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Am I at risk of a heart attack?

A

Ab33

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
139
Hey guys!
I was given a prescription of 10 mg Ritalin but what I now conclude is that the dosage was too high for me. I only experienced heart palpitations,pale skin,severe insomnia (its like I haven't sleept for like 1.5 years),restlessness,heightened blood pressure,reduced blood flow (I could like feel it in my legs that they became quite numb),chest pain,feelings that you're heart is giving in a few marters on time

I have been on it for like almost 2 years and couldn't actually function on it (I mean its very uncomfortable to feel those effects). Idk what made me stick to this drug while it was giving me frequent panic attacks. I even exercised on it went to the gym (to set off those effects). Its only now that I decided to Just go back to 5 mg and abstain de caffeïne,other stims. I found these effects mentioned to be less om 5 mg.

If you look at my skin, it really looks pale. When it wears off my skin natural color comes back.

I also havent sleept for a fking long time. I also wasted 2 years of education due these palpitations (like I wanted to actually fking study on it but these physical effects made it very uncomfortable). I have 2 exams comming up and if I fail, God damn I'd need to wait till next year (2023).

Am I at risk of fking up my heart,brain,developent die insomnia,heart issues,chest pain,blood pressure. It puts me through lots of stress all this. I wonder if I actually sped up the songs process at the same time lol.

Anyone with much knowledge who can help me.
 
I'm still gutted about the impact these ap's had. I actually don't know if some of cognitie issues I now face is die either insomnia or just the after effects of the ap's or Just stress.

But man I put my heart under a lot of stress due the insane amount of stims I combined (Ritalin 10 mg with caffeine) and what my body couldn't handle.

I also feel like I should be feeling dopamine. I mean I have memories from before the ap's and remember these feelings (it was also pre-covid). Sorry if my way of expressief myself doesn't sound clear.

I'm afraid of having s heart attack in the best futures that ive damaged my heart muscle. Also years of insomnia isn't good either. I really experienced lots of things a Young 20 year shouldn't feel.
The chest pain (lack of ozygen to the heart) Everyday wasnt fun.
 
Electrum1 said:
How do you feel if you stop taking it?

Is that an option?
Click to expand...
If it would be for fixing my sleep for s little bit and actually find out if I actually do something wrong with my heart why not.

Well my plan is to not take a Day (sleep well,etc) and take lower dosage from Them on (I feel those side effects to none less on 5mg if I don't stress,sleep well,Hydrate,and most importantly not take it with caffeine)
 
Yeah definitely avoid caffeine with the symptoms you described feeling.

My suggestion would be to go a week or two without Ritalin and see if you feel normal, unless you medically NEED to take it.
 
You might have a small risk.


Those doses are pretty dang low honestly. I need atleast 20-40mg of ritalin before it really "hits the spot".
but everyone is different I suppose.


What is your age?
I've been doing crystal on & off for 20+ years, and ritalin & amphetamine whenever I could get my hands on it.
Plus caffeine ontop of it. And copious amounts of other drugs.

Just had a chest xray & ekg and bloodwork & my heart is totally fine, surprisingly.
I'm 34 and if I could survive all that, I'm sure you'll be okay taking these low doses of ritalin.

Ritalin I believe is not as hard on the cardiovascular system as amphetamine or other stimulants.


If it's increasing your anxiety & youre prone to health-anxiety like I am, then you might actually start thinking & feeling like you're having symptoms of a heart attack, etc..


Most of the stress on your body comes from not sleeping & such.
If you want to continue using ritalin, I'd recommend making sure to eat, hydrate & get to bed at night if possible.
 
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If you're young and don't have a congenital heart condition it would be highly unlikely for you to have a heart attack on 10mg of methylphenidate.

Sounds like you're pretty sensitive to the physical side effects of that particular drug. But are you sure that methylphenidate is the main cause? It could also be something else. Do you only feel that way after taking it?
 
I had a friend who had an adverse reaction to taking ritalin. It wasn't a panic attack, it was something to do with his heart but it was pretty minor and he then switched to dexamphetamine.

I've taken ritalin, Modafinil, armodafonil, dexamphetamine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine and I have never had any heart issues.

I did, however, find that ritalin was very very jittery and induced panic a lot more than other stimulants. That is the reason I ceased taking it and requested dexamphetamine as my prescription as I'd heard better stories about it. Dexamphetamine actually relieves my anxiety rather than sets it off.

