Health - Boosting mood while on Ritalin

[HorseBucket]

SWIM takes Ritalin daily but he finds sometimes it makes him depressed and so tired all he wants to do is sleep. This seems to come down to nutrition because it only starts happening when SWIM starts neglecting his health. Anyhow SWIMs looking for methods of boosting his mood when he's on Ritalin because even mild depression makes it really hard to study because things seem pointless when SWIMs depressed.

SWIMs tried alcohol and it works but he usually drinks a 1/4 liter of vodka before he feels good again and cant be the healthiest thing to be doing on a daily basis.

SWIMs decided to try exercising from now on since the most exercise he gets these days is walking to the shop. SWIM did some exercise just there and he's feeling better already.

Any recommendations? Would taking 5-HTP supplements be a good idea? SWIM has no reason to have low serotonin but he finds that he has to be in really bright rooms when he's on Ritalin or he feels bad. SWIM read once that thats a symptom of serotonin deficiency.

[herostyle]

Well for SWIM, smoking a bowl of marijuana will always help. Also for SWIM, if he has a task to do or something to complete, he doesn't get the horrible comedown that puts a damper on his mood. SWIM just tries to keep himself busy.

[Narcoticated]

First SWIM would like to know a few things, like how much swiy is taking, whether he's taking it orally/snorting/whatever, and whether or not he has ADD.

If swiy's not on an anti-depressent, consider that. It can help.

Additionally, swiy may have answered his own question. SWIY said that the depression and negative effects tend to only occur when he neglects his health. That's not unusual. Amphetamines suppress hunger and the desire to sleep, as well as exerting the body really hard. So when it wears off, it's not gonna be happy times. But it is always better when one is careful to not deprive themselves of nutrition, hydration, and sleep, and of course know when to slow down and take a break.

Exercise is kind of a universal cure for many psychological maladies, so that's definitely a good idea. Just be careful if swiy plans to exercise while on ritalin. SWIM is all for using stimulants as a work-out aid, but of course there are risks involved like over-exertion and dangerously high heart rates. So just be smart.

[HorseBucket]

SWIM used to snort it and had unholy comedowns so bad he often wondered if was going to die. SWIM started only taking them orally after realizing the comedown is nothing like this compared to snorting. SWIM finds that taking them as the psychiatrist recommended 20mg 3 times a day spaced out he does not experience depression instead he gets euphoria the whole way through but SWIMs a very compulsive man and usually takes 80mg in the space of an hour then usually another 40 later in the day. Its when he does it like this he feels the depression and drowsiness.

SWIMs not on any meds apart from Ritalin. SWIM is never depressed when hes off the Ritalin. SWIM ran out and is sitting here happy as can be and feels really good but unfortunately he can't study. His mind races and he can hardly sit still let alone commit to reading anything calmly enough to absorb information. Yeah SWIM has ADD he has all the classical symptoms in an extreme way. The ONLY area this affects SWIM is studying. Apart from that its a blessing in every area because SWIM is so quick at everything he's almost like superman.

SWIM never exercises but like he said he always feels good and hes always healthy for some reason. He does get bouts of drowsiness though so thats probably the lack of exercise. SWIM realizes how much hes blessed by having such a good every day mindset. Emotionally stable as a rock, always happy and mildly euphoric all day everyday. Ritalin fucks that up and doesn't always remedy his ADD so SWIM thinks he should find something better than Ritalin. He's tried speed and it works 10 times better than Ritalin. He's tried reading on morphine and that works 50 times better than Ritalin. Weed and alcohol make it impossible to study so they don't work.

[Narcoticated]

Originally Posted by MercuryDrinker

SWIM used to snort it and had unholy comedowns so bad he often wondered if was going to die. SWIM started only taking them orally after realizing the comedown is nothing like this compared to snorting. SWIM finds that taking them as the psychiatrist recommended 20mg 3 times a day spaced out he does not experience depression instead he gets euphoria the whole way through but SWIMs a very compulsive man and usually takes 80mg in the space of an hour then usually another 40 later in the day. Its when he does it like this he feels the depression and drowsiness.

This is a very well-known and classic characteristic of amphetamines. Fantastic with proper moderation, but that moderation can be very hard to maintain with the addictive nature of the drug (there's plenty of personal psychological factors that go into play here as well, swim would assume). SWIM himself has been using ritalin (via insufflation) at consistant rate for a number of months now. When able to keep it in moderation, swim is able to be very happy, productive, and have energy and alertness (all of which swim lacks, for reasons swim is not yet certain of, but he is quite sure it come from a psychological and/or physical affliction). Unfortunately swim also has trouble with occasionally "going overboard" and paying the price for it, despite learning time and time again from this mistake.

