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 Date added. 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 |
| 5 | ADD | No side effects. Possibly some heart racing, but felt the same as if I had drank a red bull, was not a debilitating feeling. Helps with concentration and fatigue. I switched to the non-generic and works better than generic. Ritalin LA works even better (slow release formula, gives you two doses, one upon taking, one 4 hours later, so that you do not get such an up and down high). | F | 22 | 3 years | 7/28/2009 | 3 | IDIOPATHIC HYPERSOMNIA | I have a recent diagnosis of IH. The doc gave me 7 sample pills of Provigil, but will be prescribing Ritalin due to cost reasons of the Provigil. I have never taken stimulants, and not sure how the Ritalin will affect me. The Provigil keeps me awake, but jittery (it's manageable). I am concerned of my reaction to the Ritalin. I am considering starting it on a weekend, in case I do not respond well to the medication and it affects me at work. I am terrified I will have a psychotic episode from it, or something along those lines. I think I need to stop doing so much internet research on it and just take the medicine and form my opinion without any preconceived notions beforehand. | F | 38 | | 5/18/2009 | 5 | ADD | fast heartbeat | AMAZING DIFFERENCE made me capable of concentraiting | F | 21 | 5 years | 5/13/2009 | 2 | ADD | Insomnia, Skin rash, cephalgia, cold feet and hands, heartrace, shivers, dry eyes, dry mouth, diarrhoea, impatience, dilated pupils, difficulties of elocution | First time I took Ritalin, it felt totally the same if I had taken speed! It finally got better after about a week, but still, the first half hour after taking it was always very uncomfortable. My heart was going at 180 even if I was sitting down! 20 at this time, 160 pounds with 10mg twice a day. I just can't imagine a 40 pounds, 8yo taking this med. It must be hard for them to understand why they feel so bad. HOWEVER, the medication is VERY efficient. It totally changed my life. I strongly suggest you to take, or give your child CONCERTA instead of ritalin. It is exactly the same molecule (methylphenidate). The difference is the caplet. The CONCERTA caplet is NOT digested by the organism. It is in fact a water-permeable plastic capsule with a tiny laser drilled hole, recovered by a digestible layer. When you take the pill, the first layer disappears, opening the tiny hole, and uncovering the water-permeable capsule. This capsule contains three things : 2 drugs compartments with Methylphenidate inside, and a tiny compressed sponge. As the water present in your organism slowly goes throughout the capsule, the sponge gets bigger and pushes the medication outside the capsule in a 12 hours lap. 22% of the medication is released immediately when you take the pill, the rest is slowly released. Notice that 10% of the med stays inside the capsule, so this is why CONCERTA dosages are always higher than your usual daily Ritalin dosage. So if you can afford it (98$ a month for me) it i | M | 22 | 3 months | 5/8/2009 | 3 | ADD | small nervousity, mood swings, hart problems (hurts and faster beat), chest hurts, lack of appetite, vision changes (sharper, like less cloudy) | The first times i toke it i got mood swings something happines sometimes anxiety but not extreme like hard drugs or weed. I love ritalin because i can see like sharper (my vision is like sharper more light too?), when i don't take it i always feel high in a bad trip because life as a ADD guy is so overwhelming and ritalin helps to organize you're thoughts and sharper you're concentration. | M | 15 | 2 months | 3/29/2009 | 2 | ADD | Mild, mini headaches, makes me a little tired 1/2 hour after I take it(just for a short time). | Started on 10mg a day, it has not made any noticable difference yet. | F | 23 | 3 days | 3/20/2009 | 4 | ADD | occasional jitters | I take short-release Ritalin 20mg/day. Wow - it's helped me so much! Before taking this medicine it was extremely difficult to focus at work and socialize with friends, but Ritalin has helped this so much. It's an amazing difference! I recommend starting with a small dose and gradually increasing. | F | 28 | 3 months | 1/26/2009 | 4 | ADHD | depression, stomach pain/burning, reduced appetite, some initial sleeping problems | I am 23 year old female and have only been taking it for a few months. It does not help as much as adderall with focus, but the depression seems to be a bit (only a bit) less. I have always been depressed, but with adderall it was almost unbearable despite the positive effects. I still feel significantly more depressed on Ritalin than I was without it, but it is the only way I can get through school. However, the past couple of days my stomach has begun hurting really bad whenever I take it. I'm not sure if it is the Ritalin or not, or if it is possible for a symptom I didn't have before to appear. It's not nausea or gas pains. More like a burning. It's just getting worse, though. I am usually very tolerant of physical pain, so it's not mild (but not excruciating, of course). Also appetite loss. Not as much as Adderall, though. | F | 24 | 2.5 months | 1/20/2009 | 2 | Fatigue/Medicine side effects | Sweating, no appetite, laziness, antisocial, less ability to focus and get organized, desire to take more. | I was prescribed this after Provigil didn't work. I was taking 10mg in am, 10 mg at noon. It would take less than a 1/2hr to kick in and I'd feel like I had a buzz for a while. It woke me up a bit but made me extremely lazy! I got nothing done when I was on this medicine. It was almost like taking a bunch of