Unmotivated on Vyvanse

[Cham845]

My Dr recently switched me to vyvanse 20mg. I feel calmer and irritability is significantly less however I feel zero motivation or interest in anything. I feel like it is not making me care about anything like the mess aroubd me piling up and no interest in anything at work. The first day I took it, it actually made me procrastinate more. Could a dose increase help? I like the positive affects of calming my mind and less irritability because I’m not as overwhelmed.

[bluecar15]

20mg sounds like a starting dose? I moved from another adhd med to vyvanse and love it but it took a few titrations up to get to a useful dose I'm pretty sure the target dose is like 50mg

[Gettingittogether]

In my experience meds have either of two effects when they work. They either quiet my mind (sounds like what you're getting now) ... or they give me energy ... for the mind quieting medication, I have to supply the motivation ... for the energy-giving medication, I have to find ways to achieve quiet ... Part of the process of treatment is figuring out what a med can do and what we have to do ... I'd give the Vyvanse sometime ... if you've been motivating yourself through crash deadlines and just stressing yourself out ... it may take a little time to build the motivation with a quieter mind ... try something social .... you should be able to take advantage of that quiet mind ...

Final point: you cannot evaluate a med based on a day or two days or three ... you have to take it like a month or so ... and then see what happens ... these meds aren't magic and our bodies and brains have to adjust to them ... this lack of motivation could just be a temporary side effect that will soon go away ... But give up the day-to-day evaluation ... I would go with weekly at a minimum ... but really try a month or so ... and yes, you might need a higher dose ... after a month if you feel no positive change, call your provider ... for a session and report your findings and the provider will adjust things .... THAT process is the treatment ... not taking one med ... it's taking ... suspending eval for a bit ... then evaluating ... reporting details to provider ... getting an adjustment ... and then starting the process again ...

[humble-rasberry]

Was the irritability common for other meds you were taking?

If it was- I’ve been trying to tell everyone I know this but I was consuming a lot of Vitamin B6 which actually I figured out was the whole reason I was getting so irritable. Recommended daily intake is 1.5mg and I was taking a lot of supplements that ended up reaching over 20mg a day. Bad stuff. There’s even organizations protesting to make it something prescribed and not OTC.

The above might not apply to you, but I also wanted to add when I was prescribed vyvanse I started at 30mg, which my psych told me was the normal starting level. I’d say maybe try that and see how you feel?

It’s interesting because I had the same experience as you after 3 days of building a tolerance for it. Those first 3 days were hell tho, gave me way too intense hyperfocus that made it impossible to stop tasks without completing something to perfection. I’m a graphic designer and I remember the first day I took it I spent 5 hours straight making a small design perfect pixel by pixel when it should have only taken me 30 minutes max. Woke up with bruises on my arm the next day from where my hand was on my laptop 🥴 But then after 3 days it was like I didn’t even take it. I like adderall a lot more because it’s more subtle, but gives me more of the energy.

If you wanted to stick with vyvanse, another thing I tried was taking 30mg vyvanse and 2.5mg-5mg adderall IR which helped a lot on those after lunch hours where I’m feeling slumpy. And I didn’t take the IR regularly so I think it helped my tolerance to it so I could keep it at a low dose.

Finding the right medication took me over a year, it’s tricky. It also took me a while to figure out that medication doesn’t always help start tasks, but it more helps with the endurance to stay with it

[sthurman1981]

Yes a higher dosage could help, but work up slow. I lost a job when they over shot the mark my first time. I'm now on 70.

[addacademic]

I have learned that even with the right medication at the right dosage, i still need to supply the motivation. That might take time to work on. It might take some soul-searching.

Perhaps what your mind is telling you right now is "Thank you. I needed this calm for a change ". You can use this new calm to begin thinking about what motivates you - what your goals are - what you want from life.

Increasingly, this is what I'm doing on Vyvanse. It took me too long, probably, but my ADHD diagnosis didn't come until a major life crisis was underway, so I've had a long route to true healing.

You can't expect pills to teach you skills. They don't do all the work. They simply clear out all the barriers to true wellness.