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What Are The Side Effects Of Ritalin?
Question: I pulled the trigger and I'm on my 4th day of Parnate 20 mgs. I'm taking it all at once in the morning. I have a couple of questions:
This is the first day that I'm very tired. It's bothersome but I'm not worried because it is early. I know people take low doses of ritalin (I never take more than 5mg extended release) to help with fog and sleepiness. As ritalin tends to raise BP, will this prolong my body's acclimation to the hypotensive effects of Parnate?
My understanding of the drug is that your blood pressure/energy will drop as it starts working on your SE/NE/DA. Eventually your body will adjust to blood pressure and you are left with the improvements in mood.
Which also leads me to the question of dosing...do the side effects reduce at higher dosages? I'm not sure if I should continue going up past 20mg. I'm pretty med sensitive and the lamictal also helps with depression so I tend to stay at very low doses of antidepressants. I haven't experienced insomnia yet and I'd rather not if it is dose-dependent. I was prescribed 30 mgs but that was chosen as the standard starting dose and not really based on anything.
I am not very depressed or anxious at the moment so I'm not in a crisis. I wanted to get this trial started before school starts in the summer.
This is the first day that I'm very tired. It's bothersome but I'm not worried because it is early. I know people take low doses of ritalin (I never take more than 5mg extended release) to help with fog and sleepiness. As ritalin tends to raise BP, will this prolong my body's acclimation to the hypotensive effects of Parnate?
My understanding of the drug is that your blood pressure/energy will drop as it starts working on your SE/NE/DA. Eventually your body will adjust to blood pressure and you are left with the improvements in mood.
Which also leads me to the question of dosing...do the side effects reduce at higher dosages? I'm not sure if I should continue going up past 20mg. I'm pretty med sensitive and the lamictal also helps with depression so I tend to stay at very low doses of antidepressants. I haven't experienced insomnia yet and I'd rather not if it is dose-dependent. I was prescribed 30 mgs but that was chosen as the standard starting dose and not really based on anything.
I am not very depressed or anxious at the moment so I'm not in a crisis. I wanted to get this trial started before school starts in the summer.
Brief Answer:
Follow up
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXXXXX
Thanks for follow up with updated details.
First of all I like to inform you that any medication remains in the body for certain duration and it has its action and limitations which holds true for Ritalin. The effect of ritalin are short lived and there is no problem with acclimatization following discontinuation of medication with blood pressure changes.
I mean to say that if you take ritalin for short period to overcome the poor concentration and attention arising from parnate, it does not limit your acclimatization to the hypotensive effect of parnate.
Regarding your understanding about the hypotensive effect it is right but it is much more complex than what we know.There is complex interplay of various neurotransmitters and it is not necessary to have decreased energy or blood pressure after the drug starts acting in body. Almost 60 % of individuals report no hypotensive effect after use of parnate.
Regarding the side effects insomnia is not a dose dependent side effect but hypotesive effect is dose dependent. If you have not experienced insomnia in last four days the possibility is very low in coming days. However as a precaution, limit use of last dose before 3 PM provided they divide the dose in future while increasing dose of parnate (I am aware that you are taking it once a day).
In my opinion better continue at the same dose for at least two weeks. In case there is no response or inadequate response we can think of increasing dose further.
I hope this helps you further.
Thanks and regards.
Follow up
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXXXXX
Thanks for follow up with updated details.
First of all I like to inform you that any medication remains in the body for certain duration and it has its action and limitations which holds true for Ritalin. The effect of ritalin are short lived and there is no problem with acclimatization following discontinuation of medication with blood pressure changes.
I mean to say that if you take ritalin for short period to overcome the poor concentration and attention arising from parnate, it does not limit your acclimatization to the hypotensive effect of parnate.
Regarding your understanding about the hypotensive effect it is right but it is much more complex than what we know.There is complex interplay of various neurotransmitters and it is not necessary to have decreased energy or blood pressure after the drug starts acting in body. Almost 60 % of individuals report no hypotensive effect after use of parnate.
Regarding the side effects insomnia is not a dose dependent side effect but hypotesive effect is dose dependent. If you have not experienced insomnia in last four days the possibility is very low in coming days. However as a precaution, limit use of last dose before 3 PM provided they divide the dose in future while increasing dose of parnate (I am aware that you are taking it once a day).
In my opinion better continue at the same dose for at least two weeks. In case there is no response or inadequate response we can think of increasing dose further.
I hope this helps you further.
Thanks and regards.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Kampana
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