So the depression & drowsiness swiy feels when he does this is no medical conundrum. It's actually exactly what happens after one binges on ritalin. But that doesn't mean that the comedown always has to be that bad. SWIM has learned (from experience) ways to reduce or deal with the horrible come-downs from short-term ritalin over-use. Maintaining one's basic bodily needs is the most important thing. Eating, drinking water, consuming vitamins/nutrients, and allowing the body to rest throughout the continuous ritalin consumption is going to make things a hell of a lot better at the end. Of course ritalin suppresses the need and desire for all of those things, so it's very easy to go without nutrition/hydration/rest for a very long period of time without even realizing the toll one's putting on his/her body. A bad, bad crash will always be how this ends.

BUT even the worst of crashes can be managed. It just takes a strong mind and a little will-power. This may not work for everyone but this method has proven generally successful for swim when he experiences the worst possible amphetamine crashes (which is always that point where doing more will not produce any positive effects and simply add to the dysphoria).

First, when it comes to the horrible depression; swim reminds himself that said depression is solely a result of coming off a long ritalin binge and neglecting all his bodily needs. The depression is still going to be there, but swim is able to identify that depression as being "artificial" (in other words, purely a result of subsequent ritalin withdrawal, and nothing more), and is able to not let it take him over. For the anxiety and all the physical symptoms associated with it (shakes, physical discomfort, heart palpitations, etc) swim will pop a xanax. SWIM has anxiety issues so he has a very legitimate prescription for this. They call benzodiazepine a "come-down drug" for a reason. SWIM would never consider the recreational use of psycho-stimulants without having benzos on hand. At this point, the feeling of hunger will return so swim will eat something moderately healthy (but also try not to over-eat) and then lie down and attempt to relax (taking more xanax if necessary). In time the negative physical effects will fully subside and the intense fatigue (which swim always feels like ONLY sleep can solve) will actually fade. At this point swim is in a much better state of mind and is able to make appropriate decisions. If swim has been up for over 24 hours, sleep is usually followed.

Everyone's different but this works for swim. Of course the goal one should aim for is not hitting that terrible crash in the first place. But hopefully some of swiy or anyone else can benefit from swim's advice and reach a point where a bad crash is not a dead-end.

[HorseBucket]

Brilliant post narcoticated. Sounds like SWIY is in the same situation SWIM is in. No matter how many times he learns from his mistake it doesn't stop him from making that mistake again. Would SWIM be right in assuming SWIY is fearless and so hard headed he hates letting anything beat him? Thats part of SWIMs problem he feels like if he feels bad during a comedown the drug is defeating him so he always comes back for more to prove to himself he can circumvent the comedown.

What SWIY said there about reminding oneself that its just a comedown and its "artificial" is the key SWIM thinks. When SWIM reminds himself that its artificial depression its so much easier to handle because SWIM knows its just a matter of time before it wears off. The worst part for SWIM is the tiredness. When he does Ritalin its to study and those drowsy effects make it 10 times harder to study but SWIMs a persistent bastard he keeps trying but studying but he absorbs 50 times less in that state. He has to read over a single sentence 5 times before he can understand it when hes like that.

SWIM doesn't have access to any xanax but that sounds brilliant. SWIMs found that drink counteracts the negative effects of the Ritalin comedown. Exercise helps too. SWIM thinks that some of this may be psychological though. Like SWIM said hes real compulsive and sometimes when he takes all 80mg in an hour he gets depressed knowing that hes used up all the doses and has nothing to look for. When he does 20mg then another 20 a couple of hours later then he knows that he has more doses to look forward to and he becomes happy about that. SWIM thinks that may play a part in it. Maybe not though maybe its just a matter of not taking too much at once.

[Narcoticated]

Originally Posted by MercuryDrinker

Brilliant post narcoticated. Sounds like SWIY is in the same situation SWIM is in. No matter how many times he learns from his mistake it doesn't stop him from making that mistake again. Would SWIM be right in assuming SWIY is fearless and so hard headed he hates letting anything beat him? Thats part of SWIMs problem he feels like if he feels bad during a comedown the drug is defeating him so he always comes back for more to prove to himself he can circumvent the comedown.

