Stimulants Does it take awhile for someone with ADD to get the benefits from Ritalin?

[MarDen]

Hey People,

I'm new here so if this has already been posted somewhere my apologies. I am an older adult and have been struggling with all the symptoms of ADD ADHD for well over 35+ years. I went to a Doctor and he told me I was extremely ADD and started me on 10 MG of Ritalin 2 X daily.

What I am wondering is does it take awhile like an antidepressant to receive the full benefits of the medication? I've already noticed that everything seems much clearer and I am able to focus much better but only a bit. He wanted to up my dosage a few days after I started but I told him I wanted to wait at least 2 weeks before he bumped my dosage up.

I just want to know from your experiences. Was it night and day from the start or was it gradual progress on helping you with your ADD ADHD?

Thank you everyone for your responses...

 

[sekio]

Most stimulants for ADD should start working immediately and you should not increase the dose unless it becomes less effective.

 

[THC2LSD]

It should work immediately, however 10mg IR methylphenidate twice a day is a little low, especially since it only lasts 4 hour with IR. Amphetamine ie. Adderall is more potent and longer acting. I'd tell your doctor that it's not working, he may decide to raise the dose or switch to something else.

 

[sekio]

From personal communication with stimulant users, and through anecdotal reports, I have to emphasize that stimulant use is a game of diminishing returns, and increasing the dose "just because you can" will eventually only result in faster tolerance development and worse "comedowns".

10mg twice a day is more than enough.
It's not supposed to make you feel like the movie Limitless, it's supposed to help you work normally.

But ask your doctor what he thinks.

 

[bronson]

If you are getting the result you need to treat your ADHD I would say tell your doctor that you don't want to increase the dose as you feel it's doing enough as is. Lowest dose for maximum needed benefit is a concept that a lot of doctors just don't seem to get.

Be sure to take as directed and only as needed. I've seen close friends with addictive personalities come to the brink of destruction from what started as a low dose stimulant rx for ADHD.

Just play it safe and I hope you find a dose and medication that get you feeling better. Also, welcome to bL.

 

[Tryptamino]

It should work immediately, however 10mg IR methylphenidate twice a day is a little low, especially since it only lasts 4 hour with IR. Amphetamine ie. Adderall is more potent and longer acting. I'd tell your doctor that it's not working, he may decide to raise the dose or switch to something else.

Orally Ritalin lasts 2 hours, and that's still pushing it. Also doesn't work particularly well for add IME

 

[tricomb]

No, it's not like an SSRI antidepressant, you will know right away whether you benefit or not from the medication.

Methylphenidate is not an amphetamine as this thread was indicated, however I would recommend you ask your doctor about amphetamines instead, Dexedrine is a nice and mellow one, commonly prescribed, I'm sure you've heard of it. It's much more forgiving than Adderall in terms of side effects.

As far as dosage goes, you really want to shoot for as low as possible without the medication being ineffective. It's probably better to be taking a little less rather than a little more because it will eventually add up and you need to consider things like Neurotoxicity and proper dietary intake in addition to exercise. Medications alone will only do so much for you, and if you're eating, drinking, and sleeping right then chances are you will make substantial progress compared to medication alone.

 

[Tryptamino]

Methylphenidate is not an amphetamine as this thread was indicated

methylphenidate is actually considered to be a member of the amphetamine family of drugs, along with ephedrine and propylhexedrine. they aren't in the more specific amphetamine drug family consisting of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (as well as quite a few other, lesser known drugs), but they are indeed amphetamines in the general sense.

 

[tricomb]

^interesting, I've never heard that, prove it!

 

[sekio]

In a very technical sense, methylphenidate is an amphetamine - however, it's not "close enough" to an amphetamine to act like one. Instead it is pharmacologically much closer to e.g. cocaine and acts primarily as a reuptake inhibitor.

The real lynchpin of the issue is that methylphenidate just doesn't act like an amphetamine - it is much closer to a cathinone or tropane derivative in terms of its effects.

Notably, the alpha-methyl carbon is extended and cyclized onto the nitrogen, and there is a beta-carboxymethyl group that is not present in any other amphetamine-type stimulants.

 

[tricomb]

Is it chemically related to caffeine? It feels so much like caffeine to me.

 

[heathen5000]

No. Effects should be obvious on first dose….but will, over time, diminish. The amount of time depends on far too many individual variables to predict for you however.