I was diagnosed at the beginning of the month and put on Ritalin (2 10mg throughout the day, then 4 throughout the day).

The first day I maybe got euphoria, I maybe could concentrate more. But really, nothing really happened. Then I got a little depressed. Then, more nothing.

I still can't get anything done, my house is still a mess, I still do the thing where I can't remember to follow through with my vague plan to take a shower and then when I do finally start the water it ends up staying running while I make a meal and start checking my e-mail and flip through TV.

Worst of all, when I'm at the library, I still get the feeling where I look around at everyone else studying and think "how do they do that? They have to be faking. This is completely impossible." That was the one thing that I read in other ADDers' stories that made me think my diagnosis was the real deal and that I hoped would change on the medication.

All the other "Ritalin not working" posts seem to be about side effects. That's not my problem. My problem is the that ritalin isn't doing what it's supposed to do, or anything, really. When I take the pills I feel something happen. My head feels different, physically, and my mind could best be described in the words of another poster as "some lights being on others not at all." But it doesn't change any of my behavior.

Is this the Ritalin not working or is the problem here me?

If the former: did anybody else have this issue with Ritalin, and can it be fixed with another medication?

Maybe your dose is too low. I started out on a taper to find my dose, increasing it after every 2 days if it didn't work. I went from 5mg dose twice daily, to 10mg twice daily, to 15 twice daily and finally to 20 mg twice daily. Then with an extra pill, i took it three times in a day, and when I went back to follow up with my doctor, he prescribed me 20 mg three times daily, which seems to work. I find I still can't focus in my house because the external stimuli is still too tempting even with my mind beign able to focus on things...
Anyhow, I do the shower thing a lot too. I lose my keys a lot, and I do a lot of things that can't be quantified that the ritalin seems to help. It may not help me focus, but I don't ramble as much or interrupt myself anymore. So if it's not your dose, maybe your other symptoms of ADD are being taken care of, but you don't notice it?
Good luck. I'm curious what you're a grad student in- I'm a grad student too, recently diagnosed. My doctor was very impressed and said it was rare, so I'm just curious.

It could also be that it's half-life is only 2-4 hours and a dose's effects only last from like 1-3 hours. You could try spacing out the doses to avoid any "non-coverage" during the day.

Because of the short half-life, I would crash big time after almost every dose. Totally unworkable for me.

Also, another consideration is that your natural dopamine levels may be low. If so, the Ritalin doesn't have much to work with since it just blocks reuptake.

You may need something like Adderall instead, which in addition to the reuptake blocking, it releases stored dopamine from their vesicles so there's more to work with.