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Tried Stimulants, Seen notable improvement

Messages
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
Recently I have been on Ritalin and recently switched to Adderall XR (10 mg) for the fatigue. Although it did not have much impact on me in that regard seeing as I still feel quite exhausted, it has improved my cognition/concentration to enough of an extent that I feel like If I try I can do work. so I feel like this can be helpful for some people The only issue being that I am still exhausted enough to not feel like it but I still can push through. I think if you can tolerate stimulants they might be worth a go if you want to try and be able to get some stuff done.

I would say though that if you do, be sure to start on a low dose and slowly go up because starting on too much can cause some pretty bad issues. It would be nice to hear how some of you guys have felt if you tried them and your experiences (how they effected/how long they worked, etc.).
 

Dufresne

almost there...
Messages
1,039
Location
Laurentians, Quebec
Ritalin worked best for me. Besides greasing the synapses, it decreased my sensitivities and raised my PEM threshold. All of which was terrific, but it unfortunately exhausted some endogenous anti-inflammatory. The benefits seem to have been from squeezing every last bit out of this already overtaxed system. I was using it daily for two months when things started to go wrong. Then there was further backlash when I stopped taking it. I'm still recovering weeks later.
 
Messages
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
Ritalin worked best for me. Besides greasing the synapses, it decreased my sensitivities and raised my PEM threshold. All of which was terrific, but it unfortunately exhausted some endogenous anti-inflammatory. The benefits seem to have been from squeezing every last bit out of this already overtaxed system. I was using it daily for two months when things started to go wrong. Then there was further backlash when I stopped taking it. I'm still recovering weeks later.
Well I hope It goes differently for me and you recover more. I'm thinking of going back to the Ritalin because the Adderall has been giving me some unpleasant side effects without much benefit. I guess im just not as tolerant to it as I am to the Ritalin which definitely worked, the only reason I switched is because I had heard several people with CFS/ME who have tried say it made a bigger difference. It seems like for me it did that but also caused heart palpitations (feeling like my heart was skipping beats). So i decided it would be best to just go back to Ritalin because at a dose that wouldn't cause this side effect the Adderall felt quite ineffective.
 
Messages
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
I suspect that any benefit one gains in defeating brain fog is lost by an increase in physical symptoms.
It works more like the symptoms are reduced significantly *with the right med and dose* and then after about 4-6 hours there is a crash. The crash being worse fatigue and possibly a depressed mood depending on the drug. But I think if you need or want to do something that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise it's worth it. Also If you think it might be taxing on your system you can always only have it when you need it or cycle on and off of it.
 

panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
It works more like the symptoms are reduced significantly *with the right med and dose* and then after about 4-6 hours there is a crash.
I've found by spreading out the dosage I can greatly decrease the come down. Ie. instead of taking 20mg at once, I take 10mg, followed by 5mg 30min later, then another 5mg 30 min after that.

I haven't found ritalin usage to be particularly related to crashes
 

Dufresne

almost there...
Messages
1,039
Location
Laurentians, Quebec
Well I hope It goes differently for me and you recover more. I'm thinking of going back to the Ritalin because the Adderall has been giving me some unpleasant side effects without much benefit. I guess im just not as tolerant to it as I am to the Ritalin which definitely worked, the only reason I switched is because I had heard several people with CFS/ME who have tried say it made a bigger difference. It seems like for me it did that but also caused heart palpitations (feeling like my heart was skipping beats). So i decided it would be best to just go back to Ritalin because at a dose that wouldn't cause this side effect the Adderall felt quite ineffective.

Ritalin is thought to be more of a re-uptake inhibitor than the amphetamines. And my impression was always that the latter came at a higher cost. Moreover I had a really tough time maintaining my weight on dexedrine. Do we with ME/CFS really need to be whipping our metabolism like that? I don't hear any more complaints about weight from those with ME/CFS, despite our lack of physical activity, than I do from healthy individuals.
 

Deltrus

Senior Member
Messages
271
You should try nicotine gum. It is a stimulant and also has the bonus of reducing inflammatory microglia activity in the brain. Also doesn't really interfere with sleep like ritalin/adderall. I really like it. It is pretty safe too, considering how much testing the drug has (way more than antidepressants etc). A vast majority of the downsides of the drug exist only because of the negative synergy between the other ingredients in tobacco combined with nicotine.
 
Messages
21
Location
Scranton, PA, USA
I've found by spreading out the dosage I can greatly decrease the come down. Ie. instead of taking 20mg at once, I take 10mg, followed by 5mg 30min later, then another 5mg 30 min after that.

I haven't found ritalin usage to be particularly related to crashes
I've found by spreading out the dosage I can greatly decrease the come down. Ie. instead of taking 20mg at once, I take 10mg, followed by 5mg 30min later, then another 5mg 30 min after that.

