RITALIN Reviews (METHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.4 (214 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare RITALIN with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by length of time drug was taken longest to shortest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on RITALIN: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR RITALIN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | hyper activities | back pain | chest pain | M | 108 | 100 years | 2/22/2005 | 1 | ADD | constant NEED to masturbate, <----ED, spontanious ruptures, death among children, crabs, VD, ghnorea, burns when u PEE | it sucks, dont take it | M | 72 | 32 years | 4/21/2005 | 5 | Narcolepsy | rebound effect when dosage wears off | I have taken Ritalin for 30 years. I have been diagnosed with a mild form of narcolepsy. I use 4 (10 MG ) pills per day. The drug ahs worked wonders and eliminated the drowsiness and sleep attacks. My concern now is the length of time I have been on it. When taking a "drug holiday" it seems like my symptoms are worse. | M | 56 | 30 years | 5/1/2007 | 5 | adult adhd | none. this drug basically saved me...... | 30 years ago, I was the typical impulsive adhd kid whom nobody including my loving parents understood......my life was a wreck...luckily after HS, I met a psychiatrist who asked me: "why are you flunking college courses but qualifying to enter the USAF Academy"?...good question, at age 18 I was a disaster...but she convinced me to take Ritalin...fast forward 30 years..I completer several advanced degrees, retired from the USAF reserves as an O6 and flew jets for over 4,000 hours (cheated on the drug tests)...and now at age 56, I have a family, financial security and the "good life"...all because of a few cents of a stimulant (ritalin) per day | M | 55 | 30 years 10 4X day | 5/9/2011 | 5 | ADD | Initially some apatite suppression, insomnia and slight gitters. This was corrected by reducing my afternoon dose. | This drug has saved my life. I have seen drastic differences between times in my life when I was taking it and when I was not. I failed out of one school and graduated top of my class in the next. Floated from job to job and then became very successful. I don't like the way I feel when I am taking it (I'm boring -- no personality) so, I time my doses to help me in the office or when I have to focus on mundane task's at home like paying bills, taxes etc. and then go without it when I'm recreating. When I was on the Ritalin I built my first home by age 21 and had a career in the New York State Senate by age 23 (not a senator). I then thought I could manage without it. Within a year of discontinuing use at age 26 I had lost my job, sold my house and moved away to follow a wim to live as a ski bum in Vermont. At first, things were great I owned a beautiful house (30 acres, views, apple orchard, spring fed swimming pond etc.) and played all the time. In the end I lost it all because I coul | M | 32 | 22 years | 2/28/2007 | 5 | behavioral/academic issues | Appetite suppression. Difficulty getting to sleep. Occasional anger and heightened emotions in confrontations. | I recently stopped taking Vyvanse after feeling seriously burnt out, where I felt oddly unable to function despite being on the medication, and spent 5 years without it. I turned more to marijuana which alleviated the majority of my focus issues, but caused other problems with memory and thought organization. I became reliant on MJ and recently turned to Ritalin/methylphenidate again since my productivity had dropped to a lifetime low, and my preference for MJ is completely gone. I think I needed a break after being on methylphenidate and later Vyvanse for so long. As an adult, I started relying more on MJ to 'come down' from some of the intensity of Vyvanse (and job/life stress) but it (substance use) all has a way of compounding problems. Nevertheless, I have been going back and forth between this and MJ over the years to help me focus on my information technology studies and workload. I think there is not enough information about the similarities between these two substances and their effects on people like myself, but for me there is no question they both provide a relief in the same area of mental function. Of course, no one seems to relate or understand this absolute fact in my mind, but it's so significant for me that I decided to leave this review here. I get such a huge benefit from this drug at age 34, though I was first prescribed in 2nd grade and only stopped for a few years as an adult before I decided it would help me at work. I do fear that in a few ye | M | 34 | 20 years 5mg 3X day | 7/10/2015 | 1 | Add | Irratability breathing difficulty blurred vision mood swings etc. | I have been on Ritalin for almost 20 years. At first it seemed like a miracle drug but I now see this drug could have destroyed me. I had almost all the side effects. I began abusing it soon after I started taking it. Some nights I would stay up all night (occasionally playing on line backgammon for 12 straight hours) my boyfriend commented that he could see a change in my facial movements. It was incredibly easy to get highest allowable dosage. Granted, I could clean the he'll out of my kitchen, but the cost was way way too high. Wish I never