Ritalin LA 30mg a day....

[akiss4u]

I have yet to try my medication. My doctor prescribed Ritalin LA.

Has anyone tried this medication? If so how do you feel about it?

If you had to change Medication what did you end up taking instead?

I know everyone is different but I just would appreciate any input on your experiences with this particular drug.


Thanks!

[krisp]

I've been taking Ritalin LA for a few months and like it. I don't have the extreme ups and downs I had with regular Ritalin, and it does help me focus. It does decrease my appetite, and decrease my caffeine tolerance, but I haven't found these side effects too troublesome.

[akiss4u]

krisp,
I love Diet Doctor Pepper and I bet I wont be drinking much of that when I start the Ritalin ehh. Does it make you jittery when you drink caffeine? What happens? I could deffinately afford to lose about 30 lbs so that is no problem there. LOL!

[t-bird]

I still drink caffeine (not a lot) while taking ritalin, although my doctor said not to. It has never made me jittery at all.

Also I have not lost any appetite or weight, in fact I may possibly be gaining.

-Britawn

[akiss4u]

Really that is very interesting on the weight gain... Hmmm why do you think that is? Deos your doctor have anything to say about that.

[t-bird]

I haven't said anything to the doctor, but I think the reason is that I've always been bouncing off the walls with energy, and now that I take the meds I am calm and still.

And now that I am sitting still more, I find myself eating a little more!

-Britawn

[akiss4u]

Well I can certainly understand that! I hope they do the same for me on the "sitting still part". I have heard they make your heart race do you ever feel that? I can imagine that would feel very strange to be sitting still and feel your heart pounding.

[t-bird]

One time I took 20 mg at once and my heart raced a little, so now I just take 10 like I'm supposed to and its never happened since.

[krisp]

I still have my morning coffee, even though I probably shouldn't. But if I run out of meds I crave the caffeine considerably more. On the meds, I don't exceed one or two cups of coffee. More makes me slightly jittery. YMMV, but you can probably sneak in a Diet Dr. Pepper or two.

When I first started this med, I had a little trouble going to sleep the first couple of nights. This side effect went away pretty quickly.

[akiss4u]

Thanks for all your input! I am very ill with bronchitits so I have to wait untill I am better to take my Ritalin LA. I am very dicourage because I wanted to try it out this weekend but I hear it is not wise to do this when your on antibiotics.

[Gregster]

The central nervous system effects on heart rate and blood pressure do slowly go away in most people - perhaps not completely. I do find that I have to totally stay away from coffee when I take ritalin, but this is not because it makes be jittery, but because my "gut" can't handle it - but I was already controlling my coffee consumption before I started taking ritalin - two cups a day was my MAX or there was great suffering!

[akiss4u]

I drank a Diet Dr. Pepper at 9:30 so I am going to dring a bunch of water and wait till 11am and then I am going to give it a shot. I will let you all know what happens next.

[akiss4u]

I took my medicine and posted in the Journal about my first day. WOW what a difference! Unfortunatly the medicine barely reached 6 hours for me. When it wore off OMG that was not good - I was ready for bed. I had no problems eating or sleeping when it wore off. I felt very strange though - like I was getting a hangover feeling YUCK! My mood was bad and I felt a little blue but that period only lasted about 45 minutes then I was ready to eat dinner and get to bed.

[t-bird]

The first couple of days on ritalin were the hardest, but after a week everything was fine for me. You just get used to it.

[akiss4u]

I took my med at 8:30 this morning and I work this afternoon until 5pm. I really hope it does not crash on me while I am at work!