I haven't found ritalin usage to be particularly related to crashes


Similarly, save for my first AM dose, I usually always divide my doses of Adderall into halves and take a half ever few hours as this seems to work best for me.
I experienced crashes on the XR version & also on Ritalin, but didn't have as good a response to Ritalin in general.
 

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
I'd love to try something like this. Where do you get it?

I've heard focalin works the best for CFS.

Please let me know if you have a source.
 
Messages
21
Location
Scranton, PA, USA
I think stimulants work uniquely with each individual, I mean...
Honestly, I have heard of Focalin having "zombie-like" effects upon certain people taking it
 
Messages
21
Location
Scranton, PA, USA
I think stimulants work uniquely with each individual, I mean...
Honestly, I have heard of Focalin having "zombie-like" effects upon certain people taking it

And not as an uncommon occurrence, but YMMV of course...it just seems to be a big issue that I have heard crop up surrounding focalin.
 

Snookum96

Senior Member
Messages
290
Location
Ontario, Canada
Well I hope It goes differently for me and you recover more. I'm thinking of going back to the Ritalin because the Adderall has been giving me some unpleasant side effects without much benefit. I guess im just not as tolerant to it as I am to the Ritalin which definitely worked, the only reason I switched is because I had heard several people with CFS/ME who have tried say it made a bigger difference. It seems like for me it did that but also caused heart palpitations (feeling like my heart was skipping beats). So i decided it would be best to just go back to Ritalin because at a dose that wouldn't cause this side effect the Adderall felt quite ineffective.

Did this affect your sleep at all? Did you have sleep issues before you started taking it?

My dr. was thinking of trying this with me but I was worried about worsening my already horrible sleep issues.
 

panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
Did this affect your sleep at all? Did you have sleep issues before you started taking it?
I think ritalin help my sleep. The come down makes it easier to fall asleep after. That being said taking it later in the day (after 4?) can cause insomnia. If that happens melatonin works well to help me fall asleep
 
Messages
4
Location
Pacific Northwest
Did this affect your sleep at all? Did you have sleep issues before you started taking it?

My dr. was thinking of trying this with me but I was worried about worsening my already horrible sleep issues.
For me Ritalin at least did not affect my sleep at all. But Adderall however does and I would recommend taking it earlier in the day. With Ritalin if you get the normal instant release version. It only lasts 4 hours, after that you definitely won't (at least in my experience) have trouble sleeping. Adderall will definitely keep you awake if you take it later in the day but seems to work a lot better at alleviating brain fog and helping me actually focus again. Sometimes I almost forget that I'll get exhausted again. Really I would say that If sleep is a big issue for you, Ritalin would probably be the safe bet but if brain fog/exhaustion is an even bigger issue I personally would go with Adderall and would recommend it.

Like I said earlier in the thread I think, if you start one of these stimulants you should start at a low dose and go up slowly until you get a desirable effect.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Years ago when I tried Ritalin it dramatically helped my depression. Thought I was onto to something good. Problem was, I had to keep upping my dose to get the same effect, a rat hole I did not want to go down.
 
Messages
16
Location
Israel
I recently started taking ritalin (long acting, 20 Mg) as suggested by my cfs specialist. It really helps with concentration and fatigue, and I can actually study with it.
It doesnt affect me physically though, so I cant run or play sports with it.
Since, I'm taking the long acting kind, instead of a large surge if energy, i get a steady flow of mild energy, which is very good because it's steady and i can function for along time '
Although not a cure, its helping me immensely.
 

panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
It doesnt affect me physically though, so I cant run or play sports with it.
This may due to the dosage. If you are feeling adventurous you may want to up the dosage.

20mg ER has about the same 10mg IR. 10mg IR works good for work to help my brain but I find higher doses (usually 20mg IR) is needed to give me energy to exercise for 30-60min. This higher dosage usually leads to a ritalin crash for me when it wears off, but not a CFS one

Extra caution if you up your dose with the ER because if you take too much you are stuck at that for 8 hours!
 
Messages
16
Location
Israel
@panckage thanks for the advice, but that's not a road i want to go down. I'm trying to stick to low doses and taking breaks so i don't build a tolerance.
The ability to excercize is just not worth it.
 

panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
@Omri I've been on ritalin for 3 years and my dosage is still the same. From what I read this is pretty normal. Tolerance is not typical at regular dosages

For me exercise is huge. I never realized how deconditioned my body had become until I started exercising again. The worsening of my symptoms in large part was due to deconditioning, an indirect effect of CFS.

As someone who has mild CFS and is relatively young I think this has got to be a problem for most of us! If it is possible to do some exercise it is a good thing to try