Click for information on side effects that might happen, or for information about long term safety. Use the site search top right of your screen to find answers to other questions you want answered. Here’s a link to information on ADHD stimulants and addiction.
If you don’t have drug coverage, ask about free medication trials, or lower cost alternatives.
If the medication you are prescribed is hand written on one of the duplicate or triplicate prescription pads, remember, IT MUST BE HANDED IN WITHIN THREE DAYS – I suggest dropping it off the same day as your appointment since most pharmacies are open late these days.
Ok, you’ve got the prescription, you’ve picked it up from the pharmacy, and now you are ready to start. What’s next?
Most people have little difficulty starting stimulant medication and don’t need to wait for the weekend, or back from holiday, or for school to start again podívejte se sem.
A typical schedule might look like the following:
- Day 1-3: take one pill a day, first thing in the morning
- Day 4-11: if one pill did absolutely nothing, no good, no bad, then increase to two pills, both in the morning.
- Day 12-14: if two pills did absolutely nothing, then increase to three pills each morning.
If, on the other hand, one or two pills a day has some effect, maybe, you think, sorta, then don’t increase the dose for a week or two. This might mean you are still at one pill a day when I see you – that’s just fine. If after one pill a day for 10 days, not much is happening, then if you are comfortable, increase to two pills, or even one and a half (might mean emptying half the beads, or dissolving powder, and can’t be done with Concerta.
If on day one you find single pill a bit much, agitating or causing mood problems or messing with your sleep, then try taking half a pill if you can, or contact me if you can’t.
My email is george dot barr at shaw dot ca
Don’t worry about medication not working, that happens sometimes, or if it wears out mid day – we’ll fix that later. For now, just take it as prescribed.
There are four reasons to top up medication at lunch time even though what you were given was a “12” hour medication. FIrst is if its clear the medication wears off way to early. Next, some find that when medication stops working they become very fatigued, totally drained. Some get a headache in the afternoon from the medication wearing off too suddenly, and lastly if there is rebound irritability, anxiety or depression after 3. Each of these issues can be helped by a lunch time top up (but start small)
Some meds can be sprinkled to reduce dose, others can be dissolved in orange juice – check with the particular drug you are on for info.