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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by mags on February 2, 2003, at 22:40:44
Can anyone tell me? I started on Friday. Just one 20mg pill in Morning. I haven't notice anything except my mood seems worse later in day.
I am on it with Wellbutrin, Lithium,Depakote and Seroquel.
It is being given to help with my exhaustion and sleeping almost all day.Thanks!
Posted by not exactly on February 3, 2003, at 2:20:16
In reply to Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by mags on February 2, 2003, at 22:40:44
It's not like the ADs (which can take weeks for full effect). Stimulant effect should be noticable first day. When used as an AD augmentation, improvement should occur within 2 or 3 days. If you don't notice anything by the middle of this week, it's probably the wrong drug for you. A better approach might be to back off on the Seroquel and/or Depakote a bit.
- Bob
Posted by mags on February 3, 2003, at 7:37:46
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by not exactly on February 3, 2003, at 2:20:16
Thanks Bob, Appreciate reply, I would like to adjust other nightime meds but it has taken me a long time to get something that GETS me to sleep! Symtoms of anhedonia, sleepiness during DAY were all present before drug therapy started.
I have started taking nightime meds earlier to see if it helped but so far no.....
Will keep fingers crossed for Ritalin.
Marg
Posted by utopizen on February 3, 2003, at 18:55:54
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by mags on February 3, 2003, at 7:37:46
> Thanks Bob, Appreciate reply, I would like to adjust other nightime meds but it has taken me a long time to get something that GETS me to sleep! Symtoms of anhedonia, sleepiness during DAY were all present before drug therapy started.
> I have started taking nightime meds earlier to see if it helped but so far no.....
> Will keep fingers crossed for Ritalin.
> Marg20mg is a decent amount of Ritalin. If you don't notice any effect, you'll want to move on to something like Adderall or Dexedrine or, um, since you're taking it for sleep, why not Provigil? Provigil is sort of making the stims less necessary these days for daytime sleepiness.
It's preferred that one moves on to a standard dose of a different med than titirate up the dose on a current stim if they're not responding to the normal amount.
Posted by BrittPark on February 3, 2003, at 19:29:48
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by utopizen on February 3, 2003, at 18:55:54
> 20mg is a decent amount of Ritalin. If you don't notice any effect, you'll want to move on to something like Adderall or Dexedrine or, um, since you're taking it for sleep, why not Provigil? Provigil is sort of making the stims less necessary these days for daytime sleepiness.
>
> It's preferred that one moves on to a standard dose of a different med than titirate up the dose on a current stim if they're not responding to the normal amount.
>My understanding of psychotropics is that trials tend not to be given a chance and may fail because of inadequate dosage. Perhaps there is an exception in the case of stimulants, but I haven't heard of it. 20mg of ritalin is a reasonable dose for many people. But it is not that uncommon to go to 20mg tid.
Mags, if you can tolerate it, it might be worth upping the dosage, or changing to a controlled release formulation like concerta to decrease end of dose come down. With ritalin you should be able to find out in not much more than a week if it's going to work, and if it doesn't work you can move on to others.
I concur about modafinal, it seems to be effective for your problems in a lot of people and isn't schedule II and therefore less of a pain for you and your doctor. My experience with it was short and sweet. It acted immediately to lift a fairly severe depression, but unfortunately fizzled out after three weeks. Thats a sample size of 1 remember, and its antidepressant properties may be unrelated to its alertness properties.
Best of luck,
Britt
Posted by mags on February 3, 2003, at 22:54:45
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by BrittPark on February 3, 2003, at 19:29:48
> > 20mg is a decent amount of Ritalin. If you don't notice any effect, you'll want to move on to something like Adderall or Dexedrine or, um, since you're taking it for sleep, why not Provigil? Provigil is sort of making the stims less necessary these days for daytime sleepiness.
> >
> > It's preferred that one moves on to a standard dose of a different med than titirate up the dose on a current stim if they're not responding to the normal amount.
> >
>
> My understanding of psychotropics is that trials tend not to be given a chance and may fail because of inadequate dosage. Perhaps there is an exception in the case of stimulants, but I haven't heard of it. 20mg of ritalin is a reasonable dose for many people. But it is not that uncommon to go to 20mg tid.
>
> Mags, if you can tolerate it, it might be worth upping the dosage, or changing to a controlled release formulation like concerta to decrease end of dose come down. With ritalin you should be able to find out in not much more than a week if it's going to work, and if it doesn't work you can move on to others.
>
> I concur about modafinal, it seems to be effective for your problems in a lot of people and isn't schedule II and therefore less of a pain for you and your doctor. My experience with it was short and sweet. It acted immediately to lift a fairly severe depression, but unfortunately fizzled out after three weeks. Thats a sample size of 1 remember, and its antidepressant properties may be unrelated to its alertness properties.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> BrittBritt and Utopizen,
Thanks for your responses. Do I up my dose as in 40 mg in morning or try 20 mg 2 x day. The results I am getting are VERY subtle. It is not like I am jumping up out of my chair and saying wippee lets clean my house! It seems to be more an awareness of the Ritalin maybe doing something after it is out of my system. Does that make sense? I haven't got any side effects.
Provigil was a med my doc and I were going to try but for some reason when we read a report on it and the side effects we decided it wasn't for me. Maybe something to do with other meds. I don't remember.
Mags
PS what is tid, once a day?
Posted by BrittPark on February 4, 2003, at 11:17:36
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects, posted by mags on February 3, 2003, at 22:54:45
We're all amateur doctors here ;) so we bandy about the medical terms. Tid, more properly t. i. d., is three times a day.
Britt
Posted by mags on February 4, 2003, at 19:42:00
In reply to Re: Ritalin: how long to notice effects » mags, posted by BrittPark on February 4, 2003, at 11:17:36
This is the end of the thread.
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