17 replies to this topic

[Heisenberg]

Has anybody substituted ADHD-perscribed Ritalin with Modafinil, or combined the two?

[chilp]

I'm on my first day of 2x10mg ritalin and have used Modafinil before. It seems Ritalin doesn't make me as alert as modafinil does, it also makes me a bit nervous/anxious. MModafinil gives me also some extra confidence I'm not seeming to get on RIt. Anyone else have tried both ?

[haha]

Yeah I have used both, I like modafinil, its great cause i dont know its there but im funtioning really well and feeling good.It doesnt feel like its bad for you. You dont endup staying up for days on end and turning a bluish colour lol. Helps with intellectual stuff. It does weaken even with cycling, maybe its just getting used to it.
With ritalin its far more noticable, working memory is vastly increased, like i can hold 15 numbers in my head subconciously but mentally changing subject becomes hard , this impacted on university for me, it was the first time I was putting time into studying and I was getting worse grades. Ritalin maybe good for science but it really cuts into your divergent,expressionate self. Theres a honeymoon with ritalin its great for the first month(15mg XR) but after 3 months I was a shaddow of my former self. Might just be me....also i ditched almost all my longtime friends during this time, which was coming but theres ways and means.

[LIB]

Quick note on how they work for me....


Modafinil seems to take away fatigue. I think of it as a very high quality caffeine type drug.(best example I can think of)

Ritalin helps you focus more. Helps me with school type activities more. But more side effects/crash

[kassem23]

Yeah I have used both, I like modafinil, its great cause i dont know its there but im funtioning really well and feeling good.It doesnt feel like its bad for you. You dont endup staying up for days on end and turning a bluish colour lol. Helps with intellectual stuff. It does weaken even with cycling, maybe its just getting used to it.
With ritalin its far more noticable, working memory is vastly increased, like i can hold 15 numbers in my head subconciously but mentally changing subject becomes hard , this impacted on university for me, it was the first time I was putting time into studying and I was getting worse grades. Ritalin maybe good for science but it really cuts into your divergent,expressionate self. Theres a honeymoon with ritalin its great for the first month(15mg XR) but after 3 months I was a shaddow of my former self. Might just be me....also i ditched almost all my longtime friends during this time, which was coming but theres ways and means.

Why did you get worse grades? I read testimonials about guys using Ritalin, and it helped them study a lot. I get it, if you're a writer or creative artist it might be stupid, but if you have to memorize a bunch of terms or understand organic reactions, would it still be bad? Please elaborate.

[Tukotih Doji]

Well, i used Ritalin for a period.
I buyed it off a friend, I'm 100% sure that I have minor ADD and have got an evaluation but my parents (Age 15 when evaluated) didn't think the problem was big enough to give in such a "dangerous" medicine. (Back then you required a special license from the Swedish FDA.)
I insnufflated 20mg the first time and got a lot of euphoria. (I was in a major but short depression at the time, Ritalin helped me recover without doubt)
I danced, listening to very loud techno music. Then studied when the euphoria got off maybe 40min afterwards. Then had a hard time sleeping about 4h in. I fell asleep maybe 5.5h after insnufflation.
The euforia never got back in the same way, I built up a pretty heavy tolerance after the first use. (Could have been the depression, I'm not sure.)

I used 20mg and 40mg XR a few times in school but stopped since I got these horrible stomach-pains.
Today I use Aniracetam, Centrophenoxine/DMAE, Pyritinol and Vinpocetine. (Get Smart from Smart Nutrition)
I get the same focusing effect of 2 caps in the morning as I would get from 20mg of XR Ritalin. Although I prefer taking one in the morning with coffee and one with lunch.

The thing with the grades is a very confusing thing, some get the euphoria and doesn't develop a tolerance for it, leading to a disinterest in doing their homework since they want to live their life.
I notice that after insnufflating methylphenidate (The active substance in Ritalin) you don't want to do your homework for the first 20-50min. Then, when the slight euphoria disappears, you become a little more normal. Still, you wont automaticly put your nose in the books. But once you've begun reading, you won't stop untill disturbed or finished

I'd love to try modafinil, a friend told me it felt like 5 cups of coffee without any major side-effects. (High dose)
Although, he mentioned Ritalin was far better for getting shit done.

[haha]

I was studying a broad range of material, taxation law,financial account,corp finance,microecon calculas and another law paper. i was used to walking into exams and writing what came into my head, and I did real well. When I started ritalin, i really started to lose style, I wanted to derieve new intellectual method and means to material that has been the same for atleast a centuary, my work become cumbersome and i was to hessitent to make mental leaps. I would get lost conceptually, likeconfusing begining and ends of methods. I couldnt see the forrest for the trees. The Funny thing was I was attending lecs and studying for 15 hours a week and I still failed two papers. Without rit i would hav passed them without the lecs. So quit that, why not use d-amph low dose ?add some magnesium to limit exicitoxicity and some antioxidants

[Heisenberg]

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

[kalibtweli]

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

Just stick with ritalin for the exam (conditional learning.) Also for the record, ritalin does not interfere with creativity for me, but that is usually subjective. My job is dependent on creativity, so if ritalin posed a problem it would have been out the door long ago.

[john410]

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

I'm a little late on the party and all, but let me ask you something:

20mg Modafinil? Not 200mg?

[mathkid]

Ritalin is powerful enough. If you really want to combine these two, 20mg modafinil is more than enough, unless of course you have really serious Narcolepsy.

