Is it harmful to recovery from COVID to take Vyvanse?

July 22, 2022 9:27 AM

I came down with symptoms yesterday. When recently sick with pneumonia, I went off Vyvanse on the theory that stimulants would be harder on the body and counterproductive as far as resting - for example raising heart rate. However, my brain sucked and mental health suffered significantly. Do you know of any information about this and whether and how ADHD meds affect recovering from illness? YANMD, I can talk to my doctor but that takes time and I'm trying to decide for today based on whatever reliable information is available.
posted by lookoutbelow to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Best answer: I think going on and off a med like Vyvanse would be more challenging for the body than staying on.
posted by wellifyouinsist at 9:40 AM on July 22, 2022 [5 favorites]

Call the pharmacy where you filled the prescription and ask the pharmacist what they recommend. You’ll probably get an answer faster than you would from your doctor.
posted by corey flood at 9:48 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have had a lot of brain fog since having Covid in April, and recently I was forced to be off of my Vyvanse when I lost my insurance when I was laid off. The combination of brain fog and un-medicated ADHD was so bad I paid the $10 per pill price in order to be able to take it again. So I would say that you need to weigh the risk of other health issues with the cognitive issues you might face. Obviously not a doctor, and this is one person's personal experience. However, I would also say that I had a terrible gallbladder attack, and spent a week in the hospital and a week recovering from surgery, and didn't take my Vyvanse then because I didn't leave my bed and didn't have any activities that needed my focus. When I started taking them again, it was like a reset and I appreciated having that when I went back to work. So, depending on how bad your symptoms are and how much work you are expected to do, you might decide to take a break.
posted by momochan at 10:36 AM on July 22, 2022

Not directly related to recovery, but relevant for respiratory issues like the pneumonia you mentioned and now Covid: consult with a doctor or pharmacist before taking any serious cough medicine while on vyvanse.
posted by meijusa at 11:19 AM on July 22, 2022

Best answer: I definitely stop taking my stimulant medication when I’m sick. I find it’s an extra and unhelpful stress on my body.
posted by sixswitch at 12:54 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Longtime Vyvanse user here. I'm going to be extremely general for the sake of simplicity. When you are accustomed to being on a medication, it becomes part of your body's "baseline" so to speak. Because Vyvanse is typically prescribed for ADHD, it's also a medication that has a more discernible impact on one's mind-body connection. If you quit taking Vyvanse your body goes into withdrawals. Then, if you couple that with a concurrent but unrelated illness, you have to consider how well your body-going-through-withdrawals is equipped to handle that other illness. How that plays out comes down to so many individual medical factors that there may not be a one-size-almost-fits-all answer (I have no idea and welcome the doctors here to correct me!). But in general, yeah, I usually continue taking my meds when I am ill because I do better when my mind-body connection is in tact.
posted by nightrecordings at 4:39 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: These are all very helpful considerations, thanks everyone.
posted by lookoutbelow at 11:36 PM on July 22, 2022

Response by poster: That being said, given that coping with unmedicated ADHD is even more exhausting - are you sure that won't be a strain on your body itself?

I have decided to keep taking it for essentially this reason. Unmedicated, my brain tends to go with the fun back-up stimulant of anxiety which is also hard on the mind and body.
posted by lookoutbelow at 10:00 AM on July 23, 2022 [2 favorites]