Could you have the medication changed to a different stimulant if you do medically need to be taking it?

Also in any case I'd definitely suggest not taking it for a week or so. To be really honest it's not helping you at all at this point, you're clearly very worked up about the side effects you're experiencing and understandably so. I highly doubt it is bringing you any medical benefits which outweighs the negative experiences you're having.
 
The amount of stimulants you have taken is not a high amount, I honestly wouldn't stress much about that. 10mg of ritalin is a very low dose and caffeine together with it won't damage your heart. It would be very unlikely to at least.

Everyone is different, but I often take dexamphetamine the same day I take methamphetamine and will drink energy drinks on Dexamphetamine too, as well as drink coffee. I'm on 30mg dexamphetamine per day.

You may be very, very sensitive to stimulant medication. Some people are. A friend of mine needs 100mg dexamphetamine per day for ADHD. That amount of medication would keep me awake for a day. Not her. For you 5ng and NO caffeine would be better, I'd think. Or none at all.

The most methamphetamine I've used in a single session has been 1 gram, and I often use half a gram per night. I don't recommend this at all and it's the reason for my break from the drug as I need to stop entirely or at the very least reduce my tolerance, but I'm yet to experience any heart issues and I've used meth on and off for decent periods over 7 years (probably around 3 years all up using, with some slips here and there in between). I'm saying this to explain that your current dose really isn't anything to medically be concerned about as people have, do, and will take much higher doses of much more powerful stimulants without many if any heart concerns.

Of course, some people do experience heart issues on stimulants but that often happens following years of heavy, habitual use. Your level of useage is a prescribed amount even with the caffeine.

I honestly think you have some anxiety surrounding this and it's being made worse by the ritalin as it can exacerbate anxiety in some people. It's not the smoothest or least agitating stimulant on the market and people often stop taking it (as I did) for precisely this reason.

Anxiety can mimic heart issues, so what I do think is happening is that the ritalin is causing you to experience severe anxiety, which is being compounded by the effects of the stimulants and your lack of knowledge around stimulant medication and substances. As in, the fact that you believe that you've been taking 'insane' doses of stimulants indicates to me that you have little knowledge of average dosing for these substances and you are experiencing added anxiety because you believe that you've been taking an absurd amount of stimulants which could damage your heart. I assure you that you have not, and you are not. You are on a low therapeutic dose of a prescribed drug, and even with the caffeine you're nowhere near a dangerous threshold.

If you posted saying that you've been using a gram of meth a day for 10 years and wrote about the same issue, then I would be getting concerned about the health risks. Please trust me that you are not on a high dose, it isn't just a regular dose, it's actually very low. It's contributing to your anxiety.

As I said in your other thread I think it is well past time for you to stop taking ritalin as it clearly is causing you far more negative side effects than any benefits.

As far as your questions about anti-psychotic medication goes you will have to explain which medications you have been on for me to pass comment on that. I've been on some which were useful, others which were decidedly not so. They can be very hit and miss and for people who are on the wrong one for a long time the ongoing effects can be very bothersome.

In saying all this, if you do continue to believe that you have heart issues from this (which again, I stress, is very unlikely on such a low dose together with something as mild as caffeine) then please have some tests done. It will give you an answer either way which we cannot definitively provide. It may ease your panic.

Lastly, it is recommended not to mix prescription stimulants with caffeine due to the higher chance of exacerbating the unpleasant side effects which naturally occur with these medications. It's not strictly speaking dangerous, but I would hazard a guess it's contributed to your situation.
 
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Thx for your help guys! I also don't know if I'm sometimes inventing this problem or not. I do however mentioned it to a doc once but said that it was rather anxiety than the Ritalin itself, maybe the Ritalin made it more noticable. I also have exams comming up idk maybe caffeïne,ritaline,makes the anxiety rather more noticable (its easy to be caught up in anxiety when you have exams).

Yeah I actually need it cause I have 2 exams comming up and it helps me keeping awake and makes me function its best of all the meds Ive tried (I live in a place where there's only Ritalin as stimulants which treats both narcolepsy and ADHD, ive tried modafinil but doesn't do much shit for focus), while Ritalin is the med that makes me function its best to my potential.

Ive done few health evaluations years ago and no abnormalities found in my heart so I'm fine in that regard.

I'll Just stick with a lower dosage (I found the anxiety reduced if I take a lower dosage) till the exams are gone. My concerns might be psychosomatic.
 
