Withdrawal From Vyvanse (Page 19)

My son had a terrible experience on wyvance. He has phyciatic systems to include halluciations. The doctor took him off the drup cold turkey and Ihe seems to be having withdrawal systems? Is that normal?

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Hi there - I just got over this addiction and am doing great, but you're going to need to intervene with your son. I'd love to help. {edited for privacy}

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Callie, I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. You believe your son is addicted to Vyvanse? Did he start taking the Vyvanse because it was prescribed for ADHD, or some other medical condition? Or did he get it from someone else and start taking it on his own?

Addiction to Vyvanse, when prescribed for medical reasons and used properly, is very rare, if it happens at all. Vyvanse is a prodrug, meaning it is inactive until ingested, where digestive enzymes slowly break it up so that it can be absorbed. It has a very low abuse potential for this reason. It is possible to take more than the prescribed amount but, as it is a controlled substance, it is impossible to get any more than a one month supply at a time from the pharmacy, making it very difficult.

I also don't understand how it could be making his grades/social skills/hygiene worse, as stimulants should typically help anyone to improve their performance. Again, it depends a lot on whether or not he has ADHD, and which kind of ADHD it is. If he has ADHD then overdosing on a stimulant could possibly have the opposite effect on him than it would for most people. So instead of becoming more energetic, he would become more lethargic. If that is happening, his doctor should be able see it. But that depends on the doctor.

It may also mean that Vyvanse is just the wrong medication, or he is having a bad reaction to it. It may not be the Vyvanse at all. Something else could be causing the problems. It sounds a lot like depression, actually. I had my most severe episode of depression in my first year of college and had all the same issues.

It's not just a simple question of addiction. There are a lot of things to be considered.

As for what to do, if your son has an addiction, he has to admit to it. And there is nothing you can do until then. No matter what you do, it will not help as long as he will not admit there is a problem. But pushing the issue too much could make things worse. You might want to try a support group for family members of addicts. They should be able to give you some advice.

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He started taking Vyvanse for ADHD. His been on it for three years, with the problem beginning last year. He takes it and stays up all night, then sleeps the entire next day. Typically he runs out of his prescription half way through the month and then buys from his fraternity brothers. It is turning him into a zombie. Other times he takes it and stays up for two days straight. Instead of vyvanse helping him focus on school, he's focusing on his Xbox and NetFlix. He looks horrible. Pale, brown circles under his eyes, unkept, withdrawn and sullen. He's lost 30+ pounds in three years. He once casually remarked to me that he loves the way it makes him feel. Why do you think depression could be at the root of all this?

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Jack, how do I intervene? He's at school four hours from me. Where do I start?

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I withdrawled from Vyvanse exactly a month ago. I have been prescribed to it since it became available on the market, 8 years ago or something. I have ADD and it helped me to focus but the side effects were horrible. On the weekends when I didnt have work or school, I would not take Vyvanse because I felt my body needed a break. When I didnt take it, I would sleep the entire weekend away. I hated my sleep patterns and all the negatives that were associated with Vyvanse. I asked my doc if I could withdrawl from Vyvanse on my upcoming vacation and he said since I was on such a low dose I could try it. I brought a few pills with me on the cruise just in case I had bad withdrawl symtoms or wanted to excessively sleep but I did not need one. When I got back from the cruise, for 3 weeks I was the happiest and healthiest I had been in years. It has been a month now, and my energy is a little down and I am having a hard time focusing. My parents were really concerned because I have a year and a half left of school before earning my degree and they think I should have waited. I am turning to natural substances such as magnesium or whatever else can help with concentration and focus and I will see how I do. If I cant find anything, I will have no choice but to get back on the meds a few times a week until I graduate college. I cant afford not to finish, I have come so far!! If anyone has suggestions on natural ADD remedies, please let me know!!! And if you have anymore questions regarding withdrawls, I would be willing to offer more advise. Thanks =)

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Callie, I'm so sorry to hear that. :(

I mentioned depression as a possibility because poor personal hygiene, social withdrawal, and falling grades are all signs of depression. And tbh I was a little skeptical about the addiction at first. No offense, but we get accused of being addicts a lot. There is so much bad info on ADHD meds and most people don't understand them.

If he was taking it for two years without any problem and then suddenly in the third year started abusing it, then something must have changed. Peer pressure maybe? Or academic pressure? Something in his personal life causing stress? It's really hard to say, but there is definitely something wrong and you are right to be concerned. Abusing amphetamines that way is very dangerous.

