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The Ins and Outs
Methylphenidate
by MK88
Citation:   MK88. "The Ins and Outs: An Experience with Methylphenidate (exp15261)". Erowid.org. Feb 9, 2005. erowid.org/exp/15261

 
DOSE:
  oral Pharms - Methylphenidate (pill / tablet)
    insufflated Pharms - Methylphenidate (pill / tablet)
I've used ritalin on occasion for the past two years, and since I haven't seen any reports on it online yet, I thought I'd submit one and throw a few of my opinions on this stuff out there for those who are interested.

I usually snort my ritalin if I'm doing it for fun, but if my ass is dragging in the morning I'll swallow a 20 mg tab before I jump in the shower. I've found taking it before school to be very beneficial, and it actually makes what I'm learning almost seem interesting. It really does increase my attention span at lower doses. On the flip-side, higher doses (over 20 mg) usually send me into super-deep thought chains. If I'm very high on ritalin, I'm usually too busy listening to my own thoughts race to listen to my teachers. I wouldn't say it actually makes me smarter - I took the SATs twice and was sober the first time and high on ritalin (40 mg plus 20 mg - probably too high of a dose) the second time and actually scored higher on both the math and the verbal when I wasn't high on ritalin. It may help me pay attention and makes me more creative, but it won't get me into Harvard. I've heard it's great to study on but I've never tried this, as I rarely study for anything. Sometimes I'll do some ritalin and just sit at my computer and type non-stop for a few hours.

As far as recreational potential, ritalin gets about a 5 out of 10. Some people I know like to snort it to keep their heads up when they're drinking, but I've never tried this. I wouldn't recommend doing ritalin any later than early afternoon due to the insomnia that inevitably follows a ritalin ride. This automatically ruins much of the recreational value. High dose ritalin reminds me of cocaine with a less intense rush, and bears some slight similarities to MDMA, although it lacks the emotional gobbildy-gook and the awesome body sensations. I've tried crystal meth once and found it to be quite similar to ritalin (but that's like comparing grain alcohol to wine coolers.)

First, a breakdown on the pros/cons...

Positive:
-Increased creativity and desire to be productive
-Pleasant, mild stimulation
-Great as a pick-me-up in the morning if I didn't sleep enough at night.
-Inexpensive (I pay $20 for 12 pills from my 'pharmacist')
-Increased sociability (I'm a total chatterbox if I'm not careful.)
-Useful self-analysis
-Strange, ambitious urges. Sometimes I'll do a line of ritalin and suddenly get a strong urge to do a load of laundry or excercise. Maybe if I was high on it full time I wouldn't be such a worthless slob.

Negative:
-Dramatic decrease in appetite. Can cause nausea if snorted on a full stomach (ingesting on a full stomach will greatly diminish effects.) After a few dozen uses, I got used to this and it isn't so much a problem anymore as it used to be.
-Cottonmouth
-Diuretic effect (A 20 mg ritalin seems about equal to a cup of coffee.) Also, for some reason, pissing becomes very uncomfortable.
-Jaw clenching (At higher doses)
-Depressing comedown; usually accompanied by an urge to redose. Frequent binging may lead to weight loss and possibly depression.
-Long after-effects. When taken orally, sleep is impossible for at least 15 or 16 hours. When snorted, I usually can't sleep for about 12 to 15 hours.
-Increased body temperature and perspiration.
-Sometimes I get headaches after coming down off of a large dose or a long binge. This is probably due to dehydration.

General dosage info:
Either orally or snorted, I'm usually satisfied with 20-40 mg. Snorting 40 mg is pretty intense. Past the 40 mg mark, the positive effects aren't likely to increase, but the negative effects are. Remember - what comes up, must come down. The higher I get, the worse my comedown is. Snorting is definitely a more efficient means of ingestion. The effects are about 50% more intense, and the experience is only about 25% shorter. Ritalin doesn't burn, and the drip isn't too bad.

I haven't had a lot of experience combining ritalin with other drugs. Smoking a bowl of weed will help with the comedown, and snorting ritalin after smoking herb will add an interesting element to your weed high. The munchies and the loss of appetite will cancel each other out, but the cottonmouth effects of both drugs will probably drive you up a wall.

Ritalin is more 'useful' than 'fun.' It's not something that you want to do if you just want to get fucked up and party. If you're the intellectual type, you'll probably like it, but if you're the type that only does drugs to escape reality or the so called 'pain' in your life, you'll probably find it boring and/or pointless. Ritalin is great at what it is prescribed to do - increase attention span, increase vitality, decrease appetite; but any full-blown druggie, especially a stimulant lover, isn't likely to fall in love with this stuff.

Exp Year: 2002ExpID: 15261
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 9, 2005Views: 298,495
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Pharms - Methylphenidate (114) : Various (28), Retrospective / Summary (11), General (1)

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