Question for Gwen

I'm going to start on Vyvanse soon and I wanted to pick your brain a bit.

Are you still taking it?
Did you have any side effects? If so, did they eventually go away?
Did you become "resistent" to it?

Any info you're willing to share would be much appreciated!

Hiya.

I am still taking Vyvanse. I don't remember the dosage I started with, whatever the lowest is. I think it was 30mg/day? I've increased over time to 50mg/day. I think the max is 70mg/day and most people end up in the 50mg/day range.

I have to take it at least 12 hours before I want to go to sleep and I've had some dry mouth, but those are the only side effects I've experienced and both are fairly easy to deal with. I set an alarm to ensure I take it by 8am.

Overall, I'm very happy with it and I can 100% tell a pretty instantaneous difference on the days I forget to take it compared to the days I do take it. When I take it, I don't spend every moment of my day thinking about food.

Thank you so much, Gwen!

I am going to try it...my Binge Eating Disorder is alive and well, even 7 months (!) post-surgery.

I'm one of those "lucky" ones that can eat pretty much anything with no problems at all. I've just maintained for the past 2.5 months. I'm not calling it a plateau because it's not...I've been eating too much to lose weight, period. Plus with my knee issues (I had arthroscopic surgery in November and am still struggling with the rehabilitation) I've been very sedentary. Starting with a new Physical Therapist in a couple weeks who works out of my gym. We'll be doing aqua therapy, so I'm really pumped about that.

I just started with a new head therapist too. I really liked my old one, but her type of therapy is to go back to the childhood and re-hash all the dysfunction and abuse crap that has so much to do with how I am today; she was seemingly disappointed that I didn't want to weep and wail and and beat my breast every time we had a session. I'm not into that. I'm more about the past is the past, it happened, I can't change it, so let's figure out how I can thrive in spite of it. So we agreed that I needed something different.

My new therapist is more about the how, rather than the why, and I'm really hoping that she can help me create new thought patterns and habits to help me manage the BED.

Anyway, thanks again for responding. I really do appreciate it.

Sadly WLS doesn't do anything to resolve BED, so that's not surprising that you're still coping with it post-op.

I hope that your new therapist is more beneficial for you!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new therapist. I'm feeling hopeful again!

I've just started 30 mg Vyvanse. How long have you been on it? My therapist doesn't want me on it long-term as she says it's addictive.

Yeah...so is food. I'd rather pick the addiction that won't make me fat(ter)

Today is only the second day...I slept decent last night and was at the gym in the pool by 7:00. Didn't take it til I got home. And have had a very productive day so far.

On another note...I murdered my Instant Pot a couple nights ago.

I've been taking Vyvanse since mid-2016. I'm definitely addicted to it - I'm addicted to having a healthy relationship with food. I've stopped taking it a few times in the last 2.5 years and the only thing doing so tells me is that, yes, I still have Binge Eating Disorder.

Risk of addiction and abuse with long-term medical amphetamine usage is very, very low. Your therapist should educate themselves on this.

Sorry about your Instant Pot!

Any decent therapist will be able to handle a "hey, I don't think this is working for me" conversation with a patient. It'll help if you go into the conversation with an idea of what you are looking for.