Increased Ritalin. Limited results. No consensus

[jschoolfailure]

I've only recently been diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin. After being on 10mg for about a month with only limited improvement in the eyes of my wife that dosage was tripled. I've been at 30mg for two weeks now, and I've found myself with more energy to get things done, but my focus hasn't been what she would like to see. I'm trying to accept more responsibility, so less falls on her plate and she can be less stressed, but there's something I do that isn't how she wants it done and it makes things worse. An increase in energy hasn't exactly translated to an increase in focus, prioritization and follow-through the way I would have hoped, and it's still falling and and making it difficult for my wife.

Has anyone tried Ritalin with limited results before switching to something more successful?

[Southskier]

There are so many newer, better drugs these days! I take Adderall XR and it works great. My son uses Mydayis and so far it is really working out.

Good luck to you! Tell your wife to be patient. A Life time of bad organizational habits won't get fixed in a day!

[havok]

I'm currently on 20mg thrice daily of Ritalin, and though I'm finding it more beneficial than the Strattera and Adderall I had previously been on, like you I feel the results are less than I had hoped.

Your description of the benefits you're seeing sound similar to my experience with Adderall - improved energy, but no real improvement in real world impact.

It's my understanding that there is little overlap between the groups that see benefit with Adderall and those that see benefits with Ritalin, so it would probably be worthwhile talking to your prescribing doctor about trying Adderall to find out if you see more beneficial results with that.

As Southskier points out, there's a wide variety of different delivery mechanism's and minor drug differences available for both major stimulants, and I think after you figure out which, if any, of the stimulants works best for you it's worth considering delivery mechanism/different drugs in the stimulant class to see what works best.

[CoffeeMaster]

I started with Ritalin when diagnosed in 2019 - 10 cups of coffee. I switched to Concerta, which is the same molecule. With my doctor, I'm experimenting on different medications. I do sports which help me. I saw a psychologist help me with myself, and now I'm interviewing ADHD coaches. So, medication itself won't resolve all the problems. You will need to find a whole process/structure for you.