Stimulants Ritalin vs Adderall Anxiety and paranoia

[g_dan1]

Hello everyone. This monday I had a lot of work to do and study for tests. I decided to take some Ritalin that I got from a friend earlier. It was a 36 mg slow release pill but i split it in 3 pieces, crushed one and took it with a glass of water. Soon after that I went to the shower and when I came out(about 30 mins after taking the pill) for some reason I was feeling VERY nervous and paranoid. My heart was beating VERY fast and loud. Because of my anxiety I was talking differently and my sister spotted it right away. It was a really unpleasant experience and I had to do a lot of talking to prove to her that im not "on cocaine" lol. :D She thought I was because I was staring at her with my eyes wide open and according to her my speech sounded very tense and nervous.
I tend to be a pretty paranoid person in general and get little anxiety alot of times. Weed makes me VERY paranoid. (sativa). I think part of me being paranoid was because i was in the house with my sister (we don't have the best relationship).

I tried adderall earlier this year 3 times about 10mg. I was with friends and it didn't give me ANY paranoia or anxiety. It actually made me extremely social, happy, and confident. I also consume alot of caffeine daily (200-400mg) which doesnt affect me or give me any noticable anxiety.

My questions:
1) Is it normal for Ritalin to give you this kind of anxiety that is VERY noticeable to people that know you?
2) Is adderall supposed to do that? In my experience with friends it didn't but I don't wanna risk it.
3) would you say it is easy to spot someone on adderall? My sister spotted me on Ritalin RIGHT AWAY.

If its very common for both adderall and ritalin to give u anxiety, would u say caffeine with L-theanine is a good study aid?:D (i dont have adhd)

Sorry if I broke any rules or posted in the wrong section. I am still fairly new to this forum

 

[Tanner Blaze]

Unless you're 12 yrs old, you shouldn't be getting high from 10mg of Adderall, that is a very low dose. Anxiety is a common side effect from stimulants but everyone is different. My advice would be to stay away from getting high on ADHD meds, its obviously not working for you. Just my experience, I've smoked meth and never felt any anxiety or paranoria,and I've smoked weed and once had a complete panic attack it was scary so every drug is different but if that dosage changes your mood I'd say your just not cut out for stims..stick to other stuff.

 

[g_dan1]

Im 18 and im 150 lb.
I wasn't trying to get HIGH i was taking it to study

 

[dus_aster]

Any drug has the potential to induce psychosomatic paranoia/anxiety; I've done drugs for identical reasons in very similar settings, and even anxiolytics can induce paranoia if you're someone perhaps already prone to paranoia/anxiety. I have GAD, and there's a plethora of drugs that give me paranoia; the trick, I find, is set and setting. If being around people while on a substance gives you anxiety, is it possible for you to only ingest the substance when alone? This is what I do, and it eliminates ALL the anxiety I get from stimulants.

In answer to your questions:
1) Yes and no. Methylphenidate/Ritalin/any stimulant *could* induce anxiety and paranoia, but it's not super likely at a 12mg instant release dosage. I might consider trying dosing alone, and seeing if that helps?

2) Again, could do, might not. Some people find amphetamines/Adderall to be less edgy than MPH/Ritalin, but individual prefefence will vary. Neither of them is really supposed to induce the sort of experience you had, but it's entirely possible in either case.

3) It's not really possible to spot someone on low-midling doses of ADHD medication, in my experience, but it *is* pretty easy to spot someone having a panic/anxiety attack. Fwiw, I used dextroamphetamine, Adderall, Ritalin, MPH, and EPD in a service/animal care work environment, and nobody noticed a thing, heh (...except the animals, if I was tweaking.)

Basically- any drug can do this to you, mate. It doesn't mean, however, that you can't overcome the effects, or negate them by finding a setting that works for you.

Some semi-solicited advice:

1) Try waiting until you're alone and will be for the duration of your high. Time permitting, leave your Ritalin in the XR/SR formulation. Crushing, as I'm sure you already know, defeats these mechanisms. If not, that's alright, but keep the doses low, for the first few times? 12mg sounds about right, to err on the side of caution.

