I head up a small community for fans of a niche indie brand. The founder is doing an event in Japan with an exclusive item for people who attend! I was so excited and was looking into booking a plane ticket to go!

However… turns out that Japan has a law that absolutely forbids stimulant medication in the country. And, no, I don’t really want to upend my regimen of 8 years and risk going on a new medication for the trip.

I’m really shattered, as I wanted to attend this cool event and meet up with other enthusiasts. It really hurts to be barred from an opportunity like this.

I hate ADHD. I really do.

  • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙English
    5•4 months ago

    OP: I hear you on not trying different meds, but one of these things is barely different from adderall (still very much a stimulant). Vyvanse is basically adderall xl, just in prodrug form. Apparently other commentors say it is allowed in japan. Prodrug just means that an enzyme plus the drug means your body creates the basically the same exact drug as adderall when ingested. If vyvanse is allowed but adderall is not that’s strange although one of vyvanse’s strengths is that it can’t be snorted, which might make some nations feel better about the drug’s potential for abuse, since it must be ingested to work.

    • Armok: God of BloodEnglish
      2•4 months ago

      Adderall didn’t do a whole lot for me, but Vyvanse made me actively sick. People can have weird reactions to medications.

      • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙English
        2•4 months ago

        You’re absolutely correct that a medication isn’t going to react the same for every person. People can have weird or even fatal reactions to medications. Any local pharmacist should be able to answer questions about medications and interactions.

        To be clear, I am just saying that if adderall works for someone, vyvanse is likely to work for that person as well, because the drugs are so similar. Vyvanse’s biggest difference from adderall is that it’s a prodrug, meaning that starts off as a drug that has no effects on the body until it reacts with an natural enzyme we have in our colon which causes the drug to turn into what is basically adderall.

        Adderall is mixed amphetamine salts.

        The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a ratio between dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine, the two enantiomers of amphetamine.

        Compared to vyvanse:

        Lisdexamfetamine is an inactive prodrug that is converted in the body to dextroamphetamine, a pharmacologically active compound which is responsible for the drug’s activity.

        So technically, Adderall is dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine. I can’t speak more to this because of my lack of knowledge but “dextro” and “levo” are “right” and “left”, basically meaning something like the left and right “versions” (wrong word) of the molecule. Vyvanse on the otherhand is just the right “version” (wrong word) of the molecule.