Today is my first day on Methylin taking 10mg 3 x per day, I understand that this med is suppose to be taken 30-45 minutes after eating and suppose to be timed apart.

I actually took the food & med at the same time this morning since I read that part to late to remember.

So far this is day one, and took my fist pill this morning at 7am.

So I guess dosing will go:

1 @ 7 and eat at 8 am

1 @ 12 and eat at 1 pm

1 @ 5 and eat at 6 pm

Ok, I would appriciate as much feed back as possible to map out the most common side affects.

Ritlain affects different people in different ways, so work with your Doc to get the kinks out.  Also, some people it could last for 4 hours, for some 2 hours (like me).

It's one of those things you need to see how you react to it first. 

I am on 20mg 2 or 3 times a day.  I take it in the morning before work, and then another dose around noon.  I know when it has worn off, so if i need to take it sooner I will.  (I also forget to take it, which is typical ADD.) I take a third dose only if I need it - if I am working late, etc..  Taking it late in the day could result in sleep trouble.  But keep in mind it is out of your system in 4 hours - read: if you took it at noon, and someone did a drug test at 4pm, there would be no sign of it.

Another thing to mention to your doctor is MetaDate which is the longer lasting form of Ritalin - time release.

Again, work with your doctor, and if it doesn't feel right, stop.  As you can see from the boards, there are a lot of different solutions - medicated or not.

Hope this helps!

J

I can't do the morning does with out eating first, I have problems with getting physically sick to my stomach early in the morning when I am hungry.

Fixed the problem with the Strattera (waking up during the night) but find that I now have trouble at the start of the night, thoughts get to wandering, and next thing I know I lost an hour thinking... (that has always been a problem in the past though) just had not been recent until this.

1st day I felt jittery, I don't know if that would fall under nervousness, not quite the same, just a bit of shake in my hands, and feel my heart rate increase.

That went away the second day, with shakes, but my chest has felt a bit off.

I have not noticed any benefits yet, actually feel like I am more at liberty to run with my aggitation easily. Just yesterday I had a go at the fax machine again, one of these days I am going to kill it but good! Never works right, when I depend on it all day.

Ok, just checking in on my results so far.

I have actually messed up on my medicaton over the weekend, and still not back fully on track.

I still feel my urgency for change as before, my aggitation, and feelings of hopelessness has increased like a freight train.

I am now considering my job a lost cause, and that I just need to throw in the towel and start looking for a new job that is less stressfull.

I don't know that this medication is even having an effect on me, it just don't seem like it. My appitite is back, so bummer on the switch from the Strattera which was causing less hunger.

It is like this does is water to me, just nothing noticed at all.

I feel like this just keeps getting worse, been having upset stomache and headaches today... still no benefit from the medication.

I am so stressed, that I finally got up the nerve to tell my boss that I wanted to give him notice to quit! He agreed that he had been loading me up with more work then I was ever hired for, and pursuaded me to try, that he would take half of the work back onto himself.

But I still feel like a failure and that all is lost, I recently started job hunting... I took some tests recently and was very please to see that my skills are above normal on office programs like Excel & Word, my typing speed was a heck of alot higher then I had thought (during the test, I kept thinking I was going in slow motion) stopping to fix spelling errors as I as going along, but I found out I was up to 58 wpm and my accuracy was 99% 2 times they tested me on that with the same results - was definitely happy there.

Only problem is I am finding out people want to put me back down to $8 - $10 per hour, and I want to advance to $12 or more per hour! So I am stuck, have massive skills in multiple areas but can't match up regardless. Don't have a college education to rely on.

I am to the point that I want to quit, and just hide at home for a time, and forget everything, working, bills, just let it all go to get peace of mind.

I have been having fits of crying off and on today, and still the headache won't go away, doctor told me I couldn't take anything extra with this medication.

If you are good with working with Office progam like Excel and Word, you should seek assignments that require the use of such programs. In some cases, identify some business poblems that you can provide solutions using one of this programs. Convince your boss to send you to classes for either of this programs and look into getting certification.

