Ritalin Drug

It is interesting that most of the negative comments about Ritalin seem to be thoughtless spouts by individuals without any personal experience. The positive comments are mostly from individuals who either are using Ritalin themselves to treat ADD or ADHD, or are close to someone who is. What do you make of that?

The LegalizeCannabis? page uses the same argument to discredit those who want to legalize cannabis because they tried it and like it...

The technique involved is called "GiveTheDogaBadName?". Big pharma companies are against cannabis and pro-ritalin, when the latter is patented.

A stimulant. This drug is normally prescribed in oral form for children who exhibit an excessive or abnormal inability to sit still, pay attention, follow instructions, or otherwise obey and submit to authority. Contrast this with JustBeingaChild, something we all can relate to. -- EvanCofsky

Ritalin use will permanently disqualify your son or daughter from military service in the UnitedStates. They treat it like cocaine in the screening process. If you've ever tried it for any reason, regardless of the legality of the situation, you're out. You might not think that this is an issue, but from time to time it comes up in the media. Don't confuse what your child does at the age of six with what he or she will do at three times that age. There are alternatives which work for the vast majority of the people clueful enough to try them.

Complete, absolute, utter bullshit. I defy you to provide a credible citation for this.

Can you provide a reference for this? It seems somewhat odd that the military would disqualify a candidate for something that that s/he had no control over (parental medical decision), especially if the usage was 12 years prior and had stopped. Also, please fill us in on the alternatives.

[If this is true, I can see lots of parents requesting ritalin for their kids if the draft is ever reinstituted. A topic which has been discussed quite a bit of late in the UnitedStates...]

Well, I asked someone, and was given this:

DOD Directive E1.28.2. Personality (301), Conduct (312), or Behavior (313) Disorders. Where it is evident by history, interview, or psychological testing that the degree of immaturity, instability, personality inadequacy, impulsiveness, or dependency will seriously interfere with adjustment in the Armed Forces as demonstrated by repeated inability to maintain reasonable adjustment in school, with employers and fellow workers, and other social groups. ...
E1.298.4. Specific Academic Skills Defects. Chronic history of academic skills (314) or perceptual defects (315), secondary to organic or functional mental disorders that interfere with work or school after age 12. Current use of medication to improve or maintain academic skills."

And, with a little of my own research, a paragraph in a USAF Academy sponsorship application form, found at https://admissions.usafa.af.mil/secure/Online/PCQ.pdf

ADD/ADHD
Chronic history of academic skills or perceptual defects that interfere with work or school after age 12 is disqualifying. Current control and treatment with psychotropic medication (Ritalin, AdderallDrug, etc.) is also disqualifying. A waiver may be requested one year after medication has been discontinued.

So, it would seem that the military has reason to be quite circumspect with regard to psychotropics.

Not to be confused with SaintJohnsWort? or GinkgoBiloba?:

SaintJohnsWort? is considered an antidepressant, but it's got plenty of side effects including a fatal incompatibility with some milk products. GinkgoBiloba? is supposedly a nootropic, but I haven't seen the research.

I don't think that either of those herbs actually increase your level of obedience (otherwise my wife would make me take them). Isn't the generic for Ritalin amphetamine? -- PhilGoodwin

They don't actually increase your level of obedience. They just increase the ability to obey, should the person taking the drugs choose to obey. Some people, if you tell them to stay still for 30 minutes in exchange for a million dollars, would never be able to do so.

Actually, Ritalin's technical name is methylphenidate, and it's not an amphetamine. It is considered a stimulant, but it only acts on certain parts of the brain (supposedly those that govern focus). For those of us who truly have that overdiagnosed condition ADD, Ritalin is a godsend.

Dexedrine is the trade name of dextroamphetamines (aka 'speed'), which are also used to treat ADD. In my experience, dexedrine is a 'dirty stimulant,' as in, it has far more effects than just increasing focus. For me at least, RitalinDrug is far superior to other FocusDrugs?.

I've also had good effects from an herbal remedy called CalmPlex?, does anyone know what's in it? -- ShaeErisson

Was dexedrine used as an over-the-counter diet drug? The name sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it. I'm thinking of products like Dex-a-trim, etc, if that helps.

