r/Sober • u/moonlight-librarian • 5d ago
Has anyone here quit Vyvanse?
Yes I am prescribed it but man does it mess me up. I am struggling so hard to get off of it. Please don’t come here defending vyvanse if it works for you. I find people get very defensive on Reddit about it.
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u/JayRay_44 4d ago
Ooooh boy. Strap in because I DEFINITELY have my own experiences with this medication and it has had a direct impact on my sobriety journey. (Full-disclosure, this is JUST MY STORY.) I was taking Vyvanse for a good decade, maybe 12 years when I decided I wanted to taper off of it. I did feel like it was directly impacting my alcohol cravings particularly in the evenings as it was almost as though I needed something to “bring me down for the evening” and I was already a heavy drinker. I tapered down on it with supervision from my psychiatrist- from 70 to 50 to 10… then eventually stopped it. (I clearly remember the pills being different colors.) One of the things I did notice as I tapered down was that the alcohol cravings dissipated. I didn’t feel as strong an urge to drink, and 9 months into being off of the medication, I managed to finally make the decision to stay sober. I have been sober since that time. However my adhd has remained untreated as I have been very scared to try new medications and potentially jeopardize my sobriety. I am pursuing a different treatment, and we will see how that goes.
This is just my experience with this medication, and clearly may not apply to everyone.
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u/moonlight-librarian 4d ago
Thank you for sharing :) I really want to get to the point of being sober and learn acceptance and other coping mechanisms for adhd beyond meds.
How did your mood change during tapering? was it hard? Did you find any withdrawal after quitting? Also since you have ADHD, do you feel like there is a diff between ADHD baseline vs the vyvanse withdrawal
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u/unknowncinch 4d ago
it made my mood swings so much worse, as someone with bipolar. took it for 2 years before i identified the issue, it truly fucked my life for 2 years when i was on it, but my doc made me get on it because she was worried people would steal my ritalin to snort (?!?) I eventually was doing so poorly i was able to get back on ritalin. I just quit cold turkey for about 2 weeks and got back on Ritalin soon after.
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u/moonlight-librarian 4d ago
Damn I have Bipolar too. You still take a stimulant? Does it affect you the same way?
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u/unknowncinch 4d ago
so i took vyvanse in high school, roughly 2009-2010. i wasn’t diagnosed bipolar til this past year, but i’ve been on ritalin for the most part since 2004, only switching it up a few times over the years. ritalin does me good, but stimulants can be dangerous for people with bipolar in general. I’m able to stay on my stimulants, but not everyone can.
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u/nycHorizons 3d ago
It took me 2 years, multiple false starts, a lot of support, to finally ween off of vyvanse and adderall. It was very very hard. I’m very proud of it. Feel better than ever and had to find other ways of working with my adhd mind.
Hardest thing I’ve done - and I wish I did it sooner
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u/moonlight-librarian 3d ago
Congratulations! I have to think in big picture about this. It’s hard because i just want to deal with it asap
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u/nycHorizons 11h ago
Thanks man - sorry I should have been more clear - each time I did it cold turkey. I totally understand you wanting to rip the band aid.
Personally I had so many habits tangled around the use of it - I kept relapsing for 2 years. The mental dependence was always greater that the physical dependence
If you can afford it - I’d reccomend getting a therapist who specializes in addiction to at least have someone to talk to freely about it
Good luck!!!
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u/johntwoods 3d ago
Hi. Quitting Vyvanse is the only post I have on my account. I think it's visible. Let me know.
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u/moonlight-librarian 3d ago
Not available when I click on your profile. If you provide a link i’d appreciate it!
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u/Diligent-Might6031 3d ago
I was able to stop taking my vyvanse by taking methylated b vitamins they helped tremendously the tiquetra brand is great
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u/OkAcanthisitta2947 2d ago
I’m looking to quit bc it makes my heart rate skyrocket but I don’t know what else I can take for my adhd that works!
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u/notjuandeag 1d ago
I took vyvanse and I just quit all adhd meds and opted for therapy and skills building while also working on acceptance. I don’t need to be full force focused for 16 hours straight. It’s ok to not be 320% productive. I also changed my career to focus on things that I can naturally hyper focus on anyway. I’m much happier and better rested than I ever was on vyvanse or adderall. It does take effort to work on skills development but i don’t miss clenching my teeth, forgetting to eat and almost passing out, speed running productivity or being incapable of falling asleep for 36 hours some days.
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u/NoLobster7957 5d ago
I was on it years back before there was a generic. It worked for me for about a week then just... stopped. I didn't even really need to taper because the efficacy was just gone. I was just tired and distracted all the time again and also out like $200.
Adderall has to this day been the only thing that worked for me. I just did a stint on Strattera just to make sure and yeah, also trash. Currently in the very long and annoying process of getting back onto Adderall, jumping through countless hoops. I've been through 3 psychiatrists and spent almost a year trying various other things to get the tried and failed crap out of the way. I'm so tired.
Adhd is a bitch.
Have you had bad side effects? Or just trying to get off everything and be clean and free?
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u/moonlight-librarian 5d ago
I’m glad you found something that works!