The bottom line is for you to find what you love to do, that will sustain you when you have to deal with those things that you don't enjoy doing but must do. For those things you don't enjoy doing, do a little at a time, give yourself credit for the little you have done, come back and do a little more and repeat the cycle until the job is done.

Crying spell, headaches etc. are side effects of some of these medications and you will have to develop a creative way to deal with them.

You are not going to find peace of mind by quitting. Hang in there and continue to find creative solutions. You can do it.

Not been two weeks, wonder if I can talk with my doctor this soon about adjusting the dosage on this medication.

Excel & Word are actually a by product of what I love doing, and that is teaching businesses & consumers about credit. I recently purchased a test from CDIA an industry compliance company to the credit and finance area. And the test is for certification on my knowledge of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, I just started studying up further to take this test when I am ready. I would love nothing better to get certified in this area. I already know quite a bit of this in depth, but there is a lot more to learn.

I love learning, usually have a million projects going at once, like right now I want to branch out and learn finances better, learn about investing (safe investments with low interest but protected from loss). Also wanted to learn about business management (just not on the level I have been dealing with lately).

I just started my own web site, with husbands help that is for consumers with various credit related problems, I live for this side of things.

It is all the other day to day functioning that is dragging me down, my customer service skills are good, but starting to hurt because of my organization and ability to keep on top of and finish projects (people are having to call me if they want it down now) otherwise everything goes to the side.

I live for spell checker! My grammer I know can use help to, I hate it when I see green and red, some things I can fix, others like sentence structure just kills me.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I am still going along with the Methylin - was so stressed out that I went back to the doctor early to see what could be done.

He is trying to push Risperdal on me, I know from looking it up it is a Bi-Polar medication. So I am taking 1mg in addition.. and from what I read there is a ton of side affects the might just mess up with keeping track of this one.

Problem is that this medication costs more then $500 per month, and I just ain't got that kind of money (no insurance either). Right now I am on free samples, but I am going to come to the end of my rope eventually on this.

Feeling a bit better today finally - felt that I made progress at work for the first time on catching up a lot of back logged work any way.

Well, 20 days about on this medication,

I have been experiencing more headaches, sometimes off and on every few days, this disturbs me, since I would in the past only have a headache maybe 2 / 3 times per year. Have not kept track, but likely in the past few weeks would say more then 10 occurances.

Stress, that is still strong, and I am still not getting all my work done, just stalled out, and got it in my mind that it is better to run then work through this.

Last week now have been feeling light headed and sometimes jittery.. well a few times now, maybe 3 to 6 times noticed on each.

Mood swings - they are more noticable then ever, sometimes I am excited, and other times crying and depressed. It is killing my job hunting abilities.

I put in my notice, and have until 13th to get a job.

I had to put in the notice, final day - employer insisted on it, and I told him on purpose to motivate myself (cause I knew it was the only way for me to move on). But these mood swings are pulling the rug out from under me.

I just don't know what to do at this point, I have important things now that need to be done, I had to go to the edge, but I don't think I am going to pull this off, and right now, I am so close to not caring for what before was so important. I just don't know what to do, I see it, but can't seem to pull out of this slump. 

Well I am still here, yesterday was my final day at work. I have been putting in application / resumes left and right still no job found yet. I have skills just no college education to back it up. It has been quite stressful, almost to the point of knocking me right out of being productive to keep up looking for work.

I am still on my medications just a few adjustments:

Lexapro 20 mg once per day

Methylin 10 mg three times per day

Risperdal 1 mg two times per day + if I have a real bad day doctor has given permission to increase up to 4 mg total per day.

Still no insurance to help on the cost of the medication. Been having up and down days were I just cry, this medication (one of them anyway) has affected my sex drive, about killed it all together I would say. So my personal relationship with my spouse has been stressful as well.