took it. Closets may have been a little messy but my life wouldn't be a disaster. | F | 44 | 18 years 20 mg 3X day | 8/16/2011 | 5 | ADD/ADHD | Well, when I was about 5 i was put on ritalin for my adhd. I would always scratch and pick at sores. or even scratch until i MADE sores especially on my scalp. it was just like, if i felt a bump anywhere, i wanted it gone, and i would spend hours scratching. yet, my grades improved so much as well as my behavior. I was taken off of ritalin at about 10th grade. I was put on conserta. everything was still the same but i didn't itch. now, at 20 years old, i still take conserta during the day, but i take 10 mg ritalin as needed to help me with school work in the evenings. and I've been scratching like crazy again. i didn't realize that it may have been the ritalin causing this until just a few hours ago. | F | 20 | 15 years 10 1X AN | 12/6/2011 | 1 | Hyperactive/adhd | Anxiety, Nervousness, Feeling out of body; detached, apathetic, violent, defiant, suicidal, | I am 41 years old. My parents put me on this medication when I was 2 years old. They claimed it helped manage me. I claim it messed me up so badly that in my pre-high school years, my parents took me to specialists all over North America to find out “what was wrong with me”. The doctors kept upping my dosage. I told them I didn’t like what the medication made me feel like, but parents back then didn’t listen to their kids. At 16 I quit cold turkey (because my parents kicked me out of the house due to the side effects of this drug). I experienced intense emotional distress, like paranoia, anxiety, nervousness, etc. Today, I have gotten much better at managing my emotional issues (WITHOUT DRUGS MIND YOU). But I still feel those emotions rather intensely. DO NOT GIVE THIS DRUG TO YOUR CHILDREN. PLEASE DON’T. If only my parents were more understanding and worked with me rather than shoving pills in my face, I believe I would have grown up without any of the familial drama that led to me being a street kid. I believe that constant attention to the child in positive, understanding environments is THE BEST THING for a child. Listening to your child, I mean really listening, can go a long way to alleviate much of the problems facing ADHD children. | M | 41 | 14 years 10-60 2X day | 4/15/2015 | 1 | ADHD, ADD | Depression, Mild Schizophrenia, Tolerance, Paranoia, Seizures, Dehydration (Daily), Dermatosis, MEMORY LOSS (All of these side effects are still present even though i stopped 11 years ago) | When I was on Ritalin, I was like a zombie. It's the best way to describe it. Eventually I built up such a tolerance my father was worried that it would adversly effect me and got me on a different drug. I'm trying to spread the word. This drug is BAD. All of my side effect symptoms remain, it's 11 years later. The drug damages the brain in a chemical fashion, your brain does not heal from it. | M | 28 | 11 years 30MG 3X day | 10/6/2011 | 5 | Mild Narcolepsy | none, (except major daytime sleepiness when taking a drug holiday) | Like another older male who posted here, I also may be a 'test subject' for what the real 'max' dose for adults really is. Over a 10 year period my dosage has gradually increased to 2x 20mg (40mg) six times a day. That is right, 240mg daily, has been for over 3 years now, with no adverse affects and no need for increase in dosage. Annual exams, blood tests, liver function etc. all within normal limits. So it appears there is a wide range of what dose is the 'safe effective amount' than what is generally prescribed. Works for me! (retired, 55 y.o. male, 200 lbs.) | M | 55 | 10 years 40 mg 6X day | 10/4/2010 | 5 | ADD | Dry mouth, loss of appetite | I've been very happy with this medication. I'm able to focus and I've found the side effects minimal. It's obviously not for everyone, but for many of us, it's a godsend. Don't believe the propaganda by the anti-ritalin crowd. Try it yourself with an open mind, remembering that it may or may not work for you or your child. If it doesn't, move on. That doesn't make the drug bad, it makes it bad for you personally. | M | 39 | 10 years | 7/12/2006 | 3 | ADD | Dehydration, stiff neck, headaches, hair loss, insomnia, plateletts dropped to the point of causing thrombocytopenia. | I became addicted to this drug. I took it for 10 years but though it didn't help my ADD it gave me stamina I'd never had.I was grainding it up and snorting it...I fianlly flushed it and asked my doctor not to prescribe it. Now that I'mm withdrawing from it I have symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and weight gain (I eat to try to stave off the nausea). | F | 55 | 10 years | 1/26/2007 | 1 | ADHD | Thoughts of suicide depression uninterested in doing anything | This crap is evil it helped when i was in middle school and junior high it helped a little but now that im in 9th grade my grades have been slipping im often depressed and it never helps keep me calm when some one starts something its uder hell for me im always tired i never really want to eat ( unless my body tells me go eat some damn food) and i just want to sleep all the time. I feal like a zombie im paranoid ive been haveing thoughts of suiced for a few years but its not my fault its the damn ridlins fault this fucking drug has ruined most of