The jolt

[Anonymous]

I’ve been lazy with my AD/HD medication lately. Just before, I was talking to a friend who told me that I seem a little more chilled out then I’ve been lately. I guess that’s the big tell. I’m really inattentive, but I’m also really hyperactive.

Currently I’m taking 15mgs mirtazapine before bed, and I’m meant to be taking 4 Ritalin 10s a day. Usually I take 1 or 2.

Today I decided to take all 4 again.

One thing I can’t get used to is what I call “The jolt”. When I take 20mgs at once when I’m not used to doing it, I spend the next few hours feeling speedy. I used to get freaked out, thinking I didn’t have AD/HD and I shouldn’t be on these meds. (My psychiatrist has no doubt in his mind that I am textbook AD/HD with pretty much every symptom, right down to the comorbid severe depression – and since starting the medication, I’ve achieved a lot that I wouldn’t have achieved otherwise).

Then I realize that I’m just as hyperactive as I always am. I’m just “keeping up” with myself. Its no longer misdirected energy – now everything flows in the one direction. It doesn’t slow me down, it just brings me up to speed (pardon the pun) so I can slow myself down.

The thing that I’m not used to is the physical feeling of the Ritalin. I’ve got an ectomorphic body type so I guess I really feel it. After a day or two, I lose the “stimulant” feeling and the negative side of AD/HD is pretty much in check.

I suppose I just want to dispel the myth that AD/HD people won’t ever feel “speedy” if they take the medication. I do, for maybe a couple of days at the most. Maybe its my body type. I tend to think that it has more to do with suddenly being ahead of my hyperactivity rather than just behind it.

So I guess that if you start on meds, the best thing to look for isn’t how they “feel” – its on what you do while you’re taking them. I’d say that if your symptoms get worse, maybe stimulants aren’t for you. After a few days, if the medicated feeling is still around or if nothing has improved, then yeah, reconsider. But I don’t think its smart to tell people how medication should physically effect them – especially when you’re not taking into account things like body type or the severity of the symptoms needing regulation.

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[Patte Rosebank]

Did you take the Ritalin throughout the day, or all 4 at once?

Dosing schedules are just as important as dosing amounts. There are some medications (not just the ones for ADD) which will safely do their job when taken at regular intervals during the day. But if you took a whole day’s medication all at once, it would be a major overdose that could land you in Emergency.

I’m just saying…

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[Anonymous]

Hey, dada_rat, you may want to discuss your medication plans with the prescribing doctor. The best strategy is to have a plan both in terms of how you dose and how you monitor the effects and side effects.

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[Geoduck]

When you labeled your post “jolt,” I thought you were talking about something else. I switched to ritalin from adderall yesterday. 20 min after the first pill, I felt very sensitive to light, sound, touch, for about 10 minutes. Very strange and “jolt” like. However, I did not feel it again today. Maybe my kids were just getting on my last nerve, and I blamed the drug. LOL!

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[Author]

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