Plus, it is wise to start the dose low so that you know how you react to it.

50 mg Provigil from Cephron, for example, alone will remain effective at least 8 hours.

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

I'm a little late on the party and all, but let me ask you something:

20mg Modafinil? Not 200mg?

[kassem23]

Ritalin is powerful enough. If you really want to combine these two, 20mg modafinil is more than enough, unless of course you have really serious Narcolepsy.

Plus, it is wise to start the dose low so that you know how you react to it.

50 mg Provigil from Cephron, for example, alone will remain effective at least 8 hours.

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

I'm a little late on the party and all, but let me ask you something:

20mg Modafinil? Not 200mg?

100-200 mg Modafinil is the dosing range, not minor 20. I only got a very subtle effect from 100mg, but with 200mg I was much more alert.

[dilenja]

I've had therapeutic results with 25 - 50mg modafinil, dosed once or twice daily.

[mathkid]

Oh, man. See this is the difference of the healthcare systems between the U.S. and the Europe. The insurance companies here are just a bunch of mean people.

By the way, I seriously think 200 mg is wild; maybe it is Provigil, not Nuvigil. Or, it depends on individuals.

Ritalin is powerful enough. If you really want to combine these two, 20mg modafinil is more than enough, unless of course you have really serious Narcolepsy.

Plus, it is wise to start the dose low so that you know how you react to it.

50 mg Provigil from Cephron, for example, alone will remain effective at least 8 hours.

Interesting points, thank you all!

Could it be that Ritalin may be more apt for studying (rote learning, memorizing, reading thousands of pages, etc.) while Modafinil would help more in an exam-type situation?

I have so far only combined the two and found they complement each other well, especially at low doses (10mg R, 20mg M).

I'm a little late on the party and all, but let me ask you something:

20mg Modafinil? Not 200mg?

100-200 mg Modafinil is the dosing range, not minor 20. I only got a very subtle effect from 100mg, but with 200mg I was much more alert.

[john410]

Modafinil helps me a lot with motivation and fatigue, but not concentration. I'm a raging case of ADHD-PI, so that's not enough. I need the concentration aid. I was taking Ritalin, but I decided to try Modafinil alone.

I was on 300mg moda. Weird stuff. I wasn't experiencing any sensible side-effects except for stomach pain and diarrhea, but in my daily life I could notice something odd going on. Like I was "out of myself", didn't feel connected to the world and to the things happening around me. 200mg moda, it got better, but less motivation.

Seeing that I got no help with my focus issues on Modafinil, except for the first days, I tried to add some Ritalin to the mix. pDoc said it was ok so I soldiered on. Added 2.5mg Ritalin to 300mg of Modafinil... unleash hell. I didn't go around stabbing people thankfully. I was OK and all, but some small things started to trigger my nerves in a way that it was all downhill from there. Some huge talks with my GF because of that. It's hard to get myself back on track when that happens. Not good at all.

200mg moda, more or less the same thing. With the Ritalin, unleash hell again. Oops.

Now I'm on 100mg, with the same 2,5mg Ritalin. So far it's all good, but I'm watching.


5mg Ritalin alone makes me somewhat jittery, but lasts for a short period (approx 2,5-3 hours). So far, 2,5mg Ritalin on 100mg moda is going OK, even though the Ritalin still lasts for a short period.

Edited by john410, 07 July 2010 - 02:03 PM.

[FocusPocus]

Is the cross tolerance part true?

Im thinking of using Ritalin on weekdays, and Modafinil on weekends, thus hoping to prevent tolerance, but i just noticed today that, the effect of Modafinil was reduced than what i usually get on it. In fact i even felt sleepy.

Would it be due to the cross tolerance?

[Raz007]

As a regular Ritalin user for the last 5 years, I believe I can give a little advice here :

I read, and heard people do some crazy shit with Ritalin - like sniff it, or take it sublinguali
and I believe it's extremely unwise. why? because Ritalin itself is quite a robust substance
that you can differently feel and benefit from taking the pill just after 30 min max. Regardless
of pharmacological consideration ( sublinguali & nasal administration shorten the effective
time-frame of the drug) if the drug not taken orally the psychological reward-loop is much
more pronounce; In more simple words: you have much more probability to get mentally
addicted & suffer from a harder crush after the medicine go out of your body.

That being said - I believe Ritalin is a true miracle. Not in the aspect of nootropics- as it
didn't made me more intelligent. But it gave me the tools to become more intelligent.
On Ritalin I can study for 8, 12 hours straight, and you feel wonderful with yourself (if
studying is your thing) . So Ritalin is a proper productivity enhancer in this aspect .

The "crush" is one of the bad aspects of this wonderful med. this is why I have switched to
the more advance form release of Ritalin such as Concerta. it much more expensive, but it's
well worth it : 12 hours of studying non stop without nasty crashes in the middle or in the end.
sweet.

[kharkhan]

hi

i had used ritalin for seven years 60 mg a day but now(this time is for three weaks) i use  45 mg of ritalin and 30 mg of atomoxitine for a day but i cant feel more focus and more abilities . i want to know should i feel the focus and remembring after use these drugs? i to get the best at school and better at the konkur (iran universites exam) i dont can focus fully on somethings

i dont feel that ritalin is wonderful med but when i dont use that its like to death .

Edited by kharkhan, 03 January 2016 - 03:08 PM.