If you have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, then you may be familiar with Vyvanse. It’s a stimulant medication approved by Food and Drug Administration and can also treat binge eating disorder, or BED. You can use this drug to treat ADHD if you’re older than 6 years old, but for binge eating disorder, you must be at least 18 years old. Even though some people use Vyvanse for weight loss, it is not approved for weight loss or control. Read on to learn more about how Vyvanse works, what it can be used for and how long it can stay in your system with regular use.
Uses of Vyvanse
Apart from treating ADHD and BED, Vyvanse can also help you manage other conditions. With a doctor’s prescription, you can use Vyvanse to manage lethargy, help in hypoactive delirium and boost focus if you have a neurological disorder that can cause cognitive issues.
Due to how Vyvanse metabolizes in your system, most physicians don’t like issuing it for stimulant purposes. You can also use it to treat depression or too much sleepiness during the day, but this is an off-label use.
Understanding How It Works
You can take Vyvanse as a tablet or capsule. Its dosage strengths include 20mg, 30mg, 40mg, 50mg, 60mg and 70mg. Once you swallow this drug, it gets absorbed into the blood. Over time, it will break down before it’s excreted in the urine.
After getting into your system, Vyvanse can increase your energy level, attentiveness and alertness. Vyvanse begins metabolizing almost immediately in your body; you’ll feel its effects for up to 12 hours. However, this will largely depend on the dosage you took. Given that it’s a Schedule II controlled drug in the USA with medicinal benefits, it also poses a high risk of abuse and dependence. This means it can cause both physical and psychological dependence, which is not good for your health.
What Are the Stimulant Effects of Vyvanse?
If you take a stimulant drug, it will interfere with your body and brain’s normal functions. For instance, taking Vyvanse will make you have increased heart rate and blood pressure. Some people abuse stimulants because of the drug’s ability to make them more confident and reduce appetite. A considerable percentage of people who use stimulant drugs are teens or college students who want to stay awake for more extended periods while studying.
What Happens to Your Brain or Body After Taking Vyvanse?
Vyvanse has symptoms that extend beyond its stimulant properties. It will increase the processes of your central nervous system. This is because it’s an amphetamine that changes how your brain balances some chemicals like dopamine that are responsible for your feelings of pleasure. Over time, this process becomes a routine, and you will find it hard to discontinue its use. If you use the drug for recreational purposes, expect to be anxious, irritable and sleep-deprived if you try to quit. It may also make you have hallucinations, paranoia and delusions.
What’s the Half-Life of Vyvanse?
This refers to the period in which Vyvanse takes before its concentration reduces to half. A drug is often gone from your body completely after about five half-lives. Vyvanse doesn’t have a long half-life; it can take a maximum of one hour for half of the drug to leave your system. This means it can last about 5.5 hours for the whole drug to be out of your system. However, not all the drugs will get out of your system as some metabolites remain after the process. When this happens, the metabolites will have their half-life between 9 and 11 hours. At times, though, they can stay in your body for up to two and a half days.
How Long Will It Last in Your System?
Urine sampling is the quickest way of detecting Vyvanse levels in the body. It gives more accurate results than blood tests. Smaller traces can be detected in urine, and a positive result will show up even if the patient used the drug three days prior.
Saliva tests can be carried out too. However, the positive result shows a maximum of 40 hours after use. Saliva tests still give a higher detection level than in blood.
While in your blood, Vyvanse will test positive depending on its half-life. This can take about 8 to 12 hours after use. A blood test is more difficult and expensive than doing a urine test, so prepare well if you wish to be tested.
In your hair follicles, traces can test positive 90 days after use. Hair follicles give positive results for drug use for a more extended period after use, but conducting a hair follicle test is a much more expensive affair.
Factors That Influence the Duration Vyvanse Takes in Your System
Various factors contribute to the duration in which Vyvanse stays in your body. These factors include the following:
- The amount and number of times you use it: When you take a higher dosage, the duration of Vyvanse staying in your body increases. Remember, the frequency that you use this drug will determine how long it stays in your system. For example, if you use it daily, the effects will accumulate in your body and prolong the duration it stays in your body.
- Your health and activity levels: If you’re using this drug while unhealthy and inactive, it lasts longer in your system. However, if you’re active and healthy, it will metabolize faster. Exercising affects your basal metabolic rate, which affects the time your body takes to break down various substances. Note that your health determines the duration of drug stay since Vyvanse is excreted through urine. For instance, if your kidney has problems, the time will increase, making Vyvanse stay in your body for long.
