Ritalin in depressed,anxious people, good or bad?

Hello everyone!
I'm confused and don't know what to think. I hope you guys can give me some advice.

I have been in treatment for depression for over a year now and no antidepressant (celexa,remeron,bupropion,valdoxan) worked for me.
The psychiatrist then said I should try ritalin because I also have concentration issues.
I asked him if ritalin could not make my anxiety worse and if it would not be like adding fuel to the fire and he said no.

I then wanted to get a second opinion and went to another psychiatrist and he warned me and told me that ritalin would make anxiety worse
and that there are studies which show that ritalin even causes depression in people who have been on it!
He said that the brain always adapts to drugs and when you stop taking it then you'll experience a lack!
What also scares me is that he said that when the brain is used to ritalin then
you have to stay on it or otherwise you'll be much less functionable without it. This scares me a lot. I am a university student and I have exams in a few months which are VERY important and at the same time I am damn scared of these exams. I have nightmares of them and even when I think about them I often become afraid.What if I start with ritalin now and take it for months and then for example had to get off it before the exams or could not take it on exam days because of fear? I mean on such days I would already be scared and I dont know if taking ritalin in a situation where you're already scared is
good.

Now I don't know what to think and who to believe. The first psychiarist made it look like it's no big deal at all and as if all my concerns were unfounded. I definitely do not want to get on ritalin if it can make depression worse which would mean that I'd basically depend on it and couldn't stop taking it if I wanted
to. I am already very depressed and getting even more depressed would be dangerous.

What do you think who should I listen to? Is ritalin dangerous for depressed people? Is the second psychiatrist right? I am scared of making the wrong decision and then ending up worse.

I have also already tried ritalin. I have a time-released ritalin which releases 50% instantly and 50% later.
My highest single dose so far was 15mg which equals 7,5mg instantly released ritalin. I didn't feel anything!
Does this mean that ritalin is simply not for me even if I should have ADD, which also isn't really clear?
I really don't want to have to move up to really high doses like 60mg ritalin/day cause I imagine that taking high doses will also increase the risk of side effects and also dependency of the brain.
I was hoping that maybe 5mg would cut it for me cause some people say even 5mg are enough for them.
I also don't really know what to look for. How can you tell if ritalin is doing anything if you're not hyperactive?

Ritalin can definitely make anxiety worse, esp. in higher doses. There's plenty of evidence for that, anecdotal and otherwise.

What also scares me is that he said that when the brain is used to ritalin then you have to stay on it or otherwise you'll be much less functionable without it.

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Not neccesarily. But people who use stimulants all the time can find themselves feeling dependent on them, like you "need" to take your Ritalin to concentrate. At the same time it's not going to turn you into a zombie with "normal" levels of use (if you start crushing and snorting your pills it's a different story). You'll likely just feel a little more tired and less active for a day or so after using the drug.

My highest single dose so far was 15mg which equals 7,5mg instantly released ritalin. I didn't feel anything!
Does this mean that ritalin is simply not for me even if I should have ADD, which also isn't really clear?

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Nope. 15mg is the lowest dose possible, it's not suprising you didn't feel anything.

If you have pre-existing anxiety issues, it's probably best to not bother with stimulant therapy. They'll just put you even more on edge, and it doesn't sound like you would handle the "crash" many methylphenidate users report.

Concentrate on studying for your exams and being as prepared as you can. Try to keep stress levels low (it may seem difficult) - people learn and function better when they're not under pressure all the time. Take breaks and socialise. And resist the temptation to use "study drugs" or the like - they won't help you in the long term.


this probably will get more traffic in Other Drugs

im naturally a depressed, and anxious person who suffers anxiety...ritalin made me borderline sucidial and pyshocotic, i was hallucinating, and the worst feeling in the world. at first the ritalin took away my anxiety, made me calm yet energized but after a year or 2 of abuse, all ritalin does is gives me a crash-high, all dysphoric, nasty shit

if its anything like amphetamine then it will help when you are actually buzzing on the stuff, but when it wears off there can be a severe crash in your mood, so that you end up feeling even worse than you did before you took it.....

like 100x worse to be exact lol

MPH can reduce anxiety and depression in some people. The theory behind it is that your brain cannot process all of the stimuli or racing thoughts at once which leads to anxiety for some people. Once the brain has some extra dopamine it can decipher what is of importance and what is not, so your brain isn't trying to process 100 things at once and gets all confused, distracted, unfocused ultimately causing anxiety.

