I have been on Ritalin for just over a week now. I think I'm finally seeing a pattern in how it is affecting me. At about 20 minutes in it's wonderful. I feel a little calmer and can begin to place my focus where i want it better than usual, but not as well as I had hoped. But at about 2 hours I get rebound.

I started at 10mg 2x/day
When I found that the rebound was really bad that way I switched to 5mg every 3 hours. I am still getting the rebound at that frequency.

The symptoms that I notice are: tightness in my chest, anxiety, irritability. If I take my next dose the feelings subside within 30 minutes.

Could it be that my dose is still too high or maybe it's too low? Could my body really be metabolizing the meds this quickly? Is there anything that I can do to reduce these problems?

I know that calling the Dr is probably the best thing to do but honestly I don't think that he will listen to what I have to say. Also since I spent $60 on a month supply of meds I want to make sure that I have given it a fair trial. I chose Ritalin because of it's short half life and I am hoping that it will work for me for a few months.

If you're feeling anxious and tight in the chest, then stimulants may not be the right class of meds for you. My recommendation, is to call your doctor.