- How you administer it: You can either chew the Vyvanse tablet, swallow the pill or mix the contents from the capsules with water or yogurt. All these methods will be effective, but the drug’s duration to metabolize before excretion differs.
- The presence of alcohol or other drugs in your system: In case you are using Vyvanse alongside other medications, the time taken for the medicine to stay in your system will vary with the time taken while using Vyvanse alone. The drugs will affect the metabolic rate of Vyvanse, which can increase its bioavailability. Some of the drugs that can interfere with its metabolism include antidepressants, tricyclic and MAOI.
- Body mass index: Your body mass index can affect the duration Vyvanse is in your body. If you have a higher body mass and fat, metabolism will take place more slowly. When this happens, the detection time will increase since the drug will stay longer in your system. However, a faster metabolism will increase the rate at which the drug gets eliminated from your system.
- Your age: The more you grow old, the slower your metabolism gets. If you’re in your youth, the drug elimination process takes place faster than when you get older. Slow metabolism means the drug detection will take longer.
How to Use Vyvanse
It’s advisable to only use Vyvanse under your doctor’s prescription. It would be best to take this drug once a day in the morning since it can affect your sleep pattern. You can also take it with or without food. If you have either BED or ADHD, it’s best to start using a lower dose and increase the levels depending on your body’s response.
Since Vyvanse is a capsule or tablet, you shouldn’t have problems taking it. If you fear swallowing medication, mix the pills with juice, yogurt or water. After a period of time, your doctor might advise you to discontinue its use to check your progress and the symptoms. Some other conditions, such as kidney complications, may force your physician to cut down the dosage.
Vyvanse is a controlled drug because it may lead to abuse. For this reason, your doctor has to examine the possibilities of abuse before prescribing it. They may also check on you to ensure that you don’t become Vyvanse dependent.
If you’re using this medication, ensure that you keep it safe from people who can abuse, steal or misuse it.
Precautions When Using Vyvanse
While using this drug, avoid using it with antidepressants like monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOI. If possible, use it after 14 days from the last day of MAOI use.
If you have an allergic reaction to Vyvanse or any of its active ingredients or if you have ever reacted to any stimulant drugs, don’t use it.
How You Can Abuse Vyvanse or Become Addicted
Usually, taking this drug through following a doctor’s prescription is safe for your health. However, as a stimulant, it possesses a high risk of abuse. If you take a higher dosage than your doctor prescribed, you may experience drug tolerance. You will take more doses to feel better. With time, you could become drug-dependent or develop an addiction. If you are using this drug for weight loss or to improve your concentration, you’re more likely to meet the threshold for addiction quickly because you don’t have a doctor’s supervision.
How to Increase the Metabolism of Your System After Using Vyvanse
You can help your system to speed up the elimination of Vyvanse by doing the following. Note that these are general methods that you can use to flush out other medications, too, since there is no specific one for Vyvanse.
- You can drink a lot of water after using the drug. If you are a female, drink around 2.7 liters; a man should drink about 3.7 liters in a day.
- Stay hydrated with water and drinks rich in antioxidants like cranberry juice or tea.
- While taking Vyvanse, avoid drinking alcohol until it’s entirely out of your system. Alcohol will reduce the elimination rate of Vyvanse.
- Do aerobics to help you sweat out the drug from your system. You can also go to the sauna.
- Bathe with Epsom salts.
- Eat a balanced and healthy diet during this period to aid your body’s natural detox process.
- Increase your fiber intake to increase the chances of excreting the drug.
Signs That You Are Abusing Vyvanse
Using Vyvanse increases your risk of developing both physical and mental disorders. If you’re using it, be on the watch for addiction to avoid risking your life. Some of the signs you may notice include:
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Rapid weight loss
- Desire to snort the drug
- High levels of anger
- Difficulty sleeping
If you abuse Vyvanse for long, you may become dependent and need the assistance of a professional counselor from a drug rehab program to see you through.
Getting Assistance for Vyvanse Addiction
If you are addicted to Vyvanse, the chances of experiencing various side effects in your body are high. In order to prevent these harmful effects, it’s best to ask for assistance from a residential treatment program. You can also opt for an outpatient treatment program and get help from professional team members who will guide you through therapy.
If you need help dealing with your Vyvanse addiction, we can help you on your path to drug addiction recovery. Call us today at Granite Recovery Centers and take the first steps toward the path to wellness. Granite Recovery Centers provides medical detoxification for people who do not need immediate medical intervention, are not a danger to themselves, and are capable of self-evacuation in the event of an emergency.
