Vyvanse can be incredibly enjoyable to get high on, as well as an awesome ADHD/narcolepsy/BED treatment.That being said, there are some serious recommendations I would give to anyone planning recreational use of it with a couple tidbits for therapeutic users. I feel very compelled to share as I see more people trying it recreationally, while there is still quite a big misconception going around that it is completely free of danger or overdose risk. Here is what I can share from my personal experience with the drug. I hope sharing these experiences proves useful to others.

1. Plan your dosing/redosing. The least amount of the drug, at which you can get high is best option always. Wait a long time between redosing or you will only be wasting expensive medication and there will be no euphoria to speak of, just wakefulness and compulsion. I typically take 90mg for recreational use (my tolerance for stims is fairly decent and I also take 60mg daily for ADHD, excessive daytime sleepiness and BED.) I wait, at the very least, 5 hrs (ideally much more) before redosing with 120mg.

On the flip side of things,I personally find my therapeutic dosage doesn't last me nearly as long as it should no matter how large. To solve that, my doctor lets me take 30mg in the morning and 30mg afternoon/early evening depending on what I want to do that day. The cool thing about this is, once I got adjusted to my ideal dosage, I knew I could sleep quite soundly on it and ended up with the added bonus of being able to wake up the next day actually feeling rested. Without that second dose, waking up at a specific time on purpose is pretty much impossible for me. So if you have that same problem and could tolerate the second dose without insomnia, I highly recommend asking your doctor if they are comfortable trying that as an option.

Coming back to recreation, in order avoid compulsively redosing due to not being able to sleep and needing to be awake the next day, plan for your last dose to have enough time to fizzle out before the time you want to go to sleep. Please trust me on this one, I have taken absolutely stupid amounts of Vyvanse and overdosed a couple times (which according to many users on this sub, is not super easy to do) and had some pretty serious effects on my heart and blood pressure. As a result, I now have an appointment with a cardiologist to see if they are chronic problems. I promise you, continuing to redose over and over does not get more enjoyable. I have gone on a couple 3 night, 4 day benders and a 4 night, 5 day bender that left me feeling disgusting and raw as fuck. There were hallucinaions, chest pains, lots of body pain from tweaking body rigidity, and being in one position for hours on end. On top of that, there I had a sore tongue and mouth from oral tics, felt like I was going to faint, even when sitting or lying down, had difficulty breathing, arythmia, fever and compulsive skin picking for hours with temporary numbness in my body. I ended up with the worst skin infection of my life and couldn't use my hands once I came down because I picked the cuticles on all 10 fingers completely raw . It was honestly so fucking scary. Never. Ever. Again.

Vyvanse can be the funnest, most useful stimulant to take, but not if you compulsively redose for days. So if you take nothing else from this guide, make fucking sure you plan your doses so you get sleep at night or after no more than **** 1 **** all nighter. You will likely want a sleep aid if you are like most and can't sleep on recreational doses. Do research and be careful what you choose as an aid. There are plenty of posts on this sub discussing come down aids. Personally, I use baclofen because it is what I have available and was easily able to check with my pharmacist about the safety. Many people use benzos or melatonin. The medications/supplements I mentioned here are ones I know for sure are safe to take with Vyvanse as I double check with my pharmacy for interactions before taking any new medications I'm prescribed together. Also, because benzodiazapines are frequently used in hospital to treat seizures and anxiety resulting from stimulant overdose. Antipsychotics also cancel out the effects of stimulants but please do thorough research on which ones are safe before choosing to use one.

Additionally, if think you have taken too much of a stimulant, don't hesitate to seek medical attention if you truly think you need it. I've received alot of well meaning, but ill informed advice saying I just needed to calm down and sleep while I was having medical problems. While I definitely did need sleep and time for my body and brain to relax, I was having serious symptoms that needed medical attention. Meanwhile, there was no one around me informed of my state of intoxication that could support me in a sober assessment of the seriousness of them. I was irrational, and was too worried about losing my script if I was fine, to practice good harm reduction and faced the possibility of death from overdose alone. That has to be one of the most terrifying feelings I have ever experienced. Trust your gut. If you do not feel that simply being too high or anxiety are the cause of concerning symptoms, tell someone who can help you or seek medical attention.

I refer to this link for my information on vyvanse overdose. If the resource doesn't seem legit enough, please feel free to share others you think may have more accurate information.

https://americanaddictioncenters.org/vyvanse-abuse/overdose

1. Take it with magnesium. There are posts on this sub that are much more informed about the specifics of this than I am, but taking magnesium definitely makes mine work better and longer. Alot of posts I've seen say taking it an hour before your meds is best, but strangely enough I've found it most effective taking it an hour after I take my Vyvanse , so experiment with what works for your body. As well, taking good care of your health in general makes both the therapeutic and recreational doses much more effective and reduces the chance of quickly developing a tolerance. I personally like to take L-tyrosine and L-Theanine during tolerance breaks along with my regular multivitamin, omegas and cal-mag-vitamin d supplements. They reduce my withdrawal symptoms and help me stay functional. I am working hard on a more balanced diet, staying hydrated, using mindfulness to recognize my emotional and physical needs consistently, moving my body regularly, taking more time for personal hygiene, managing my pain, taking care of my medical needs promptly, making time for fun, trying to reduce stress and anything else I can do to feel my best. Which leads me to my next tip.

