Does Ritalin Make You HUNGRY???

[queen of zzzz's]

I have been doing a drug switcheroo lately ~ trial & error to see what works best. I was on Ritalin for months & switched to Provigil & now I'm supplementing the Provigil with 20mg Ritalin again 2x/day. The Ritalin works best for keeping me awake, but with a weird side effect. When I wake up in the middle of the night as I always do, I am RAVENOUSLY hungry. There is no fighting it, I just have to eat! I noticed it while I was on the Ritalin before & it went away with just the Provigil. Now that I've restarted the Ritalin, I'm starving in the middle of the night again. I've been on a strict diet so I know I'm not eating less during the day, making me hungry at night. I can't seem to eat while the Ritalin is working on me, so I plan it out so that I eat before, between & after the Ritalin doses when I'm half way hungry.

I can't be on a diet to lose weight & feasting through the night, too. Is the longer-acting Ritalin (called something else, I can't think what it is) better with this problem? Maybe I'm the only one who is having this effect?? Just thought I'd check if anyone else has been through this & if so, was there an alternative drug that you took that didn't cause this? Besides Provigil, which doesn't seem to do any good at all with keeping me awake. I go in next week for another revamp on the meds so I'll have an opportunity then to try out some other options. Provigil is out for sure, but I LOVE my Ritalin...except for this one thing! HELP!

[yawningdog]

My reaction was hungry when the med wore off. Dinner for me, because I lost my appetite at lunch and breakfast. This stopped entirely in the first month. I had to drink more water because the ritalin gave me headaches.

Okay, I totally missed the middle of the night thing. That is weird. I was sleeping better when I started the ritalin just because I was so much more active during the day.

I read that one of the sleep meds has been linked to sleep eating, but those people don't even know they are doing it.

Have you asked your doctor or even googled this symptom?

[queen of zzzz's]

Thanks, Yawning Dog, I'll try that. I have had times in the past where I have eaten late at night when I've been REALLY tired & didn't even know I was doing it. I considered that as 'automatic behavior', it was a lot like how I used to drive before I became aware of the N & what & why I was doing it. But I haven't done that for a long time with the eating ~ at least as long as I have been keeping myself aware of my diet & what goes into my mouth. I have no problems during the day controlling my food intake & before the Ritalin was back, I had no problem fighting off the urge to eat at night (which had become a habit). I was SO proud of myself for making it through the night without eating for so long (several weeks), but again, it's like if I don't give in & eat I cannot think of anything else, nor will I be able to go back to sleep. Maybe I do have some kind of eating disorder, which is what I had thought before but now that I've noticed it only in relation to whether I'm on Ritalin or not...I decided it had to be that. I'll look up information on eating disorders & see if I can find anything similar to what I'm doing. It's certainly worth a try! I may also try a completly different med next month, like Adderall, to see if that helps at all.

[Arizonahugs]

Yep - when my drugs wear off, I have to eat as well. And preferably something that's crispy or chewy. Right now I'm hooked on pretzels. I can't go without those stupid pretzels at night. I rub all the salt off them first. My neighbor calls them naked pretzels. I too have fallen asleep only to awaken to discover I had been eating in my sleep.

Heck, I do lots of things in my sleep. I have written emails in my sleep. I'll get a response the next day and wonder what the heck? Then I see what I wrote. It's never anything bad or wrong, it's just that I don't recall typing it. And I've brought up before that I've awakened in the morning, let my dog out and fed her, gone back to bed, only to get up and do it all over again (much to the delight of my dog, I'm sure). I know leave little clues for myself so she doesn't get fed twice.

Anyway, that's off the topic of Ritalin and eating, but just a little side note.

[csever01]

CHIPS. Bags and bags of chips. I do not take Ritalin anymore, but I can relate. I was taking it for quite a few months last year and I gained like 20 poundss on it when I've otherwise NEVER hafd weight fluctuations before. Really I just ate eveything in sight. Mayebe because your body uses more enregy than it does without it? I don;t know. But I think you're not alone. And P.S. I tried the long acting stufff too and it made thias problem even worse.

[queen of zzzz's]

So, Csever, what are you taking now that works & doesn't cause these eating fits? If you don't mind sharing, I'd appreciate it. I'm new at this so there is still alot I haven't tried yet. The Ritalin works, it so sucks that I'm having this problem!

THANK YOU for telling me that though! I have been trying so hard to lose weight thinking that might help get rid of just a little of the EDS. Having those extra lbs really wears a body out & I need every little bit of energy I can get! Thought it was worth a try. I lost 7 lbs the first week (without Ritalin) & in 4 more weeks another 3. I'm exercising, eating 1400 calories a day, drinking that blasted water & being "good". I have about 60 lbs to lose so I should be able to lose a lot quicker. It's getting really depressing...I keep thinking, if I ever get within the 20-30 lbs to go mark, i'll have to eat dry salad & spinach to get the rest off!

What you said I find really interesting ~ about the body overworking to keep up with the drug. That so totally makes sense but I never would have thought of it! It's like when you start exercising & you notice that you're hungry alot more often than before. But, wouldn't all of our drugs have the 'eating effect' then? The ones that work, anyway? Hmmmm....I'm going to run that by the Dr. VERY interesting!

Thanks again for your thoughts!

[Cindy T]

Hi Queen of Zzzzz's,
My theory would be that it wouldn't matter which stimulant you're on now. It's probably due to the fact that your appetite is supressed during the day while taking the Ritalin, plus the fact that you're dieting. Your body is just doing it's job in telling you that it needs some nutrition.

Take Care,
Cindy

[csever01]

Actually I only take Provigil. I agree - Ritalin works well. And the combination of the two for me was particularly effective since I enjoy the more even-keel feeling of Provigil but needed the extra boost Ritalin gives. But the appetite and weight gain was so absolutely alarming to me that I had to stop taking it. On Provigil alone, I do not function very well anymore. But it's better than nothing at all. Most of the time, I am still too exhausted to do a whole lot, but the difference is that the mental fog and constant automatic behavior are not there all the time. So it's more like being "normal" tired most of the time instead of N tired. Make sense?? But tonight will be night 4 of Xyrem, and hopefully within a few months, I'll begin to see some significant results from that, as well. In this case, having increasingly severe C attacks has worked out to my benefit - I was prescribed the med I've wanted for a while, ever since I heard it was approved for treatment of the EDS portion of N. I can definitely say I have not seen a decrease in C yet, but I also know it takes several weeks to see results. My main symptom is still severe EDS, and that's what I'm looking to manage more than anything else. One thing my doctor wants me to try (but for various reasons I have not yet) is to keep a bottle of Ritalin to be taken on an "as needed" basis. Meaning no scheduled intake, just take it if I feel like I need it. Maybe then I would only feel extra hungry once in awhile. Who knows, maybe it would balance out the utter LACK of appetite I'm getting from Xyrem. Anyway, sorry for such a lengthy and disorganized response. I am not doing too well today!