Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Vyvanse

So, my psychiatrist put me on this new med- Vyvanse. It's a strong Rx for my ADD. My ADD gets in the way of a lot of things. For instance: I can't read a book without stopping and re-reading a thousand times. I read the words in my mind, but I pay no to attention to what it's actually saying a lot of the time. I don't mean to do this, but my mind just inevitably goes to other subjects. I'll realize this after a little while, and have to go back and read what I 'missed'.

  Sometimes it will happen more than once on the same thing- meaning I'll go back to re-read something, and space off again- making me need to re-read it even again. It takes me forever to read a book. Luckily, I'm a very good and very fast reader. English stuff is kinda my thing, though I know doesn't always show in my writings. Sorry about that..

But I digress. I can read a book fairly quickly because, let's face it, I'm an awesome reader.. And I totally tested at a college level reading when I was in fifth grade. I'm just sayin'.. 
  However, if I'm SUPER interested in the book, I can usually keep my mind on it.. Which happens once or twice every few years. It's kind of dreadful.

  Now, with MOVIES.. I can only watch them at home, as I can pause and rewind when my mind wanders, and I can be actively doing something else at the same time- keeping me busy, and allowing me to be more focused. I cannot follow the story lines in movie theaters.

 So, those are two minor things, even though I kind of went on & on. Two of the more major(ish) and annoying ones are: SHOWERING/BATHING. It generally takes me an hour to an hour and a half to do this. Why? Because my mind wanders so much. I don't remember what I'm doing at all- and when I do, I do it really slowly.. Because I can't pay attention to it. I don't have something right in front of me, reminding me. The water doesn't appear to be enough to make me remember. I usually realize and hurry when all the hot water is gone. Blast!

The last major one I can think of is driving. I'm actually not entirely sure if it's normal or not, but I just can't pay attention to the road. I mean, don't get me wrong, I pay attention absentmindedly- just not actively. Well, most of the time. I'm a VERY good driver. Granted, I've been in one accident in which I was the driver- but it had absolutely nothing to do with my driving skills. I had a seizure while driving (in which, by pure luck, no one was hurt but me- and mine weren't that major), but that was a fluke in my body, not my abilities. Not to honk my own horn (pun intended), but I'm a really great driver. Ask anyone. ;)

  So, I'm not really sure what impact that may have on my driving- that is, if it isn't normal. I keep myself occupied, though. I drive an hour away every Wednesday, and sometimes just forget to turn on the music, as I'm already watching my vivid imagination in my head. It's cool, whether or not others do it.

  Okay, so back to the POINT of this post!! I was just put on Vyvanse a little over a week ago. It seemed to be working a little bit the first couple of days. For two to four days, I was supposed to take half- then three fourths for that amt of time, then up to a full capsule (This is all because it's so strong).
I was on a different medication a long time ago, but I was taken off because they were afraid it would interact with my seizure meds.. And we all know that's no good! Vyvanse is a fairly new med, which they have tested with epilepsy meds, and were found to be safe. Therefore, I started taking it.

  Now, the problem is.. I'm having side effects. I tend to have reactions or side effects to most things, so it was entirely expected that I would.. Just not this much! I have like 2/3 of the side effects mentions, I swear! It's to the point I think I'm going to slowly take myself off of it.. But I'm not entirely certain about it. I can't visit my psychiatrist about it, as I lost my health insurance Aug. 1st.
Now, for those few of you that actually got through this entire post, I have something to ask..
Could I possibly get any thoughts on this? On what you think I could/should possibly do? It would be greatly appreciated, I'm at a dead end here.

   To help you get an idea of what's going on, I will share with you the side effects that I, personally, and experiencing:
Depression, decreased appetite, dizziness, dry mouth, increased sweating episodes, mild irritability, nervousness, restlessness, constipation, nausea, difficulty sleeping, unpleasant taste, weight loss, agitation, headaches, increased obsessive compulsive behaviors, anxiety, skin irritation/itching, slight tremor (likely from not sleeping well).

..Yeah. That's it. Most of it is very very minor, just enough to make me feel a bit 'off'. The only stronger one is, of course, decreased appetite.. Probably leading to weight loss, that's why I put that one on there. I don't actually know, as I don't own a scale. I'm visiting my dietitian today (Thank Heavenly Father for my church, who pays for me to see my dietitian, my therapist, and my ED group!), and she'll weigh me. She won't tell me my weight, but she will likely tell me if I lost weight or not.

Anyway, thanks guys!! Sorry if this post is confusing- with the whole "difficulty sleeping" thing going on, it's 6:30 in the morning, and I have yet to be able to get some sleep. Excuse my terrible writing and grammar mistakes I'm sure I've made!


           The warning at the top of every Vyvanse  page...             
               v         v         v         v          v          v         v         v         v                    
 ^         ^         ^         ^         ^         ^         ^         ^   

           IDK why, but I find this a tiny bit funny.. BAD Mary Lynn,  BAD!                      


Okay, so LOVES to you all!!
Thank you so much for supporting me through this madness
I call recovery.. and life. ;)

<3
Mary Lynn

6 comments:

Liz said...

New reader here :) Hi!

Those are an awful lot of side effects, but I guess the real question is: Is the Vyvance helping your ADD? Is it worth the side effects?

The side effects might go away too, when your body gets really used to the meds. Hmm... I hope it gets better for you! Good luck at your dietitian today :)

Danielle said...

I too tend get most if not all of the side effects of medications. I'm just throwing this out there, I may be way off base. As I havent seen you in a bit but how have you been doing Ed wise? Honestly. Alot off those symptoms could be related to Ed not just the medication. My friend Jen is taking a different medication for ADD and has the decreased appeitte (having a moment and now I am spelling that wrong) and really has to stay on top of her meal plan as her weight will drop pretty quickly.

jodilynn said...

So...is it worth being on something to control your ADD if it has SO MANY side effects? I have ADHD and the only med I can be on is strattera because of my heart and eating disorder. They absolutely won't put me on anything else. But, insurance doesn't cover it, so I don't take anything.

I can relate with the reading and stuff, but my biggest issue is with the hyperactivity. I know what is appropriate behavior and what is inappropriate (and learned how to cope at a young age as my parents didn't want to medicate me), so I channel my hyperactivity into overexercise.

It's a really hard situation to be in because you can learn to cope with the ADD, but nothing other than medication is really going to HELP with the lack of attention.

I understand it's hard, but maybe weigh the pro's and con's of taking and not taking the medication. And, sometimes the side effects decrease after you have been on the med for a while, so maybe you could check with your doctor to see if that is a possibility.

Lily Jane said...

Sounds eerily like my own blog post I did about Adderall, as that is what I take. It IS possible to go without the meds, but it takes a LOT of support and people to help you stay on track.

Victoria said...

How much does your ADD bother you? It doesn't seem like dealing with it really effects you much. Why not just go with ADD? I have a little bit of ADD (yeah, shocker) and I know about the mind wandering thing. But why is that "Bad"? Like you said, it doesn' effect your driving, and as long as you have something to multitask with it doesn't really effect anything else either.


But, like the other said, it could just be your body freaking out, "Mary Lynn! What the crap are you doing!? What is this thing you're putting into me that makes me think funny???" So you may just want to wait it out.

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