emperorowl
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 6, 2016
- Messages
- 10
Okay this is a very odd combination of a question, and I'm not sure if it's best here in BDD or somewhere else, feel free to move if necessary!
My fiance has been on Ritalin for about 2 years now for adult ADD. It was overall a great change for him as he couldn't function well before. He was originally on 18mg Concerta, but after about a year he asked for his dose to be raised a bit as his tolerance was growing and the good effects were wearing off. He started to forget to even refill his meds on time... bad sign! He was switched to 20mg of some generic Ritalin XR... not much of a dose increase if you ask me but it did seem to work fine for another year, so whatever.
Now on year 2 he's fallen back to square one. The last 3 months or so have been awful for both of us. He's back to being spacey, forgetting basic things, work performance is suffering, his mood has been kinda down lately and he's not enjoying things as much, not eating much etc. He complains often of "brain fog" and feeling very overwhelmed. I didn't think it could be his tolerance until recently and now I'm looking into options. That's part 1 of my question for you guys.
I myself am on Vyvanse (and have tried Adderall XR). I have learned everything 6 ways to Sunday about reducing/mitigating amphetamine tolerance and neurotoxicity, including magnesium supplements, vitamin C, melatonin, dxm, l-theanine, l-tyrosine, etc etc all that stuff found here on lovely bluelight. But with Ritalin specifically... I can't seem to find much! It appears methylphenidate is not very neurotoxic which is a good thing (I might ask to be switched to that myself), but I can't find much about lowering tolerance, aside from the "take a month-long drug vacation" idea which I don't know if that would be a great idea for him, as he needs to be medicated just to function every day and he DOES NOT abuse his meds. He can't afford to continue going untreated for that long. Does magnesium, DXM and all those things simply not work for MPH tolerance? Would it be helpful AT ALL for him? I already take all that stuff almost nightly for myself so I have it available.
He won't have a doc appointment for a while so In the meantime I have let him try my leftover Adderall XRs, which I personally hated, and when he took them he suddenly felt a HUGE improvement at least over what his current baseline is. He said it felt different than the Ritalin and he might prefer it more due to the different effects (some of that might have been first-time-euphoria). I obviously can't tell the doc "hey btw I let him try my meds and he liked it, can he have more?" Lol. But TBH I would prefer he stay on Ritalin because it doesn't have as much risk for brain damage as amps anyway. So he can ask for an increased dose, or to switch meds, when he gets to the appointment.
My 2nd question is about bringing dopamine levels back up either with supplements like tyrosine/theanine (I think...) I have considered getting some piracetam too. All of which are supposed to help bring dopamine levels back up or help the brain replenish itself. And if his ADD is uncontrolled and his dopamine is low, perhaps this would help by supplementing for a month or so... and maybe his medication would work better then too with more dopamine in his brain. Any suggestions? I know the tyrosine/theanine stuff is supposed to help with amps but again MPH is a bit different as it inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, so I want to be on the safe side and not give him something that will damage his brain lol. I do also have various strains of kratom including whites which are energizing, as well as good old MJ, a shitload of DXM, and even gabapentin but I don't think that would be much use. I will purchase whatever supplements are suggested and try them out ASAP.
My fiance has been on Ritalin for about 2 years now for adult ADD. It was overall a great change for him as he couldn't function well before. He was originally on 18mg Concerta, but after about a year he asked for his dose to be raised a bit as his tolerance was growing and the good effects were wearing off. He started to forget to even refill his meds on time... bad sign! He was switched to 20mg of some generic Ritalin XR... not much of a dose increase if you ask me but it did seem to work fine for another year, so whatever.
Now on year 2 he's fallen back to square one. The last 3 months or so have been awful for both of us. He's back to being spacey, forgetting basic things, work performance is suffering, his mood has been kinda down lately and he's not enjoying things as much, not eating much etc. He complains often of "brain fog" and feeling very overwhelmed. I didn't think it could be his tolerance until recently and now I'm looking into options. That's part 1 of my question for you guys.
I myself am on Vyvanse (and have tried Adderall XR). I have learned everything 6 ways to Sunday about reducing/mitigating amphetamine tolerance and neurotoxicity, including magnesium supplements, vitamin C, melatonin, dxm, l-theanine, l-tyrosine, etc etc all that stuff found here on lovely bluelight. But with Ritalin specifically... I can't seem to find much! It appears methylphenidate is not very neurotoxic which is a good thing (I might ask to be switched to that myself), but I can't find much about lowering tolerance, aside from the "take a month-long drug vacation" idea which I don't know if that would be a great idea for him, as he needs to be medicated just to function every day and he DOES NOT abuse his meds. He can't afford to continue going untreated for that long. Does magnesium, DXM and all those things simply not work for MPH tolerance? Would it be helpful AT ALL for him? I already take all that stuff almost nightly for myself so I have it available.
He won't have a doc appointment for a while so In the meantime I have let him try my leftover Adderall XRs, which I personally hated, and when he took them he suddenly felt a HUGE improvement at least over what his current baseline is. He said it felt different than the Ritalin and he might prefer it more due to the different effects (some of that might have been first-time-euphoria). I obviously can't tell the doc "hey btw I let him try my meds and he liked it, can he have more?" Lol. But TBH I would prefer he stay on Ritalin because it doesn't have as much risk for brain damage as amps anyway. So he can ask for an increased dose, or to switch meds, when he gets to the appointment.
My 2nd question is about bringing dopamine levels back up either with supplements like tyrosine/theanine (I think...) I have considered getting some piracetam too. All of which are supposed to help bring dopamine levels back up or help the brain replenish itself. And if his ADD is uncontrolled and his dopamine is low, perhaps this would help by supplementing for a month or so... and maybe his medication would work better then too with more dopamine in his brain. Any suggestions? I know the tyrosine/theanine stuff is supposed to help with amps but again MPH is a bit different as it inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, so I want to be on the safe side and not give him something that will damage his brain lol. I do also have various strains of kratom including whites which are energizing, as well as good old MJ, a shitload of DXM, and even gabapentin but I don't think that would be much use. I will purchase whatever supplements are suggested and try them out ASAP.
