Help, Please--Need Ritalin Advice | ADHD Information

I just recently got diagnosed with inattentive ADD, and my doctor started me on Ritalin.  She's having me experiment with the dosage to get it just right for me.

She gave me 5mg. pills and suggested I increase it 2.5mg to 5mg. at a time up to 20mg. ( she said this was to start and that she had some patients who take up to 60mg. at a time, which seems a lot to me, but maybe it's not).  This dosage is taken twice a day, so if it's 15mg. per dose that's 30mg. per day.

My question is what do I look for when I do get the right dosage?  In other words, how should I feel/behave on the 'correct' dosage?

So far, 2.5mg. to 5mg. did nothing.  At 10mg. I felt a bit more alert, less depressed but not very motivated.  At 15mg. I found myself actually doing stuff I planned to do, but still somewhat spotty.  Maybe I'd finish, maybe I won't.

I try each dose about 4 to 5 days before changing, is this enough time to tell?

I'm thinking of upping it to 20mg. per dose( which is 4 pills at a time) but since that's the limit of this prescription I'm thinking might be a lot.  Is that true?  What seems typical?  Since this is a class 4 drug I don't want to raise any red flags and I also don't want to take too much.  However I do want it to work.

I guess I just wanted to hear from some here who've had more experience with Ritalin.   I'll be seeing the doctor again on June 15 to evaluate my dosage again.

Any feedback on your experiences would be great.  By the way, this forum is awesome, I have learned so much.  Thanks!

 

Barb J.

Though your doctor may be a big ritilan fan, keep in mind that there are other completely different drugs that treat adhd.    Ritilan (concerta) didn't help me at all, but adderall changed my whole outlook on life for the better.  And it did so with the very first pill I took.  For me it was literally like night and day about 20 minutes after my first dose.  And that's how it's supposed to work..  Stimulants aren't a drug that takes time to work like antidepressants..   They work immediately, depending on the dosage.   If you get up to 30 mg of ritilan and all you notice is that you are agitated and not really feeling good then I suggest another med.  Taking the right med will be profoundly noticeable and you'll be hugely excited at the prospect of your future.  That's how it happened for me anyways..

If you read through this thread and other forums you will see a pattern like that..    Different people react better to different treatment.

 

Evvy38478.0502314815

Oops!   Guess I gave it a promotion from a schedule II, to a class 4!  LOL, my bad  Thanks for the feedback though, it helps!

Barb

Hmm, well last I checked, ritalin was a schedule II drug...but that's not a big deal.

As far as dosages go, I would not be too worried about trying 20mg. Although, I am not your dr, so please do not take my advice as such. Dosing is really based on an individual's brain's metabolism of the drug, so it is hard to say what is "typical." Some people need to take 60mg while other may get the same results with only 5mg.

When finding the ideal dose, it really is trial and error. If you believe that 15mg is not necessarily "ideal," they try upping it 2.5-5mg, as your dr. suggested. If you find that 15mg ended up working better, then just go back to 15mg.

Oh...and 4-5 days seems like a reasonable amount of time to observe how the meds are working before adjusting the dose.

Best of luck to ya!

I don't know if she's such a big fan of Ritalin as much as she's conservative about newer drugs.  Her philosophy is try something that's been on the market a long time first as it's tried and true and the side effects are well known.  She told me if the Ritalin doesn't work she wants to try Dexedrine next, then maybe adderall or concerta after that.  Sort of in the order of how long they've been out there.  With the newer drugs like Strattera she feels like let someone else be the guinea pig for the unknown side effects and I kind of agree with her.  Look at how many drugs are now being taken off the market for things that didn't come up in the trials.

But thanks, I thought these were supposed to work right away.  So far on 15mg I'm not agitated, but not super motivated yet.  I think I'm gonna try 20mg next as I've been doing the 15mg for about a week now.  Thanks for the info.

Barb

 Did he give you some guidelines about how many you should take?  One thing I know is that Ritalin usually lasts only about 4 hours in your system.  The pills I got were 5mg each, when you say 20mg is that each pill?  If it is, he probably wants you to just take one to start.  If he didn't tell you how much to take you should probably ask him.

Weird that he'd give you Ritalin but not Adderall, because I think they're both stimulants.  I think my doc was going to try Adderall or Dexedrine next if the Ritalin doesn't work.  ( I found one web site that said Adderall is Dexedrine under a different brand name.)  Strattera is not a stimulant. 

Barb

 

I tried strattera it was horrible!!! It made me pass out for 5 hours. My doctor gave me 20mg of ritalin. He gave 60 of them. I am just supposed to play around with them. I will try the first one tommorow! He refused to give me adderall!

Yeah, I was curious as to why he refuses to prescribe adderall?

Sounds like everyone answered your questions very well. But one thing i noticed; don't look at numbers (in dosages) and think since you have horrible troubles that you need 30 mg. It's all individual to individual and dosage is all relative to, one; brain chemicals, two; psychological factors, three: history, and the list goes on. So many factors to add in, gets complicated

I also saw that someone said dexedrine and adderall are identical. Adderall has l-amphetamines and d-amphetamines. Dexedrine is only one of the 4 types of amphetamines in adderall (the l's and d's have "brother/twin" sets.) Dexedrine contains dextroamphetamine sulfate, only one of the 4 amphetamine types as in Adderall.

HAVE A GOOD ONE YALL, take it calm, and GOD BLESS!!


lifejoy38484.0643171296I was recently diagnosed, after working on my masters for what feels like a millenum and not finishing. Anyway I was also wonder how long it takes people to notice the difference. I'm on my second day and still feel like I could fall right asleep after 30 minutes (I also ran a 4 mile race on sunday then was up really early for work on monday)