New on Ritalin Help! | ADHD Information

Hello, I was diaganosed with ADD about a week ago. I am an under employed 41 year old man with a with a wife and 2 kids. I started taking Ritalin about four days ago. I'm using 10 mg tablets. I have several questions. First, how do I tell if its working right? I think I feel ok after the first dose in the morning. I'm not noticing any amazing changes but my wife says she sees some improvment in concentration and motivation. I've been taking a second dose about 4-5hours later. After the second dose I feel sort of weird. I'm a little spacy/dizzy and I get a headache. Should I wait longer between doses? Should I just take the morning dose? Any advice on this would be very welcome.Pretty please with suger on top?????Donal

I also had issues with Ritalin making me feel dizzy and wired so eventually my doctor switched me to another med. It helped if I took Ritalin after a meal or some food. It does take a few weeks for your body to adjust so 4 days really isn't long enough yet. I'm not sure what your ADD symptoms are but what I noticed when I reached a theraputic dose of Adderall was the ability to carry-through on tasks and my uncontrolled day-dreaming stopped.

Your dose is fairly low. Do you know if your doctor will try incremental doses to find the theraputic dose?

Also, make sure you're keeping your doctor informed about progress and how you're feeling. Also keep an eye on your blood pressure. ADD meds will usually cause your BP to temporarily increase until your system has adjusted.

Best wishes and welcome to the board.

MaxDad
Thanks MaxDad, I have similar symptoms. I also have some panic, motivation problems, and low energy. I have another apointment tomorrow. My wife thinks I've improved, I also stopped taking that second pill. My Dr. did suggest building up but he sort of left that to me. Maybe I'll see how it goes with the one dose for now though... Thanks again for the info.