xanax but not getting sleepy like it sometimes makes me. My hands would sweat so bad that I would walk around holding tissues -gross! After about 2-3 hrs it would start wearing off and I felt like I had drank a pot of coffee and smoked a carton of cigarettes - a really nasty feeling. I just switched to adderall and hopefully that works better than this did. | F | 31 | 3 weeks | 1/15/2009 | 4 | ADHD - | Sometimes dizzy | My main issue is getting distracted when I wake up and forgetting to take my ritalin. I take 10mg 2x/day. It's not like I feel super-focused when I am taking ritalin, or 'altered' in any way. I don't really feel anything different... I am just able to focus on my work and do it, which is really hard when I am not taking my medication. | M | 43 | 2 years | 1/14/2009 | 5 | Attention Disorder, fatigue | Felt kind of speedy the first few days, have a minor arrhythmia, which is more pronounced, but it has changed my life for the better so I tolerate side effects as long as they remain minor. | I am on a very low dose - one fourth of a 5mg tablet every morning and them sometimes another 1/4 at noon. [I weigh about 100 pounds and am very sensitive to drugs]. This drug has changed my life. I am able to "keep my ducks in a row" and have a better attitude about life. The fatigue which has run my life for years is gone. It sounds as though many people are taking more than they have to to get results. | F | 61 | 1.5 years | 1/10/2009 | 3 | Adult ADD | First two weeks-anxiety attacks-numbness and pain in arms and neck-overall discomfort-angry when medicine started to wear off-EXTREMELY tired but lowered dose of Zoloft from 50mg to 25mg and that stopped. Slight chest pain | This is my first go around with ADD medications and keeping in mind that I also have anxiety disorder, it wasn't a surprise that I had initial anxiety attacks on this medication. Now that I toughed out the side effects, I have great focus and am very calm. It's nice to be able to 'tune' noises and people out and get work done. I am only on 10mg once a day right now so not too high of a dose. I look forward to what this will do for me. | F | 34 | 30 days | 1/10/2009 | 1 | Chronic Fatigue | increased heart rate, heart palpitations, dizziness/vertigo, headache, nausea, nervousness | My doctor prescribed this to me to see if it would help with chronic fatigue I had been experiencing. I am very sensitive to medications so usually I would be nervous about trying something new, but I know young children frequently take this drug, so I figured "how bad can it be". I certainly have felt worse from other medications, but this one was definitely a bad experience. I only tried it 4 times. I would take one 10mg pill each time (my doctor told me to take 10mg 3x daily...thank goodness I did not!). My heart rate would always skyrocket. I am an endurance athlete and work out 7 days a week for at least 90 minutes each session (my chronic fatigue had been interfering with my workouts which is the main reason I was so eager to find something to help). Usually my resting heart rate is very low, between 55-65 beats per minute. Each time I took Ritalin my heart rate would go up to about 150 beats per minute which was terrifying. I would get extremely nervous (I am | 31 | 4 days | 12/20/2008 | 3 | | 9/25/2008 | 4 | ADHD | Blurred vision at first. Appetite reduction, but no weight loss. | Dosage: Started at 5 mg. in the morning, increased to 10 mg. in the morning after 30 days. Benefits: Increased mental focus & concentration, less daydreaming, less fidgeting & impulsivity. Could not take extended-release form of Concerta or Adderall due to insomnia side effect. Regular Ritalin wears off before bedtime and has helped regulate sleep cycle. | F | 56 | 2 months | 9/12/2008 | 5 | ADHD/Inattentive | Minor anxiety during first few days of treatment, which went away after a week or so | Diagnosed at age 41 of ADHD/Inattentive after more than twenty years of struggling, telling doctors that I had deafening noise in my head and chronic fatigue/depression. One doctor, on hearing about my background noise, put me on Zyprexa! I feel better now, both physically and mentally, than I have since high school. side-effects were negligible. | M | 41 | 6 weeks | 7/17/2008 | 3 | | 5/29/2008 | 5 | Narcolepsy | Sudden Sleep Episodes, Cataplexy, and Sleep Paralysis | It has worked beautifully. I perform much better in school because of being able to stay awake. When I was in high school I would commonly sleep through about 25% of every class. It was extremely hard to stay motivated. I started taking Ritalin my sophmore year in college after trying several medications, and have not looked back since. I would recommend anyone that is diagnosed with narcolpsy give this medicine a try. | M | 20 | 6 months | 5/4/2008 | 5 | Adult ADD | Dry Mouth, Increased need for water | I have read alot of negative about this drug, for months I refused to take this medication. My life was in complete shambles. I could not remember what time to pick up my son from school. Social Anxiety, VERY emotional. When I finally decided to take this medication I was cautious. I finally have my life back. I can remember things again. Even now, doing my taxes, when I found out we owed thousands I did not have an emotional breakdown over it. I hope you read this and at least try it. If it works for you then great. Dont let a few misguided individuals stop you from taking a medication that can greatly help you. This is not for everyone, read the side effects and make sure you have a doctor that will monitor you. | F | 36 | 2 months | 4/15/2008 | 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 |