my life i also tend to be hostle and withdrown from my family and the few friends im still in contact with from my old school and even the ones from my current school. Even now if i stop takeing it things will just get fucking worse for me. | M | 14 | 10 years 10mg 1X day | 11/28/2012 | 1 | childhood adhd | headaches, aggressive violent behavior, loss of apatite, slow growth, late puberty, memory loss, anxiety. | I was put on ritalin when i was 5, and stayed on till i refused to take it any longer at 13. I had many problems as a child, mostly due to being smaller than the other children in my class. I suffered severe headaches as a child. puberty came late, andwas less than 100 lbs at age17, and reached 5 foot 10 at age 23. and 120 lbs. today , i suffer from depression, and anxiety. ritalin is a serious drug and should not be given to children. | M | 36 | 9 years 30 1X day | 7/30/2010 | 1 | depression/weight loss | very irritable when it wears off; sometimes difficult to fall asleep, memory loss, hear music in my head that won't stop. | I have been taking the generic form of Ritalin for 9 years. I began taking it for depression after my marriage ended, and also in a misguided attempt to lose weight! I lost about 15 pounds at the beginning, had tons of energy, felt great...but the weight loss stopped within a few months.. I currently feel focused and motivated after I take it and am able to get a lot done. As well as the generic ritalin, I take 6 - 12 Tylenol 1 tablets a day. I know how bad this is, but can't seem to stop for more than a few days. The last nine years seem to be a blur...it's like I have lost those years....I hardly remember anything about them. I find this sad and frightening. I take what my doctor prescribed: three 10mg. tablets a day. I have tried many times to completely get off this drug but I now realize that I am truly addicted to it. If I stop taking it for more than one day I become extremely depressed and have very negative, hopeless thoughts and ideas. In addition to this, I very often hea | F | 51 | 9 years | 3/21/2007 | 5 | ADD, OCD, ODD | Dry Mouth Really Bad, rotting teeth (falling out), Lack of sleep, Weight loss (which is good for me) | Changed my life and I wouldnt be without it, Down side is all the side affects apart from weight loss...after 8 years my mouth is still dry and my teeth are decaying badly! Wasnt Diaganosed till i was 16 as no-one belived i had ADD only my family, In the End went to ADD/ADHD private clinic in Horsham as was diagnosed stright away. Was on My Tablets from 16 - 21 and then i hit a downer in my life, but i have just sorted myself out and am now back on my meds properly...I MEAN THIS IF YOU NEED THESE TABLETS THEN TAKE THEM dont do what i did and mess your self up. I am also on Concerta XL and Clonidine | F | 24 | 8 years 30MG x 6 3X day | 3/14/2012 | 5 | Mild Narcolepsy | none | It is giving me the desired amount of alertness and no more daytime sleepiness! I have been taking it for over 8 years, after trying all the others CNS meds, and this one works for me. My concern is the tolerance level that I now have for the drug. Initially, I was taking 5mg 3x/day, then 10mg 3x/day, then 20mg 3x/day, then 20mg 4x/day, then 40mg 3x/day and then 40mg 4x/day, now I'm up to 40mg 5x/day!(yes, that is 200mg/day or over 3 times the max!) I don't have any adverse side effects and my Dr. monitors my cardiac and liver functions regularly, and I do take drug holidays routinely. But I just may be the test subject to see what the real max dosage limits are, since all the stuff I read says '60mg/day' is the max adult dosage. | M | 53 | 8 years | 3/24/2008 | 2 | Decreased cognitive function | Heart palpitations, urinary incontinence after going the bathroom, nervousness, paranoia and an increased need to masturbate. < Hope that last side effect isn't to vulger sounding to read, but it is a side effect. | I was prescribed ritalin to increase my cognitive function when I was being presribed Zyprexa to treat my anxiety. And well I used to abuse only ritalin itself when I was a teenager just because it got me high, but ritalin alone just makes me feel nevous now so i don't use it. anyway, I'm no longer in nead of ritalin now because I'm no longer being prescribed antipsychotic meds for my anxiety. so I don't need it to stimulate my cognition. I'v been on ritalin for up to eight years counting the times for which I wasn't prescribed it. I'm now being presribed 20mg.s of diazepam (valium) to take three times a day and its working well to treat my anxiety. | M | 23 | 8 years | 11/5/2004 | 1 | ADD | Caused me to get sezuires at age 16. Which continues on until this day. | M | 21 | 8 years 20 MG 1X day | 8/25/2012 |
RITALIN (METHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE): This medication is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. It works by changing the amounts of certain natural substances in the brain. Methylphenidate belongs to a class of drugs known as stimulants. It can help increase your ability to pay attention, stay focused on an activity, and control behavior problems. It may also help you to organize your tasks and improve listening skills. This medication is also used to treat a certain sleep disorder (narcolepsy). (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)