I thought I was becoming tolerant to Ritalin and needed to adjust my dosage too.

I was prescribed 20 mg IR 3 times a day. The 20 mg felt like ‘too much’ to take at once but it also would wear off before it was time to take the next dose and I would crash hard and have major sleep attacks.

My solution was to take less MG per dose but more often. Example: Instead of taking 20 mg 3 times a day, I would take 10 mg in the morning and then 5 or 10 mg doses whenever I felt like my last dose was ‘wearing off’.

I was taking a maximum of 30 mg - 40 mg in a day and I thought everything was FINE and there was no way that I was ‘abusing my medications’ in any way because I was taking HALF the daily dose that I was prescribed.

I was wrong. I wasn’t intentionally abusing it to get high but I wasn’t taking it AS the doctor prescribed and it fucked me up and increased my tolerance faster.

I really wish I had spoken to my doctor and switched to a completely different medication instead of trying to mess with my dosage by myself.

You might have the best intention and you 100% aren’t abusing them intentionally and need them to function but they are highly addictive drugs on a physical level and and you should ALWAYS take them as prescribe because you will fuck with your brain chemistry!