Posted by JohnL on October 10, 2000, at 4:23:47
In reply to DOES ANYONE TAKE RITALIN FOR ANYTHING BESIDES ADD?, posted by Christy Sales on October 7, 2000, at 22:30:09
> will it help at all for depression, anxiety, & mania?
> or will it worsen things for me, my dr.has just prescribed it, and I've been told it's dangerous for manic depression.In Dr Bob's Tips section there are doctors who feel stimulants are actually very safe for mania-prone people. In reality, any medication can trigger mania. Any.
In a population of 250 patients who got completely well, here are the percentages of those patients who found complete relief with a stimulant, either alone or as part of a blend...
Panic/anxiety 14%
Depression 12%
Suicidality 19%
Temper/Violence 14%
Bizarreness 3%
Hyperactivity 49%
Thyroid malfunction38%
Fatigue 38%
Alcoholism 14%
Hypnotic Addiction 39%
Heroin Addiction 30%
Cocaine Addiction 11%
Marijuana 11%
Nicotine 5%
Excess Coffee 18%
Creativity Aid 21%As you can see, stimulants can be helpful in a wide range of situations. They are probably most popular for treating ADD, and second most for adding onto an antidepressant if the antidepressant is not working completely. Many docs feel the mania risk with stimulants is actually lower than many other meds. As for anxiety, I think stimulants would create more anxiety for most people. But as the statistics show, it can instead be a cure with some. It all depends on what the underlying chemical imbalance is that's causing the symptoms in the first place.
Personally I found great benefits with Ritalin, except for the roller coaster ride. It's in and out of your system in about three hours. As it came and went I would feel great then bad. Continual dosing all day long was the only way to avoid the roller coaster. But then I built tolerance, so it didn't seem to do much anymore. That simply indicates that whatever chemistry is at fault with me, Ritalin was not the right choice to target it. For those people where Ritalin targets the problematic chemistry directly, it provides a good cure without the ups, downs, or tolerance that I experienced. Instead, they just feel normal. Which is good, since that's the whole goal anyway.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:45936
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000926/msgs/46041.html