Vyvanse - help!
My 6-year-old daughter is in her second week of Vyvanse - the first adhd med we have tried - and we are seeing some things we did not expect. We are at a 15 mg dose, and the plan is to stay at 15 mg for this week, then go up to 20 mg on Saturday.Among the effects that we find alarming: incessant talking; humming; doesn't want to leave the house/car - seems scared; very angry and combative; super-intense focus to the point that she has trouble putting an activity down.
We are also seeing the sleep/eating issues, although these are not as bad as we expected.
The one good thing that has come from the med is increased focus/attention during the a.m. hours.
The neurologist urged us to muddle through until we get up to 20 mg, remain at 20 mg for a week , and see what happens. He says the side effects, especially the emotional ones, can subside w/in a few weeks.
Did anyone have this experience? Will they indeed subside? Or should I try to insist on another med (or no med?) right away? I am really worried we are doing the wrong thing - she is so angry!
My 10 year old daughter is on 50mg of that. I think it works great for her once it has kicked in. She also has ODD so before the meds kick in, its chaos. Her VyVanse is supposed to last 12 hours but shes lucky to get though til 1pm. But I think it has worked better than the others she was on. Her days are awesome compared to her mornings and evenings. Each child is different on how they handle the medications. Hang in there and work with the doctor. Make sure you let him know everything that happens. I know that when she was on another medication she would have rapid eye movement and not moving her head with them. It was scary and it was a low dose. Others love that medication. Each child is different and it takes a while to find the right one that works. Usually by then you might have to alter it. LOL
I'm definitely not an expert but I would wonder about her having those severe side effects. I guess it could be that the dose is too low and it will even out once you increase the dose. When my son was on Adderall he got angry and aggitated if the dose was too low. It made him angry and aggitated overall but it was worse if the dose was too low.
Or it could be that this just isn't the medicine for her. Even though Adderall worked well for my son's hyperactivity and impulsiveness the side effects were just too bad. It just seemed to aggravate him too much. When we switched to Ritalin we saw an immediate improvement in the side effects. I would suggest that if you don't see significant improvement very quickly after you raise the dose then call the doc to see about maybe switching meds...
My son has been on Adderall xr... he was extremely agitated and more aggressive. Vyvanse.. talks contuniously and moving all the time. On both the activities increased as we upped the dosage. I have to say that Vyvanse is a much smoother release though and better for his mood. We are currently considering the Dayantra? patch. Any feedback?
Hang in there and if the side effects are too much try another med. Each child is unique in their chemistry.
You could also look into supplementing the stimulant with Tenex. It helps with stimulant side effect. It works very well for him!Since this is the first stimulant you have put her on, it would be difficult to say whether she would do well to ride it out a little longer or not, since you have no other similar med/situation to reference it to (i.e., well these side effects passed on the last thing she was on so we'll keep her on it a little longer to see how she does.) It sounds like quite a severe reaction, and hopefully they will indeed pass and the Vyvanse will be at least somewhat beneficial to her. I sure hope so. I can't imagine how worried you must be right now. Good luck, I really hope her situation improves. Giving young children these medications is such a touchy area, i'm sure i would be worried ifi was doing the right thing, too. But you are obviously trying to do the right thing by her, see if she can ride it out a little bit longer, and if things don't improve in a few days then definitely take her off it, but definitely dont give up stimulant meds completely, just try another one.
Good luck, I hope she feels better.
Your daughter sounds a lot like I used to be. She's probably very defiant and a real terror at night after the meds wear off.
I've taken the most ridiculous trial mix of medications over the past 14 years of my life and I'm currently taking 50 mg Vyvanse as a college student. It still makes me cry because I get so frustrated that it took my doctors so long to figure out Vyvanse was my answer. I beg you, having been through all the struggles, to not repeatedly experiment with the combination of meds your daughter takes. It was thought, when I was in 6th grade, that I had AD/HD with co-morbid Bipolar disorder and so began 6 years of hell and being on all sorts of medications all at once. I gained 60 lbs on one (abilify) and developed early signs of tardive dyskinesia from another (geodon). The most I ever had to take at one period of time was 6 different medications, and it was then that I attempted suicide and ended up in ICU for a week because I almost succeeded.
I would advise that you stick with the Vyvanse for at least another month or so, giving her time to get used to it. Keep in mind that over the years, her brain is still going to be changing and might require a re-evaluation of the drugs she takes. If she's lucky, she may "grow out of it," which I'm sure is every parent's dream. On the other hand, she may have to continue treatment for the rest of her life, as I do. Along with the Vyvanse, I choose take 1000 mg of fish oil daily because of all the benefits it has for the AD/HD affected brain. Doctors actually suggest people with AD/HD take 2000 mg of it. If you are at all interested in that as a daily supplement, I'd probably not tell her it's fish oil because I guarantee that would totally gross her out =].
She's going to get frustrated by AD/HD and cry and ask why she had to get it later on in life, I promise you this. Don't feel helpless when she does. I think AD/HD is a gift of creativity and uniqueness that neurotypical people should be jealous of (no offense :)) I've grown to accept and embrace it, and I'm planning on becoming a neuropsychologist to find out more about this and other neurological disorders.
Best of luck to your little gem. I hope that someday when she understands it, she sees the beauty in being a little crazy =]
Oh, another thing that occurs to me...
I am 25, and although when I take vyvanse or adderall I take 30 mgs, ALOT of people that I know that are my age only need 10. Your dughter is six years old, and on 20 mgs. This may or may not be an issue, but for a 6 year old girl with no tolerance to this or any other stimulant medication, if 20 doesnt work for you, then i would try going in the other direction - down. No, you definitely won't want to decrease her dosage. That's not a bright idea, Briefcameron.
I saw try another drug. There are so many options...My DD has been on every one of them! The first 9 months we switched her meds at least 10 times...if you feel like it's not working...just change it and find soemthing that does work! It'll help teh doc if right down when things are happening...I try to keep a log as detailed as possible, so I coudl say, "8:30 am ...runninga round in circles sreaming 10:00 am playing quietly in room, but gets mad if you go in there.: Etc etc...
Good luck! It will work out!!!
Thanks to everyone! I so appreciate the advice and support.
An update: We started on Intuniv, along w/ the 20 mg Vyvanse, last week. The ped neuro asked us to see if this had any impact on the side effects, and the idea is once we are tirated up try Intuniv alone.
Well, w/ Intuniv the angry/combative stuff stopped right away, so we all assume it has some effect on her. Today is our first day of the Intuniv alone. I am not sure what effect, if any, it will have on her attention span and hyperactivity. She is at preschool now and I have my fingers crossed!
Hope this works. I think the side effects of the Vyvanse are just too much for us.
My DD(14) was on Vyvanse for a year, and it caused her to have increased anxiety. If your DD has any anxiety issues, Vyvanse(stimulants in general) can cause anxiety to increase. DD also has OCD, so we finally stopped the Vyvanse since Intuniv was released, now she is on 4mg of Intuniv along with Zoloft and is much happier.For a previous poster...Daytrana has been great for my son(11). He started on 20mgs about 2.5 years ago, then dropped to 15mg about 2 years ago due to some increased anxiety. His appetite is not great on it, and he developed tics, so we added Tenex this past August. Now he is on Intuniv 3mg along with the patch, and we are hoping that by January he can be on just the Intuniv alone.
awesome!
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