Post vyvanse meltdowns

[mariner8993]

Our almost 8 year old son has been on vyvanse for approx 3 weeks now. Seems to be doing well and more focused during school and exceptly for the stomach pains and lack of eating the medication seems to be working. EXCEPT that around 8 PM the last week or so he's been having extreme meltdowns worse than we've ever seen. Typically over little things and they last for about a half hour. Has anyone else seen this as a side effect of vyvanse or any other meds? How have others handled this situation if they've experienced it? Thanks in advance!

[eperez18]

When my son was first diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7 he was placed on 30 mg of Vyvanse. He was able to concentrate at school and starting improving in his grades but as the months went by he would loose focus towards the end of the school day and his medication was slowly increased from 30 mg then 40 mg then 50 mg. His body was quickly metabolizing the medication and he lost a lot of weight, he was already a picky eater before but with the medication he was beyond picky and would not want to eat much at school nor at home. When the medication would wear off he would experience really bad meltdowns over every little thing. I personally got to witness one towards the end of the school day during his Field Day at school and I could not control him. He cried and cried over the littlest thing. Ultimately I took him off of Vyvanse, it was not the right medication for my son. I highly recommend you quickly communicate your son’s meltdowns to your doctor. You are ultimately the deciding factor, if something doesn’t feel right for you speak up and see if there are other medications out there that would be easier on your child.

Also, I have been doing a lot of online research on why my son experiences Meltdowns on stimulants such as Vyvanse and Adderall XR, from what I gather, my son’s metabolism is burning through the meds quickly and when he is coming off he is experiencing a dip on the “feel good” neurotransmitters such as Dopomine and Norepinephrine. So I am now giving him a combination of his prescriptive stimulant medication and giving him supplements like his multi-vitamin, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, essential minerals, and Theanine. N-Aceryl L-Tyrosind is a supplement that works by helping the brain bring back up the levels of the neurotransmitters Dopamine and Norepinephrine after his stimulant medication wears off. Do your research and ask your doctor first before you combine any supplements with his ADHD meds. I got the ok from my son’s doctor and but he is on Adderall XR now and so far he is doing much better on the combo.

[BlueysMom]

Our 7 year old has been on vyvanse over a year now. I remember the stomach pains in the beginning and made the mistake of googling to see how long the side effect would last...big mistake. Stick with sites like this and dr. I think the pains should go away soon. If not, definitely talk to your dr. The meds may need to be adjusted. It was a bit of a process for us as they started us at the lowest possible dose and we’re now comfortably at 20mg/day plus an afternoon boost of Ritalin at 4.

As for the meltdowns - we’ve seen a few more of these recently but I now chalk it up to the back to school transition. This is when anxiety kicks up and his adhd symptoms and emotions in general get elevated.

When do you have a medication follow up appt? I think ours were every month for the first few months for this reason.

[My_kids_mom]

Hi. My 6 year old was recently diagnosed with ADHD. He's doing well on ritalin. I'm responding because I personally suffer from ADHD and tried several medications before I found that Adderall works best for me. When I was on Vyvance, my ADHD symptoms did improve but I was so exhausted that I started to think I might have a terrible disease. I was encouraged to supplement with protein and increase my L-lysine. Vynvance binds with the amino acid Lysine and causes disproportionate Argenine levels in the blood as well. Basically said, it can make you very tired. I was not able to continue talking Vyvance.