Yes. The only ones I saw were greenish capsules filled with these tiny, wild, bouncing little balls. Burns like shit on the nostril, feels like a mix between Ephedrine and Ritalin effects and the crashes are a lot more painful. Poor man's choice.

But never forget what children get the most of: Sugar, caffeine, flavor enhancers, and preservatives. Yum! -- PhlIp

Actually, as an alternative to Ritalin, some kids are being sent to the nurses office for a coffee break. Apparently, one of the largest problems with Ritalin is that often people who do need it (not to mention those who don't) sell it to their older siblings friends instead of taking it themselves.

And thankfully for that. Those are increasingly hard to get outside the US. -- AnonymousCoward.

And when they grow up, there's Irish Coffee. Which is a classic example of the refined taste in drugs, namely, mixing stimulants with depressants. Always works for me. Except that EthylAlcohol is a stimulant at small blood concentrations, a depressant in large. Is it really? I think what's going on is that a low-level depressant effect is perceived as stimulation, because some bits of the brain that govern inhibitions are detectably decreased in activity early on. Note that some people don't get any "stimulant" effect from ethanol at all.

I get no kick from champagne....

No excuse. Try harder, girl. :)

Has anyone else wondered why we give stimulants to people with an alleged hyperactive disorder?

Strange as it may seem, to keep them alert. Ritalin is also used to treat narcolepsy. The hyperactivity is the brains attempt to stay awake and alert. Give Ritalin to a normal person and he speeds. Give it to an ADD person and they slow down.

Sounds a bit more likely that it burns them out rather than calms them down.

That's what it sounds like, but that's not what it feels like.

Go study how a neuron works; it can be both stimulated and inhibited by input (though not both by the same input). Neurons use this in larger structures, too. The idea is that the stimulant preferentially stimulates inhibitory neurons and neural structures, causing a net depressive effect. Whenever I'm tempted to wonder if ADD exists at all in a bout of media-induced cynicism, I remember this fact, that the effect of Ritalin on a true ADD sufferer and a non-ADD sufferer are night and day. As crazy as some people may be about over-diagnosing, this fact alone is enough to establish that there is something real.

All drugs can work this way, really, and unless you look really closely you can't really know a priori whether a "stimulant" is working by stimulating postive synapses, or inhibiting negative synapses, or both.

Ritalin is a drug that should not be administered to children of any age, especially when their are alternatives for ADHD, which, I might add, is an unproven condition/disease.

Why? Ritalin has no side-effects (that I know of) and is not addictive. [Temporary side-effects of insomnia and loss of appetite are reported.] It greatly improves the quality of life for kids with ADD, and, in my opinion, you need, as parents, a very good excuse NOT to use it (this is based on experiences in a large number of kindergartens and information from a number of doctors who work in the children's ward in a large hospital). -- NissimHadar

One day in a class I was attending, people were talking about Ritalin in the negative way, i.e., this is an overused drug that is more for the convenience of parents and teachers than for the good of the children, and one woman who had been "treated" with it piped up and said, "No! Ritalin is great! I wouldn't have wanted to go through Catholic school without it!" ... Simultaneously proving both the pro and anti arguments.

I am one of the survivors of the ADD craze. I took this stuff because my parents forced me (I know, boo-hoo), and it felt like I drank 5 cups of coffee, I was nervous and twitchy, etc., until I started spitting the pills out. So I really connect with the South Park ritalin episode.

My spouse is a suburban elementary school teacher, and assures me in that in some cases Ritalin completely transforms a student from a disruptive classroom terror to a learning classroom participant. One disruptive student can easily distract a whole classroom. Cold as it sounds, appropriate prescription of ritalin offers economic savings for any school.