All around depressing at this time, thus not much on posting lately.

Welcome back, Nightstar. I kinda know what you must be going through. I took a leave of absence from my night job that I have had for almost 3 yrs. (a decent paying telemarketing job) so I could look for a day job, in order to have a nornal married life. Also I wanted to get out of phone of ANY kind.

I had mentioned in a previous posting that I would like to get back into billing & coding. Since one hospital owns most of Tampa,FL's Med facilites, I would like to get with a private practice, since most don't do drug testing if your not dealing w/patience. Mease Hospital drug tests for a job cleaning toilets! But I did get some good advice in my posting"I want a real job". As of now, I still don't have one.

We needed the money real bad, and I knew any telemarketing joint would hire me. It's just so depressing getting turned down day after day for jobs because lack of a degree or expierience. I never let my husband see me cry, but I have been doing alot of that lately. And sex drive? Just not there when I'm that depressed. I'm not sure if adderall affects that or not.

Ok, so I applied for an appointment setting job. Got fired after 3 weeks. The pay was great and was day work,9-5. I use to be good at phone sales, but I know people don't want to be bothered and I had to be conversational w/ppl when I called, even if they were in a bad mood. I couldn't do it. Then I got a call from someone who recieved my resume somehow, went to the interview, but I could tell they wern't going to hire me. Back to crying, I got desperate, and got yet another telemarketing job. I've only worked there 2 days, and I know I'm a goner very soon b/c of the high production they expect.

Dosen't it amaze you that non-ADD/ADHD'ers can seem to not only find a job, but get promotions, stay organized and basically keep it altogether? Where as we have to worrie about our meds, just to try to feel somewhat normal? You mentioned you have no insurance. I've been there! And man does it suck! Even w/ ins., our co-pays have gotten so high and also won't cover certain meds. I believe Lexapro was one of them( I had gotten samples, and from what I remember, other than feeling a little sick after taking it, they started to work). Maybe the Lexapro is the culprit for the sex drive thing. I can remember feeling better, but I can't remember any "passionate monents" either

I'm going to stop rambling. I just wanted to let you know that your not alone, and from your other postings, I got the feeling you ARE a very strong woman. You'll get through this. Keep us all posted.

I don't think I am straight on my medication yet - I am still not productive as I would want to be. I have days that I do nothing but just sit in front of the computer not getting much done.

Personally I have made some great progress, like my web site is up and going, have written a few articles, and stuff like that. I don't always feel like keeping up with the members on the site, most of them are visiting in lounge area chit chatting and I find it so hard to relate. I just want to answer questions about credit, and track my progress on job hunting.

I like updating with the members, and seeing how they are doing, but when it gets to joking around I just miss the boat all together. Not that I lack a sense of humor, I just totally lack wit when it comes to word games and such. My husband is helping me with the web site, and he is so much better at the chit chat part.

I have not had a crying fit in a bit now, so I think the increase in Risperdal helped there, doc said to take double on the days I felt down. Just I know I am in a serious fix and I am having a hard time staying up on my job hunting, wanting to procrastinate.

I need a job that will pay more money, and so far none of the ones local are offering what I am worth, I don't always feel worth the jobs I am seeking either, that is the other problem. Cause I hate the jobs that specifically ask if I can be organized!

Yesterday I started looking at trucking jobs, I have my CDL license, but I am near sighted to the point that I barely made it with wearing glasses. I also have night blindness that I am starting to get use to, but still I am not use to driving at night. I would rather avoid going that route, but on the other hand I could be easily increasing my wages by $10k if I took up this kind of work. My fear of bridges got the better of me the last time I went out driving though, and trying to drive tight places as well.

I think I could do the job, I just keep telling my self otherwise and making it hard to seriously get going... I know I need more training though. I am going to have to have a job by next week! So far the only other prospect is an interview for a $9 job when I need a $11 / $12 job... cause I need to replace the one I just left that paid me $11.25 per hour.

