Reply To: Adjusting Dosage to avoid crash

[Scattybird]

Hi – I used to take Ritalin. The generic form was rougher than the actual Ritalin but that could have been my imagination and I may have just coincidentally been more used to it by the time I swapped from generic methylphenidate to Ritalin.

Anyway, you need to play as you are doing, but it worked best for me if I took 10 mg every 3 hours up to the maximum I was allowed. On a bad day, I’d take 15 mg to start with followed by 10 mg after 3 hours. If I took 20 mg in one go I slowed down to a slow motion zombie state – not good. Developing a regular pattern was best.

After a while, I moved to Concerta and I hated it. It really didn’t agree with me at all. I liked the short-acting form better. Whilst Concerta worked, it was rough and made me feel awful (both physically and mentally). But other people get on fine with it – we are all different. If you do try Concerta, then always use the ‘proper’ brand Concerta and never the generics. Whilst the active ingredient might be the same, the slow release mechanism is different and it’s accepted pretty much now that slow release generics are not as good as Concerta. I much prefer the short acting meds as I can control when I take them. Sometimes I might just take one on an afternoon if I am struggling. I don’t necessarily want to be forced into a specific dose each day.

With regard to the ‘come down’ on an evening, I usually have a coffee and that works a treat. If that’s no good, you can use the 5 mg left from the 15 mg start if you do that.

I don’t drink coffee at the same time as taking these meds – it doesn’t  mix, but it’s great when they wear off.

After trying and hating Concerta, I went back to Ritalin but it didn’t do anything for me after that. I now take dexamphetamine sometimes and am resisting Vyvanse (the slow release version) in case the same thing happens again. I now work on the assumption that if something works, don’t fiddle around with it.

 

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