On the other hand, any drug's effects vary considerably from person to person. Certainly, there are many cases from nursing homes to schools where authority figures dispense prescriptions with as much view towards the convenience of the authority as towards the benefit of their charges. Can't say I have a good answer, but banning ritalin seems like throwing out the baby with the bath water. -- DaveChristenson

I just started taking this stuff yesterday, at age 26, in a high-tech time release capsule. I have long suspected that I had ADD, but put off treatment because I thought I could handle it myself and because of some ambivalent feelings about the medication, and because I have a tendency to put things off. After taking my first dose yesterday, I hung a shirt in the closet, and I was actually startled that I did it. A lot of little things like that have gone more smoothly for me, and I'm much more productive and happy at work, so far. I'm neither nervous nor twitchy. Any side-effects are undetectable, and the positive effects are subtle but profound. I'm amazed, and I'm sorry I put it off for so long. For the first time in my life, I feel like I can make decisions and follow through on them. -- AnonymousCoward

Prescription Desk Reference, [http://prescriptiondesk.com Prescription Drug Information:]

A newer alternative is Strattera, which has its own drawbacks (takes longer to take effect, principally), but it isn't a stimulant, and only has to be taken once per day. It took a few weeks to notice an improvement, but it has done wonders for me. -- another adult AnonymousCoward

Just FYI, RitalinDrug is available in a one-a-day form as well. The one I'm taking is called Concerta, and lasts twelve hours, and while it is a stimulant, I don't feel stimulated. I have none of the side-effects associated with stimulants. Your mileage may vary. -- the first AnonymousCoward

"When I can't stop fiddlin' I just takes my ritalin. I'm popping and sailing man!!" - Bart Simpson

2004-05-09 I now highly recommend Concerta, it feels much nicer than straight up Ritalin, details upon request. --ShaeErisson

There's also Ritalin LA, which comes in capsules instead. Generally works wonders for ADDs. Snorting abusers, beware: treat it with a lot more respect. This could easily kill you. Morealso, those little balls are a *pain* to crush and seems to be magnetically attracted to the floor. No good.

Ritalin works real good. I'm sitting here eating candy drinking coke and listening to music at 1:00 in the morning. If I hadn't taken my ritalin this morning, I would be giddy and I'd be bouncing off the walls. I have ADD and I take ritalin every morning. I think the south park ritalin episode is strange. Trust me, ok? Ritalin WILL NOT make you like Phil Collins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok? Trust me - I know.

Trust granted. We also know.

Coffee is not a substitute for Ritalin. Baised on current understandings of the brain, they twiggle different parts of the brain.

I can't just drink caffeine to make up for not taking Ritalin.

The thing is, if Ritalin does cause somebody to be twitchy, there's one of two things going on. Either you are dosed far too high, or you don't actually have AttentionDeficitDisorder. I accidentally took too much Ritalin once and it was *not* a pleasant experience and I was twitchy as all hell with no improved mental effects.

I've seen this happen to first-timers a lot. I think it's the taking that sucks when you're not really ADD. Believe me, it does get better in time. The twitchy thing is a subtle side-effect, nevertheless. You just learn to control it. Ever seen a MarijuanaGrandMaster?? How can one say such hillarious things on pot and not have a heart-attack on laughing?

The proper way to dose somebody with RitalinDrug is to start them at the lowest dosage, which is almost placebo level, and slowly bump it up. You can't just put somebody on stimulants without properly dosing them and offering them psychological counseling - that's why people are making noises about there being a hysteria instead of a real problem.

As an adult who can be relied to take my own pills and doesn't have to go to the nurse's office, I much prefer the non-sustained-release form. This way, if I go out drinking, I can make sure that I'm not going to have Ritalin <-> EthylAlcohol interactions.

In my experience snorted Ritalin can effectively render drinking useless, as in, it's *really* hard to get wasted. Hangovers, on the other hand, are just as bad. One could say then it makes no sense, but for those who enjoy the *drink* and not the getting drunk, it may be a killer.

Apparently, Strattera causes some undesirable side-effects. However, I'm extra glad that they made it because now I can point out that there's a difference between somebody with ADD and a stimulant junkie. -- You know, that slightly hurts my feelings. -- AnonymousJunkie?

Random other gripe: not only am I not eligible for military service (given that I'm on the border of being a pacifist, I'm not complaining), but I'm also unable to pass an FAA medical unless I'm off it for 6 months *and* provide a letter from a doctor saying that I'm in good mental order without the medicine. Which does piss me off.

-- AnonymousDonor