Medical expenses have been up this year for the first time, I don't want to keep up, I don't want to be responsible for paying bills... I have messed up already in the last month having been late on a few payments by accident cause I filed important billing statements and forgot about them. In the past I would just write the checks out that same day and get them done with, but at home I am so disorganized.

We can't make it on DH's income, we have to have mine replaced no way around it. That has been stressing me out. I can do telemarketing and make small chit chat myself, and plenty of people are going to miss me at my job I just quite, cause we had over 500 customers that I took care of over the last 3 years. Small chit chat is fine, just talk about the weather that is no problem, or sometimes talk about things which cross during the conversation. To me it was easy cause I was talking about credit most all the time, I have a many things memorized on the subject.

I would like to stay in the credit bureau field, but there are no other ones around here, I would even like to have my own business.... but I am stuck on getting the ball going or having enough education for that.

I don't know so many directions and so many things to do it is all confusing right now.

Thanks for dropping in on my thread, didn't expect that, I know I have not be visiting much, but like I said chit chat is not always easy, use to cutting to the chase when I do come in.

Have been a while on the medications now, I am having trouble with motivation, and confused with all the different directions I have been going lately with my job hunting. I don't feel like my medication is working enough at this point to help me.

I have been prone to sleeping long hours this last week, but think it is due to a lot of driving to appointments, usually 2 hour drive on somedays, but think that depression is setting in... been sleeping anywhere from 8 to 12 hours each night.

I feel down about the job hunting, and feel down about letting my husband down on getting a good paying job, just not sure what to do right now.

I am not sure if this fits into the current discussion but; I have had a couple of interesting side effects.

1. I am on Concerta and within 15 - 20 minutes after taking my 38 mg pill I am WAY SLEEPY for about 30 minutes. So for about the first hour after taking my pill I am getting adjusted.
2. Around 2 pm I can tell the final does is setting in and I get really sleepy again for about 20 minutes or so.
3. Around 10 pm I am ready to absolutely die on my feet and I cannot stay up late anymore. That is a WELCOME side effect though. I used to have insomnia before I was diagnosed with ADHD.
4. I never seem to have enough water around me!!! I drink tons of it now! Before my medication days began, I NEVER drank water, now I feel like a damn Camel!!! My mouth is always dry too.
5. This is another nice side effect but; I do NOT even crave caffeine anymore. Before being diagnosed I used to drink about 2-3 liters of Mountain Dew a day!!! If I didn't have Mountain Dew I would drink about 6-8 cans of Red Bull a day!!!! Now, I just drink water, and that is about all I want anymore. Odd side effect but, whatever...

Well I went back to doctor and was perscribed Cymbalta for the depression that is affecting my appitite and over sleeping mode.

I am not really sure, looking up this drug, it specifically says not to use to treat Bi-Polar Depression. I am taking 60 mg which appears to be the max dosage.

So with that I am still on the Lexapro 20 mg, Methylin 10 mg 3 times per day, and Risperdal 2 mg per day...

I am starting to feel like a pharmacy at this rate, but I have not been doing any thing lately, my motivation has dropped right off of the charts, I am suppose to be job hunting, but really don't feel like leaving the house at this time.

Well not sure what the Cymbalta is suppose to do, but last few days have just felt like I am here and not much of anything else, but the end of last week I did get out moving around for job hunting, also applied for unemployment and disability.

Figure I might as well cover all bases see which one pans out, also keeping in mind possibility to file bankruptcy if I can't fix things soon for finding employment to keep up on my finances.

Feel like the sky is falling, but just to stunned to step out of the way of the freight train coming towards me.

Last time I was this bad off, was back when I was 20 years old, here I am 32 now, so guess that is not too bad to skirt 12 years with out medication.

I know I go with my ramblings here, just need a place regardless of feed back to talk to myself. I am up late cause the racing thoughts just won't leave me alone to get sleep. The medication is not helping me for that problem as I had originally hoped.