DrugBuyers.Com: Ritalin - Methylphenidate

hi holli,

i am sorry to hear your son has adhd. actually, it sounds more like he has add (sans the hyperactivity). both add and adhd are treated effectively with the stimulant meds you indicated above. what i didn't know is that 20% of adhd sufferers are not helped with the adhd meds!

myself, i have had pretty bad adhd all my life. doctors usually say that kids w/ adhd grow up into adults with add, that the hyperactivity part wears off with age. i'm like, what, 37, and w/o my meds i am still extremely hyperactive. it is ridiculous, honestly, for someone my age to be like that.

throughout my life these are the meds i have taken for the condition and how they affected me...

cylert (pemoline)... no good, might as well have taken caffeine pills, made me jittery, did nothing to help me focus.

ritalin (methylphenidate)...helped a little, calmed me down, somewhat effective for my "hyperness", but didn't help my concentration. wasn't completely comfortable on it.

concerta (methylphenidate, sustained release)... almost exactly the same as ritalin, but, for me, anything sustained release seemed to be a lot less less effective, frankly. sounds strange, but my doctor understood that. i asked him if i could try dexedrine or adderall so he put me on dexedrine for a month.

dexedrine (dextroamphetamine)... wonderful! was effective 15 minutes after the first dose. i was calm and my concentration, while still not perfect, was dramatically improved. no temper tantrums (honestly, even at my age, i used to wake up and be on a rampage and bouncing off walls, still do when i forget to take my morning dose). i actually eat well and sleep better on dexedrine. the only problem i have with it is that, especially in the morning after i take my firse dose (2 x 10mg.) i am so much more calmer than i am normally, i frequently take a nap. it's hard to explain, but it doesn't make me feel light-headed or woozy or anything like that. i guess, just i feel my mind is clearer and because i am so active/angry otherwise, once my mind has had a chance to calm down, i tend to breathe easier and relax. plus, i am an "active" sleeper.

when i told my doctor how wonderful the dexedrine was, i asked him if the next step would be adderall. he said, no, if the dexedrine was effective, no need to try the adderall. plus, while adderall is essentially almost the same thing, dexedrine is a "purer" form of amphetamine, and because of that i figure less "other" unwanted effects as opposed to adderall which, imo, is "adulterated" dextroamphetamine. i surmise that adderall was invented #1 to make money on a new patent on an old idea, and #2 to make dextroamphetamine less "abusable". iow, to put a bunch of other [censored] in it that not only make it in essence weaker than the original, but also to discourage abuse by making it "uncomfortable" at high doses (i.e. the amphatime derivatives and other junk they put in there to make one jittery and anxious at higher doses, something pure dexedrine won't do) and harder to crush, snort and/or inject. either way, if there's all that other rubbish in the adderall, there is a good possibility i wouldn't feel as comfortable on it as i do on dexedrine. another thing to consider is your son might be like me in the sense that perhaps the sr (sustained release) or xr (extended release)stuff just isn't effective. that's usually what adderall is. i really don't get ups and downs on the immediate release stuff, so that's no problem with me.

strattera, i haven't tried, but i do not have much faith in non-amphetamine stuff. my doctor told me that though it would be easier to rx strattera as it (like that damned cylert) is not a sch II drug , he highly doubted it would be effective for me anyway, so he didn't waste my time. (i had a really great doctor!)

metadate, afaik, is also methylphenidate and if ritalin and concerta wasn't effective for him, i can't see why in the world his doctor would rx this! don't mean to be rude to his doctor, but i think that is silly. and, no, dexedrine isn't something they use only for adults. i think you should ask your doctor about letting your son give them a try. i mean it, it was the ONLY thing that ever worked for me, truly a lifesaver!!! oh, before i forget, i wanted to ask you if your son thought any one of the drugs he has tried has been more effective than the others and if so, in what way(s)?

the really frustrating thing about add/adhd, and i'm absolutely sure your son feels this way, luckily you're a good mom and caught it and are proactive in it's treatment (bravo to you!), is that even though he has a very high iq, it is tough getting anything done effectively or finish anything. the problem is we think faster than we are able to do things or talk, and we can't catch up with our brains. we think of a million things all at once and it is [censored] near impossible to train ourselves to think about one thing at a time. on dexedrine i am down to 50 or 60 thoughts at once.

i don't normally ever tell people this but i score a consistant 139 on iq tests, even with my adhd, and it drives me crazy that i can't ever get anything done! i am certain your son feels the same way, and as i can relate, i do sympathize. it's improtant that you understand this. i had a very traumatic childhood at home, partly due to undiagnosed adhd.

see? when i am not on my dexedrine? it took me no less than 2 and a half hours to complete this ONE post. after every couple of sentences i either start looking at other things in the room or i leave to do something else. i cannot believe it is 3:00 am already! more like 3 hours then... if i think of anything else i'll try to remember to post it. please let me know how things go with the doctor, ok? good luck and best wishes to you and your son.

cheers, angel

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"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps."
Emo Philips.