2) Experiment with meds. It's a real b*tch finding medication that works the way you want it to without gross side effects the first time around. If you try Ritalin again and don't find it useful, consider trying to study with Adderall (or, if you can find it, dextroamphetamine; much smoother) !

3) Caffeine and L-Theanine could also be good? As someone who uses stims frequently for functional purposes, I think it's f*cking rad to have one or two lower-impact stim combos on hand for less intense sessions. Amphetamines and MPH are awesome, but the less hard-stims one puts into themselves, the better (I went from using Adderall as a study aid to using Adderall to clean my house, then Adderall to make work easier and wake up, then Adderall to stay human every single day. It's a slippery slope and bears mentioning.)

Hope this helps, man.
And I wanna add- I've done everything from smoking methamphetamine to railing ethylphenidate for days on end (stupid, stupid, don't do that, it was stuPID), and 10mg Adderall still gives me a good buzz if potentiated with baking soda

 

[g_dan1]

Now thats the kind of advice I was looking for! Thank you very much buddy!

A few followup questions:
What are some visible symptoms that could potentially let someone know you are on adderall or ritalin? (Except anxiety and shaking)

Would it be a good idea to take it in school and just stay there and study?

 

[dus_aster]

No worries! I'm new to BL, so I appreciate the feedback.
(My phone crashed while I was proofreading an unsaved and lengthy answer to your questions, so the rewritten answer is gonna be a little more brief)

The signs of stimulant use I've noticed in myself and others:

-jaw clenching/grinding
-dilated pupils, at mid-high doses
-strange, distinct body odor, usually at high doses
-twitching, drumming fingers, tapping feet
-talking faster than normal, interrupting others, unable to hold conversation without jumping from topic to topic (paradoxically, I notice that stims cause me to exhibit symptoms of ADHD, when socializing)



Fixes/workarounds for each sign, in same order as above:

-chew gum (good to do anyways, it'll save you worn enamel in the future) ; some people also find magnesium supplements help (also theorized to help retard tolerance build-up!)
-shouldn't be a problem at your dose, and pupil size fluctuates naturally even without drug use. If pushed, claim they're 'always this large' or feign ignorance (a friend of mine has pupils that are naturally perma-dimed; it never doesn't appear as though she just railed 150mg of MDMA.)
-would be surprised if this happened. If if it does, and if deodorant doesn't do the trick, take a page from my old rugby teacher's handbook and keep your armpit hair trimmed short.
-if questioned, claim you've ingested more caffeine than intended on an empty stomach. Never seen this answer not satisfy anyone questioning me about stim use, from family to coworkers.
-ditto the previous answer.

As to whether to do it at school...I'm not sure, by the time I started experimenting I was in self-directed internet school; if school is a place you don't feel as though you would be bothered at, or have to engage in any anxiety-inducing behavior, it could work for you? Wherever you think you're least likely to be bothered/wherever you normally feel the most comfortable is likely going to be your best bet. I find stims exacerbate anxiety rather than producing it on their own, so if you're in an environment you feel good in, it could be hugely beneficial.
Have you considered taking the L-Theanine with the Ritalin? I have no personal experience with this combo, but the web seems to think it's a good one.

In summary- cover yourself with the 'too much coffee/too many caffeine pills' defence, L-Theanine is something to consider, and above all, remember that nobody can (short of a drug test) prove that you're doing anything they think you shouldn't be. Relax . If needed, the 'haha I took too much caffeine, I'm really anxious and overstimulated right now, it was sort of dumb' has satisfied people questioning me on more than one occasion in the past!


EDIT: I can't brevity, welp
I forgot to mention that you really shouldn't experience any of the aforementioned symptoms in a super obvious way; those listed become more pronounced with dosage, and 'ADD' stimulants are a pretty well tolerated group of drugs, on the whole. Recreational use can be tricky to hide (MPH doses over 30mg, and Adderall doses over 40, for me) from family, but, generally, I find most people don't really give a shit. Rather than worrying about being discovered or called out, have a defense ready, and look at yourself as someone just looking to study/work (the truth!) rather than someone doing something wrong.