Ritalin

[cbahagrl1234]

Hi there,

I just came back from my neurologist today and I have told him about my extreme tiredness in the afternoon. I told him I drink abundance of caffeine in orde to stay awake during the day. The doctor felt that if I take 2.5 mg of regular Ritalin during the afternoon, it may help my extreme tiredness. As anyone been prescribed Ritalin for this reason? Any suggestions??? However, the dr did say I may feel some heart palpitations...

[delphicdragon]

I was told to try Ritalin for my tiredness too. The doctor also said that Sudafed (the real stuff, pseudoephidrine, not the phenylephidrine that is on the market now) would work too. I take that when symptomatic and it helps a lot. Might I suggest trying Sudafed first, as it's over the counter to see if that helps you, and then maybe progress to the Ritalin? That was what was recommended for me.

Sara

[ajw4790]

Hi,

I tried Ritalin for ADHD/fatigue. I found that I crashed (crashed HARD) the three or four hours after it wore off, and I personally did not get much benefit from it either. But, I am very sensitive to meds.

As far as the Sudafed goes, be careful with that and consult with your dr. first due to possible drug interactions and other side effects, because it is made to do something completely different then keep you awake, so you may find more side effects.

[Eillyre]

I tried Ritalin and then Adderall for fatigue and CFS/POTS cognitive issues (trouble concentrating, reading, etc.) -- and no, I was never even remotely a candidate for an ADHD/ADD diagnosis.

I found both medications helpful, although Adderall was the better fit for me. I started at 5mg of Ritalin, which helped, but was not ideal. As we slowly increased the dose, I sometimes felt trembly and had fluttery heart palpitations. Nothing serious, but given those reactions, the prescribing doctor thought that Adderall would be a better choice. I currently take 20mg of Adderall about 5 days a week, have had no negative side effects at all from it, and find it just as useful as Ritalin was.

On either of these medications, I feel more energetic and find that I am less tired because my brain process information much more efficiently. They've eventually made it possible for me to work part-time and start college (when I'm overall healthy enough, that is).

I do have a word of caution, however. Ritalin/Adderall can give you a false sense of energy, make you feel like you can do much more than normal. It can be easy to over-exert yourself if you are not careful with energy maintenance.

When I first started taking Ritalin (and subsequently Adderall), I made a careful choice to do only a little bit more than I would normally be able to do. I tried not to think of the pills as supplying extra energy, but merely allowing me to utilize what energy I had more efficiently. Tools, not wonder-pills. That mind-set has helped me avoid over-exertion.

I also chose not to take it two days a week, so that on those days I could gauge how much I was able to do without the pills. My non-Ritalin days were never as productive as the Ritalin days (still aren't), but if I managed my energy well the rest of the week, the non-Ritalin days weren't wash-outs; if I had done too much, the non-Ritalin days were a hard crash. Over time, though, since I started taking these stimulants, my energy and productivity have gradually increased even on non-Ritalin days. As this "baseline" energy has slowly increased, I have slowly increased my energy expenditure on days I take Adderall.

To my mind it was worth a try. If it didn't work out, I could easily stop and would only be out about $5. If it did help at all, it would be worth whatever I paid for it. In my case, it has proved extremely useful. As with Mestinon, it has allowed such improvement in the overall quality of my life that I would still take it even if it cut 50 years off my life.

Angela

[cbahagrl1234]

I tried Ritalin and then Adderall for fatigue and CFS/POTS cognitive issues (trouble concentrating, reading, etc.) -- and no, I was never even remotely a candidate for an ADHD/ADD diagnosis.

I found both medications helpful, although Adderall was the better fit for me. I started at 5mg of Ritalin, which helped, but was not ideal. As we slowly increased the dose, I sometimes felt trembly and had fluttery heart palpitations. Nothing serious, but given those reactions, the prescribing doctor thought that Adderall would be a better choice. I currently take 20mg of Adderall about 5 days a week, have had no negative side effects at all from it, and find it just as useful as Ritalin was.

On either of these medications, I feel more energetic and find that I am less tired because my brain process information much more efficiently. They've eventually made it possible for me to work part-time and start college (when I'm overall healthy enough, that is).

I do have a word of caution, however. Ritalin/Adderall can give you a false sense of energy, make you feel like you can do much more than normal. It can be easy to over-exert yourself if you are not careful with energy maintenance.

