[UnderRugSwept]

So Ritalin has been very helpful for me, but my heart rate is increased when I am on it...just wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if it went away over time? I am guessing not.

And then I am wondering about Adderall...anyone experience increased heart rate on Ritalin but not on Adderall? Thanks!!

[ChangingMyMind]

That sounds fairly common for Ritalin. Although it didn't increase mine. I think because I was taking Celexa it balanced out. Celexa lowered my resting heart rate quite a bit, stayed around 58-60 most of the time.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

That sounds fairly common for Ritalin. Although it didn't increase mine. I think because I was taking Celexa it balanced out. Celexa lowered my resting heart rate quite a bit, stayed around 58-60 most of the time.

Thanks! My resting heart rate is about 73...on Ritalin it's about 95 or so. My pdoc said "that's normal" (as in, within normal range) but I am consulting a cardiologist. I just started going to the gym again and I am not comfortable with my heart pounding in my chest!

[ChangingMyMind]

Originally Posted by Elsewhere

Thanks! My resting heart rate is about 73...on Ritalin it's about 95 or so. My pdoc said "that's normal" (as in, within normal range) but I am consulting a cardiologist. I just started going to the gym again and I am not comfortable with my heart pounding in my chest!

That does seem a bit high. Probably a good idea to speak with cardiologist. Even though I was on Celexa it didn't increase my heart rate much at all. Now off Ritalin and celexa I stay around 70 resting.

I am curious what your heart doc says!

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

That does seem a bit high. Probably a good idea to speak with cardiologist. Even though I was on Celexa it didn't increase my heart rate much at all. Now off Ritalin and celexa I stay around 70 resting.

I am curious what your heart doc says!

I think it's high, too...on extended release I stayed about 85, but I retained water like a whale and my muscles and joints felt so sore, like I had been in a car accident at the end of the day! Made me nauseated, too. Ugh. So that's why I am going back to regular Ritalin! I have to wait about a month to see the cardiologist unless there is a cancellation, so I won't be on it for awhile while I wait for my appt. I will post what the cardiologist says here.

I would just try something else and drop the Ritalin, but I have already tried 20 or so meds for anxiety/depression and they had horrible side effects or else did not work at all. Thanks for your responses!

[ChangingMyMind]

What are you taking the Ritalin for? Is it for fatigue? If so there are options like nuvigil and provigil. Neither of those worked for me they made me feel like a zombie. I literally had no desire to talk and my body ached pretty badly. However I have heard it works well for daytime sleepiness, if you don't have the side effects it could be worth taking.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

What are you taking the Ritalin for? Is it for fatigue? If so there are options like nuvigil and provigil. Neither of those worked for me they made me feel like a zombie. I literally had no desire to talk and my body ached pretty badly. However I have heard it works well for daytime sleepiness, if you don't have the side effects it could be worth taking.

I have trouble focusing, but it's most likely due to bad anxiety and OCD. Ritalin has helped me feel less overwhelmed when I have things to do...I can sort things out instead of freezing and feeling overwhelmed. I haven't found it helps with fatigue at all, which I do have due to insomnia...but it hasn't made me sleep any worse, either. I can relate to that zombie feeling, it's awful...I had it with Remeron.

[Altered Moment]

What are you taking Ritalin for?
We have a couple of long treads on amphetamines for depression and whether they should be used out not for depression.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...epression.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...%3B-worth.html

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by zinco14532323

What are you taking Ritalin for?
We have a couple of long treads on amphetamines for depression and whether they should be used out not for depression.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...epression.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/psych...%3B-worth.html

Hi there! Yes, you and I chatted a bit on page 5 of the first thread. Then I did not realize that the heart rate thing was going to be an issue...

I will check out the Adderall thread!

[ChangingMyMind]

I didn't know Ritalin was used for depression. I used it solely to stay awake during the day, which it worked extremely well for.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

I didn't know Ritalin was used for depression. I used it solely to stay awake during the day, which it worked extremely well for.

My psychiatrist said it might be useful for depression over time, to wait and see how it works for me. I think that is why he is so big on me trying it...he is so focused on trying to treat my depression when I find it very secondary to my anxiety.

I think that's great it kept you awake when you needed it to!

[ChangingMyMind]

In my case Ritalin flared up my anxiety but I guess it did also put me in a good mood.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

In my case Ritalin flared up my anxiety but I guess it did also put me in a good mood.

My pdoc was worried about that because Wellbutrin increased my anxiety so much when I tried it years ago! Yeah, Ritalin does kind of chill me out some...which I probably need. I am super freaking tense!

[ChangingMyMind]

Originally Posted by Elsewhere

My pdoc was worried about that because Wellbutrin increased my anxiety so much when I tried it years ago! Yeah, Ritalin does kind of chill me out some...which I probably need. I am super freaking tense!

I know the feeling! I am so tense that my upper back hurts most of the time. SAM-e seems to help with that though.

[-jimi-]

It increases my pulse rate but no one seems concerned with it. Oddly it also lowers my blood pressure.

[ChangingMyMind]

Originally Posted by jimi...

It increases my pulse rate but no one seems concerned with it. Oddly it also lowers my blood pressure.

I think it lowered mine as well.. Sometimes the doc would check my blood pressure twice just to be sure they got it right.

[ZehR]

Ritalin can increase my heart rate a bit if I haven't taken it in a while. Right now it has no affect or even slows my heart rate. Before I started max dose Prozac, my anxiety would cause my heart rate to be 150-160 and over 240 in extreme cases. Right now my heart rate is 90-100 and around 70 when I wake up. All of which (With Prozac), I consider to be normal in my case and I'm healthy so..

