Ritalin, or it’s generic Methylphenidate, is a stimulant most commonly used for treating ADD, though it can treat a number of other conditions like lethargy, narcolepsy and even depression. It’s also chemically very similar to amphetamines or Cocaine.
Though it seems strange to give someone who’s hyperactive a stimulant, Ritalin works by increasing the amount of dopamine in your brain, a chemical responsible for making you feel good. People with normal dopamine levels get little zaps of it when they do something they are proud of, and this reinforces their ability and desire to finish tasks.
People with ADD don’t get this chemical reward properly and as a result tend to act recklessly or lose focus, looking for something that will give them that same charge. Basically, my low dopamine levels keep me from getting these zaps, so by increasing my dopamine, my attention is increased. The zaps are constant, so my focus stays on what I’m doing.
It’s not an expensive drug (mine costs about 45 dollars a month) and it’s very effective in helping me with my Inattentive Type ADD and even my Bi-Polar 2. However, Ritalin is a very powerful drug, and there are a few things you should know before you start.
I’m not a doctor , but having taken Ritalin for several months, I’ll get you the ground level view of what to expect.
1) You Will Experience Ups and Downs
Ritalin lasts about four hours, unless you are on a controlled release tablet like Concerta (which lasts twelve.) If you are prescribed multiple tablets a day like I am, you’ll experience peaks and valleys that I like to refer to as “Riding the Ritalin Roller-coaster.”
In my experience, at around the two or three hour mark the Ritalin is at full strength. This can lead to a state of near-mania that can be disturbing if not kept in check. This “high” lasts for around twenty minutes to a half hour. During the worst of it you may experience fast talking, disjointed thoughts, and a general sense of sustained excitement. People around you may have trouble understanding your train of thought and you can grow delusional about your own abilities. Keep yourself in check during this period, and keep busy.
This is followed by another period of normality lasting one to two hours, at which time you may hit a “valley.” While waiting for your next dose to take effect (again, for me around twenty minutes) you may experience a slight depression, lower energy, hunger, and less motivation as the dopamine levels in your brain lower. Neither the high or low points are particularly distracting in my day to day activities as long as I pay attention to where I’m at and tailor my actions to which part of the “roller coaster” I’m currently riding.
When you’re nearing your peak, try to avoid conversation and instead work on an important project or chore; you’ll find it easier to do during this period and you’ll avoid annoying, disturbing or just plain confusing your friends and co-workers. When you’re at the trough, concentrate on what you’ve done that day, take a moment to relax, and eat. Most of all, try to be conscious about when these points are coming so they won’t catch you unaware. If you find that you can’t manage this on your own, you may need to switch to a controlled release medication.
2) You Will Lose Weight
Ritalin will suppress your appetite to an alarming degree. It’s not just a case of not feeling hungry, either. Imagine the feeling of having just eaten a large meal. When you’re at your peak, you’ll feel that way whether you’ve eaten recently or not. Without biological signals that you’re hungry, and a illusory feeling of fullness, there will be times when you just forget to eat.
While I appreciate the thirty pounds I’ve lost since starting Ritalin, I would not like to lose another thirty, so I have to be very careful to eat properly. I also take a multivitamin every day to make sure that if I do forget to eat I’ll still have the nutrients my body needs to stay healthy. I recommend taking your last pill before 4:00 PM to give your body time to flush the drug out of your system. Your appetite will come back and then you can eat a large meal.
Try to snack, drink calories (milk or juice work well for me but if you find the effects severe enough, a weight gain shake like Ensure may be necessary to maintain proper health,) and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables for nutritients. If you don’t eat, the crash will be that much greater as the lack of both dopamine and nutrition hit you at the same time.
3) It Can Severely Affect Your Sleep Patterns
I’m writing this article at 1:21 AM not because I’m on a deadline, but because I took my last pill too late. Ritalin is a powerful stimulant, and once you’ve taken it you will be awake until it’s passed through your system. It’s not like insomnia, where you’re tired and want to go to sleep but can’t. I’m talking about eyes wide open, mind running at full speed awake. Even things like Tylenol PM or Xanax will not put you to sleep if you’ve taken your last pill too close to bed time.
While at times I skip my last pill if I’ve forgotten and it’s very late, I don’t do this often because that can make the effects worse. If you don’t take your daily dose, your body loses it’s built up tolerance for the drug, which can cause both a more severe roller-coaster during the day, and/or keep you up an entire night. The next day your tired but medicated mind will rebel and the feeling is similar to dreaming while awake. Nothing feels real and the world becomes cloudy and confusing.
Your body needs regular, healthy sleep to feel well and your brain needs it to stay organized. Without it, though you won’t feel tired, you’ll certainly be at less than your mental peak. This is another reason I try to take my last dose by 4:00 PM at the latest.
4) It Will Take a Few Weeks to Build Up a Tolerance for the Drug
I balked when I was prescribed the highest dose of Ritilin. When I took it, I felt high. My first two weeks were such a roller-coaster ride that I even self-prescribed myself a half dose. It wasn’t till my doctor explained drug tolerance to me that I started taking my entire dose every single day. Your body builds up a tolerance for the drug, requiring more and more to reach the highs that you see in the first few weeks.
But unlike a drug addict who’s tolerance takes the high away and causes them to take higher doses, your tolerance will actually help you stabilize. What starts as too much turns into just enough after a few weeks of steady use. Still, the first week can be rough. You may want to consider taking a short vacation from work or school for the first week while your body builds up it’s initial tolerance.
The reverse of this is that I lose tolerance very quickly. If I go two days without Ritalin, it’s a sure bet that on day three I’ll be pulling an all-nighter. Make sure you refill your prescription a few days in advance, otherwise you might find yourself back at square one. Ritalin cannot be called in by a doctor, you must have a written, signed prescription in hand or else the pharmacy cannot fill it.
5) You are Being Prescribed a Medicine, not a Narcotic
No matter what how much I warn you not to, at some point you will realize that you can use your medicine to alter yourself. Take an extra dose at night and you can finish that project for work in one night. Need to work particularly fast, take two of your doses at the same time. Everyone I know who’s taken Ritalin or similar drugs like Adderol have done this, myself included.
Don’t. Just trust me on this. Once you start down that road, you’ll experience all sorts of side effects like rapid weight loss, confusion, delusions, anxiety that just aren’t worth it. With misuse also comes confusion that often leads to taking more pills than you intended.
That’s not only dangerous, but your doctor isn’t going to prescribe you an extra few days worth of pills because you wanted to treat your medicine like a cocktail. You will be without it until your next refill, you will feel lousy from the loss of dopamine and you will lose your tolerance. If you took just one extra pill a day for a month, you’d be without your medication for six to seven days. So just don’t.
To sum up, Ritalin is a very reliable drug for treating Attention Deficit Disorder, but it must be handled responsibly and carefully. When taken as directed by your doctor, it will make a huge, positive change in your quality of life. Use it carelessly or foolishly and not only will it not make you well, it can make you worse.
It’s a tool, and just like any other tool it works best when used wisely and as directed by your doctor.
