Ok, so I actually first came to believe that I had ADD about a year and a half ago. I only went to a psychiatrist with that about a week ago. Anyways, he prescribed me ritalin, and I was pretty nervous about taking it. Took me a week, and I didn't want the full 5 or so hours he said it would last on my first dose, so I cut the pill in half. Pill was 10mg so I got 5mg, and it didn't do anything useful, it made me feel energized and restless within about 15 minutes though.
I tried taking the other half, and got no effect, figured I was taking too low a dose.
Next day I tried taking half again, wanting to see if it might work and something had been off yesterday, maybe in my diet. Same process, except this time, not even the somewhat brief energized period, just nothing.
However, the first 2 days, when I took the pill I did temporarily have my heartbeat increase about 5-10 mins in for a very short period of time, and I felt more blood go to my head.
So, today I went to a library to study for about 5 hours and took a pill before I left. I got there, and no effect. I did feel my heartbeat and head effect about 5-10 mins in. So I took another one a short while later, thinking maybe the dose was just too low for my size, but I doubted that was the case. This time that heart and head effect wasn't there either. Bottom line is that I took 5 pills in about 3 hours and stopped for fear of overdosing, and stayed aware of the overdose effects (heartbeat, dryness, agitation etc.).
Problem is that it didn't affect me. 5 hours of studying, and I had just as hard a time concentrating and was just as easily distracted in random thoughts.
My pills are from wal-mart and from the cap of the bottle are apprently from Novopharm, so generic stuff.
Any advice? Should I be taking the pills with something? Should I be doing something to increase effectiveness?
This is pretty frustrating.

Quick note:
I haven't been taking any other drugs.

Another quick note:
I read in another post (the Allison post) that her doc told her not to exceed 80mg a day, and I'm guessing I'm bigger than her, so that leaves me 20mg today, and I took 2 and ate a banana because another posted said that it helped him. Well, it changed the effect. Not sure if it was higher dosage, longer time in between pills or the banana, but my brain went a hyper for about an hour and is still being that way. It is running fast and I find it hard to stop talking when I was conversing with somebody just now, and it was mostly me talking for the entire hour.
How come I'm getting the energy boost without the crash and focus effect? Do I need to ask my doctor for a higher dosage? I don't really want to take something like concerta, I want a focused effect for my class time because I never needed to before, but since getting into university I've found if I am unable to listen to explanations I do poorly. I was hoping I could take a dosage to focus during the day for classtime and maybe once on the weekend to study the material because other than that I have nothing demanding high levels of focus and I don't like the thought of slowing myself down or shutting off my daydreams and random thoughts.
Sorry for the many posts, but I only got ritalin a few days ago, and I've been researching ADD for even longer than I've thought I had it, but I never knew where to turn to before, so I'm getting out a lot of stuff at once.
Thanks for bearing with me.

Have you thought of trying the Ritalin LA? That is what I am on and I have had good success. I take 20 mg. once a day. I may go to 40. It last about 6 hours for me (supposed to be 6-8 hours) I have heard others say they like Strattera which is supposed to last 24 hours and doesn't have side effects like others.

Yeah, I really really don't want all day effects. I don't even use the useless stuff for studying, because whilst my mind wanders, I have become so used to it. On the other hand, having not experienced any real focused effect, perhaps I won't feel that way. For now, I really just want to be able to pay attention in my classes. I certainly have trouble studying, mostly that reading stuff takes me so much longer since I can spend 20 minutes trying to go through just 2 pages, but I put a few hours a week into it and I end up doing well.
Mostly I have noticed that in most classes you really need to pay attention when doing sciences, and I am scared to take university level physics with this issue, since many physics profs (I have dropped in on a few classes) will talk and ONLY write down examples, formulas and equations, leaving the rest up to you to write down during class and learn from the textbook.

Side note, I filled a second prescription after my first ran out, different brand I can tell because the colour of the pills is slightly changed. Still no effect though, except for making my hyper sometimes, which makes it even harder to focus.

Hello, I was just prescribed ritalin (10mg- 3x/day) and I have had a very similar experience to Mr. Snuffl'. Even at 20mg I really don't feel anything... perhaps even a bit LESS focused than with nothing. Any thoughts? Am I being too impatient? It was my impression that I should see a change right away? Mr. Snuffl', have you figured anything out?

Just a note that might be helpful, I haven't really FELT anything on ritalin either. I still have to make a real EFFORT to focus on my studying. The difference for me is that when I DO make a real effort, it helps. Does that makes sense? It doesn't solve the problem, but makes it a little easier for me to solve it better. For example, I STILL don't want to do my reading. I STILL don't want to write my papers. BUT, when I do discipline myself to actually sit down and do it, it is a little easier especially once I actually can get into either one of them. The other thing it has done for me is that instead of being tired all day and restless all night, my sleep is now regulated beautifully well most of the time. I am able to function all day without getting as bored and get more done (still have to make a real EFFORT). Then at night I sleep much better, sometimes only waking up one time all night. Also, it does NOT make me huper unless I drink a lot of caffeine with it. In fact, it is almost the opposite. I am a little calmer and less fidgety (well not a LOT ha ha), but definitely does not work like you would think a stimulant would (such as coffee etc.). I would say if you are not getting any benefits or it makes it worse even why take it? Why not try something else? :)

I agree with the poster above me, OP. Methylphenidate in one form or another works great for some of us, but certainly not all of us! There is the amphetamine class you could try too, and before Lars gets here, I might as well mention Dex as well. Adderall et. al. are still options as are the non-stimulants.

Crazy :cool:

you know, some days it affects me differently too. some days i forget i ever took it, the effects are so subtle. but i do know it is helping, especially when i decide not to take it. other days, i do feel a little funny when i take it which is sort of annoying depending on my plans for the day. i may try increasing my dosage, see if that helps, and if not, then actually decrease it so at least i know i will never have a day i feel "funny".