I have been taking 20-30mg generic ritalin (Geneva-Sandoz) per day for about 2 months. The generic I chose did all the good things that I expected including greatly increased calmness, concentration and focus, and elimination of all anxiety. Then a week ago it started to stop working. I am now feeling lethargic, apathetic (not sad), bored and kinda useless. I even feel a little sick. This is the first time I've taken ritalin this long and am now wondering if the generic is "dirty" or perhaps ritalin is not the drug for me. At first the results were astounding but the only good effect I still get is the reduction of anxiety. I'm not getting anything done and I really don't care about it. Increasing the dose was ineffective, even worse, so I lowered it.

This morning when I changed clothes 8 times (like the old days) I knew I was in trouble. The doctor told me to stop taking it immediately and see her on Wednesday. She sounded more concerned than I was. Now I'm wondering if something really is wrong and why it quit working.
The weridest thing is I began searching for food all the time and nothing satisfied me except chocolate which is the only thing left that tastes good. It's like I can't find what my body wants or something is being depleted by the medication and whatever I eat leaves me wanting more. So my appetite has actually increased. Weight/food has never been a problem for me. Has anyone experienced this? Should I have taken days off from the stuff?
I might try dexedrine or brand name Ritalin next. I am new at this and I suppose my doctor and I will figure out what works best but right now it's a real surprise that a medication that did wonders in the beginning is now becoming worthless.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Kat

This is exactly what I'm experiencing now and I'm using regular Ritalin! My doc suggested adding Remeron, but I've not tried that yet. Let me know the outcome of your meeting.

Same boat. Interested to see what your doc says. Mine swapped me to a different med....2 months later.....same thing happened.

RC

Hello, thanks for replies. My nausea is gone after stopping the drug for 2 days and am on my way to doctor.
About Remeron: !!!!! I spent too many years being misdiagnosed bipolar and when I hear mention of some of these other drugs it gives me shivers. I took ONE Remeron one time and woke up the next morning with swollen ankles (edema) and craving every carbohydrate/sugar in the house. I never took another one because it reminded me of the horrible doxepin I had been on in the mid 90's and gained 20 pounds. These types of drugs made me worse, never better in any way. When I was properly diagnosed 3 years ago with ADD-severe and finally found a doctor who would treat me with ritalin only 2 months ago every part of my life began to improve.. HOWEVER, the damage is done. I will never get back the lost years of being treated for a "mood" disorder I did not have and being a medication guinea pig. I cringe now when I hear of such drugs. I think I've been on every type. I do take a small dose of Trazodone at night to help me sleep with no side effects. It works well with the stimulant. I wish you both well.
On my way to doc.

I was told a smal dose of Remeron (7,5 or 15 mg daily) might help with the weightloss and overall tiredness. I still haven't tried it yet, fear the side effects too much. Any news or your side. I'm very interested you described excatly what I'm experiencing at the moment. Been on Ritalin since 5 months now and last 6 weeks were particularly bad for me.

Alekat, I hope you report back.

macsterdam, I love your user name! :D

Hi, six weeks is too long to go on feeling bad dear. My upset tummy is gone after stopping the ritalin but my confusion is coming back. You know, not putting the stamp on the envelope, forgetting gasoline, daydreaming while driving, not wanting to deal with anything NOW, etc, etc. I will try Dexedrine (mallinkrodt) next but the pharmacist had to order it. Doc said it's not uncommon for Ritalin to poop out on some people like this and in that case Dexedrine sometimes works better. I don't know yet.

Macsterdam, have you told your doctor that rit is making you feel bad? Because of my own experience I wouldn't keep take something that pooped out like this, it could make things worse.
Look up Remeron on the internet. Try www.crazymeds.org (http://www.crazymeds.org) it's kinda interesting.

Take care.

@ Alekat: Thanks for the suggestions. I do discuss the situation with my doctor, who's excellent btw, and he's currently researching what to do about my situation. I'm seeing him next Tuesday. Still, your post might speed up things, which is good, as I don't look forward to another couple of weeks feeling like this. Problem is, I feel the Ritalin does work, and without it I find certain things hard and sometimes next to impossible to do.

