Ritalin Roller Coaster | ADHD Information

It was a real roller coaster ride for ds yesterday when he used Ritalin IR (instant release) instead of Ritalin LA. We are waiting for mail order meds to arrive and decided to save the LA for when he is at school next week and use IR this weekend. The first dose took forever to kick in and seemed like it was not effective three hours into it. I upped the next dose by 0.6mg (yes, that's 1/8 of a 5mg tab!)
That caused him to be very tired, lethargic laying on the floor...not good for studying for Finals. Next dose we went back to his regular 16.25mg and it was fine.

Ritalin LA has been so smooth for him the last couple of years that I forgot what his ADHD used to be like and the tweaking of medication and behavior we used to deal with.   I am glad those days are over and feel for the people that are trying to get the right med and dose.

The up side of a crazy day was when he was invited to play the piano on stage during an intermission of a public performance at a mall. He plays New Orleans blues and contemporary style,his own compositions and others. He played for 30 minutes straight until intermission time was over. The audience was very responsive with whistling, hooting, enthusiastic applause and lots of compliments afterwards. He is socially very quiet, but totally at ease and relaxed on stage with the piano.

It's great to find and support what they have a talent for, when they have struggled with so many other areas in their life.