Double dose of Ritalin LA | ADHD Information

I posted this on the med board , but thought I'd post it here too:

This morning had me in for scare but everything turned out okay.

Thirty minutes after ds, 17, took his morning dose of RitalinLA, he accidentally took another dose. So that means that he took a total of 120mgs of RitalinLA this morning!  He accidentally took the second dose when he forgot that he was putting pills in his backpack and swallowed them instead.  I had been fearing this day for years.

I was nervous, but mad that he did this on today of all days. We were just about to walk out the door so that he could take his AP exam.  He has never had a double dose before and knowing his sensitivity, I was worried.

In less than ten minutes we were at the emergency room (one mile away).  to my surprise, after checking with poison control, they thought it should not make that much difference because he has taken it for so long and due to his adult size.  Said he might have a few heart palpitations not to worry about.  Dr further emphasized the safety in Ritalin (which ds' doc has said for years, but I still worry about).

 They were great about wishing him luck on the exam and if there were any problems he would write a letter if it would help.

Ds thought he did well on the exam with the only difference in med effect being slightly tired.  So let's hope he learned some kind of lesson about packing your backpack the night before!


Every parents nightmare and I am glad your son is okay I would have done the same running to the ER.  As for the exam if need be maybe the school can let him do a make up after explaining what had happened.