I can't really help you because this is too far beyond my experience. I am not a mother and I have never been an addict, or had to deal directly with someone who is.

My advice would be to check with your local addiction and mental health services and ask them about what you can do. Or, if you have the same doctor as your son, try making an appointment to see him and talk about it. Let him know what is going on. You could also talk to the pharmacist who fills his prescription.

For online resources, try Dr. Charles Parker's website, corepsych.com. for more info about Vyvanse in general. (I don't know if he has anything on there about addiction, I've never looked for it.)

That's all I can think of at the moment. Gotta go do that boring housework that I am trying to avoid now. Good Luck. :)

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Jane - I'm going to have to respectively disagree with your assumption that Vyvanse is nearly impossible to abuse. The entire 'prodrug' argument is baseless; unfortunately that's how the big pharma companies have marketed it in order to get it into the mass market as a 'non-addictive' substitute for Adderall. As someone who is diagnosed with ADHD and struggled with a Vyvanse addiction for over a year and just 3 months ago made the decision to seek help, quit cold turkey, endure the painful withdrawals, and ultimately recover, I can vouch that it is in fact one of the most deceivingly addictive drugs you can ingest. You build a tolerance almost immediately, get hooked on the 6+ hour 'high' you experience, and then take more in order to satiate that very high. And it also is completely plausible (and common) that someone abusing a stimulant - Vyvanse included - would direct the stimulation it provides towards something more engaging such as video games. And everything else you're describing - the weight loss, hollowed face, and sleeping for a full day after staying up all night, are the same exact symptoms I experienced when I was addicted.

Anyways - needless to say this is a very scary drug. My psychiatrist pitched it to me as this wonder drug that - as Jane is alluding to - is incapable of being abused. But unfortunately that theory has been dispelled - not just by me but by a whole litany of medical professionals. There's also a reason that there are almost 365 replies on one posting around Vyvanse withdrawal. This is real.

But there's an end in sight. I was taking up to 4 to 5x the prescribed maximum dose, while still holding an investment banking job in new york (my first year out of college, I'm just a few years older than your son) and the experience was torturous. It can have such a mental, physical and emotional impact. Yet getting off of it - while certainly difficult - is possible. And the withdrawal is not comparable to opiates, coke, etc. For me - someone abusing it at the highest level imaginable - after stopping cold turkey, I had 3 days of sleep and emotional fatigue (spontaneous crying, just deep depression) followed by a week of recovery where I laid in bed, took the medication my addiction psychiatrist had prescribed me (Neurontin, which helps ease the emotional distress), and took a short medical leave off work (I didn't have to tell them why, it's actually pretty simple) with the support of my addiction specialist/psychiatrist. After about a week and a half I was starting to feel more normal, and then after 3 weeks I really was probably 80%+ back. Finally after a month I was 100%. This was 4 weeks - only one of which was really hard - that I had to endure to save my life. And 3 months later, I'm in a new job which I absolutely love, am off all medications, and feel incredibly clear.I sympathize with you and realize that this is not easy and I'm sure you feel helpless. But the first thing I'd ask - does your son's semester end soon? Does he have a summer break at all? Will he have access this summer to his frat brothers - aka Vyvanse? If not, you should look on the bottle for his psychiatrist and reach out to him/her directly and explain the situation, have them call the pharmacies and mark his name so that no one fills a prescription for him. You should do this while simultaneously sitting down with him - bring other close family members - for a real intervention, and you can honestly relay my story word by word and let him know that after a week he's going to be a lot better and it's really not as scary to stop as he thinks it is (that is the biggest inhibitor of seeking help, the idea that you can't live without it and there's no way out of the hole you've dug). Let's talk more but I wanted to clarify some things and make sure that you better understand the dynamics of the drug and how to get off of it.

