Black Box Warning | ADHD Information

Day three and feeling fine. Had a little dry mouth yesterday but nothing today. I also had headaches the first two days in the evening but didn't have had any since.  It seemed today though that I didn't feel the effect of the drug as strongly as the first two days but maybe that is just a fluke.
Saw my psychiatrist today and asked him about getting an EKG - he gave me the go ahead to get one as well as some blood work. Thanks again for all your advice, I was able to go into the doctor's office armed with information and action steps :)

By the way, LindzUSA, that's awesome about giving up your Nicotene patch!

I'll keep you updated on my progress, and let me know how it's going with you :)

Hey GeorgiaGirl, well i moved up to 50mg from 30mg this morning, apparently moving up dosage is part of the 'Loading' program... I felt amazing today, great day, I was very concentrated and got a lot of work done, I felt far more in tune with things than I have so far.. I too as you mentioned felt the drug wasn't taking as much effect on day 3-4, but that passed. I had cronic dry mouth again today but it was bearable. I feel much much better on 50 than I did on 30 so far (if today is something to go by), so we will see how it keeps going :)

I have worked really late all this week, tonight I left work at 11pm again, I have to try and make sure i don't get too into my job now hehe.

Also again I forgot about eating until about 3pm and had one of them quick soup in a cans, and then didnt eat until 11pm when I left work and realized, so i made a pitstop at burger king. I think the appitite thing is the biggest side effect for me, I could quite easily forget about eating all day.

Also I actually really need to take my own advice and get my blood pressure checked tomorrow and make sure I'm in line :)

Take it easy.

Updated : 12:05am Nov 2nd - Today I had the worst day i've had since I started Vyvanse, I don't know if I just had a generally bad day though, I had a migrane and stomach ache all day and I felt like it was doing nothing for me today. I was irritable and touchy all day too. I'm hoping today was just a generally bad day and not related to the increase in the dose, yesterday. I'm going try and get my blood pressure done tomorrow as the way I feel today has me a little worried.

LindzUSA39387.8803819444I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, which was no surprise as I suspected I might have it. My psychiatrist prescribed Vyvanse. I was just wondering do you guys ever worry about dropping dead or getting a heart attack or stroke as they have that warning there. I know, it is kind of a silly question, but seeing that warning makes me really nervous (I have never seen or taken a medicine with such a warning!)

I appreciate your responses :-)

The black box warning was declined on stimulants, correct? I'm pretty sure the antidepressants have the black box warning and not the stims.

It was based on a study. Nineteen children died after using ADHD meds. Thirteen of those had preexisting congenital heart disease.]

I think you can get a prescreening EKG to check the condition of your heart before starting the stim.

Yeah I was a little worried too, I got diagnosed and perscribed last week (also with Vyvance), i'm a 30 year old male, and I have high blood pressure. So Vyvance or any stimulant medication scares the crap out of me :)

However My Psychiatrist is monitoring my blood pressure and I think it will be fine, maybe a small adjustment will need to be made to my blood pressure meds.

My advice to you is this, I'm assuming as you didn't explicitly mention it, you don't have a heart condition and don't have high blood pressure. If this is the case, go for a general medical, find out your blood pressure and make sure you don't have any existing heart condition. Then ask your doctor to check you along the Vyvance loading program and make sure everything is ok.

It's normal to worry, and medical disclaimers in medication really don't help as they are convering the manufacturers ass on every possible scenario, even if it's 14.7 million to one :) .

I'm about a week in front of you with the Vyvance, I have to say my first went something along these lines.

Day 1: Amazed at how quickly it took effect and I felt different Immediately, totally cronic dry mouth.

Day 2: Got up the earliest I ever remember and felt amazing, no morning fog. Really really bad dry mouth.

Day 3: Again felt great, started to feel crappy around 6ish, went to bed early, really bad dry mouth

Day 4: No appitite at all, felt a little sick and dizzy at times. Felt like I wanted more Vyvance, as the day got later I felt worse. Bad dry mouth

Day 5: Felt horrible and lazed around all day feeling sorry for myself, felt like I should eat but had no appitite, hot and cold occasionally, felt like I wanted more Vyvance again. No dry mouth though at all

Day 6: (Today) Feel great, had a great day, its 11pm and im still at work, I was hungrey at lunch time and able to eat for the first time without any issue at all. I'm getting tired now which is good and I had pretty much no dry mouth all day.