Yeah, that does describe swim very well. He always need to feel like he's in control and that he's using the drug (as opposed to the drug using him). SWIM has a history of stimulant abuse and pushing his body and mind way over their limits. Basically, swim likes to work against his body and not with it. There's no question this behavior has made him a much stronger person, mentally and physically (especially back when he was doing really intense running on almost a daily basis). It's kind of like SWIM tries to be smarter than his brain. Unfortunately he's learned recently that that really is impossible. But that doesn't stop him from trying.

What SWIY said there about reminding oneself that its just a comedown and its "artificial" is the key SWIM thinks. When SWIM reminds himself that its artificial depression its so much easier to handle because SWIM knows its just a matter of time before it wears off. The worst part for SWIM is the tiredness. When he does Ritalin its to study and those drowsy effects make it 10 times harder to study but SWIMs a persistent bastard he keeps trying but studying but he absorbs 50 times less in that state. He has to read over a single sentence 5 times before he can understand it when hes like that.

This is where some responsibility will have to come into play. If swiy is planning to take a large amount of ritalin, it would be best for swiy to get the studying done right away and allow time after for a good amount of sleep. It can definitely be hard to be productive on ritalin though, swim finds. Even though it can be a very productive drug, it's easy to get distracted doing more "fun" things, and ignoring important things until it's too late. That's kind of what swim is doing right now actually.

SWIM doesn't have access to any xanax but that sounds brilliant. SWIMs found that drink counteracts the negative effects of the Ritalin comedown. Exercise helps too. SWIM thinks that some of this may be psychological though. Like SWIM said hes real compulsive and sometimes when he takes all 80mg in an hour he gets depressed knowing that hes used up all the doses and has nothing to look for. When he does 20mg then another 20 a couple of hours later then he knows that he has more doses to look forward to and he becomes happy about that. SWIM thinks that may play a part in it. Maybe not though maybe its just a matter of not taking too much at once.

Yeah alcohol will have a similar effect. Personally, one of swim's favourite combos is ritalin+alcohol. He tries now to limit that to "partying" times though. Because in the past he was doing them both on a a very frequent basis. The reason swim was so into this combo is because he really likes drinking (not excessively though), but he has issues with chronic fatigue (as he was sort of getting at in his previous post) and drinking tends to make him tired. But the addition of ritalin seemed to solve everything. The ritalin took away the drowsiness that came from alcohol, and the alcohol canceled out the negative effects of ritalin. This would often lead to a feeling of near-invincibility. But feeling so good and confident so often turned swim into somewhat of an asshole. Thankfully swim learned that feeling that way wasn't worth losing who he is and doing things that go against his morales. He also learned what's really important in life (friends, family, all that good stuff). Lucky for swim he learned this lesson before it was too late. He came close to losing just about everything.

But SWIM sort of went off-topic. Drinking is fine but don't make a habit out of it. As far as swiy's reasons for why he sometimes finds the need to take too much at once, swiy will have to figure that out himself and do his best (through self-discipline) to set rules for himself. SWIM has found that writing things down can help a lot. It's easy to forget how swiy felt during those bad come-downs, but if swiy makes an effort to write things down during the peak of those bad experiences (thoughts, feelings, whatever comes to mind), it may help swiy sort of "keep tabs" on his brain and eventually figure out what he needs to do in order to minimize the frequency of these negative experiences.

[attentionplease]

Originally Posted by MercuryDrinker

Any recommendations? Would taking 5-HTP supplements be a good idea? SWIM has no reason to have low serotonin but he finds that he has to be in really bright rooms when he's on Ritalin or he feels bad. SWIM read once that thats a symptom of serotonin deficiency.

An increase, especially an excessive increase in dopamine will down-regulate serotonin, and vice versa. That's why SSRIs can make ADHD worse, and stimulants can cause or aggravate depressive moods, including the pleasure-lacking variety of depression. It might not be a come-down/rebound that SWIY is experiencing, but this effect of the drug while active. With therapeutic use, after a few weeks the brain usually adjusts to the change in dopamine levels and any side effects like these disappear, but I don't know what happens in people who had normal dopamine levels to start with; that's not been studied. Serotonin would seem to be a likely culprit here, so 5-HTP or other things with a positive effect on serotonin levels/functioning would make sense as attempts to help it, theoretically.

[jill]

I take Klonapin when I crash and it helps the mood.