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ADD medication can cause a B vitamin deficiency, especially vitamin B12. You can get B12 shots or take the vitamins prescribed by your doctor in capsule form. I wouldn't get it over the counter as the capsule shell is made with other additives. B12 will help restore your energy levels, neurotransmitter activity, and memory loss! I was taking ADD medication for 6 years including vyvanse and I started using B12 with the medication as I slowly weaned off of it. Its safe to use in both and will help with withdrawal. Oh yeah, drink lots of water too. Good luck! :)

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I just read your post although it was a couple of years ago now that it was written. I have an opiate addiction as you did for well over 10 years and have now been on suboxone for wow about 4 yrs.now.... my appointment with my Dr. Was one week ago and didnt have the funds so i nursed my last strip till thursday to go on friday only to find out when i called in hoping to see him the next day that he was leaving in an hour and would be out for 10 days, i was like HOLY S***!!! So i got money to borrow till the next day since he was leaving and i called back. I was told he was walking out of the door and would not wait 30 mins. for me. Now i'm left to suffer and detox for a week i didnt know who to blame, myself for not having the finances to make my original appointment date or him for not waiting 30 mins. for me. Anyway so back to looking for hydrcodone... my mom gave me a few which only lasted me a couple of days so I went to her for more instead of the streets only for her to tell me not to harrasse her about it, so guess I'm just on my own now ...Im thinking "I work every night and I have to pack and be out of my house in one week what the heck am I going to do"? So i knew i had taken vyvanse before and lasted me like 12 hours and it was great, so YES today I bought 10 from a random person I knew was a dealer from seeing him in and out of the place I work all night long on a daily basis. I've been reading a lot of posts since I took it. I do love how i feel when I take it, I want to do things and be around people like i used to when I was taking lortabs only this is better cause it lasts longer. Ive always felt different and out of place until I started taking meds. Everyone likes me and my personality and i'm not socialy shy like I always was as a child and teen. I am 38 now and started poppig pain pills on a regular basis since I was 20 which did begin innocently needed for pain due to Fybromyalgia Syndrome until realized i was dependent when I didn't take one day and felt like crap. So continued daily till decided to get help by getting on methadone at 32 which I hated and so now suboxone since 34. I will be taking this 70mg. vyvanse that I bought for a week till my Dr. Appointment next monday I cant help but wonder if this is what i needed all along and had never been diagnosed for ADD should I speak to Dr. Bout switching since it helps so much or should I stick to my Suboxone as long as I need to. He told me probably indeffinately because taking opiates for 10 plus years messed up my opiod recepters thats why i dont feel normal without suboxone blocking them. Sorry took up much of your time but your story is very similar to mine. I hope have time to respond with some advice. O one more thing, should i worry about addiction after one week of taking this 70mg. Vyvanse? Thanks

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Hey Penelope! First off you need to quit thinking that you need to be on a med to survive. The dr keeping you on suboxone for as long as he had is not the right thing to do. You can make it without suboxone and the last thing you want to do is start up a vyvanse addiction to go along with your suboxone addiction. Vyvanse in the long run messed up my life way worse than opiates or suboxone. Suboxone is a bad drug In itself despite what the drs say about it. The correct way to use it is to keep a patient on it for a few months then take them off. I know I'm telling you this knowing raft even myself was on it for over a year but I'm telling you so you will know that the drs are doing the wrong thing by putting patients on it and keeping them in it for long periods of time making them think they need it to survive. If your opiate receptors where messed up then you could take Vicodin or lot tabs and get no feelings whatsoever off of them. Despite what preppie say suboxone is one if the strongest opiates out there, it just works on the pleasure receptors in the brain differently therefore causing not as much high at low doses but preventing withdrawl. You are not getting withdrawl because you are basically still taking an opiate. Vyvanse my friend is a killer and if you can read all the horror stories on here about what it has done to people you can see that it clearly is something you do not need. Anyone who has a history of drug abuse will not be able to take vyvanse without developing a dependence to it bottom line. If you decide to take those you are asking for trouble. The only thing you need to survive and get your life back on track is Jesus Penelope, he is the only one who can give you a happy life, it does not come from pills and meds and I tell you this from experience . I have tried every drug in the book and until I found Jesus nothing could satisfy the emptiness I had. I'm not trying to tell you that you need to just stop everything cold turkey but I'm telling you that you need to start seeking god and not another drug. Little by little he will help you get out the bad in your life and replace it with good things that will last. I understand how terrified you are right now so I just urge you to pray to him tonight and ask him to give you strength and peace to make it through this week. I can tell you this with full confidence, if you make it the 10 days you will be without suboxone you will not need it anymore when those 19 days are up. If you decide to use the vyvanse I urge you to only use it for a few days then leave it and the suboxone alone for good and get your real life back. You can do this Penelope and I promise you Gid will help you if you will trust in him. He has delivered me from so many addictions and now I use what he has done for me to help people like you know that there is hope in being free from meds and drugs and that hope is Jesus Christ! Don't give up hope and loose that mindset that you have to have a med because you don't! You are a child of God and all you need is the life and love he has for you and it does not involve vyvanse or suboxone! Write back if you need anything!

