I was originally on 2 x 5mg a day IR. That had gradually plateaued so my doc prescribed 10mg 1X a day. Worked great even lasted for a sufficient amount of time. That plateuaed.

Took 15 mg IR a day and sometimes a quarter of another pill with doctors ok, as needed. Worked great but did feel a bit hyper though I got so much done and felt very happy and motivated.

Doc decided and I thought they might be right-sounded good- to switch to 20mg SR a day.

Today is my first day and it seems to suck. I dont feel much of anything at all. Like I like way too low a dose or something.

Pharmacist/docs seemed to think it would be the same only last longer/be more equal distribution.

Doesnt seem to be at all. Its just sort of well.. thud. Feel jittery but tired and spaced out, slightly ****ed off.

With the 15mg IR, I felt happy, motivated, excited and ready to go. Social, too. Pretty dependably.

Will SR change the longer I take it? How will I know when its not right for me because right now it doesnt seem to work.

Any thoughts on switching IR to SR or switching back? Anyone done it?

For the record, have had ADHD since I was a kid and I have a co-existing condition- traumatic brain injury from a car accident two years ago.

I take Ritalin for a number of reasons but mostly for concentration/focus and to combat fatigue.

bb28, is your prescribing doctor a psychiatrist? Regular Ritalin is only good for about three or four hours and you were on a very low dose. Twice a day won't cover you for a full work day. Did the doctor use the word "plateau"?

Prescribing doc is my GP with help from my Neuro-psych.

I use the word plateau but they understood what I meant.

The SR actually began to "work" at about 4pm even though I took it at 9am!
It seemed to hit me like a brick but it wasn't the motivated, happy brick I knew from IR-instead it was jittery, anxious and spacy. Followed by going to bed with a migraine and felling sore/nauseated, woke up with a migraine.

Second day on it and I just dont feel like myself. But I am still having headaches/nausea/anxiety.

eek.

How can Sr be so different than IR? Feel like the Sr is maybe unreliable due to the formulation? Could this be true?

BTW What kind of doses does one look at to cover an entire work day?

its not the dose... its the mode of release and/or the number of doses. One does of IR will last 3-4 hours average.... SR is said to last 8 hours... but probably more like 6-8... so with IR you will need at least 2 doses to get through the work day spread 4 hours apart... if you want your private personal home time to be eventful and nice than you will need a third dose... this was hard as hell for me to get at first. With SR.. perhaps twice a day... spread out 5-6 hours apart.

Min, if I want Ritalin to be in my system when I get to work, I need to take it 30 - 60 minutes before I get to work. If I work 8 hours and have a 60 minute lunch hour, two doses a day doesn't cut it. For several months, I tried not taking medication until I got to work and learned that I function better before I leave the house if I'm on medication. So, I average 3 doses of regular Ritalin during the day and take a 4th dose if I have a meeting, class, social function, etc. in the evening.

I've never taken slow release Ritalin, but from what I've learned on ADDForums, it shouldn't take seven hours to kick in.

Went back on my 20mg Ritalin IR--1 10 mg and 5mg in the morning and a booster 5 in the afternoon.

Agree its not ideal for long lengths but at least my head is back together! Hooray!

I started on 10mg of Ritalin IR about a month ago. The first dose I took was AMAZING. This is what normal people think like? This is how normal people feel? I just felt so calm and relaxed. I work in a high paced, never stop, go-go-go then some, field (ironically enough in mental health). Then came the crash. My doctor had asked me to take 10mg/day for a week then go to 10mg BID. I did, and it sucked. I tried splitting tabs in half to make it go longer, but 5mg did nothing for me. My days go from 7am to 10pm (work, school, driving, etc) at least. I suffered headaches, and extreme tiredness once it wore off.

I met with my doc again last week and he suggested Ritalin SR 20mg once a day and Ritalin IR 10mg once a day. I LOVE it! Still not quite perfect, but probably as close as it will ever be. The SR takes almost an hour to kick in for me, but it's smooth like butter. I still get a little bit of that "rush" I did from the IR during the first two hours or so, but no headaches and only minimal tiredness when it starts to wear off (still playing around with the timing some).

I was really nervous when the idea of SR was brought up. I like to have control, and I felt like IR gave that to me. I'm much happier now though, and still feel some control as I have the IR to get me through classes at night.

Out of curiosity, do you smoke or drink caffeine? (No judgement, I do both unfortunately!). They both have an impact on how medications are absorbed. While, I admit I love the mix of a little caffeine and Ritalin, I do notice that it goes through me faster when I use it. As for the nicotine, working in the mental health field, you'd be amazed by how much my clients are able to reduce their medications just by quitting smoking! I've heard that two cups of coffee and a pack of cigarettes a day can reduce medication efficacy by up to 20-25%!

I was on 10mg IR 2x daily for a month, then my doctor moved me to a 20mg SR 1x + 10mg IR daily (as needed).

I found that for the first day or so on the IR I was a bit back to being a space-case, and actually did or two where I took a 10 IR mg in the morning with my 20mg SR with the 10mg follow-up in the afternoon (only did that for two days though)

After that, I went back to 20mg SR in the morning and a 10mg follow up IR as-needed in the afternoon. It just took me a few days to adjust to the new mode of release. I find that if I take my SR first thing when I wake up (and a few minutes before my breakfast), it's usually kicked in / starting to kick in by time I arrive at work.

So if I wake up at 7:30, take it by 8:00, and get in at work at 9:00 - the initial effects are usually going well.

I do find it odd though (noticed this even when I was taking the 10mg 2x daily) - my most productive portion of the day seems to be from 3pm-8pm - there would be a day or two where I wouldn't get much done until around lunch, then be very focused on work until 8pm (staying later then I normally do)