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Hello, fellow lawyer with ADHD! I manage my own symptoms somewhat poorly, so this is a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do list, but a few considerations for you:
1. Your dose may be too high. I take around 20mg of Adderall per day. On occasion, I take more than my usual dose (either by accident or because I’m working long hours and need to stay focused). It makes me feel like the medication is driving me rather than helping manage my symptoms. And the crash is always worse.
2. Vyvanse may be the wrong medication for you. It exacerbated my anxiety, which is why I’m on Adderall instead. Have you explored other options?
3. I assume you’re on an XR, since you take your dose in the morning. XR doesn’t work for everyone. I take two IR doses, one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon, which helps me control when my come down happens. This is something I discussed with my doctor when I was struggling with the post-med crash.
4. Are you taking care of your body’s needs? The side effects of ADHD meds can lead you to neglect basic maintenance like eating and hydration. My meds kill my appetite. But if I don’t eat, I’m more drained when the meds wear off than I otherwise would be. Eat, drink, stretch, move around, and take breaks.
5. Are you using your non-medication coping strategies? Vyvanse will help you stay focused, but it doesn’t take away the mental strain of managing a heavy case load with a distractible brain. You still need to find other ways to work with your ADHD rather than fight it.
6. Get yourself a wind-down routine for your evenings. Something to help your brain delineate between “work” time and “rest” time. Ideally, this would be something low key like yoga or meditating, but that depends on who you are as a person. (I hate sitting still, but I’ll admit that 10 minutes of meditation makes me feel calmer and more alert.)
7. Some of it is just the side effects of ADHD meds, unfortunately. The daily crash is inevitable; your goal should be to make it less severe.
(Also, there’s a bowl for ADHD lawyers! You should join us if you haven’t already.)
#4 on this list is crucial. I found that sleeping more and making sure I’m well hydrated (baseline health stuff) helped me scale back my Vyvanse dosage. Also #5, do CBT and meditation. It’s hard, but a good 15-min guided meditations can work wonders on getting your brain to slow down.
Same issue with adderall. I vape weed every night to curb the comedown symptoms. Not ideal but I’m not sure there’s a good solution except to just accept it or not to schedule fun things on weekdays and take a lower dose on weekends. I’m also looking into an adhd coach/cognitive therapy to hopefully rely less on meds.
People say Wellbutrin works for add, but for me, the effect was minimal if any.
Thanks for posting. Have you tried short-acting (ie not slow-release) Adderall? I find that it gives me more flexibility to tailor the strength and length of my dose, and the come-down is less drawn out. I only wish I could have prescriptions for both drugs since Vyvanse has its place.
The other thing I use is Strattera, which is a non-stimulant that you take every day and have to build up in your system over 6 weeks. It really helps with my day-to-day ADD symptoms (as I learned when I went off it for a few months and became way more clumsy and spacey before realizing it was the Strattera). It’s not for everyone, but for me it helps and doesn’t have side effects.
Working out in the evening (I opt for reformer Pilates, but go with whatever you like) and a light dose of melatonin are the only things that help me unwind at the end of the day. I take half the recommended dose of melatonin (I use one Olly gummy rather than two) because it’s enough to make me relax and get sleepy, but doesn’t knock me out so hard to where I still feel punch drunk the next morning.
I smoke weed. It helps. A lot. Allows my brain to just float off and be creative and unstructured after forcing it to think linearly at work all day.
Trying switching to Mydayis, which is similar and just as effective. I found the side effects much less pronounced than Vyvance. I was also more moody in the evenings when I took Vyvance. Mydayis is a brand name and it’s pretty expensive, so best to switch if you have good health insurance.
I take 40mg Vyvanse in the morning + 5mg Adderall XR as needed in the early afternoon. I don't take the Vyvanse on the weekend and don't take the Adderall unless I'm working on something. Also I don't take anything after 2-3pm to avoid messing with my sleep.
I would recommend taking weekend breaks from the meds and maybe lowering your dosage. That's easier to do if you take a week or so break from it (say, during a vacation) and then start back up with a lower dosage when you come back. I also find that post-work exercise is a great way to burn off any lingering drug effects and relax.
Otherwise, I would def look into counselling/cognitive therapy to develop better symptom management skills for yourself without using meds. It's not a quick fix like meds, but it's probably better for your body in the long run.
Exercise is really helpful for me too, helps burn off all the excess energy.
There’s a fishbowl group for lawyers with ADHD! I’ll try to link it
https://joinfishbowl.com/bowl_ycwio
I take 50 mg of Vyvanse and have the same issue. I have found that getting enough sleep at night helps me not crash so hard at the end of the following day - not always an option, though. I have tried taking the meds a little later in the day (right when I start working, as opposed to when I get up), but that causes me to stay up too late sometimes. So, no real solutions for you, since I am working through these issues, too. But maybe play around with the time you take the meds, and also try to get more sleep.
Some doctors will give a 10mg of adderall for the end of the day. I have the same problem.
I have this issue. Thanks for the post
My daughter takes concerta (methylphenidate) and guafacine in the morning and then towards the evening she takes a very low dose of methylphenidate to get through the rest of the evening. She hasn’t experienced a terrible drop off. She did not do well on vyvance and it made her depressed.
I hated Vyvanse—it turned my migraines into cluster headaches right around 2L finals. Nightmare. Now I take a low dose of Metadate CD, which gets me to the point where I *can* focus, but I still have to use my ADHD coping strategies to actually get work done. That wears off after about 8 hours, so my doc also prescribes me 10mg of Ritalin for the days I need to work late (everyday). I find with this system I can avoid the end of day crash. Hopefully you find a system that works better for you!