Hello,
I have been recently diagnosed with ADHD (28y, men). They prescribed me ritalin. I took it and it helped a lot with focus, attention etc. My mind was clear for the first time. I felt great, having discovered how it is to feel normal. But after continuing taking it I also noticed that I got more and more dysphoric. I was not motivated, sleepy, depressed. I researched about this phenomenom and discovered that a lot of people actually feel the same being on ritalin. I discovered that ritalin as being a reuptake inhibitor of both NA and DA, inhibits the uptake in all areas of the brain not just the ones involved in attention, focus. As it seams, the mesolimbic area of the brain gets stimulated where it should not. The approach to get rid of the zombie effect is lowering the dose, it seams. I tried that, got down to 2 mg ritalin, where focus etc. is not greatly improved but I still struggle with dysphoria. As soon as the ritalin wears off I begin to smile, feel alive, emotions seam to come back. My question is: is this a normal response to ritalin or is this something in my physiology that makes me different ? I read about d2 receptor to d1 receptor ratio being involved, d2 being too low and vice vera. I´m trieng to comprehend what this all means but it seams kinda difficult finding information about this phenomenon. Another question I have is, is ritalins DA,NE effect dose dependent. What I mean is, does ritalin effect NE more in a lower dose than DA or vice vera ? There is only ritalin available in my country for treating ADHD, so I have to stuck with that. It helps me, it certainly does. Never felt so clear but the dysphoric side effects are killing me. Any suggestions ? Where can I find more about the topic. IF anyone has some tips, it would be nice to share them with me.
ps: I should notice, that I got the dysphoric effect also when I smoke cigarettes, curious, isn´t it ? What could that mean ?
thanks in advance
