Vyvanse and sleep issues

[Anonymous]

My kid has always had a hard time falling and staying asleep, but her wake ups used to be short—back asleep within 15 minutes.

We started vyvanse a week ago and two out of 6 nights, she’s woken up and been up for HOURS in the middle of the night, completely awake and unable to fall back asleep. Since it’s only happened twice, I can’t tell if it’s the meds or just random.

Also, how do you know if other side effects are from the meds? She’s been more cranky than usual when I get her from camp in the afternoons, but is that the meds or the lack of sleep? I can’t untangle this. She’s 6.5 so she doesn’t have too much insight into the impact of the meds either. We are trying to sort out dosage and the best med before school starts. Help!

Are middle of the night wakings common with vyvanse? Is grumpiness a common side effect as the meds wear off? What helped or did you change meds?

Her doc hasn’t been super helpful. She said that the meds should be out of her system overnight, but that sleep issues can occur and she just asks us whether we want to try something different.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

[Anonymous]

I am adult taking Vyvanse. It definitely lasts longer than most other meds.

I MUST take it pretty soon after I get up or it lasts too long into the evening. Vyvanse XR still shows a high level of effectiveness at 14 hours post dose (check the studies), so this is definitely a first thing in the morning drug!

When I first started taking it, or after breaks, I do have a bit of trouble falling and staying asleep. This effect seems to stop often a week.

Please let your doctor know. Your child may need a lower dose or different med.

[Anonymous]

Pp here.

What time is she taking it?
What dose?
How much does she weigh?

I am a petite adult and I take a very small dose. I actually asked the doc to lower my dose at one point. Vyvanse works well for me due to how long it is effective.

The afternoon crabbiness is pretty typical in that age. Not getting enough sleep may make it worse!

Sorry your doctor isn’t more helpful. That must be frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Op here. She’s on 20 mg. We started at 10 but we didn’t see any impact on attentiveness. I think we see an impact now, but it’s hard to tell since she’s in camp. She’s almost 7 and about 50 lbs. She takes the pills at around 7:30am, shortly after getting up.

Anyone try something else that had less of an impact on sleep?

[Anonymous]

Vyvanse was a nightmare for us. Caused massive anger outbursts.
we've had insomnia from various stimulants, and have tried many. I would switch if I were you.

After much trial and error my child is on the generic version of Conterta. It causes a little bit of insomnia (hard time falling asleep) so we added 1mg of melatonin at night and that did the trick.

[Anonymous]

My older teens take Vyvanse because it’s so long acting and they need it through later homework time. They don’t have sleep issues unless they take it late, like on the weekend. But when they were younger, they took Concerta which is still XR but not as long acting. Is this the first med she’s tried? I’m kind of surprised such a young DC is on it - at least based on our experience.