It was my 26th birthday. I had slept maybe 2-3 hours the night before, as I had run out of Zopiclone. At 8am I took 20mg Ritalin, as per the instruction of my physician. He said the effects would last a few hours each day. The idea was to take 20mg/day of Ritalin to see if it helped me concentrate. This was my first foray into the world of stimulants. I have for many years tried a variety of anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, benzodiazipines, and cannabis but never before tried anything from the stimulant group. At this time I was also taking 200mg Wellbutrin (100mg morning and evening).
My birthday was my third day on Ritalin. At 11am the 20mg Ritalin had me feeling alright. I noticed, however, that the Ritalin did not produce in me quite as strong an effect as it had the previous two days. So at 11:30am I decided to take another 20mg tablet of Ritalin. I also took my first 100mg tab of Wellbutrin at about that time.
So after 40mg of Ritalin and 100mg of Wellbutrin, I was feeling pretty good. I could sit and read like never before. The world seemed different, and my thoughts seemed more orderly. B/w 11:30am and 4pm I spent time reading, walking through the forest near my house, and practicing wing chun. I knew I was drugged but I was enjoying it.
At around 5pm the effects started to disappear. I then had the idea of taking one more 20mg tab of Ritalin as well as my second 100mg dosage of Wellbutrin. I had hoped to experience a few more hours of this bizarre focussed feeling, and then crash into a Ritalin rebound sleep that I had read about. This was not what happened. About half-hour after taking that third 20mg dose of Ritalin, I started to panic. Again, I had no experience with stimulants so I had no idea what was going on. After about an hour, my entire body was tingling. My hands, fingers, toes, face. Pins and needles kind of feeling. After an hour and a half I was freaking out hardcore. I thought I was going to die.
I informed my mother of the situation and was taken to the hospital. I felt a bit safer with the doctor around, but the terrible panic didn't stop until he administered 2mg Ativan.
Normally, 2mg Ativan would send me into a blissful sleep. Not that day. It took another 2mg before I was finally relaxed. The next day I went to see my doc and received a little lecture. I will not be trying a combo of Ritalin and Wellbutrin in the future.
