Thank you all for responding.

I think sometimes ADHD is underestimated for its impact on peoples lives. I don't think I can explain it better than I did, but this disorder can ruin lives. So with the Ritalin use, it's a question what's more important to me - stay in high school and get good grades so I can work at a comfortable job and earn well in the future, or stop the Ritalin and recover more quickly form my brain injury? While I see in recovery an extremely important thing, I think it is more important for me to stay in high school (I'll drop without Ritalin) so I can live a good life in the future. It's sometimes hard to explain, but some people just need these medications. People that don't have ADHD can never understand how negatively it affects people who have it.

I'll try lowering my dose soon and see if I still have positive results from the Ritalin. This is going to help for sure, because a lower dose means less stress on the brain, doesn't it? So I'll try gradually reducing my dosage until I feel it's starting to loss effectiveness - once I feel it, I'll stop lowering my dose.

mrsD,

Thank you for your comment. I'll start with the Anxiety and Depression.

I started taking Ritalin at the age of 15. About half a year sooner, when I was 14, I was diagnosed with ADHD. The ADHD was the main reason I went to get a diagnosis (I suspected I have ADHD and it turned out to be correct), but the diagnosis also included a psychological evaluation which showed a few more results about me.

The psychological evaluation tested also for issues and anxiety and depression. The score was from 1 to 10 - a score of 1 means a strong genetic predisposition for issues of anxiety/depression, and a score of 10 means a very big distance from anxiety/depression (no genetic predisposition for these problems).

I scored 1 on the Anxiety test (lowest possible score).
I scored 1 on the Depression test (lowest possible score).

That means I have a significant negativity bias (a strong genetic predisposition for depression) and issues such as severe social anxiety and moderate-severe OCD (a strong genetic predisposition for anxiety).
This doesn't exactly mean, though, that I'm currently suffering from severe depression, but it does show that I'm highly vulnerable to issues of depression and worsened anxiety in the future.

In other words, I have always lived with anxiety and depression, a lot before the concussion and a lot before the Ritalin. These issues are genetic and not caused by any medication. I scored the lowest score possible on the tests for Anxiety and Depression (as I said, 1 on both of them) before starting any medication.

Regarding the Ritalin - I notice that sometimes while on the Ritalin, my anxiety will become worse (although sometimes I also get a boost of self confidence from it). I mean, sometimes it just cause me to feel that my OCD is slightly worse while on the Ritalin. This isn't permanent, though, and will disappear when the Ritalin wears off.

I have an extensive knowledge about Omega 3 and its importance for the brain, especially a concussed brain. I know it contains 2 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), where one acid reduces inflammation (EPA), and the other acid builds new connections between neurons and helps repair damaged neurons (DHA). In addition, 30% of a nerve cell's wall is made of DHA - so we can literally say they are the building blocks of the brain!

I also know that a lack of DHA in the brain could mean problems with the amount of monamines floating around (for example, not enough DHA can lead to problems with the metabolism of dopamine in the brain). Low levels of dopamine in the synaptic clefts are the main cause of ADHD symptoms, and not enough DHA in the brain can cause and sometimes also worsen existing ADHD symptoms.

Saying that, I have started an Omega 3 regimen a few days ago. Right now, I'm taking 18 grams of Omega 3 per day (will reduce that soon to 9 grams as it becomes unaffordable in these amounts of 18 grams daily for long periods of time). While there are noticeable improvements in my ability to focus after taking the Omega 3, these improvements are nowhere near close the improvements that Ritalin causes. Omega 3 only helps a little bit with focus, but doesn't do anything to control hyperactivity and impulsivity - unlike the Ritalin which helps a lot more with focus and with reducing hyperactivity and impulsivity.

That is not to say I'm going to stop taking the Omega 3. I'll return to the Ritalin in a few days (probably), but am going to keep taking Omega 3 because not just that it helps with repairing damage from concussions and speeding up recovery, it is also highly neuroprotective. That means that even if Ritalin causes permanent nerve damage (which I highly doubt it does), Omega 3 can protect me from this possible damage and prevent some of the hazards that may arise from Ritalin use from slowing down my recovery from the 2 concussions I had (the second one, luckily, much milder than the first).

On another note, I apologize if it sometimes appears like I'm repeating my things. My OCD just sometimes causes me to think that I should explain myself extensively because at times, people have a too hard time understanding me (I'm wondering if it's true sometimes). Therefore, to avoid any possible misunderstanding, I'm sometimes repeating my things. I'm sorry if you find this irritating. I'm afraid I also have a few problems with expressing myself coherently through writing, as can be seen by the repetition of certain words too many times in different contexts in my paragraphs. Moreover, English is not my native language, so it just adds a little bit to the difficulty of expressing my thoughts and ideas by writing (these issues are not related to the 2 concussions that I've gotten and have appeared years before). Again, I apologize if it makes it harder for you to read and understand my paragraphs (if it does, please tell me!).

I thank you all for taking your time to help me and I appreciate it a lot. It is very helpful to me and gives me hope and motivation to continue doing the activities I did before the concussions (of course, nothing risky or extreme) and eventually recover with time. Hope and optimism is important, and I believe it is also essential for recovery!

I am open to new ideas and would love to hear some ideas from you (if you have any) and some feedback about what I say, do or should do.

Thanks again!
-ProAgonist

You need magnesium to metabolize the Omega-3's and also Bcomplex which has the B6 in it. B2 helps with the activation of the B6 and so the complex is best.

It takes some time for the Omega-3's to work. I do think you are overdoing them. The highest I saw was patient taking 13 grams, and he was under a doctor's care for an autoimmune kidney ailment. The Omega-3 fish oil saved him from a kidney transplant in fact.

To begin with I had my son on a special high DHA fish oil by Carlson's. He took 2 or 3 a day with meals of this for all his high school. He was on 60mg a day of immediate release. (The long acting wasn't out yet then. He is 33 yrs old now)

He is now trying the Krill oil. When we get together I can really see the ADHD in him. He became cavalier about it and stopped for many years. And now he realizes he will need them for life.
But without Ritalin all thru high school he scored very high on his ACT testing and got into a very good university. One class tripped him up so he had to make it up. It was called discrete calculus or something like that, and was pretty incomprehensible. (he now has a computer science degree and a nice job). How you perceive yourself, is really a huge part of ADHD IMO.

At the end of 3 months you should see some results. In our case it was enough to stop the Ritalin. And my son really bloomed then. He said he could write much better off it. He also used to get a stiff neck from it. When we started the EFA regimen in this house we used flaxoil, evening primrose as well as the fish oil. After about a year we dropped the first two. But my husband still uses flax every day...says it helps his psoriasis.

So be patient ProAgonist... the body has to use the fish oil to rebuild and that takes time.