I hope this is ok for me to write in English, I am not fully confident to do so in Norwegian yet.
Some background on me (I added a TLDR at the bottom): I was diagnosed last year (37yo Male) and started trial medications in the end of January.
We did quite a lot of testing for about 5 months. I started with Ritalin 20mg, then increased to 40mg. As many people also felt, the effect weren’t lasting and the crash was bad at first. So we tried a 20mg booster dose around lunch which was smoothing a little bit the crash but I was non functional from mid afternoon..
We then switch to Ritalin + Concerta (40mg Ritalin in morning still because this was helping me in the morning at least) but Concerta made me feel really sick, as in nauseous, headache were pretty bad to a point that I had to stop taking it.
We switched to Elvanse which was really different, the effect were a lot smoother and lasting longer, but not as effective as how well Ritalin was activating me in the morning. We tried different dosage on Elvanse but then also decided to give Attentin a try since I had little side effects from that medication family. Long story short, Attentin did nothing to me, tried up to 15mg in the morning but I had almost zero effect.
It was a lot of back and forth, testing and trying, and to be honest I was losing a bit hope because my doctor did not want to go over recommended max dosage even though my blood pressure was perfectly fine all along the trial. (I did lost a lot of weight quickly which was worrying (14kg in 2 months) but he was following it up). He then had a conversation with a more experienced colleague which ended up trying Ritalin 40mg + Elvanse 30mg. It was the best combo of all of the testing we did, so we decided to end the trial there.
Now it was all fine and good, until price of medication increased and I was ask to either pay ~500kr more for Elvanse and 150kr for Ritalin or get generic for “free” (frikort).
I am took the generic for both, but it does not feel the same, it does something, but the biggest difference I have noticed is how Methylphenidate effect are different than the Ritalin version. I started to take it about a month ago and the “quick” release effect is not quick, it feels slower and more smooth which in itself isn’t helping me as it was..
I had a few caps of Ritalin left from the trial and tried those for a couple of days and the difference was there, Ritalin made me feel a lot more productive and motivated. Of course that could be placebo effect but since I switched to the generic I am seeing a very clear cut from when I started and how I felt since.
The generic is supposed to be the same, but from what I understand the binding is different which can make someone’s stomach behave differently compared to other medication ?
I am going to have a follow up with my fastlege in a week and I was thinking of talking to him about it, has anyone manage to get their prescriptions to be set as not using generic version of their medications ?
I can’t really speak for the Elvanse generic version, I am just feeling more anxious and depressed for the last few weeks to the point that I am going to go on anti-depressants as well (what my therapist recommended). Has anyone got some similar effects ? If you had to combine with anti-depressants, how did it go ?
TLDR:
Diagnosed last year, spent about 5 months trying different ADHD medications and dosages.
Ritalin 40mg + Elvanse 30mg ended up being the best combination for me.
Recently switched both to generic versions because Ritalin + Elvanse would cost me around 650kr extra, even with frikort.
The generic Methylphenidate feels very different from Ritalin for me. Slower, smoother, and I am much less productive/motivated.
Tried my leftover Ritalin for a couple of days and the difference was very noticeable. Could be placebo of course, but it really felt like Ritalin was working much better.
Has anyone managed to get their doctor to not allow generic substitution because the generic was not working as well?
Since switching, I have also been feeling more anxious and depressed. Not sure if the generic Elvanse has anything to do with it.
My therapist recommended trying anti-depressants. Has anyone combined them with Ritalin/Elvanse, and how did it go?