Thanks for the crazymeds link, but was familiar with that site and already read about Remeron there, that's why it freaks me out. Still, recent studies have shown it helps in low doses according to my doctor, that's why he suggested it.

As for your situation, I hope you post updates here, I will too! Must say, I had never heard of Dexedrine and look forward to reading what it does for you.

@Imnapl: Thanks :D

Hi again, if you feel that the Ritalin works then it does work. Did you say earlier that you had overall tiredness? Does rit make you tired or is that from something else? I have lived for 30 years with Hepatitis C which has always made me like I have to "push" myself harder. Ritalin gave me a few hours in the day where I actually felt like a "normal" person physically ... and I don't mean "speedy", just normal. This gave me a sense of a new life along with the mental/brain benefits.
I would not have stopped taking ritalin if it didn't totally stop helping BOTH parts of me. You never heard of Dexedrine? I thought it sounded like a street drug and felt leery about it but in the last two days I have regressed to my old air-headedness and antsy behavior and I am now looking forward to trying it. Perhaps I will be one of those who has to go back and forth between these medications. I am not sure what an amphentamine will do to me yet so I may go to the Dex board soon. It doesn't hurt to try Remeron or anything else. What is it that you want the Remeron to do? All these drugs have scary written side effects. Just listen to you're own body. I take low dose trazodone for sleep and that stuff "sounds" scary on paper too but it's the first medication I personally ever took without any side effects at all. Everybody's different. I hope your doctor can help you. Take care.

Apathy is a good sign that the mecicine is not working for you. The 'blunt effect" can stem from being on the wrong medication or not taking the correct dosage....the calming of the brain's activity that stimulants offer those with ADD can work over the top and give that flat feeling.

See your doc and let him know because this may very well be your problem....sigh. I had the same experience, same affect. I'd come down from the meds and want to eat everything in sight. Now better meds, normal appetite.

best wishes!

~gourmet~

blunt - flat. Those are perfect words for it. Since apathy is a good sign I know I will watch out for it when I try dexedrine next.

Thanks everyone for the help and information. Much appreciated. I'm seeing my doc next Tuesday and will print everything here and take it with me. Feels good to know where feeling flat, burnt and everything comes (may come?) from. Weird thing is though, I find the Ritalin still helps with my inattentiveness and focus though.

@Alekat: hope you will still post your experience with dexedrine.

Yes, in hindsight I think that blunt effect was the fact that ritalin wasn't the right medication for me. Although it gave me focus for the first time in my life, the upset tummy and food craving was getting too unpleasant. Actually I'm glad it quit working, I'm taking Dexedrine now and I've never been this relaxed. At first I feared it wouldn't help with attentiveness but it IS helping just in a different milder way. My body feels better on the dex, it's like I took a tranquilizer for the brain without the body tiredness of a tranquilizer and so far no side effects. I guess we all have to experiment a little with the help of our doctors. Good luck.

Thank you very much for the update. Nice to read the Dexedrine is helping you. I will post the outcome of my meeting next Tuesday.

Just came back from my doctor. Told him my story and he's not sure what to do yet. Since I'm going abroad for a weeek next week I can't switch medication yet, so in the meantime he suggests upping Ritalin from 60 mg to 80 mg. He thinks it might solve the feeling blunt, flat etc. Meanwhile he will think about the following two options: Either dexedrine or maybe Zoloft. The later suprised me a bit since I don't feel depressed at all. Not too sure the latter might be right for me.

@ Alekat: How are things working out with the dexedrine in the meantime?

I put something on the dexedrine board. The stuff makes me sleepy so I stopped taking it. It doesn't help with any of my ADHD symptoms except impulsivity, that is gone but I just can't keep my eyes open. I miss the ritalin working and need to either try the brandname or adderall or focalin.

Sorry to hear that. Hope youfind a proper replacement soon! Take care!!