I am currently an adult with ADHD taking methylphenidate (110mg daily) in doses of: 50mg in the morning, 40mg at noon, and 20mg in the late afternoon. After my initial dose of 50mg, I normally take my next two doses in three-hour intervals. But there are some awkard effects that occur -- I'm not sure if they're exactly side-effects of Ritalin, but they happen in sync while I'm on Ritalin -- that affect my concentration in the classroom. I always eat a big breakfast in the morning before I go on Ritalin to curb its appetite-suppressing side-effect.

When I go to class in the morning, I'm able to go about an hour and a half without any problems; but after the 1.5 hrs hits, my stomach bloats with gas and I feel like my stomach is going to explode (It doesn't hurt. It just feels very uncomfortable.) and I'm forced to burp the gas out; if I try to suppress it, my stomach will growl and you can hear it a mile away. Even if I do "silently" burp it out, sometimes my stomach will inadvertently growl thereafter. It's very humiliating when classmates hear it.

My concentration veers back and forth from hoping classmates won't hear my stomach growl to actually being able to focus my attention to the professors. I don't see how my stomach growling like this could be the result of me being hungry, because I always eat a huge breakfast. And the growling and stomach bloating with gas goes on and off throughout the day...

But, it improves when Ritalin wears off. I will eat lunch and dinner while on Ritalin, but not as much as I would if I wasn't on Ritalin. I try to force-feed myself while on Ritalin so I don't rapidly lose weight. I'm wondering if anyone's had this "side-effect" before. What could be causing this if I'm eating throughout the day? I started to wonder whether it was too much Ritalin in each dose...but even when I started on Ritalin in lighter doses, it would still have the same effect in class. Besides, if I lowered my dosages, my concentration would be void.

And by the way, when I was on Metadate CD, (40mg a day) this NEVER happened. I am stuck with Ritalin right now because I'm studying in a country where I can't get seen for ADD (thus my doctor prescribed me a lot of Ritalin). So my only hope right now is to work with Ritalin. I called my doctor about this problem and he said he's never heard of this happening to anyone while on Ritalin; he said I might have caught a flu. But I went to a hospital and got checked up and was cleared. Plus, this has been happening for a while. It's just, without Ritalin, I can't concentrate for nothing.

Any advice would be appreciated...

Don’t know how Ritalin could directly cause bloating, but the source is certainly the food regardless of Ritalin’s role in it.

There are a lot of standard approaches to this problem, not particularly unique to Ritalin users. These including changing your diet and/or when and how much you eat, and looking at other factors such as alcohol and soft drink ingestion. Exercise sometimes helps, as does changing your posture (i.e., get a different style chair). And you should check with your Dr. that there isn’t something going on, like a mild infection or parasite.

And there’s always that old standby, Beano. Lots of people swear by it, even if they never touch beans.

Of course, that’s just our informed opinion on the subject; you shouldn’t take it as medical advice. Probably the best place to start is telling your Dr. about the problem.

But it’s probably not directly due to the Ritalin. Neither Kay nor I have ever heard of that, and she’s handed out a lot of it over the years. We both take it, too.

Good luck.

--Tom and Kay

You are taking far too much Ritalin.

Comeon 110mgs daily?-far to much. Are they 10mg IR pills=11 pills daily=330 pills a month, a heck of a lot, are you abusing it?-to keep 'up'?

Perhaps atalk with yr Doc is in order?

Thanks

Are you perhaps slightly lactose intolerant or allergic to one of the inactive ingredients in your pills? Lactose is a common inactive ingredient in pills (but not capsules).

hi there mate

i had the same problem, your having on ritalin. i end up in hospital with a blocked bowel
they open me up to see, why my bowel was blocked. they found out it was very inflamed
and thats why it was not working. so i asked what causes it, the said they dont know
so i track down that week, what foods and drink. i had that week, i found i had changed brand of make up soft drink. the brand had been using before, had no added colours in. so i tried one drink of the soft drink after 3 weeks, and then went up my stomach. so i looked on the bottle to find a colouring of #102, looked up the net
to find this

Tartrazine
FD&C Yellow No.5; known to provoke asthma attacks (though the US FDA** do not recognise this) and urticaria (nettle rash) in children (the US FDA** estimates 1:10 000); also linked to thyroid tumours, chromosomal damage, urticaria (hives) and hyperactivity; tartrazine sensitivity is also linked to aspirin sensitivity; used to colour drinks, sweets, jams, cereals, snack foods, canned fish, packaged soups; banned in Norway and Austria

dude, way to much the booklet that came with my ritalin says that if you take anymore than 6tablets (60mgs) it is considered overdosing and you should immedaintly go to a hospital

Probably. "Speed" increases peristalsis..

Try reducing dose &/or another brand?

i am not taking much as the original poster is, but I think I have similiar issue. I feel that peristalsis is overworking. I am activeyl seeing what I can do about this.

It feels like irritable bowel syndrome, no? I have no answer, but I am drinking camomile tea and slowly introducing fibers into the diet.