Ritilin side effects?

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I quit taking Stratter due to insomnia, and my Dr. ordered me Ritilin. Anyone here try Ritilin and is there any bad side effects. My dr. ordered me the short acting one and I will be starting on a very low dose once a day.

My friend who has ADHD had said that taking ritilin can "lead to depression" years after not taking it (considered to be middle age of life I believe). That is only a rumor, since I've never confirmed it by reading for myself.

Don't forget to do your own reading! It is good to get peoples opinions, but you should try to read documentation too.

http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/rit ... ffects.htm

Common Ritalin side effects are:

* Difficulty sleeping
* Loss of appetite
* Irritability
* Nervousness
* Stomach aches
* Headaches
* Dry mouth
* Blurry vision
* Nausea
* Dizziness
* Drowsiness
* Tics

Other Ritalin side effects can include:

* Hypersensitivity
* Anorexia
* Heart palpitations
* Blood pressure and pulse changes
* Cardiac arrhythmia
* Anemia
* Scalp hair loss
* Psychosis

The following, though rare, have also been reported as Ritalin side effects:

* Abnormal liver function
* Cerebral arteritis
* Leukopenia
* Death

I am not sure if it applies to Ritalin but they found that some drugs in this category can cause you to hallucinate but this is rare.

If you have any questions about ritalin I would be glad to answer. I have been taking it off and on for many years. The main thing about it is....it is 'short acting'....because I don't take sustained release.....it can do one of two things depending on your neurological system and the situation....it can help you concentrate and feel energetically motivated, or it can make you feel tired. It all depends on the person's individual response. It isn't a hard medication to take in my opinion...you don't have withdrawal symptoms when you don't take it, or anything like that....so in my experience it is NOT addicting, physically. There might be potential for a little bit of 'dependence' on it, but that is because it is very helpful for 'motivation'. It helps get your mind off of 'negative' things, and inspires you to 'do something'. I started taking it regularly in my forties. But I have gone through periods, of months or even over a year without taking it.......I think it is helpful for 'motivation' and getting things accomplished. It isn't a miracle drug....but it helps. It is better than anti-depressants.....but it isn't a cure for depression, by any means. But, in that it helps with motivation, it can lead you away from depression. I take it for ADD, the non-hyperactivity kind of ADD.

You're on a low dose--you're unlikely to have severe side effects. If you have mild ones, they will likely fade once your body gets used to the medication.

Beware that you can have side effects simply because you are expecting to have them!

If this doesn't work for you and/or has side effects that are worse than being unmedicated, then try a different medication or caffeine (technically a drug, but widely used and considered safe).

Whether you take meds or not, they won't magically increase your study skills, organization strategies, etc. You'll need to make a conscious effort to learn those. Get a counselor to teach you, or hire an adhd coach.

I've been on Ritalin since Grade 3.

It does help me to focus, however, it also increases my anxiety. I once overdosed by accident. Not a lot of fun.

Since I'm not in school anymore, and I can do my job without it, I've taken myself off it. I should probably tell my doctor that though...

[quote=]"Beware that you can have side effects simply because you are expecting to have them![/quote]

This is why I don't want to look up the detailed info.

I have always said that I wish I could find something simular to caffeine, but never seemed to find one. My former Dr. didn't want to prescribe any ADHD meds, because he was obsessed that everyone had Bipolar disorder. I don't have it. I have always had ADHD, though. I drank about a two liter of Mt. Dew a day to keep my concentration where I could get anything done. I have great organizational skills, but I don't have the concentration skills. I get distracted very easily. Especialy lately. I don't know why. I compare my memory to 'Dory' (the blue fish in the movie 'NEMO'). She had a 2 second memory. After not taking the Strattera for two days, I feel sooooo much better. I am able to finally get some sleep, so I wake up feeling rested(that can make a huge difference) and I feel alot less depressed. However, I feel myself slipping back into cluelessness, living in the moment becasue I can''t think beyond that. While on the Strattera, I was able to think in terms of tommarrow, next week, next month, etc. I am slippiing back into not being able to focus on anything other than that moment that i am in and about two seconds past that.

