Re: Ritalin and CMT

[Guest guest]

My personal experience here: Circa 1965 - I was about 13 or so with

heavy duty fatigue, from about lunchtime on, I was dragging my body

around school. Came home and slept till dinner, got up, ate dinner,

then back to sleep just to get the energy to do school the next day.

A neurologist prescribed Ritalin. Ritalin at first helped immensley

with that fatigue. It was gone. I had extended days, didn't need

afternoon naps, had my homework done, had a social life. When I was

16 and driving, Ritalin also kept me alert so I could work at my job,

plus date and have a very normal teen life.

My first year of college I started to develop insommina, couldn't

sleep, was tired after long days and all activities, but my body

wouldn't rest. I was still taking Ritalin, so this was 5 years of it.

Second year of college tremors started. I returned to the neurologist

and he abruptly discontinued the Ritalin, and replaced it with

Valium. So the Valium got me off Ritalin and at first let me sleep,

but gradually I had to increase the Valium to get the desired result.

And when that didn't happen, I took it upon myself to add a few shots

of tequila, ad infinitum. That continued until I was 27 and took a

hard look at both prescription concerns and my self administered 'therapy'.

Ritalin does have good uses. It did help - for awhile. There weren't

as many medications then as there are today. I do believe that my

nerves got really tightly wound up over a period of time and

contributed to my insomnia.

I don't have experience with wither Wellbrutin or Lexapro, but have not seen

them on the medications list.

It's time to see that medication alert updated with the newer

medications and responses, even though we're all different, and may respond

differently to medications. I know I have to be extremely aware of ANY

stimulants or depressive type of medication, substances, etc. They can cause

havoc to my nerves.

Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Hi Gretchen,

These days I think Provigil would be a safer alternative to Ritalin,

but neither helped my fatigue when I was in my late 40's-early 50's.

It may be that it stopped working for you as the CMT progressed

I agree that we should be especially careful using any CNS Stimulant

or depressant. Also, precaution should be taken if considering

narcotics for long term therapy.

As for Tequilla, I quit that when I got tired of waking up on the

floor. :-)

G