to hear your son's doing well on the Vivance and keep your fingers crossed for us. Ours has tried 3 anxiety medicines that had bad side effects as well and I thought the dr. was about to give up but glad he didn't. If homework isn't so long and exhausting for all of us maybe her anxiety will start to subside as well and she can have the time to get involved in more fun activities instead of just homework, homework, homework. Thanks for posting, Tess. Maggs

I just wanted to let you know that my son(who is 13) has been on Vyvanse for over a year and a half now and he has done wonderful on it. However recently he started showing signs of depression, anxiety(worse than usual) and anger. I went to his pediatrician who I have been with since he was 7, and she sent us to a psychiatrist just to make sure that there was not underlying issues we were missing. According to both doctors when kids with ADHD start going through puberty and their bodies start to change there is a chance that underlying disorders can appear. I have recently started researching all of this and so far have found information stating the same things the doctors told me. Anxiety and depression disorders, bipolar disorder...they are all more likely in kids with ADHD. I am not trying to scare anyone or diagnose anyone...it was just helpful info that was given to me and I wanted to pass it along. I refused to try anxiety and depression medication because I have seen kids on that stuff and I don't want my son to be on that unless I have no other option. His doctors agreed to try something else before we did any of that. They have put him on a non-stimulant supplement for ADHD and his anxiety and anger have almost disappeared. He always worries about the smallest things and get so stressed out he could not sleep at night but since we have started this new supplement it has been so much better. I am not saying everything disappeared but he used to pace the house and toss and turn at night and since the medicine started working he is asleep within 30 minutes of laying down which is a miracle for him. I can't say it would work for all kids but just thought I would throw it all out there. Thanks!