Hello, My 13 yr old son was on this med for two years. We also had hoped for the promise it made of allowing him to settle and make friends, fit within the "normal" realm. It in fact made him much worse, he acted out stole things, it actually induced a "mania" sort of state. We could not leave him alone at all. We have him off of it now, but it has been horrible for him. The slight improvement in schoolwork was NOT worth the torture it put him and us through. We are now only on Strattera-and working with counseling/coaching for the behavior and friendship issues. it is a long road. We just take it day by day. Good luck, K

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In the past year my son has changed from a boy to a man.grown 6+ inches, put on a significant amount of weight, voice changed..felt meds were not working and cost was going up in leaps! Changed to vyvanse in the fall (used metadate cd prior). Don't know if it's the age, the meds or just my son...he seems to be his own worst enemy. His organizational skills are awful, he doesn't want to do anything to make it better. He turns us off when we try and talk to him. He uses add as a scapegoat. He's a bright kid, he was blessed with a beautiful voice, a great sense of humor and many other attributes, he just chooses not to share them!! It's so sad. Don't know what to do. I completely understand what you are saying.

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Be careful of the Vyvance, we put my 12 year old son on this and it made everything worse. He has taken medication for years and we always switch periodically when the effectiveness wears off. We had been taking Focalin for 2 years and decided to try Vyvance, at first it seemed to work and then his grades dropped, he became more aggressive and was suspended at school for the first time ever. We have gone back to the focalin and are slowly getting back to normal, but he is having a hard time moving past the bad behaviors and barley dug himself out of the hole he created with his grades. It was not worth it.

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Our 10 year old granddaughter is on Vyvanse 70mg also. It has worked well for her but wears off by 3 in the afternoon. I try to get her up about an hour before she normally gets up to take her pills. That way they are starting to kick in when she gets up.

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I know it's discouraging, but everyone metabolizes meds differently, so sometimes it takes several tries to find the one that works for your child. As they grow, what used to work may not work anymore and the meds have to be changed or the dose adjusted. My 13 yr old son and I have taken vyvanse 70 mg since it came out and it has made a big difference in our lives. Previously, my son was taking focalin XR 20. He metabolizes medication so fast, one did not last the entire school day. We gave him one at 6 am and another at lunchtime. His grades were mainly C's with a couple of B's and an A here and there. When we made the change to vyvanse, his grades changed to mainly A's, and it lasts most of the school day. For myself, I take wellbutrin XL and vyvanse 70. The combination of the 2 meds has helped me focus and I can now organize and finish tasks! The medication delivery is smooth and the same throughout the day. I had been on adderall XR previously and it was more like a rollercoaster. The only negatives we have experienced with vyvanse is that it takes over an hour to work, and it seems to work about 7 hours for us.

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I was just stumbled upon an article the other day about ADHD and the role hormones play (and why it's particularly difficult for adolescent girls). It's related to the amount of estrogen in the body and how it effects dopamine & seratonin levels (both of which are low in ADHD kids to begin with). Maybe hormones are the root of the problem? Google it and see if you can find something that might help. Good Luck!

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My 7th-grade son had been on Adderall XR since 3rd grade, but it just stopped working about the same time as the new school year. We switched him to Vynanse and his grades went way way down for the 2nd quarter, he got into fights at school (several physical!), he seemed more paranoid, and it just didn't seem to work. We've since switched him to Metadate XR capsules 20mg/day (w/some non-XR pills when he has after-school activities), and so far so good. He's been on Metadate about a week and I'm crossing my fingers.

I think the reason Adderall stopped working was because of a change in hormones. He's very much in the midst of puberty at 12 years old. Any idea why this happens in boys? Does testosterone—or the surge of it—affect meds? Thanks!!

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I have heard a lot of bad reports from parents about Vyvanse. You may want to ask your Dr. about Intuniv. I've read amazing things from moms about it and my 6 yr old just started on it 8 days ago. The package says it takes 2 weeks to kick in but most parents I've read about including myself have seen a gret difference in the 1st week. My son is on Metydate 10 mg plus 1mg (the 1st week) of Intuniv (it's not a stimulant) and the 2nd week that we started today goes up to 2 mg. I think my son's dr. is thinking about taking him off the metydate completely and just giving him Intuniv but we'll see when we go back for his 2 wk follow-up on Monday. So far it's really been quite amazing. He has gotten green cards every single day since he's been on it and has been much better with his little brother. His mornings have been 100% better. Before when we'd wait til about 8am to give him his metydate the mornings were a complete nightmare...just waiting to give him the meds (didn't want them to ware off too soon in the evening for homework purposes). He is also on a low sugar, gluten free, preservative/dye free diet which helps GREATLY! I would recommend the diet change to every single add or adhd person out there, makes a remarkable difference. Just a thought to try Intuniv if you haven't heard about it.

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I have heard a lot of bad reports from parents about Vyvanse. You may want to ask your Dr. about Intuniv. I've read amazing things from moms about it and my 6 yr old just started on it 8 days ago. The package says it takes 2 weeks to kick in but most parents I've read about including myself have seen a gret difference in the 1st week. My son is on Metydate 10 mg plus 1mg (the 1st week) of Intuniv (it's not a stimulant) and the 2nd week that we started today goes up to 2 mg. I think my son's dr. is thinking about taking him off the metydate completely and just giving him Intuniv but we'll see when we go back for his 2 wk follow-up on Monday. So far it's really been quite amazing. He has gotten green cards every single day since he's been on it and has been much better with his little brother. His mornings have been 100% better. Before when we'd wait til about 8am to give him his metydate the mornings were a complete nightmare...just waiting to give him the meds (didn't want them to ware off too soon in the evening for homework purposes). He is also on a low sugar, gluten free, preservative/dye free diet which helps GREATLY! I would recommend the diet change to every single add or adhd person out there, makes a remarkable difference. Just a thought to try Intuniv if you haven't heard about it.

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