Adderall+Ritalin

[heyheyguy]

Swim (literally, in this case) has been taking Ritalin as prescribed for ADHD. She's interested in Adderall, but is it even worth a try? Ritalin no longer has any recreational effect on her, would this ruin any recreational use of Adderall as well? Do Ritalin and Adderall increase in tolerance cocurrently? Are there any dangers in mixing the two?

She's thinking of a 40mg dose of Adderall. With a normal, doctor-prescribed dose of Ritalin, is this nearing a dangerous amount? I'd guess Swim is around 110-120 lbs, if that affects the answer.

[trptamene]

SWIY may want to ask their doctor about adderall. Tell said doctor that swiy hasbeen reading some bad information about ritalin and would like to try another ADHD medication. Personally I think adderall is a better drug for this disorder. Look for some type of web post with adderall AND health effects or adderall AND cardiac arrest. There have been at least a few cases of children dieing from daily use of adderall. If SWIY can get the doctor to change the script, they will also tell you how to switch from one to the other and what the risks are of taking them together. From what I can tell there are few (any?) M.D.'s on this site, and when going from doctor prescribed to doctor prescribed + self medication, it is a good idea to get the opinion of someone who has M.D. at the end of their name.

On the same note actually, if anyone knows some good doctors who they are friendly with and are "cool" maybe you could refer them; me thinks members like this would be a good addition to our community. We have police officer(s) here already to tell SWIus what we are doing is "unacceptable", good medical doctors would be welcomed, by me at least.

[lulz]

There would be some degree of cross tolerance, because ritalin and adderall both inhibit dopamine reuptake. But in this respect, adderall would be more potent. Adderall also affects another transmitter implicated in ADD, norepinephrine aka noradrenaline. It reverses the transport pump on noradrenaline neurons, instead of inhibiting reuptake like Straterra does.

Basically if Ritalin works for her, Adderall does the same job but does it better and has added features. It's certainly worth a try. If she lives in America she could probably get prescribed it if she tells her doc that the Ritalin isn't as effective as it used to be. This phenomenon is called "poop out", and it's quite common with psychiatric medications. Most docs will usually increase the dosage or switch to a more potent med.

[Skeetastic]

Also the active ingredient in both drugs are different. Ritalin's active ingredient is methylphenidate, while adderall's is amphetamine (or so SWIM has been informed). That may affect how this change would affect SWIY.

[trptamene]

Originally Posted by Skeetastic

Also the active ingredient in both drugs are different. Ritalin's active ingredient is methylphenidate, while adderall's is amphetamine (or so SWIM has been informed). That may affect how this change would affect SWIY.

Adderall is a mixture of four different amp's. from rxlist.com

ADDERALL XR® is a once daily extended-release, single-entity amphetamine product. ADDERALL XR® combines the neutral sulfate salts of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, with the dextro isomer of amphetamine saccharate and d,l-amphetamine aspartate monohydrate. The ADDERALL XR® capsule contains two types of drug-containing beads designed to give a double-pulsed delivery of amphetamines, which prolongs the release of amphetamine from ADDERALL XR® compared to the conventional ADDERALL® (immediate-release) tablet formulation.

EACH CAPSULE CONTAINS: 5 mg 10 mg 15 mg 20 mg 25 mg 30 mg
Dextroamphetamine Saccharate 1.25 mg 2.5 mg 3.75 mg 5.0 mg 6.25 mg 7.5 mg
Amphetamine Aspartate Monohydrate 1.25 mg 2.5 mg 3.75 mg 5.0 mg 6.25 mg 7.5 mg
Dextroamphetamine Sulfate USP 1.25 mg 2.5 mg 3.75 mg 5.0 mg 6.25 mg 7.5 mg
Amphetamine Sulfate USP 1.25 mg 2.5 mg 3.75 mg 5.0 mg 6.25 mg 7.5 mg
Total amphetamine base equivalence 3.1 mg 6.3 mg 9.4 mg 12.5 mg 15.6 mg 18.8 mg

[tayo]

Overall SWIM would suggest avoiding the amphetamine salt mixture (adderal) and go straight for the best ingredient (dextroamphetamine) 15mg in time release form, maybe 2 times a day. it seems to have less side effects alone, and even after initial side effects most users adapt to them and no longer experience them, which is likely why the air-force uses them as "go-pills" for pilots on long missions. Most effective, least side effects. SWIM had nasty side effects with adderall, when switching a.d.d. meds when young, picked eyebrows off and plucked hair leaving spots on head. Ridiculous things had happened. Destroyed social life, self-esteem to have no eyebrows. It all grew back, no lasting side effects but had adderall caused these at a fully developed age, eyebrows might not have grown back, could have had bald spots scarring life and self-esteem forever. But that's just SWIMs experience with adderall, it's poop.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by tayo

SWIM had nasty side effects with adderall, when switching a.d.d. meds when young, picked eyebrows off and plucked hair leaving spots on head.

Lol, SWIM did this exact same thing recently while on Adderall. Pulling at his eyebrows and eyelashes for some reason felt incredibly good+gave him something to do when he was bored. Luckily he hasn't done this enough for it to cause a visible difference