One other thing, on Day 3 I stopped wearing the Nicotene patch for the first time in 3 years lol, I dropped off 21mg a day to nothing. Which could have something to do with me feeling sh*tty :) Prob not the best time to try it, but for some reason I just knew I could do it... Haven't had a single craving :)

Let us know how the rest of your first week goes, I want to compare notes :)

My children's psychiatrist won't prescribe stimulants without an EKG.  He also checks their blood pressure and pulse at each visit.  Not all doctors are that careful, though.  The son who is currently using Daytrana was originally prescribed Ritalin LA 20mg. by the pediatrician at age 5.  Yes, he was already strongly suspected to have ADHD by a psychologist screening (too young to diagnose then but he's positive for it now!) but in retrospect, they should have been more careful.  Once I knew better, I switched to a psychiatrist.  Thank you so much LindzUSA, NoTellin, and Enbmom for your posts!!!!  After reading your posts I talked it over with my husband and decided to try a pill today. I had an EKG about three months ago which was normal after going into the emergency room (I had had a panic attack and muscle pains in my chest which the doctor ended up telling me was just muscles in my chest cavity that were strained or cramping and not my heart muscles- thankfully) And, my blood pressure has been normal.

I decided after your comments to go to Rite Aid and check my blood pressure this morning before I took a pill and then I just checked it again this evening. My pressure increased a little but not badly - this made me feel a lot better as well.

As far as the Vyvance helping the ADHD - wow! I was actually able to sit at my desk and work today, and I noticed I jiggled my legs a lot less as well. My appetite was fine and, strangely, I felt a lot more calm on it. It was like my brain got all peaceful and quiet - it was great.

Anyhow, your posts made me feel a lot better and also gave me some guidance as to some steps I can ask for from my psychiatrist when I see him this week, like having him monitor my pressure and seeing if I can get an  EKG  while I go through the loading program.

Thanks, again, I greatly appreciate all your advice and comments!!! Why don't we put black boxes on ourselves, our cars, our bathtubs, etc.?   You have a greater chance of falling  and whacking your head, getting hit by a car  or drowning in your bathtub than you have of dying of a heart attack while taking stims.[unless you have a preexisting heart condition]Hey LindzUSA,

I moved up from 30 to 50 as well. It seemed like after taking 30 for a while it wasn't doing anything for me. I checked my blood pressure a few time on 30 and it seemed ok; now that I moved up to 50 I'll go and check it again a few times at Rite Aid. Today was my first day on 50mg. I felt calmer and definitely a lot less irritated and angry. I could focus but not as strong as the first week on the medicine.
I hope you are feeling better. Have you had better days since? Are you still off the nicotine patch? What do you do when you feel the medicine tapering off - do you boost with coffee or a coke?
Take care,
Georgia Girl :)

Hey GG,

I think it was just a bad day, I've had a pretty good month actually. I noticed also that after a week or so on the 50 I felt the same again. I mean it was effective in that it was making me more focused but other elements such as distractability, interupting people and memory definately seem to be increased more on any dose when I start it and then it seems to come down again. But not to as bad as before the Vyvance but definately not as good as at first.

I actually had my doc's appointment today and explained this to her, I also explained that my Anxiety has been a little more predominent since going up to the 50's... However not bad, its just a feel it occasionally now, whereas prior to the 50's I didn't.

I do have occasional coffee and coke, however at my appointment today, I told my doctor about how I feel it wearing off mid afternoon etc, and she perscribed me a supplemental of 30mg's for the afternoon. I take the 50 on a morning and the 30 at 1pm. I haven't done this yet, but I'll let you know how it goes. However it will last longer this way.

I'm almost definately the calmest i've ever been on Vyvance and it takes a lot more to irritate me, however with that i'm also more emotional and take things a lot more personally and worry what people think about things I do and say more than before. So it seems like its a general trade off.

If I had to say at this point how positive the whole experience so far is. I'd say its worth it, the benefits have definately outweighed the negative aspects so far. Although sometimes the negative bits are still very irritating :)

I am still on the patch lol. I took a break from it and was feeling a little more anxious than I liked so I thought i'd better not try too much at once :)

One day...

Let me know how you get on with the 50's :)

take care

Lindz.