MPH however does cause a shit load of peripheral stimulation, which is good for depression but in general bad for anxiety. If you legitimately have ADD then MPH will help and psychiatrists like to take the dose as high as possible. My instructions were to keep upping the dose by 10mg/day until i basically had a panic attack or felt like i was going to die. Then we knew my optimal dose was slightly below that one lol. I love my psychiatrist, he only does research and only works with ADD/ADHD and is always 100% in agreement with me and I to him on big pharma, SSRIs and other medications that are needlessly prescribed. So i trust that his method is sound (appeal to authority i know but i just don't know as much as he does about such things).

However if the MPH is giving you too much anxiety, then ask to be switched over to dexedrine as it's much more smooth, hardly any peripheral stimulation and in all aspects, a better stimulant for ADD/HD. I find MPH useful and i have pretty bad anxiety so it really depends on the individual. One thing about MPH in long acting formulations is that there is an incredible burn out, not like a come down where u feel like shit but you just get insanely tired and have to go sleep.

and yeah, once you are used to using a stim for concentration, energy and focus, you will not like not having it every day. That's why pharm companies love Drs who prescribe the shit out of them! And likely why there are SO many people diagnosed with ADD. But whatever, give it a shot and see how it goes, if it doesn't work for you try dexedrine, if that doesn't work, you probably have a different issue.

you need to try a much higher dose than 15mg time released. I think 80mg time released was my max dose, you'll know if it's working or not trust me. If it doesn't dramatically change your life then try dexedrine. That's the advice i got from my psychiatrist.

Also don't abuse MPH, it will give you a nasty crash if you abuse it. Same goes for dexedrine, except the crash isn't near as bad and it's about 20x more euphoric IMO. You can tell if it's working by the length of your bluelight posts lol, as you can see, my dexedrine is clearly working well

probly it would make it worse.valium and kava kava would help u more!!!!

LOL ^ cant u tell too? im on addys right now, blasting music feelin the vibe and typin..without stims, i cant read, i cant focus, i cant type, i cant even go on a computer without getting fruesterated. ever since i was 14 and put on stims, i cant do school work, or any type of concentration without stims...i cant believe how over prescribed these drugs are, especially giving little kids practically crystal meth in pill form..yet its a schedule II, doctors write it like its an SSRI, but when u ask for a schedule IV, a less controlled drug, its like pulling teeth, my doctor told me some feel stims help drug addicts stay off drugs and stay out of trouble. in my case i turn into an OCD maniac, stuck on bluelight for 5hrs at a time, face booking at the same time, youtube at the same time..man..stims did fuck my brain chemistry up permanently...these doctors know how addictive this shit is, there has to be a good reason there lenient on it

^lol same with me fuck, i rotate between obsessively studying (2 tests in the next 2 days worth 40% of my mark) and constantly scanning bluelight, in between having cigarette after cigarette.

and i can't even find my dexedrine, think gf hid it on me so i can't study and focus properly ATM.

i think the reason they are over prescribed is simply because they make society more productive and generate great revenues, it works out for everyone. Back in the 60s tons of people were on stims for productivity, the same thing has just manifested itself in a new way and now we get a new label for it, add/adhd. Stims will make anyone productive and focus better IME. It's insane how easy it is to get an adderall/dexedrine/MPH script compared to an opiate or benzo script. Not to say ADD/ADHD isn't legitimate, i think it is, but the DSM pretty much shows that anyone can get a diagnosis if they want to.