Abstinence - Snorting Ritalin habit

[blipblop]

a dear friend asked me to relate his story, as follows:

I know Methylphenidate isn't an amphetamine, but it's grouped with amphs in the forums, so I thought I should put it here.
[None of this is self incrimination, all of it is written from the perspective of a character in a book...]

I've been on Ritalin all year, started my first dose on New Years Day. At first I was taking 1x10mg twice a day, but got the dose bumped to 2x20mg twice a day in about February, and my shink has told me I can take 2x20mg three times a day during exams etc.
For the first two months I was taking the tablets orally and they just helped me focus and it was great. In March I crushed one in my room one night and stayed up reading Erowid and Wikipedia obsessively for two or three hours having mad fun... By April I was crushing and snorting my full dose every day, but still at the right times to help with my study, and just hanging out being hyperfocussed in the library during free time.
I think in May I made a spreadsheet to figure out how much I
could take a day if I went off it on days without classes, and if I cashed my prescription just a few days early each month. I was doing about 7x10mg per day. Everything got snorted and nobody knew.
June saw me ditch the spreadsheet, lose self control and keep telling myself I'd get my usage down, then keep it down. Snorting all the pills, extracted some, but by this point I can't tell if the dose is working or not because of tolerance. Somehow studied enough for exams even though Ritalin at these doses was making leisure activites irresistible and homework didn't matter. Remember sneezing constantly during one exam and Ritalin coming out.
July I think I had a small break from Ritalin because I'd used my script before I would have been allowed to fill another, I'd promised myself I wouldn't use all uni holidays, let my tolerance decrease fo second semester. Filled my script almost as soon as I was allowed, same old story.
August I confessed to my partner I was snorting it most of the time, but I was still doing more than ever. I threw out my pill crusher but ended up just crushing it in a bowl in my room when I 'needed it for study'. No study got done basically all month.
September I confessed to someone else, someone who actually uses drugs, I couldn't bring myself to tell him how much I'm doing though, but told him I intended to stop snorting.
It's now early October and I think I've caved 3 or 4 times in a couple of weeks. Twice just in October I've stayed up all night, snorted about 12 tablets, then ended up depressed and crying. My behaviour has gone totally bipolar, cycling from hyper and talkative to crying and anxious a few hours later to excited and going on a midnight shopping spree, to using again and crashing and crying.
The last time I stayed up all night only to end up crying I went to lunch with my partner, cried in the car, and almost drove through a red light with him in the car. I felt dizzy and ill all through lunch and couldn't eat, and after he left to go do other things he had on that day I slept in my car for 5 hours...
Since then I've been taking stilnox [zolpidem] just so I'm not awake and tempted to use.
Today I have to do an essay for uni that was due two weeks ago, or else they won't accept it, and I think tonight might be the deadline for about 5 weeks worth of work for an online course, and I've done none of it. Yesterday I had a major essay due for another subject, but I still have time to hand it in late. I was hoping so much that at the end of this year I could get a transfer into another course, but it doesn't look like I'll get the grades now.
I can't think what to do, I'm sure I can do the essay by today and get the other done in a week, probably even cobble something together for the online stuff if I get moving... I haven't used for almost two days (put some motivational counter thing in my firefox), I don't know whether I should stay cold turkey in the hopes of trying to kick the habit, take my prescribed 2x20mg twice today to study even though my tolerance is probably higher than that anyway, or fall of the wagon again and snort higher doses to focus, knowing this homework panic won't let me slack off if I do...
And as for long term, I don't know what to do, I've thought maybe I'll just chuck my leftover ritalin and scripts and not go back for another script, and in any case, by the time my shrink would even prescribe again it would be December and I might be out of the habit?


Urgh, who knows. I hate doing this alone but the thought of confessing to my shrink or getting counselling doesn't appeal to me.

any advice for my friend is much appreciated.

[guntroll]

SWIM has experience with ritalin. First doing 30mg pills bought of a dealer. Then SWIM's psych perscribed me some 5mg ones. Then changed to 18mg Concerta. Swim would always just save these up so he could be on it hard in special occasions.

SWIM was very upset (though didn't show it for obvious reasons) when it wasn't renewed for the third time. Swim has been thought about saying he still has ADD symptoms despite being on Lithium (it was from bipolar) after quitting other drugs but several days ago while already on step one for getting a new one caught himself.

What should your character do? It depends on the intention of your novel. I think it would be more interesting if you kept it going and had him spiral downwards, but if you're trying to wrap it up, have him do all he can to get his life in order.

Throwing the pills away seems unrealistic of actual behavior and could have negative side-effects, but if he knows he can't control himself or does slip up and snorts it... It might be a good idea for a Deus ex Machina and to watch them go down the drain.

You could even have him tell his psych next time he sees him of the problem and ack for Concerta (which would be hard to snort because of how the pill is kinda rubberlike almost) or say good by to the methylphenidate

[sasafrass]

If your inhaling ritalin as you describe, stay the hell away from adderall. You need some benzo's and detune my man.

[candlesinadaze]

thats exactly what swim is dealing with and even though he's done all the rest including meth for some reason snorting these rittalin are addictive as anything else.