Vyvanse & Executive Functioning
I have an ADD diagnosis and have been taking 70mg of Vyvanse for roughly 3 years now. Since the middle of last year, I have noticed that it feels like every day is just a total dice roll in terms of whether or not it’s going to feel particularly effective that day.
I’ve been finding that, in particular, I just struggle to generate any original ideas - even about fairly simple stuff, and I can find it hard to figure out a plan for a piece of writing and get out of the details to see the bigger overall picture. I’m also extremely irritable. Loud voices, people playing videos from their phones, repetitive movements - all just seem to drive me up a wall now.
I’m a late stage PhD student and so the fact that it seems to be stifling my capacities to focus, think, etc. is really getting to me because this is exactly what I need to be able to do to get through my program.
I have considered going to my psychiatrist to change to something else like Concerta, but I’m worried that this would be a gamble. I’m supposed to start data collection for my thesis in a couple of months, after which everything is going to run continuously at full speed for several months until I defend. So, it just seems like a big risk one way or the other.
What can I do? I feel like I’m in such a state of anxiety about it all that I can’t strategically plan my next steps with clarity. Any insights would be awesome.
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*Note:* just to be clear, I know I can’t say that this is happening BECAUSE of Vyvanse - but it’s the only logical explanation that I can see for where this is coming from.