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Comment by whamlastxmas | Hacker News Reader

I currently have to drive 45-60 minutes one way to get to a pharmacy in a small town to get my adderall filled. I’m in downtown Seattle and it’s the closest option. I assume my pharmacy only has it because it’s mostly an older retirement community and they likely don’t have many adderall users.

It’s massively fucking annoying to take nearly three hours out of my day to pick up my meds. And it’s massively fucking annoying to have to worry about losing a critical medication every month and sometimes also having to spend literally half a day calling around to find a place that has it in stock.

Fuck the DEA

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If it helps, and if you/your doctor are willing to make a temporary switch, I haven’t had trouble getting Vyvanse filled in Seattle. It’s not exactly the same but may be a close enough substitution. It is more expensive but if you can afford that, it might be worth the peace of mind.

IMO Vyvanse is better than Adderall except for being more expensive.

I was on Adderall XR 20mg for 10 years and then switched to Vyvanse 50mg. For me, Vyvanse lasts longer, doesn't have as much of a narcotic peak, and feels like it's more consistently strong for the whole curve.

Just putting it out there because some people have suggested that it was an inferior alternative (and it may be for some people). Some people definitely prefer Vyvanse.

As usual, start with half a pill on these kinds of drugs. Mix it into water so you can easily drink 50% of it one day, 75% of it another day depending on how you feel.

Just some things to be aware of:

- Vyvanse 50 is roughly twice the dosage of Adderall 20

- It’s generally not a good idea to split the XR pills, but they won’t split the same way. As I understand it: Adderall XR and its generics are typically designed as a dual release (either two immediate doses, one delayed; or one immediate and one gradual; both can have the peak/drop off effect). Vyvanse has a more continuous release because its release mechanism depends on digestive enzymes to convert the chemical itself. (If I’ve got any of this wrong, my apologies, but I do think it’s appropriate to caution about splitting the XR pills unless you understand what that entails. Ideally this is a conversation with your doctor, not randos on the internet)

I’m on mobile so I can’t easily skim websites for more official sources, but you can definitely find my conversion in the wild, like on http://www.adhdmedcalc.com/ — I didn’t make it up.

One annoying thing about stimulants is that your first day taking it is a lot different than your 15th day in a row. I always end up ramping up until there’s some equilibrium with tolerance, else day 1 is way too strong, or day 15 is too weak.

I definitely didn’t think you made it up. And yeah that site does match 20 Adderall XR to 50, which is very odd because it also says 20 of the other Adderall is too high for a Vyvanse equivalent. For Adderall XR it also lists a maximum dosage of 30, which is not true. I think they’re treating the XR as two doses, and halving to accommodate that? That is definitely not how I’ve ever had it discussed or prescribed by my doctor, or fulled by a pharmacy. And it’s inconsistent with Vyvanse which is also XR and always treated as a single dose.

In any case if you were taking Adderall XR “20” and it was actually two doses (40) that would be equivalent to the Vyvanse.

I very much don’t find the equivalent doses of Vyvanse and Adderall…uh, equivalent. I don’t know if it has to do with the delivery mechanism or the norepinephrine component but personally I feel like ~35mg of Adderall is closer to Vyvanse’s 50mg.

I have idiopathic hypersomnia and not ADHD, though.

I have a friend in the Seattle area who has been trying to find it even within an hours drive. Do you mind sharing where you found inventory?

You can get more exotic prescription stims still from most places. E.g. Mydayis (adderall xr with three instead of two sets of granules), Azstarys (methylphenidate and a prodrug methylphenidate), and Adzenys (different type of slow release adderall). If they call any Bartells they will tell them what they have in stock. Have them do that before contacting the doc, then have them tell the doc what is available.

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