Has a doctor told you that you have cardiovascular issues or damage to your heart?

10mg Ritalin at a time is a very low dose that seems incredibly unlikely to cause long-term cardiovascular issues.
 
I think mirtazapine has the chance to be less drowsier than zoloft, might be wrong but if someone thinks otherwise. Anyhow, he should talk to his doc sooner or later
 
I agree with shady.. talk with your doc next appointment. Lots of people don’t react well to certain meds. You don't need to make a huge deal out of it to have your physician change your medication. Look at your options and feel free to ask to try a different medication.
 
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I agree with others, please talk to your doctor about this. It seems as though the 10mg dosage is not right for you, and perhaps Ritalin is not the right medication for you at all. Other options may need to be explored. Please take care of yourself and let us know how you go after talking to your doctor about this okay?

I'm going to merge your other thread with this one, to keep the conversation all together in one thread.
 
10mg/day might slightly increase your risk of heart attack. All stimulating ADHD medication increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is dose dependent. Antipsychotics also increase the risk but in a different way, they do so via QT interval elongation (aka long QT syndrome) which is associated with arrhythmia. Women seem to be at higher risk of drug induced cardiac arrhythmia in general (for reasons i don't know).

10mg/day of methylphenidate is a low dose however and shouldn't be a major concern.
 
Ab33 said:
Hey guys!
I was given a prescription of 10 mg Ritalin but what I now conclude is that the dosage was too high for me. I only experienced heart palpitations,pale skin,severe insomnia (its like I haven't sleept for like 1.5 years),restlessness,heightened blood pressure,reduced blood flow (I could like feel it in my legs that they became quite numb),chest pain,feelings that you're heart is giving in a few marters on time

I have been on it for like almost 2 years and couldn't actually function on it (I mean its very uncomfortable to feel those effects). Idk what made me stick to this drug while it was giving me frequent panic attacks. I even exercised on it went to the gym (to set off those effects). Its only now that I decided to Just go back to 5 mg and abstain de caffeïne,other stims. I found these effects mentioned to be less om 5 mg.

If you look at my skin, it really looks pale. When it wears off my skin natural color comes back.

I also havent sleept for a fking long time. I also wasted 2 years of education due these palpitations (like I wanted to actually fking study on it but these physical effects made it very uncomfortable). I have 2 exams comming up and if I fail, God damn I'd need to wait till next year (2023).

Am I at risk of fking up my heart,brain,developent die insomnia,heart issues,chest pain,blood pressure. It puts me through lots of stress all this. I wonder if I actually sped up the songs process at the same time lol.

Anyone with much knowledge who can help me.
Click to expand...
I just wanted to say that there is a chance that you could actually have something medical going on with your heart, that is not related to the Ritalin. Your Ritalin use could just be a coincidence to you developing these symptoms. I don't say that to alarm you, it's just that it's a bit strange for such a trivial dose of Ritalin to cause such awful effects. So please make sure you get checked over by your doctor, and perhaps referred to a cardiologist if necessary.

It could also be psychosomatic. It could be anxiety. You know your body and your situation best so take whatever anyone says on here with a grain of salt and always refer to your doctor for the best health and medical advice 🙂
 
n3ophy7e said:
I just wanted to say that there is a chance that you could actually have something medical going on with your heart, that is not related to the Ritalin. Your Ritalin use could just be a coincidence to you developing these symptoms. I don't say that to alarm you, it's just that it's a bit strange for such a trivial dose of Ritalin to cause such awful effects. So please make sure you get checked over by your doctor, and perhaps referred to a cardiologist if necessary.

It could also be psychosomatic. It could be anxiety. You know your body and your situation best so take whatever anyone says on here with a grain of salt and always refer to your doctor for the best health and medical advice 🙂
Click to expand...
Its only happen when I take a dosage of 10mg. When its wears off the palpitations and chest pain actually go away, so it's definetely the Ritalin. Shit I now realize its been for like almost 2 years ive been living like this. The fact that I kept on taking the drug with feeling all these side effects really is something stupid from me.r

Ive been damaging my heart all those years without taking steps to stop this. I also havent have a good sleep for all those moments (as it causes insomnia) so that might even be due that. I also feel like I am more forgetful and think it might be related to sleep. I also wake up with having to take caffeïne or Ritalin or I'd be Just dead tired.
 
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