Posted by AC75 on April 30, 2005, at 9:27:16
In reply to Re: Stimulant Side Effects: The Definitive Thread » AC75, posted by Alejandro on April 30, 2005, at 5:48:12
Fascinating. Thanks so much for your post. At least now I know I'm not alone on the topic of urination & dehydration. I have come to find these side effects can be mitigated by taking the Concerta in the morning with a filling breakfast (but low-fat, so that it makes it through the digestive tract more quickly). That way, the medication eases into the system. I've found a high dosage on an empty stomach can be a problem. Anyway, this mitigates the worst of the side effects, but it by no means eliminates them, especially the dehydration.
When you drink all that Gatorade, don't you find the methylphenidate is causing all of it to get flushed out of your system rather rapidly, making it a waste? Or does it actually stop the dehydration in your case? I might try to concoct a more natural rehydration formula, since Gatorade is full of so many chemicals!
You'll be amazed, but I am a full-sized adult who finds that 21 mg/day is enough! I don't know why my system is so sensitive to this stuff, but it is. I also take drug holidays whenever possible to avoid tolerance from developing.
Do you really find you can only get it to work by taking 60 mg? Do you take Conerta, or manually cut Ritalin tablets? Here's what I do: Concerta has two chambers of the drug in it, with the second one containing more of the med under the theory that tolerance begins to develop throughout the day. I find that's nonsense. I need more in the morning, to get the system started, and less during the rest of the day, once the stuff has reached a critical mass in my system. So I take an 18 mg Concerta tablet in the morning along with a 3 mg piece piece I break off of Ritalin. This gives an initial infusion of 7 mg rather than the 4 mg Concerta along would give you. Before I did this, I would have to take more throughout the day, and feel almost nothing in the morning. For some reason, this works great for me.
Let's see what others have to say re: side effects. Thanks again!
poster:AC75
thread:491641
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050428/msgs/491822.html