If you’re considering Vyvanse as an option, or have been discussing Vyvanse with your doctor, then “does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight” might be a question you need answering.
As providers of affordable medications, of which Vyvanse is one, we’re diving in to answer this for you.
Let’s start with a quick answer, then we’ll get into the topic further.
The starting dose for adults and children, regardless of weight, is 30 mg once daily. Your doctor will check the progress weekly and adjust (titrate) till you reach an ideal dose. The recommended dosage (approved only for adults) for binge eating disorder is 50 mg to 70 mg per day.
Let’s get into more detail on the question – does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight? And first, we need to look at how the Vyvanse dose is decided.
Does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight – How Vyvanse dose is decided
Regardless of your weight, your doctor will begin prescribing the lowest recommended dose of Vyvanse to get you started on this medication.
This applies to children as well. Normally the starting dose for both adults and children is 30mg.
The dose is then adjusted over time to reach a target until which your body can respond effectively with minimum side effects.
So if you’re Vyvanse dose is too low there may be reasons for this.
If your dose seems too low, you should check out our article signs your Vyvanse dose is too low.
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Factors that influence your initial dosage?
Your doctor typically uses a combination of prescribing guidelines and personal experiences to decide on any initial dosage.
At the same time, factors such as age, medical history, the severity of your symptoms, and comorbidities are likely to be considered.
Although weight and height will have certain considerations in rare cases, they are not a predominant factor in deciding your Vyvanse dose.
How do doctors decide the ideal Vyvanse dosage?
As previously mentioned, your doctor will go through a titration process to find out the ideal dosage.
This is where they will slowly change the dose over time, weekly or bi-weekly, to see how your body reacts and responds.
The doctor will consider a given dose ideal only when it provides the most therapeutic effects with few side effects.
In other words, your doctor will determine a dose that is the best for you if it helps to control your symptoms – with minimum side effects.
And, at the same time, do not over-control it …so that you no longer feel like yourself.
ADHD medication such as Vyvanse can also be titrated down as well as up. Neither increasing nor decreasing any dosage is influenced by your weight.
What is monitored during the titration process?
During titration, your doctor will keep track of any effects and use that information to guide the next dosing decision.
Normally your doctor will discuss the following:
- Whether the dose is not giving enough therapeutic benefits
- If your symptoms don’t feel properly reduce
- Where there could be too many side effects that outweigh the benefits
- If you feel over-responding, where the symptoms are controlled too much, and you feel different or unusual.
If the dose does not provide the expected results after two to six weeks of adjusting doses, then they may switch to other alternative ADHD medications and go through the same process again.
It is also important to remember that sometimes Vyvanse and similar ADHD medications may not work for you, no matter how many times the doses are adjusted or titrated.
Even in such cases, to help answer the question does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight … it has nothing to do with your weight.
It is simply that the medication formula doesn’t bond well with your system.
If you’re using any other medications for other health conditions, there are possibilities that Vyvanse can interact with them and reduce the strength and effectiveness of the dose.
However, even in these instances, it can be challenging to arrive at an ideal dose – yet again, this has no connection with your weight.
This includes taking medications that change your urine pH levels, such as acetazolamide and sodium bicarbonate.
Exception on dose
There are exceptions where your health conditions may require your doctor to adjust the dose (increase or decrease) outside the general standard during the titration period.
For example, those having severe kidney diseases will be prescribed a lower dose during titration than people without these issues. Again this has no link to your BMI.
You might also like to understand more about other ADHD topics:
Adderall vs Vyvanse
Concerta vs Vyvanse
Vyvanse and Coffee
Does ADHD get worse with age
Can the Vyvanse dosage be increased based on weight?
The short answer is no. Even if your doctor decides to increase the dosage depending on how your symptoms are controlled, they will not be based on your weight.
This applies to both adults and children. Typically, for adults, the dose is increased by 10mg to 20mg weekly.
As with adults, for children, the doctor will likely increase the Vyvanse dosage slowly by 10 mg or 20 mg every week.
They’ll do this until your child is taking a dosage in the generally recommended range of 30 mg to 70 mg.
To treat BED, again, the starting dose is 30 mg once daily. This is the standard starting dose, and it is not prone to change based on weight.
The dose is normally increased by 20 mg weekly, depending on how the dose controls the symptoms.
The doctor will keep changing the Vyvanse dose until you’re taking 50mg to 70 mg once daily.
Also, note that Vyavanse is not yet approved for treating binge eating disorders in children or for weight loss purposes.
Can you take extra doses if you weigh more?
In short, you should not look to increase your Vyvanse dosage based on your weight. The maximum dosage of Vyvanse in 24 hours is 70 mg. This is the highest dosage recommended for both children and adults.
And also, you should not take Vyvanse twice daily to extend the effects if you are overweight, nor is it recommended to take it later in the day or evening.
The effects of Vyvanse will last up to 14 hours and take at least 12 hours to leave the body.
This is why Vyvanse should be taken only once daily – in the morning.
Taking it later in the day can cause trouble with your sleeping pattern and contribute to morning fatigue and dizziness.
Increasing the dosage because it does not show any effect on controlling your symptoms or because you feel it is less can increase the risk of serious side effects.
It can, in fact, lead to a risk of misuse and dependence, for which Vyvanse has exclusively given a warning.
For more information on this area, see our other article on how to intensify Vyvanse.
Symptoms from increasing Vyvanse dose
Some symptoms you may experience by increasing the Vyvanse dose include:
- Uncontrollable shaking.
- Aggressive behaviors.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Coma.
- Death.
- Confusion and disorientation.
- Fever.
- Feelings of panic.
- Seeing or hearing things that are not there (hallucinations).
- Depression.
- Restlessness.
- Heart attack.
- Seizures.
- Severe insomnia.
- Weakness.
- Fast heartbeat.
Aside from this, make it a general practice to always stick to the dosage recommended by your doctor.
If you feel the symptoms are barely controlled, raise this point with your doctor.
They will be able to monitor it properly based on your feedback and see how to increase the dosage or switch to other alternatives as an alternative option.
Does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight – Summing up
We hope this has provided you with some good information on the question does Vyvanse dosage depend on weight.
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