When I first started taking Ritalin (and subsequently Adderall), I made a careful choice to do only a little bit more than I would normally be able to do. I tried not to think of the pills as supplying extra energy, but merely allowing me to utilize what energy I had more efficiently. Tools, not wonder-pills. That mind-set has helped me avoid over-exertion.

I also chose not to take it two days a week, so that on those days I could gauge how much I was able to do without the pills. My non-Ritalin days were never as productive as the Ritalin days (still aren't), but if I managed my energy well the rest of the week, the non-Ritalin days weren't wash-outs; if I had done too much, the non-Ritalin days were a hard crash. Over time, though, since I started taking these stimulants, my energy and productivity have gradually increased even on non-Ritalin days. As this "baseline" energy has slowly increased, I have slowly increased my energy expenditure on days I take Adderall.

To my mind it was worth a try. If it didn't work out, I could easily stop and would only be out about $5. If it did help at all, it would be worth whatever I paid for it. In my case, it has proved extremely useful. As with Mestinon, it has allowed such improvement in the overall quality of my life that I would still take it even if it cut 50 years off my life.

Angela

Thank you very much for input. I have been on Ritalin for 2 days now and I have an abundance amount of energy. I was able to function on 6 hours of sleep... yay and work 10 hours today.... I definitely do not want to exert myself too much. However, even with only 2.5mg of Ritalin in my system, I am losing my appetite. It is weird, I may think I am hungry for a minute and then go to something else and not be hungry anymore ... Did that ever happen to you? Of course, I only lose my appetite after 12 noon, since that is when I take it...

[hsinthecountry]

I too have tried Ritalin for fatigue, moved to adderall. Works well, but as someone above said, the "crash" is very hard. I found that I get pretty aggressive and on-edge but it does help the very bad days. I prefer provigil over it though.

[Amber]

Do you experience an increased heart-rate with ritalin, adderall or provigil? My sleep doc was going to put me on a stimulant for my fatigue but we were worried about tachycardia and so we haven't risked it....

[Eillyre]

However, even with only 2.5mg of Ritalin in my system, I am losing my appetite. It is weird, I may think I am hungry for a minute and then go to something else and not be hungry anymore ... Did that ever happen to you? Of course, I only lose my appetite after 12 noon, since that is when I take it...

On both Ritalin & Adderall, my appetite has been less and, come to think of it, I have had the "disappearing appetite" you mentioned above. As I'm not severely underweight and I make myself eat every so often anyhow, it hasn't been what I'd call a problem in my case.

Angela

[Eillyre]

Do you experience an increased heart-rate with ritalin, adderall or provigil? My sleep doc was going to put me on a stimulant for my fatigue but we were worried about tachycardia and so we haven't risked it....

I have not had any increased hr episodes on Adderall at all.

I did have some small hr elevations on higher doses of Ritalin (25-30mg range), fluttery palpitation sensations, and trembling (imperceptible to others, but I trembled so much one evening that I couldn't talk). These episodes were infrequent but enough to make us look to other options, hence the switch to Adderall.

There are, I'm told, different "families" of stimulants out there. My prescribing physician wanted to use Ritalin as a guinea pig to see how I reacted and then use that information to direct me to something else accordingly (unless Ritalin did the trick).

Hope this helps!

Angela

[delphicdragon]

On Sudafed, my heartrate is actually slower than it usually is. The doctor seems to think that it "tricks" my body into thinking there is too much stimulation and therefore, reduces my heartrate. Not sure if I buy that explanation, but it works. Fairly certain the same mechanism is at work with other stimulants.

Sara

[hsinthecountry]

Do you experience an increased heart-rate with ritalin, adderall or provigil? My sleep doc was going to put me on a stimulant for my fatigue but we were worried about tachycardia and so we haven't risked it....

I havent had the increased heart-rate, though the jitters, nervousness, and being "on-edge" keep me from taking it except on really bad days. (actually, lately I've just been using provigil). I highly recommend the provigil in that other than yucky metallic taste, headache, and sore-throat, it actually puts me in a good mood and takes away the cotton-for-brains (as long as I dont take it too often)...

Hope this helps.

Peace,

Dave

[Kitsakatsa]

It made me want to bite people.