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Jack- I was not "alluding" to anything. I was stating the facts, as I know them, about how a prodrug works. I am not a chemist, but I understand the chemistry behind it well enough to know that it is not- as you alluded- baseless. The potential for addiction is still much lower than with quick release drugs, since it does not produce an immediate high. Perhaps it would be better to say that it reduces the chances of accidental addiction.

I have to respectfully suggest that if you were experiencing a "6+ hour high" then either you were put on too high a dose to start with, you have a sensitivity to amphetamine, or it was simply on the wrong medication for you. Or you were misdiagnosed. Stimulants have a very unique effect on the ADHD brain and most of us do not get the "high" feeling you describe at normal dosages. But each individual is unique as well and the same medication and same dosage can have a radically different effect from one person to the next.

I feel almost no effect at all from any kind of stimulant. I have taken instant release Ritalin in the past and I take Vyvanse now. I take Welbutrin as well, for my depression, which is not classified as a stimulant but has a similar effect. And I could take or leave any of them. But I have a friend who has tried every kind of medication there is to treat her ADHD and can not tolerate any of them at all. Another friend in my group takes just 5mg of Ritalin a day, which made me laugh at first because it sounded so ridiculous. But I have since learned that some people are so sensitive to stimulants that the absolute lowest dosage is all they need.

So you can't say that Vyvanse isn't safe based on your experience, any more than I can say that it is based on mine. There is simply no way to tell except to try it.

It is very important, and I can not stress this enough, to get a proper assessment and to rule out all other medical conditions (as much as possible) that could be the cause of the ADHD symptoms (thyroid disease, anxiety, diabetes, and, as mentioned in another post here, B12 deficiency, are just a few of the possibilities). Taking stimulants when you do not have ADHD is much more dangerous. What an ADHD brain needs just to function is too much for a non-ADHD brain to handle.

And this post is too much for my currently unmediated brain to handle. I have spent far too long working on it and I am beginning to get extremely frustrated. Not to mention I should have been in bed hours ago. I don't know when I am going to learn....

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Can I ask how long it took
You to find energy after coming clean off pain killers .... Anything like feeling like no energy after stopping vyvanse? Anna

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Hey it really only takes a couple of weeks to 1 month. The main thing is to try and push yourself a little harder each day so your body will get used to it. The longer you let it keep you down the harder it will be.

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My husband went on vyvanze about 2 yrs ago. He has now quit cold turkey and its crazy how different he is. I HOPE to heavens it only takes 2 weeks for withdrawal to be done. I think us wives need some sort of support group to know how to deal with THEIR withdrawal. I do pretty good for a couple of days, but then it's exhausting to have to be extra patient with him. I have 3 children and I would MUCH rather handle their bad days than my husbands :-(
Anyone willing to message on here for support? I'll update later and let you all know how we're doing

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Thank you for that. I really needed the reminder to push your self a little more each day. I have been catching myself just laying on the couch all day and only getting up when my daughter needs me lol. Was losing hope!

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No problem hope you feel better soon Anna
Theresa, your husband will be fine soon and your lives will be back to normal again! Just try to stay strong through this so that you can be supportive for him. I know that he will be needing you to be there for him as much as possible for the first couple of weeks, but y'all can both rest assured that things are gonna get better, and hopefully when it's all over it will bring you all closer together seeing how much you need each other and can count on each other through times like these! I'll be praying for you all and one thing I know is that God is faithfull, so be full of hope!

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I am 15 and just stopped taking this drug. Vyvnase is made with amphetamine(s) (ingredients to meth). I stopped the drug after I was taking 120 mg a day for a solid year. For about week, I had awful stomach pains, vomiting, hallucinations, and couldn't sleep at all. Surprisingly (not really) these are all symptoms of withdrawn from meth. How much of this was your son taking?

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...and now she's addicted to Xanax. The addiction and/or withdrawals from Xanax are deadly. Bad idea.

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70 mg. is a very high dose. I take 20 mg.

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Yes I think so but I'm not a replacement for a doctor. Those withdrawl symptoms can last for like over a year for your energy to return to normal. People in NYS told me I am better off without it, they have seen folks on this med that look the same as schizophrenia. I wish your son the best of luck with getting better.

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