My Ritalin and Anxiety | ADHD Information

First, let me say that Im sorry if this has been asked 100000 times, that being said:

I went to my Dr. appointment this morning to get something for my ADHD.  I was on Straterra before and it did basically nothing except make me feel.. "nasty".. it wasnt good   ... anyway, the Dr. prescribed me 10mg x 2 of Ritalin.

I took my first dose about 11am this morning, and drove to work (about an hour away) ... halfway through my trip (about 30 minutes), I began to feel panicy (sp?)... I used to have panic attacks and would take xanax for this... my previous dr. and I determined that these may very well be coming from my ADHD... anyway, I havent had any xanax in months, but this morning I REALLY felt like I needed one.  I felt like I was on the verge of freaking out... but it only lasted about 20 minutes or so.... 

Now I am at work and it seems like I can focus on my work a LITTLE better, but not by much... but I am VERY thirsty and a little anxious... my question is, will this go away?  (The anxious part.. I dont really care about being thirsty  )  I have a feeling that my prescription may need to be raised, as I feel like the effects are going away as I type this (its 1:00pm) ... but I am somewhat nervous about the anxiety...

Could someone let me know something?  I would have done a search or something for this info, but I am kinda limited to internet time here at work, and I have a bunch of stuff I need to do since I was late coming in today due to the Dr. appointment... Thank you guys!!

Atari00738337.4660300926

Stimulants often aggravate/intensify problems with anxeity. Since you had anxiety issues in the past the meds are most likely making them worse. If the Ritalin works for you, you'll probably want to add an anxiety med to stop the problem. When I first started on Adderall I was suffering from anxiety my doctor gave me Celexa which worked great. The combination of the two was amazing I was anxiety free but also had releif from my ADHD symptoms. You should talk to your doctor about it. I higher dose would most likely make the anxiety worse not better.

Thanks for the advice, Ill see if I can talk to my doc about it...  as far as the dosage, I was thinking that I may need a higher one for the fact that the effects are going away already, and its only been 2 hours....  of course, I cant say much about it yet, since Ive only taken 1 pill since I have recieved the prescription!  but I was under the impression that the higher dosage would make the effects last longer.  Am i correct in assuming this?

I metabolise the meds very quickly. I'm on adderall but it works pretty much the same way. The short acting Adderall lasta 3 hours for me. I switched to the long acting Adderall XR which helps for about 7 hours. Right now I'm taking a long acting dose in the morning and a short acting on in the afternoon to get through the day. A higher dose won't last longer it will just be stronger for that time period. I have to take several pills during the day to have the effects last.

You might want to give it some time though. The meds didn't really kick in for me for 2 weeks. The first two weeks my body was adjusting and I had side effects so even though stimulants work right away I couldn't see the true benefit until after that adjustment phase. I'd watch yourself for at least a few days to see how you respond to the meds. You really can't tell anything from one dose. If Ritalin winds up working good for you, you might want to try concerta which is the long acting ritalin. That way you won't have top take a pill every 2-3 hours.