A couple months ago I got prescribed 20mg of Ritalin XR(generic) to start with. It worked somewhat, less fidgiting in class, a little bit more ability to pay attention and stay on task. However sometimes the results felt sporatic or not working.

I told the doc this and he upped me to 30 mg XR and 10 IR for the afternoon as I was experiencing bad crash at about 2 pm and have class till past 6.

On monday I took my 30 mg and went to class and I felt like I had might as well taken a multivitamin. I was day dreaming, thoughts of other things, other task etc kept running through my head. Leaving the classroom feeling like it wasin't even worth going.

On tues I took my 30mg in morning and it seemed to help, I was able to say fairly focused in math and when I took the IR at about 3:30 my 5 PM class went really well.

A couple other problems I am having(one with the drug and another with the doc). Ritalin(even on only 20 mg) makes me crash very hard, I can only compare it to the morning after a heavy night of drinking. I am awake and have somewhat of an anxiety but I just want to chill out and do nothing. So I come home and I just feel like hell sometimes. It can alsmot make me feel emotionless and almost like I have a lack of personality as well(while on it).

My doc dosen't prescribe me enough in the sense of time. I am not sure how well 30 will work, he seems to think my current plan will do fine and that I can now just call in my refils but he gave me 30 days supply and told me it should last ~6 weeks. It was kind of understood that the IR was for the 2 days where I have class late and neither should be used on weekends.

Now I don't want to take it on weekends if I don't need to, prevents tolerance build up, gives the body a break etc. However I work every sat and many sundays. What about the weekends where I need to do homework or something or just lounging around is not an option? My boss has made it apparent that my add really shows at work....

So what should I do? Even if I skip weekends that only adds up to just over 5 weeks. I am on slippery ground now, I don't want to go in asking for more(and loose what I have) but I feel like I am going to have to pick days that might not be hard so can ration it for the rest of the days. I feel like I am probably going to need more mg and refills at 5 weeks max but guess what that looks like...college student + asking for more + asking for it sooner.

I am not an abuser or a seller/giver, I am honestly to ashamed to even hint to anyone(even family) about my problem. I am happy that I am able to get some treatment though I think I either need more Ritalin so I am not crashing all the time or find a new med that dosent have such a bad comedown.

I hear Adderall generally has less comedown than Ritalin but I am afraid to just ask for it.

What would you do?

I'm on Concerta, and my doctor keeps bumping the dose up. I only got a really good result the first timeI took it and only for a few hours. Since then its not working despite continuing to increase the dosage. I wake up in the morning feeling as if I'd been hit by a train. It takes about 4 hours to feel evevn human, and then I'm just jittery & anxious. I actually feel as if I'm way less focused. I feel its just NOT the drug for me, but I have a very hard time defending myself and asking for what I think might work. I've heard that Aderall quite often works wonders for those who don't respond well to Ritalin (Concerta). Perhaps we should just suck it up and ask.......... I will if you will

you have a lot of good questions.
I wonder if this is the right med for you. crashes like that are the reason I changed meds right away - I think it was ritalin but not XR that I was on.

Bring your concerns to the Doctor, and don't be afraid. You have valid concerns that need to be addressed by your Doctor and Medication issues and changes absolutely something that the Doctor deal with all the time - so this should not be a problem

The most important thing is finding something that works for you and your life, for classes , homework , life, whatever you need to get done.

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Yeah, you are right. I am just going to tell him that it isin't working out, I can't live my life like a vegatable after 3 PM. If he says too bad there are 1000 others in my region who will probably line up to take my money.

Now when do I call him and tell him I need to talk? When my prescription is gone or next week? I guess I am just paranoid pete but I don't want to give him the wrong impression...

I switched from Ritalin to Adderall for the exact reason of crashes. For me, A seems to not work as well as the R but, it does well enough. I still take time off on the weekends.... Good luck!

Sorry for the bump but being that my last semester of college is piling work on top of me, it seems necessary to inquire into this worry of mine.

Long story short, I'm currently taking a daily triple-dose of Ritalin SR and - while it modestly helps when it comes to schoolwork and the like - the downtime (or "crashes") are beyond cumbersome. They aren't necessarily like headaches but more like sudden and very noticeable waves of tiredness that affect my level of motivation, my mood, and that even give me this odd aching feeling along my neck.

I'm eager to try out either Adderall or Vyvanse (Concerta doesn't do a thing) but until my next doctor's appointment, would there be any risk in digesting four separate 20 mg pills of SR? It seems like a somewhat logical way for me to avoid crashes (since the drug's effect last for a little less than two hours) but my heart has been thumbing like a jackrabbit ever since taking this prescription of Ritalin; not that I feel particularly ill but putting more meds into my system sounds like a sketchy procedure.

Any recommendations, boarders?

Well, as far as taking more than the recommended dose. I would be careful, now for the majority of people a lethal dose of Ritalin is really high(something you would never take). However where problems arise is these drugs can increase blood pressure. Also been reported to give the heart beating feeling. Also I found the more I took the worse the crash(of course). So a day where I only took one sr or just the XR's and not XR+SR or lesser of any combination therof the crash seemed exponentially less. If I took 30 mg of XR and 10mg of IR I was ready to go sit in my dark closet at the end of the day so I didn't need to be a part of the world anymore. (Never had suicidal thoughts but it was an incredible mental change. One minute flying high doing great and the next feeling worse then I ever have in my life.)

From what I am told the heart beating fast feeling is fine as long as your BP is within limits and your heart is in limits as well. I have a wrist BP monitor that is nice for me as I can have some erratic BP.

So I wont sit here and say go ahead and take the extra pill and I wont tell you not too. I have taken an extra here and there, for similar reasons(could feel a hard crash comming but could not call it quits for the day).


With that said I visited my doc last friday and I told him my story and he tried to give me Bupropion. I told him I wasin't really depressed and would rather try something that has a track record of working for many as I don't want to be on med trials in the midst of mid semester college.

So we decided on Adderall 10 mg Twice a day as needed(he gave me the IR on grounds of cheaper on the wallet). So far I have taken the 10 mg just before I start the day and the other 10 mg as needed. It works so much better for me. So far it almost works to good. I am more focued and attentive in class then I have ever been, I can't stop doing homework and doing it well. I seem to 'get things' easier, I am an overall happier, and more energetic person. All this found out in less than a week. The crash brings on a slight headache but other then that I don't feel like I am going lower then I normally am mentally. Also as usual trouble getting to sleep.

Thanks for warning me about the "higher the dosage/bigger the crash" correlation. I'll try out taking four pills daily and see what that does for me but I won't be expecting any miracles.

Adderall is sounding more and more like a promising helper for an ADHD-PI'er...

I find the crash for me is just that I get really tired at about 9pm. Unless I drink a Monster at like 4pm.

The crash is harder than it was on the Adderall. I take 20mg Ritalin SR. But yesterday, I took 40mg because it seemed the Ritalin was starting to fade for me. Today I went back to 20mg

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Caleb