I don't think you should worry about it unless you are taking other drugs such as antipsychotics/antidepressants (SSRI'S, MAOI's, etc) as they can cause heart arrhythmia's.

What I don't understand is why you are given a stimulant instead of a benzodiazepine when you are severely anxious. Sure, Ritalin can have a calming effect in some people, but I'm sure that you're tense and can't even see your veins on your arms and your hands are cold and sweaty from anxiety and fast heart beat.. It just makes a lot more sense if you get rid of the anxiety instead of trying to balance out the inattentive affects that the anxiety gives you with Ritalin which just causes more anxiety.

[Altered Moment]

I have always thought that amphetamnines like adderal, ritalin, and dexedrine were only used for ADD/ADHD. In those cases they have the opposite effect and allow people to be more calm and focused. It is a paradox.

I was shocked to learn that some pdocs are prescribing Amphetamines for depression. It make work well but is dangerous in my view. If you have anxiety is makes no sense at all to give you ritalin....I don't think.

I have a history though. A long time ago I used meth pretty heavy for five years. It was the best antidepressant I have ever found and it was the worse depressant I have ever found. The come downs cause extreme depression.

As far as heart rate.....it is an amphetamine so it is not surprising at all it would raise it. I don't know how it could help anxiety. Depression for sure if you keep a steady state in your system. If your system runs out you are going to have a bad come down. In the long run amphetamines mess up your dopamine system and can cause the depression to be worse. Everyone is different though. A part of me wishes they would give it to me but that is the addict in me. It would be no beuno for me.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by ZehR

What I don't understand is why you are given a stimulant instead of a benzodiazepine when you are severely anxious. Sure, Ritalin can have a calming effect in some people, but I'm sure that you're tense and can't even see your veins on your arms and your hands are cold and sweaty from anxiety and fast heart beat.. It just makes a lot more sense if you get rid of the anxiety instead of trying to balance out the inattentive affects that the anxiety gives you with Ritalin which just causes more anxiety.

Ritalin doesn't cause more anxiety for me...if it did, I would not take it. Ritalin is a fairly last-ditch effort on the part of my pdoc to find SOMETHING that works for me because as I mentioned, I have tried over 20 meds that did not work or else have intolerable side effects (like hallucinations). And I have never experienced the symptoms you refer to of the veins or my hands being cold and sweaty. I don't have panic attacks. I was also on Ativan for quite awhile and then I developed a tolerance to it. I took Klonopin for months just to help me sleep but it did nothing for my overall anxiety. I never became addicted to it though and got off of it on a little over a week when it was no longer helping with my sleep.

[UnderRugSwept]

Originally Posted by jimi...

It increases my pulse rate but no one seems concerned with it. Oddly it also lowers my blood pressure.

Interesting...my blood pressure stays about the same..it's on the low side to begin with.

People also don't have the same heart "rate" either. My family tends to be faster in general. I used to think it was my less than ideal exercise and I had all these expectations for a heart monitor. Like it was saying it was too fast but I was hardly working. But my brother is very athletic and said heart monitors weren't very useful to him for this reason. This was several years ago. The lesson is you have to compare it to your own baseline which isn't ideal if you don't have one . Amphetamines will make your heart move faster the more you take. If it bothers you are you on a high dose?

I tend to have very low blood pressure. I think some of that is living in a dry climate and not drinking enough water consistently.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ChangingMyMind]

Originally Posted by zinco14532323

As far as heart rate.....it is an amphetamine so it is not surprising at all it would raise it. I don't know how it could help anxiety. Depression for sure if you keep a steady state in your system. If your system runs out you are going to have a bad come down. In the long run amphetamines mess up your dopamine system and can cause the depression to be worse. Everyone is different though. A part of me wishes they would give it to me but that is the addict in me. It would be no beuno for me.

Yeah, I can't see how it would help anxiety at all, as I stated earlier in the thread it increased my anxiety but not enough to make me stop taking it. I do see how it can help with depression, especially if you're like me and get the euphoric effect. Although I am with you, I can see it being the best thing for depression and the worst thing for depression because the come down is a ******!

I found that it worked best for me when I took the extended release version. I would take 40mg and be good for at least 8-9 hours. When I took the 20mg 3x daily there were too many peaks and valleys and it really wore me out.

I never became dependent on it, heck I still have nearly a full bottle in my medicine cabinet from when I quit taking the stuff. I bet if I took it now it would be way too much for me to handle. It would likely throw my anxiety out of control. I do miss having the "Ritalin" motivation... I was up early cleaning the house and had my workout in before 6am... not anymore LOL

[Altered Moment]

Originally Posted by ChangingMyMind

Yeah, I can't see how it would help anxiety at all, as I stated earlier in the thread it increased my anxiety but not enough to make me stop taking it. I do see how it can help with depression, especially if you're like me and get the euphoric effect. Although I am with you, I can see it being the best thing for depression and the worst thing for depression because the come down is a ******!

I found that it worked best for me when I took the extended release version. I would take 40mg and be good for at least 8-9 hours. When I took the 20mg 3x daily there were too many peaks and valleys and it really wore me out.

I never became dependent on it, heck I still have nearly a full bottle in my medicine cabinet from when I quit taking the stuff. I bet if I took it now it would be way too much for me to handle. It would likely throw my anxiety out of control. I do miss having the "Ritalin" motivation... I was up early cleaning the house and had my workout in before 6am... not anymore LOL

That would never be true for me even though I have been clean all these years. I would have to flush them. Wait you can't flush them anymore....you gotta take em to the state police. by then I would just keep them....i am better flushing and let the fish get wired.