Ritalin is amphetamine based, so its side effects are like other stimulants. The most common being dried mouth, feeling like your heart is racibg, psychomotor agigation (fidgeting, hand wringing), insomina, decreased appetite, feeling of bing "high"/or euphoria.

If you feel high, they've given you way too big a dose. There's no way anybody should be taking that much Ritalin.

Well, there could be hypersensitivity, I guess; but in that case you should be taking a very low dose.

If this is the case, then why is it ordered for ADHD?

The brain is wired differently with ADHD people, and it acts less like a stimulant for these people (actually, thats not true, but the stimulant effects have an interesting affect of balancing out things in the head, for lack of the word I want to use).

i was misdiagnosed with ADD when i was somewhere around the age of 8, they gave me ritalin wich lead to large depressions and general apathy, then my parents took me off of ritalin and i was properly diagnosed with Aspergers.

I had taken it some years ago, it vastly improved my concentration, but also made my OCD pretty bad.

it is structurally similar to amphetamine but its pharmacological action is similar to cocaine as opposed to amphetamine. as Padium said, brains with adhd are a bit different from NT's so the stimulating and euphoric effects that people seek through abuse are lessened. a good analogy is that a brain with adhd is like a car with no brakes or steering wheel. when you put them on stimulants they are getting stimulating but now they've got brakes and a steering wheel so they aren't as hyperactive/inattentive and seem calmer.

i was taking concerta (it's the same drug as ritalin but it's in a time-released capsule) last year but i switched to a different medication because of the side-effects. at first it was nice, i could focus more and i didn't really have any severe side effects, other than the typical loss of appetite, increased heart rate, etc. but they weren't bad. after a while, however, i started getting tired while i was on it and at the end of the day when i'd come down i would be irritable, unmotivated, uncomfortable, didn't feel joy from anything, etc.. it was so bad that the day before i was supposed to move out i got into a big argument with my parents, packed up my stuff, left, and didn't talk to them for a couple of weeks. i also fell asleep in class once because of it (imagine that, falling asleep because of a drug similar to cocaine). i would be fine and awake before taking it but about an hour after the effects started i would get really sleepy.

i switched to dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) which is the d-isomer of amphetamine so it's a bit more potent and faster acting than amphetamine but not as much as methamphetamine (which is also prescribed under the brand name Desoxyn). i find that it helps me concentrate, not as much as the ritalin though, but i feel much more energetic on it than on ritalin. i'm no longer lethargic and sleepy and the comedown isn't nearly as bad. at the end of the day i feel a slight discomfort for a little while, maybe a bit of difficulty with concentration, motivation and a bit less joy from pleasurable activities, but it's not that bad. my appetite is also significantly reduced while on the medication, more so than ritalin, so i have to remember to eat, which is difficult.

one thing to be mindful of is that it may make your preseverations more intense. i found it much more difficult not to obsess about things while on either medication. i think the ritalin was worse for me because it made me focus so incredibly intensely that i would go online just to check something in the morning and all of a sudden it was sundown and i hadn't eaten, gotten dressed, showered, or done anything other than sit on my computer and read things. it's still difficult with dexedrine but it's not nearly as bad.

so this is my experience with adhd medications. i know there are some for whom ritalin is a wonder-drug and helps them with few or no side effects but it didn't work well with me. i'd suggest you try it and if it works well, stay on it, but if you start feeling the same side effects that i felt you should consider switching to a different medication

edit: i also did get more anxiety while on ritalin. i've dealt with anxiety my whole life as many people here have, but i had never had a panic attack until i was on the medication. last summer i was nervous about something, put in a stressful situation, and had an anxiety attack. i guess you could say that was the last straw, i stopped taking the medication and when i returned to school saw the doctor here about medication and she switched me to dexedrine.

I was institutionalized at 12 years of age and they gave me Ritalin once. I don't remember what happened, they just told me that I sat on the couch staring into space, unresponsive to any stimulus, for about an hour and a half.

goat