I've never taken Ritalin so I don't know how different the two are. I do know that it seems like the whole medication process is one of trial and error. I feel like my dr is just giving me stuff to try and then letting me tell him if I liked it or not. The last time I went he we were working on managing my BP and he gave me 3 different Rx... Told me to try each one for a week and keep a BP log. Seems like the process would be more structured...but in my case with my doc it isn't