So as some of you may or may not know, Im currently on 10 mg of ritalin 2 times a day. It's been almost two weeks and I have another doc appointment on tuesday. First thing, 10 mg per dose may be slightly low for me, and 2 times a day does not seem enough, since the positive effects seem to wear off within 3 hours and I work 10 hour days. I see some possitive affects from ritalin, however Im not sure if they outweigh the negatives. Basically the only real positive from this is a slight increase in concentration... very slight, and calming.. however, the calming seems to be a double edged sword, its basically making me feel a bit on the sedated side, and not sure if I like that at all. And of course I dont really like the over all feeling it gives me, not sure if I call it euphoric. My heart rate doesn’t go up, but I feel slightly uncomfortable in my own skin when im on it, even after 2 weeks. What should I do? Should I stick with ritalin? or should I ask the doc about something different. Possibly adderall?. ( anything but streterra, streterra scares me!)

Try somethnig else, you an always go back to ritalin if you need to.

Yes, you should go back to your doctors, perhaps ritalin just isnt for you, if the main reason is because it is not lasting long enough during the day, then maybe you could sugest trying concerta which is time released.

If there are other problems with ritalin, then maybe you should try something diffrent such as adderall or dexedrine.

Hardly any adder gets the right med and dosage the first time round, or the second, or even maybe even the third! :eek:


But good luck finding the right stuff soon. :D

Yeah, another major thing is I feel sedated at times. In my work enviornment im not sure if its having a positive effect for me. I need to be more allert. Eventhough I can concentrate a bit better, my allertness level has dropped. Does that make sence? lol

I'm feeling the same way about the generic ritalin I'm taking, Some days i feel it, other days its like I'm taking a sugar pill, and the effects only last about 1.5 hours.

One thing that can make your medication seem to be ineffective is lack of proper sleep. Inadequate sleep will make a NT suffer with ADHD-like symptoms. So it stands to reason that a person with ADHD who is not well-rested will have more extreme symptoms than normal. There is only so much that the meds can do, and if the meds are working to fight ADHD and lack of sleep, they will make your symptoms only decrease to baseline; they cannot push any harder than they are meant to do.

I know my medication works quite a bit better when I've had a normal amount of sleep (7-8 hours). It also causes less side effects (like dry mouth) for me when I have rested well. My symptoms do not necessarily get much worse on little sleep.

Whether or not lack of sleep causes worse ADHD symptoms will be based on other biological factors (how one responds to sleep deprivation in the first place). The homeostatic sleep system (as opposed to the circadian sleep system) naturally signals one when sleep is "needed" (as opposed to time of day) by making one "feel" tired when sleep is needed. The mechanism of action here is GABA. This might explain why some have increased ADD symptoms on little sleep. However, there are other factors here that alter this response.

I sleep about 6-10 hrs a day. I work nights. The amount of sleep get is about the same as everyone else.

Ugh, Yeah I dont think I can handle ritalin, Yesterday i got an awfull headache from it too after it started wearing off ( 2.9 hrs after I took it), It also seems to make me anti social.

go back scariest Dr person award. goes to Fraz .lol.

uhmm. .. well, DESOXYN has fewer side-affects than Adderall, but not very many. Ritalin probably does too, but Desoxyn is probably a more effective treatment, then both. .

Desoxyn gets a wee bit expensive, nearly twice as much as adderall.

I got good insurance, so anything I get thats brandname is 30 bux a month generic is 10.. unless its not approved by my ensurance of course lol.