Hi. I am new to this message board but I stumbled across it while trying to find information pertaining to Vyvanse side effects.
My son has been on Focalin XR 20mg 2x a day for the past two years but for whatever reason the release is just not working for him any more. Prior to that he was on concerta for 2 years. He is 10 years old and weighs 60lbs. On Wednesday his doctor changed his medication to Vyvanse 30 mg. From my understanding, this is somewhat like Adderal, which he has never taken before. I did not start it until yesterday morning because I wanted to make sure there were not any really bad side effects that he would experience in school (he still has a week and a half of school left and he does take his meds during the summer). I gave it too him at 7:30 am and at 9:00 he fell asleep and did not wake up until 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I was absolutely freaking out. That is in no way at all normal for him....I called the dr's office and his doctor is on vacation for a week. She is a specialist for ADHD. The dr on call could not give me any info and just said don't give it to him again.... but would not verify if this was a side effect or not.
so anyways, crazy as it might seem, I gave him the meds again this morning at the same time hoping that yesterday was not a side effect and he was just exhausted. Well, he is now asleep again and has been for about an hour or so. no complaints of a headache or stomach ache. His breathing and pulse are normal. And i can rouse him to wake up but then he just goes back to sleep. it is not a deep sleep though. I can wake him up and ask him if he is tired and he will say no but then he just closes his eyes again.
has anyone else experienced this on this med? yesterday after he woke up, he was fine and you could tell the med was working and probably didn't wear off until around 8:00 at night. This is just so abnormal for him. Could it be that the focalin xr just kept him so stimulated and he hasn't slept good for so long that without that med, his body is finally getting the rest it needs? I am just trying to come up with something to make sense of this.
sorry for the long post. thank you for any advice or information you could share.
Holly
Holly,
My son was on vyvanse for 2 months with awful rebound and side effects. He never fell asleep, but his teacher said he was always complaining at shcool about being tired and had no energy to participate in any sport activies. He even quit Lacrosse because said he was too tired after school to play. It could be the vyvanse. Can you try not giving it to him on a Saturday or Sunday and see what happens?
I could but he is so miserable without his meds it breaks my heart. He will run around the house all day long shouting and jumping all over the furniture and just all around being destructive and then he will just say the same thing over and over again. And he will also call him self "crazy" and "bad" when he does not take any meds. He asked the dr. at the appt on Wednesday if she could give him some medicine that made him normal like all of the other kids in his class and then he squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and said" see, i can try really hard but I still can't control anything".
He is also very active in sports and is now playing travel baseball so if it is truly the meds making him this lethargic then I think I am just going to have to put him back on the focalin xr until his doctor returns and i guess then we will try something else. I
What are you currently using for your son?
Holly
Holly:
My son started out on focalin xr 10 mg but he was so emotional when he was coming off it and it only lasted until about 1:00 p.m. We moved him to 54 mg of Concerta (started out at 18 then to 36) and it worked great for the past two years, but now his tics are getting really bad and kids are making fun of him. We just reduced him to 45 and added 1 mg of tenax taken 1/2 in the a.m. and 1/2 in the p.m. The tenax is suppose to help with tics, help fall asleep, and help with rebounding. It has done wonders for the sleeping and rebound, but not the tics. We are going to the dr. tomorrow. He said he would like to try him back on the focalin xr 10 mg. in the a.m. and 10 mg again early afternoon along with tenax. When he was on the focalin, he had no tics or sleep issues. If this fails, we will have to try a non stim med. At least it is summer so we can figure out the meds without him having to be at school and getting into trouble.
Good luck...let me know how it goes.
mars
Holly,
how about mixing the Vyvanse in water then not having him drink it all. Do this for a few days until his body gets used to it? I know kids who cant swallow pills take it this way. But rather than give him the whole 30 maybe letting him adjust to it?
I'm sorry your son is experiencing this. My 7-1/2 yo son is also on Vyvanse, but this isn't a side effect that he has experienced. At the most, it just calms him down in class, but it hasn't made him anymore tired. We did experience insomnia the first week at night, which made him tired the next day, but nothing as extreme as what you are describing.Holly:
I am glad that they Vyvanse is finally working for you! When your son was on focalin, was it XR or regular? I am hoping that by giving him double dose of the xr, the rebound will be okay. If the focalin doesn't work, we will probably have to try a nonstim medication. Possible Strattera mixed with a stim to help with the hyperness.
Good luck!
mars
I wanted to say thank you to everyone for your responses. I did continue to give him the Vyvanse and on Monday he did not fall asleep during the day at all. I called the school about 20 times to check on him :) He did rebound pretty bad around 6 that afternoon though. Yesterday, I talked to his teacher and she said he was "perfect" during the day at school. I have never had a teacher tell me that before. And he even said it made him feel "normal" during the day. His doctor told I could break one in half in the afternoon and put it in water for him to drink and that this low dose would help smooth things over during the rebound time. Diane V, thank you for the info on that.