Keen to know if anyone else has been advised to take 2 Elvanse/Vyvanse a day.

I experienced relatively early crashes after 2 weeks starting on meds. I’d take 30 mg first anywhere between 8-10:30 and my psychiatrist said that’s fine up until that time. I’d experience the crash anywhere between 2-4 (not major crashes but noticeable as normal). Because of this he said to take another at 2 or 3 latest believing each dose we could estimate covered 6 hours for me. I haven’t done it yet but, I’m keen to know if anyone was advised that at as a first alternative option before too as my immediate thought is for a concern of insomnia due to it being a long lasting med. I’m not doubting my psychiatrist as I know he’s a reputable specialist. Just keen to see peoples opinions or experience. (I’d rather stay clear of short acting stimulants that give you a noticeable boost for fear of addiction).

[Cappy11]

Some people process stimulants faster so they take a smaller second dose later in the day.

But it is a bit uncommon with Vyvanse since it's supposed to be the longest lasting stimulant medication. Still, not unheard of and I've seen plenty of posts here and elsewhere about taking it twice in a day.

Personally I don't really crash on Vyvanse, but I do notice that I'm a little sleepy and tired by the late evening. I think it's just that I have less Vyvanse in my system but it is still there so I don't mind it too much. I can usually power through it or have a small coffee. Or if I want to, I can lie down and take a nap (!!!) which is usually impossible for me when I'm unmedicated.

But yeah a lot of people do end up taking two doses. And it varies from two same doses staggered early in the day, to two different doses spread out further, or even just a Dexedrine IR booster in the evening instead of a second Vyvanse.

Just keep an eye on your sleep quality.

[LeahRP in reply to Cappy11]

Hello. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m newly diagnosed too. I was diagnosed by my physiologist. My primary doctor is very supportive and started me on 5mg of Adderall, short acting that only lasted for about 3 hours. We did that for 2 weeks. Now we a trying Focalin XR 10mg. I take it every day between 6:00am and 6:30 I feel and crash around 2-3pm. I been on for 3 weeks now. I see the doctor tomorrow to assess how the medication is working.

What’s the Dexedrine IR booster? maybe that will help. Or should I ask for higher dosage( or stay at 10mg twice) taken twice a day. My work days are long 10-12 hours. When the crash starts I become very irritated also. Should I try Vyvance? Can anyone relate are suggest

[Cappy11 in reply to LeahRP]

I can't give you medical advice, but there are a few things you should be aware of that you may not know based on your questions.

First you should know what the different stimulants are. Also, they all pretty much have a short-acting (IR/instantaneous release) or long-acting (ER/extended release) version.

They affect people differently and it's basically trial and error until you find something that works best for you with the least side effects. I want to say most people end up with one stimulant that works best, and then they take some combination of IR and ER versions of that.

Adderall is mixed amphetamine salts (dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine). Focalin is very similar to Ritalin but not the same thing. Ritalin is methylphenidate and Focalin is dex-methylphenidate. Dexedrine is only dextroamphetamine.

These will all have different effects aside from their duration, so it's not an apples to apples comparison. If your biggest issue is that you crash, an IR booster of whatever stimulant is most helpful for you might be a good idea. Discuss all this with your doctor of course.

I have a chemistry background so I find all this interesting anyways, but important to know what's actually behind the catchy titles of all these meds.

[Brainfog82]

Hi, I am having this exact problem. I was only recently diagnosed and have never taken stimulant medication before. I took my first dose of Vyvanse 30mg this morning at 6:15am and the fatigue hit me at 8am. There has been no improvement in my attention/focus or concentration due to the fatigue. I am so tired that my eyes are burning. I took some protein powder around 12:30pm to see if that helps but noting yet. How did you get on? Did you end up increasing to two tablets a day?

[Hidden in reply to Brainfog82]

Hi, so sorry about the delayed response I don’t always check my email notifications! How are you getting on now - before I give some advice I would say to try not and over evaluate signs and get your average feeling/reaction after a week or two because there are other factors that can oaky into overthinking and making you direct the cause to the medication. What I’ve found helps is I make sure I take it an hour before or after food. Sometimes I’ve felt the medication is dampened while being processed at the same time - might be my mind overthinking but different for everyone.

It sounds like you have a high metabolism like me. My psychiatrist advised me to take another 6 hours after taking the first instead of upping the dose. However I didn’t like the idea of it really affecting my sleep purely because even though the effect or level of focus has dropped off, it is still in the system. So I tried opening the second tablet (30mg pill) and taking 10 or 20 mg. definitely helped. However I may just ask for an increase in mg and take the one again - that has worked for a lot of people I talked to. So still trial an error.

However, if your getting fatigued at 8am that’s definitely strange! Ideally it shouldn’t have even peaked in your system yet. What are you eating for breakfast? There are a few things you should eat while taking the meds because they work as a blocker like a lot of vitamin C or acidic foods - if you do, I would say eat them later in the day. I take my vitamin c tablet in the evening with a magnesium tablet and omega 3 oil tablet. The Vit-C can work like an ‘off switch’, and magnesium is good to help sleep.