2. Eat, hydrate shower and sleep. It's easy to neglect these things when you're geeked and hyperfocused/on a roll getting shit done, but forcing yourself to do them makes the comedown suck way less and keeps the anxiety, withdrawal symptoms,and long term health consequences to a minimum. Meals containing fat also help maintain blood concentration levels of the drug which I'm sure is something all of us taking Vyvanse would appreciate the benefit of. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say the come down makes me sweat like a mofo lol. Showers are extra essential to not appear to the people around me like I am self destructing on drugs or just generally helping me not feel like a disgusting sack of poo.

Pro tip: just 30-90 seconds in a cold shower increases blood dopamine levels by insane amounts. You can look back in my posts for one with a link to a podcast by Dr. Andrew Huberman that goes in depth on how to optimize and control dopamine for all your motivational needs. Speaking of motivation....

1. If you want to actually be productive on recreational doses of Vyvanse, whatever you do, start the thing you want to accomplish as soon as, or before the shit kicks in. The overfocus is real on this biatch and the hours magically disappear once you find something interesting to do so be prepared.This effect can be both a blessing and a curse , you get to choose which lol.

2. If you have a body focused compulsive habit such as skin picking, nail biting or hair pulling, keep your hands and brain busy asap. Whatever you do, do not let yourself start the habit, not even one little zit pop or bite of the nails. You will end up in a loop from hell and mutilate your body. Another unexpected yet, super appreciated side effect I found on this drug is pain reduction, which is especially compounded by my other meds. Remember my infection story from tip #1? Yeah . That's where that loop from hell leads, and it's fucking awful once your ability to feel pain comes back. I still have sores healing from months ago, the scars will last so much longer, and it makes people ask questions because you look like a meth fiend with how stuck you get dissecting your body. Just don't start.

3. Have a bathroom close by. For some reason this stuff makes many people need to pee more often, especially at night, right when you get comfy lying down to get lost in an activity. Idk why, but it does, especially if you drink lots which is a highly likely scenario because....

4. The dry mouth is sooo fucking real. Especially if you take other meds that have this side effect, smoke or are particularly active. I take sertraline and baclofen daily as well as my Vyvanse. Never in my life have I: a) drank more water in a day than I do on this med, which is great because I used to dehydrate myself thanks to sensory issues causing me to barely drink any liquids. And b) had the insane amount of water I drank do absolutely nothing for my dry mouth. Not even for like 30 seconds. Do yourself a favour and keep gum or mints/candies on hand at all times . Dry mouth that bad will destroy your teeth especially if you tend to grind them... and man oh man does the pain suck after if you don't protect against these effects.

5. Have Fun! I know this long winded post made it sound like using your Vyvanse recreationally is a horror story waiting to happen, and it can be, but I'm guessing most people don't use it in the extreme and stupid way I did. I just like to share the info for harm reduction purposes because I think Vyvanse is a fucking miracle drug when used responsibly. I have already lost 20 lbs from the control it gives me over bingeing, the energy and motivation it afforded me have made it so I can actually take care of myself and my family the way I want to, my mood regulation is way better than it has ever been, I am no longer constantly depressed with no interest in anything and in general, I have an optimal quality of fucking life back. Quite honestly it saved me from the depths of hopelessness.

However, going from feeling so low, exhausted and defeated to my biggest life problems being solved with the simple swallowing of a pill, came with somewhat of an irresistible urge to want things to be that way all day every day and make up for lost time. I wanted to prove myself to other people, be super woman, and never need rest while still "doing it all" in order to live up to their expectations and those of our society, where your ability to work yourself into the ground, determines your worth. That unealthy thinking and need for external validation caused me to jeopardize the tool that makes my functioning possible and, more importantly, put my health and ultimately my life at serious risk. Once I learned to set boundaries with myself and others while using my meds responsibly, whether therapeutically or recreationally, life got so much more balanced and I feel infinitely more content. I was able to control myself with my stimulants instead of losing the battle to addiction and making things worse. I know not everyone is so lucky and I want to be part of the solution.

I hope this little guide I have come up with out of my experiences can help other stimulant fans to have a safer experience with recreational doses of Vyvanse and maintain balance. If balance isn't really realistic for you when it comes to drug use and you are struggling with addiction, I hope this guide can help you with harm reduction because your life is so valuable and I want you to stick around and get to enjoy life. This community has helped me feel supported when I was in a very dark and scary place and if I can give a little bit of that support back to others, the frightening experiences were worth it.

Happy geeking friends! 😊