Is Vyvanse anything like Ritalin? | ADHD Information

I would not try a med I was not comfortable trying. It is your call. If he does well on Ritlain, I wouldn't change. BUT so you understand, he may not react the same to Concerta, Metadate, Ritalin LA or Daytrana, even though they are ALL methylphediante. But if it were me and he was doing well, I'd stick to the same "family" of meds.Don't feel bad about trying the Vyvanse. It is nothing like Ritalin but it has it's advantages. Long lasting, fewer side effects, works great for us. We tried Ritalin product and it was like my son was a zombie. With the Vyvanse he has his good ol personality back. I agree though if the Ritalin was working why are you changing?Agree it's totally a case by case, trial and error. We had positive results from the 4-hour Ritalin, too. We wanted something longer lasting to help our son with all-day kindergarten so we switched to Concerta. Well, the first 2 weeks were good, but after the 3rd week it seemed to not be very effective, suggesting a higher dose. We considered that until our son freaked out one evening while on Concerta and had the biggest fit I've ever seen from him, even when not on meds. He was inconsolably crying (and he's not a crier), rubbed his eyes really hard because he didn't want tears on his face and just could not settle down. It was really scary as this was not our son. Our doctor still thought it was worth increasing the dosage of Concerta to test it out and we said no way, we didn't want to see that ever again. So now we're going to try Vyvanse, too. I say go with your gut and what you're comfortable with. There are so many options out there. Good luck to you. Wish us luck, too!

I woke up the next day after posting my comments, still feeling strongly against giving him the new medicine. I just can't bare to see him go through instablity when starting in a new school and new grade.  I did not give him the medicine and that same day went by the doctor's office and left the doc a message to see about writing him a script for his existing medication. His rebounds are not that bad, and not even happening on a daily basis. I think he has enough to adjust to rather than to change medicines.  His current dose is working just fine, and maybe I can talk to the doc about giving him a 2.5 at 4pm to try to avert the rebounding.  I'd rather not wreck a good thing.  He is doing just fine as is.

Thanks for all the suggestions and support.  This is a wonderful website!

My son was just prescribed Vyvanse 20 mg and I am really nervous about it.

He was taking Ritalin Short acting while we were in Indonesia and it was working wonders for him.  The only trouble had to do with him having the rebounding in the evenings (sometimes not all times).  He had little to no appetite during the day but when he comes off the Ritalin he eats and eats. I simply asked the doctor if he could start on Ritalin LA and she immediately suggested Vyvanse.  I told her that he did not do well on Aderall. 

Now I have researched Vyvanse and noticed that this drug is made by the same people who make Aderall and some suggest that they simply tweaked the formula of Adderall since they are about to loose their patent.  I am terribly worried about changing medications.

This is especially since we just returned from overseas, and Sean is now entering a new school.  He is being advanced into the fourth grade (he was held back two years before in another state).  He is already a bit behind in his studies and now with the Ritalin is FINALLY catching up.  Now they want to change the drug!!!  

Am I being overly worried?  Please give me some suggestions.  I am very uncomfortable with this.  I'm worried that this doctor is just pushing this drug to get a kick off from the drug company. 

IF he is doing fine on the Ritalin shouldn't he stay on Ritalin and just get a long acting dose??????  Or maybe just leave it alone as Short acting?????

So confused and worried

i left u a reply on the other post and then saw this one. can u give him another short acting one when the 1st wears off? i would think they would have tried that first? or the longer lasting ritalin. u can always call them and say u feel more comfortable trying the longer lasting or another fast acting ritalin b4 u try vyvanse. i have done that. the dr gave us script for adderall and i called back and got a higher dose of concerta b/c after thinking about it it just made more sense to go up a dose b4 switching meds. when the higher dose didnt work i tried adderall and that did nothing so then we went to vyvanse and it has been awesome so far. he still has the not so hungry days but does eat later on in the day and stays up lates some days too. he did this with concerta too. i hope u figure something out. i would call the dr and if the longer ones dont work then try vyvanse. i do think if u are getting bad rebound morning and night then u will still get that and i noticed when we went up in mg the rebound got worse (concerta) which is a form of ritalin. doesnt hurt to try it.

kim