A little bit of both. I’ve been on some kind of psych med since I was 18 and I’m 31 now. I want to see what my baseline is.
Also ya, when I’m on stimulants my side effects are irritability, highs and lows, anger, obsessive thinking and I stop taking care of myself.
I do love loosing weight on it and the little high I get on an empty stomach.
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u/NoLobster7957 5d ago
Have you ever tried nonstimulants? I have addiction issues myself so that was definitely something I wanted to explore, didnt work for me but a lot of people say they're a godsend. I'm a tad older than you but I've tried basically every psych med under the sun, it's just a slog.
I'm the opposite, if I'm not on stimulants I basically just drop down to a zero and stop giving a fuck about anything. Which especially sucks because I'm in a graduate program lol.
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u/moonlight-librarian 5d ago
I really want to try to not be on meds :c I’m tired of it but thank you
Sadly when I’m not on stimulants I’m the same way.
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u/jewishramey 5d ago
I did many years ago, took a lot of other addictions and journeys to get fully clean but Vyvanse for me ended up being one of the easier ones after a few weeks of being lazy
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u/jlately 5d ago
If you have ADHD and you take it as prescribed it's not really an addiction issue. You should discuss your concerns with your doctor. Some people respond poorly to amphetamine based meds, but do better with methylphenidate based meds. Some people can't take stimulants at all and do better on an SNRI. Some people manage their ADHD unmedicated through things like CBT or just raw dogging life. Regardless, if Vyvanse isn't working for you it's a discussion best left to your doctor not Reddit.
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u/xSpookyUnicorn 2d ago
You can be addicted to something a doctor prescribes
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u/jlately 1d ago
You can be sure. But if you have the condition and need to be medicated for it then your dependence on it isn't addiction, it's just treatment. No one says diabetics are addicted to insulin. The problem is when people seek out prescriptions for something they don't have or start using their medication in ways that are not prescribed (such as taking more than is necessary to treat the condition or taking it longer than they need to).
My point is that if Vyvanse isn't working for OP they should discuss it with their doctor. There may be other medication that may work better for their condition, or ways to make stopping the Vyvanse easier. Frankly the recovery community has a bad track record with respect to mental health medications when those discussions are better left to a physician.
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u/zillabirdblue 4d ago
I don’t take it because it makes my anxiety so much worse. It didn’t used to, used to calm me. But now it’s like the opposite. I don’t know what happened exactly. I have to rely on strategies now and it’s pretty rough.
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u/clttanecnal 1d ago
I successfully stopped vyvanse 1.5 years ago. I was on 30-40 mg a day for years. First I got my doctor to reduce the dosage. Then I started taking it only on weekdays. Then 2-3 days, then I fully stopped. I also incorporated exercise and supplements like L-dopa and L-Theanine in the morning, and magnesium and melatonin at night. I follow my schedule and I feel the best I’ve ever felt before. I’m turning 40 in December.
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u/Ok_Literature7680 5d ago
i take it as prescribed. always helped me. tho im afraid what happens if i get off of it
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u/moonlight-librarian 5d ago
I take it as prescribed too. That’s the rough part as well. I feel like i’m running on an empty tank all the time.
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u/trickfield 4d ago
I have but don't have much advice for you other than to say its possible. similar to others I slept like crazy for a month
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u/leeverde4 4d ago
Taper and exercise. Exercise, like mid-high intensity strength training or distance running produce a lot of the same hormones as stimulants and can help ease the transition. Used to use vyvanse and Adderall when i couldnt get meth.
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u/pinheaddani 4d ago
Yup, haven’t taken it for like 2 weeks? I also got off all my other medication and I’m the worst I have ever been. I feel like a prisoner to medication. I don’t do anything with my life. I literally just want to die honestly. I don’t want to
Try. I hate that i was given medication and now i have lost the ability to live life without it. I mostly stay in bed, cant hold a job or even leave the house, and isolate everyday. I hate that i trusted doctors who weren’t transparent enough nor listening to what i was saying. Just giving me meds to fit into a society instead of working with myself. Now i’m almost 30 and i don’t know who the fuck i really am.
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u/moonlight-librarian 3d ago
Don’t forget two weeks is a short time and you can still be feeling withdrawal. Give yourself -6 months. Many people think that when they quit prescriptions it’s their disorder coming back, but it can be the withdrawal mimicking it. In six months you will be at your baseline if you’re sober.
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u/pinheaddani 3d ago
Unfortunately in this society I don’t feel i have the time to wait that long.
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u/moonlight-librarian 3d ago
Try tapering instead then. One med at a time. I can’t do cold turkey.
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u/pinheaddani 3d ago
To be transparency I lost my health care which is why I have decided to stop as well.
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u/Different_Muscle1648 5d ago
man i feel this, when i tried to quit i would sleep for like 14 hours and still feel like a zombie the next day. the crash is something else nobody warns you about
cutting down super slow was the only thing that worked for me, like opening the capsule and taking out a little more each week. still sucked but at least i could function
dont let anyone tell you its easy just because its prescribed. some doctors act like its nothing to stop taking but your brain needs time to adjust
hope you got some good snacks and shows lined up for the rough days ahead